By Josh Hamilton T’15
I moved to Hanover filled with a little bit of nervousness, a dose of confidence, and a great deal of hope. Nervousness? I admit it—I felt it. Deciding to leave my home and friends to pursue a full-time MBA at Tuck was a deeply personal decision for me; that single inflection point is one that I believe will continue to define my part in this comedy called life. Perhaps, as you read these words, you are pondering your own MBA trepidations. Should I go? Where should I go? Is it the right investment for me? How will I finance my degree? Questions such as these demand careful consideration.
What I can share is that, for me, I knew I wanted to make a change and move into media and entertainment. And how did I realize this, you ask? I suppose the answer was always there in front of me, but it took time to realize it. After growing up acting, founding a student board of directors at the playhouse that developed and launched Jersey Boys, and spending years of your adult life watching hundreds of black & white films, you 
would think that you would know your calling in life, or at the very least, you would know the place to start looking. So look I did—finally!
While at Tuck, I was fortunate to receive a couple of internship offers from two prominent companies in the industry; I chose Paramount Pictures. So, I packed my bags, flew to Los Angeles, and spent three extraordinary months working on the studio lot in Hollywood. On the first day of the program, all the interns met at Sound Stage 29 (where Dr. Phil is filmed). After being greeted and formally welcomed by the COO and other members of the team, they played, what they call in the industry, a “sizzle reel”—basically an incredible few minutes of hair-standing-up-on-your-arm moments—which previewed some of the upcoming titles in Paramount’s slate. The final film on the reel was none other than Christopher Nolan’s, at the time, highly secretive Interstellar. I still remember the distinct tingling feeling I had after seeing it—yep, I was definitely in the right place. What ensued over the course of those three months is something I can only describe as feeling as though I was doing what I actually wanted to do, and Tuck helped me make that moment in my life happen. I’ll always remember that.
Now I’d like to address why Tuck was the right decision for me. Here’s where love comes into the story, and to be specific, I mean the type of love described by the Greek word philia. Aristotle described philia as friendships of the good, friendships that endure. The many friendships that I have made I believe will endure well beyond my time at 
Tuck. What is truly amazing is the diversity and breadth of those friendships. These are people who are both quite similar and strikingly different from me, and who taught me, for example, how to play ice hockey (great memories of triumph and humility), how to perform traditional Indian dance to celebrate Diwali, how to make the best Paella that I’ve ever tasted (thanks Camilo!), and how to construct my very own kilt and dance traditional Scottish dance to celebrate the inimitable Robert Burns on Burn’s Night. I imagine it’s difficult to fully understand what I’m sharing here until you have experienced it, but suffice it to say that at Tuck, you will have the honest pleasure to form many enduring friendships with people who truly care about you and your future success. It’s a part of the DNA at Tuck—it’s why we happily leave the city to live in Hanover for two years and why we yearn to go back as often as possible when we have to finally leave this extraordinary place.
So … I’ll leave you with a few summary points to consider: