Oct 30, 2012

Visiting campus as a partner

By Claire B. TP14

When Will was applying to schools, he of course registered to visit Tuck and participate in an interview while here.  Part of the registration process was identifying whether or not he had a partner, and if so, if his partner (yours truly) would be be coming to campus with him.  I did, and I really encourage you to come as well, if at all possible.  There's no substitute for experiencing this place or the community for yourself.

If you're like me, you might feel like you, too, are applying to business schools throughout this process (I could probably have recited Will's essays by heart I read them so much!).  So you might feel very engaged and are excited to actually to see the school for yourself.  But perhaps you're a little less assuming or more nervous to come in person.  

Here are some reasons you might talk yourself into not coming to visit campus, and my opinions on why these reasons are silly: 

• If you're driving, we are located just 5 miles (main streets) off of a major highway (I-89) 
• If you're flying, you can get here by way of several different airports, each within 2 hours of Hanover: Boston Logan, Burlington airport, or the closest is Manchester, NH.  You could also come through NY, a little further out but still an option.
• The Dartmouth Coach bus (which has wi-fi, plays movies, and feeds you while on board) makes several trips each day to Boston and New York City.  It's relatively inexpensive and bonus - you can sleep, work, or relax on board. 
• Students are constantly posting about carpooling and catching a ride to or from Boston/NYC; if you're in a pinch I bet you'd be surprised how easy it is to hook up with a student or another prospective student (or partner/prospective partner!) for a lift.

• In any temperature, this is still the most beautiful place I've ever lived. 
• It's November and we're still regularly in the mid 50s... just saying.
• It's more fun to be up here in the winter (with all your friends who genuinely like hanging out with each other, going skiing/snowboarding, ice skating, snowshoeing, sledding, and having snowball fights), than it is to be in the over-congested city where the snow makes people nuts!
• If you're really afraid of the cold, you can access all of Tuck's buildings without ever going outside (secret: they're all connected!) 

• Totally erroneous.  Everyone, everyone, in the Tuck community gets that this experience impacts you as much as it does your student.  Current students, current partners, staff, faculty, administration -- everybody gets it.  That's the cornerstone of the Tuck Partner experience.  I was treated with more legitimacy and more respect here than at any other school Will and I considered (at one school we visited, our tour guide didn't acknowledge me at all, clearly not considering that I as a partner might have relevant questions/concerns, too).  We all understand that this decision affects your life in really big ways, and as such partners are welcomed into the Tuck community from the time your student is just thinking about applying, to well after they've graduated. 
  • This of course extends to your experience while your student attends school here, too.  You can attend/audit classes, participate in clubs, attend almost all social events (*except in the very few instances (like orientation programs) when space might be limited and your attendance might bump another student), go on international treks with the students, play on the Tuck tripod hockey teams and other intramural sports, write for the Tuck Admissions blog 😊 ... the list goes on. 

• There are lots of really productive, interesting, informative ways you can spend your time on campus, while your student is occupied.  
• Worth noting is that there's not that much time you'll be apart from your student anyway.  The campus visit includes:
  • Attending a class (sorry, space is usually limited!)
  • Lunch with students (which you can do too)
  • Campus tour (which you can do too)
  • Q&A with an admissions officer (which you can do too)
  • Interview (you cannot do this part)
• While your student is busy with his/her interview or sitting in on a class, you can meet with someone too.  There are Tuck Partners who serve each year as Visitor Coordinators, whose specific purpose it is to assist you as a prospective partner while you're on campus!  They can help arrange meetings for you with current partners (which usually takes the form of chatting over coffee), but anything that might be of interest: connecting with a student group, touring downtown Hanover, etc.  Email them!
  • The Visitor Coordinators this year are Jessica and Lisa and you can reach them at tuckpartner13@gmail.com