This summer veterans from the Tuck Class of 2020 are putting their first-year MBA skills to work at internships across the U.S. They are using their military experience, coupled with the skillsets they gained during their first year at Tuck, to make immediate impact on a variety of industries. Below are a few internship highlights from Tuck Veterans Club members.
I am interning at a private equity firm in Seattle, WA called Trilogy Search Partners. The firm invests in profitable, small businesses identified through the search fund model. My role was to guide due diligence activities on several potential deals and to assist several operating company CEOs to conduct strategic analysis for their boards. Having never been an investor, the learning curve was steep, but the core curriculum at Tuck gave me the vocabulary and exposure to all the concepts I encountered during my internship. That knowledge, coupled with the can-do attitude you develop in the military, has allowed me to really contribute and add value.
After researching internship opportunities and leveraging the Tuck alumni community to provide mentorship and answer questions, I chose to intern within the investment bank at J.P. Morgan this summer in New York City. As a summer associate in the Leveraged Finance group, I have had the chance to work on several deals spanning multiple industries. We help clients design optimal capital structures that meet their strategic goals but are also attractive to the institutional debt market. As an associate, I move the process along from conception to market syndication. Coming into banking with no financial background was challenging. However, I have found that my Army experience combined with everything I learned at Tuck has more than set me up for success.
This summer at Samsung I am revamping the company’s marketing vendor base. As a tech company with a large marketing budget it is important that Samsung understands the capabilities and quality of its marketing vendors, attributes which I am using to recategorize and reshape the pool of vendors the company will use in the future. In my internship I am using skills I learned as a Navy contracting officer to conduct outreach with Samsung’s vendors and build relationships with our counterparts in Samsung’s business units. The first year core curriculum at Tuck has also been useful in helping me to better understand the challenges facing our business units and to speak the language of the marketing function. Throughout my internship search I received a lot of helpful advice from the Tuck alumni network.
I am interning in consulting with BCG in Boston. My project for the summer is within the social impact practice for a global non-governmental organization (NGO). My role on the team has been to build out a landscape of the NGO sector. Even though I’ve never had any previous experience with this, Tuck’s strong curriculum provided me the skill set to tackle this challenge. Tuck and the military’s strong focus on teamwork was another factor that helped me feel comfortable stepping up and contributing for our team. Furthermore, I utilized the Tuck alumni network to provide in-depth information on office culture and work/life balance as well as connecting me with other people who could answer my questions.
If you are a military veteran interested in Tuck, the Tuck Veterans Club and Tuck Admissions Office invite you and your family to attend our Fall Military Visit Day on September 24 and 25. Register here.
We also encourage all prospective veterans to connect with the Tuck Veterans Club if you have any questions about life at Tuck!
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