Dayne Jervis T'17 started at the Tuck School of Business in fall 2015. Prior to Tuck, he worked at BlueMountain Capital Management in New York City where he worked as a team lead in the Equity Derivatives Middle Office group for one year. Before BlueMountain, Dayne worked in the same capacity at Goldman Sachs for three years. He specialized in trade and sales support functions including corporate action processing, trade flow reconciliations, project management and client service issue resolution. He received his bachelor of science in industrial engineering with a minor in economics from Lehigh University. After Tuck, Dayne plans to develop a career in buy-side equity research.
My mentor Vlad Marcel T’06, a vice president at Goldman Sachs, went to Tuck. He was the first person who really said to me, “Dayne, I think Tuck would be a great fit for you.” So, I did more research and reached out to Sally Jaeger, assistant dean of the MBA program. I developed a great relationship with her, and from that I knew Tuck was a place where you could grow those kinds of genuine relationships. She was also the one who told me about Tuck’s Diversity Conference (DivCo). I learned that I could schedule an interview with admissions that same weekend. It was a good opportunity to see the school and also get my foot in the door.
Before I arrived, I just so happened to meet Shana McClammy T’16 in the airport. I asked her how to get to Dartmouth which is when I found out that she was a Tuckie, and she was on her way to Chicago for recruiting. This simple interaction with her had already given me a great impression of the people.
I came to Tuck and saw how beautiful the campus was. I got the impression that this was somewhere you could really immerse yourself in the experience as compared to other places where you’re more of a cog in a wheel. It really gave me a sense that community was going to be one of the core competencies.
I stayed with a student on campus, and I would definitely recommend doing that if you get the chance. That by far was one of the telling things about the experience here. It was very relaxed, but at the same time, everyone takes it very seriously.
There was a real sense that, yes, this is one of the top-ten MBA business schools, but we’re really going to look at this as an experience to make friends. We’re not only going to become business leaders together, we’re also going to become friends and be real people with each other in the process.
We had the opportunity to listen to speakers, to sit in on classes, etc. The social chairs set up events for us to network with each other and with faculty. We had a little bit of free time as well to digest everything. A lot of that time was spent with our fellow DivCo classmates just talking about our experience, and coming to grips with how this experience differed from others. I think, for most people, that’s when we had the chance to realize that Tuck was different from other business schools.
By the second or third day, it started to feel like a family.
I really enjoyed the camaraderie. I thought the experience was well-planned and well thought-out.
I had my first class experience on the second day of DivCo. It was a strategy course with Professor Sydney Finkelstein. I was immediately taken aback by the intensity of the MBA classroom, and the amount of involvement that was required. Professor Finkelstein was going through a case and many students were weighing in. I didn’t have a background in private equity, and was intimidated at first to participate. But, I wanted to be a part of the conversation. Professor Finkelstein asked a question about how we should approach the issue. I raised my hand, answered, and hit the nail on the head. Professor Finkelstein asked me to explain more, I answered, and there was a round of applause. The class experience is stimulating. It pushes you to really be on your toes, to really think, to stay involved.
Also, having the chance to talk to young alums who were already in industry was very valuable. I think what was great about that was having these alumni visit, who are working in intense jobs, but they came back specifically to talk to us and tell us about the Tuck experience. It really again shows the kind of impact Tuck has on people.
Entirely. I got into Darden and Yale as well, and really those experiences weren’t comparable. I did visit other institutions, and I didn’t get the feeling I got when I came here. After only four days, I was kind of sad to leave.
Even after DivCo, I was able to stay in touch with people I met. People reached out to me offering their help on the application process, and asked if I wanted to talk to others who could potentially help me, etc.
And every single person I met at DivCo, I’m still great friends with.
I think in the MBA application process, it’s really important to represent your best self. Staying close to a community of people from diverse backgrounds definitely helps better yourself as a person. I think, when you come to a place like Tuck, with that kind of group, you really start getting a better understanding of what you as a diverse community can give back to the school. You can give back to the diversity nation globally, as a whole. It starts to mean more when you think of yourself as a group who has a mission. And DivCo solidifies that mission by showing how far it can take you.
The Tuck Diversity Conference, created in 1994, offers prospective students a weekend of discussion, networking, mentoring, and socializing. You'll learn more about Tuck--our MBA program, the admissions process, and what makes our community unique. You'll also have the chance to interact with companies that make diversity a priority. Students, alumni, faculty, staff and visiting executives join you at this student-run event. Apply for the 2015 conference, November 5-8, here.