Last 
fall, Senior Associate Director of Admissions and head of women’s recruitment Pat Harrison, sat down with the President of Tuck’s Women in Business Club, Lindsey Windham, to talk about her experience as a woman at Tuck. While this blog highlights some of Lindsey's points, it certainly doesn’t capture her palpable enthusiasm for Tuck. We encourage you to listen to their full conversation here.
Pat and Lindsey first discussed some common concerns that Lindsey initially had as an applicant from a non-traditional background. As Pat explains, however, her concerns were actually misconceptions. You can still be incredibly successful in business school even if you come from a non-traditional background and/or you have non-traditional post-MBA career goals.
You are not alone!
Lindsey came to Tuck having gained all her work experience in the public sector. Specifically, in education management and even as a classroom English teacher as part of Teach for America. She chose to pursue her MBA to develop her skills as a leader and to learn about how the private sector and technology can help transform struggling public institutions.
Lindsey soon discovered that her classmates came from a wide variety of backgrounds: some traditional (like finance and consulting) and others non-traditional (like the military and health care). In fact, Tuck’s Admissions Committee specifically aims for a student body with a diversity of industry, function, and education backgrounds. If everyone had the same perspective, there wouldn’t be any fresh ideas!
Lindsey realized quickly that her “non-traditional background” had positioned her well for an MBA, and that she had a lot of real-world experience to offer to her classmates through the study group and in the MBA classroom setting.
Why did you choose Tuck?
Lindsey wanted a place where she could immerse herself in her courses and community. Tuck stood out as a place to develop true, lasting connections built on learning, relationships, and a shared experience. She also knew the small scale would provide an opportunity to take on larger leadership roles and proactively push new initiatives forward to impact the school, like reinvigorating the Women in Business Club and prioritizing student-faculty interactions. Other areas that were important to her were Tuck’s incredible alumni network, which represents life-long professional connections, and the collaborative community, which she describes as a place where students aim to “help everyone achieve more.”
Resources at Tuck
In addition to classmates, there are a number of people and offices at Tuck who serve as resources to Tuck students. Tuck’s Career Development Office, for instance, helped Lindsey connect with several alumni in the Bay area during an exploratory recruitment trip she took in the fall of her second year.
She took advantage of the variety of resources within the MBA Program Office, including the tutoring program. The MBAPO coordinates tutoring, plans events, assists student clubs, and processes student feedback to make the student experience even better. Also falling under the MBAPO purview are first-year study groups, which are comprised of students from diverse industries, functions, and geographies. Lindsey calls hers a huge reason why she was so successful in the fall core.
Finally, Lindsey cites the unparalleled access Tuck students have to the faculty. At Tuck, faculty are available to students to ensure they are getting the most out of each course. They have an open door policy across the board. Lindsey has developed relationships with faculty who she feels are authentically invested in her as a student and in her career.
In the Classroom
Lindsey calls her experience in the classroom at Tuck “incredibly positive.” She came in wanting to challenge herself to get involved and be engaged in class discussion. Like everyone, she was nervous about the infamous cold call, but soon realized that everyone (male or female) contributes to class discussions. She found the atmosphere to be a supportive, non-critical one, where it’s perfectly OK to ask questions, challenge a classmate, or get something wrong as long as the discussion is enriched by the dialogue.
Tuck Involvement
Lindsey, like many of her classmates, is highly involved outside the classroom as well. She’s in the Tuck Band (relishing the chance to unleash her inner pop-star), serves as a Leadership Fellow within the Center for Leadership (an opportunity to contribute to topics such as Women in the C-Suite), and she’s on the Student Board Quality of Life Committee (in a position that’s dedicated to student and faculty engagement outside the classroom).
Perhaps Lindsey’s most impactful roles are as president of the Women in Business Club and co-chair of Tuck’s Initiative for Women. She outlines the three primary ways WIB carries out its mission to build an inclusive community that supports and enables women to achieve everything they hope to at Tuck:
• Helping to prepare each other for careers.
• Creating an environment for dialogue on gender equality.
• Strengthening our community of women.
The Initiative for Women was founded on the belief that Tuck is, and can continue to be, the best place for a woman to obtain a graduate business education. I4W was student created with lots of staff and faculty support. Its goal is to ensure that Tuck is the school of choice for women wanting MBAs, the best place for MBA women, and will also serve as a place for gender research and gender based programming.
After Tuck
Lindsey started her career search at Tuck with a desire to explore her options. With her interest in technology, she spent the summer between first- and second-year doing an internship at Amazon. She says that Tuck gave her the confidence to look at a high-level strategic project and tackle it head on.
After graduation, Lindsey plans to move to Seattle and go back to Amazon as part of the Retail Leadership Development program.
Lindsey’s Advice
• Pay attention as a prospective student; be present when you’re visiting campus and meeting alums & students.
• Tell your story in an authentic way.
• Go with your gut when deciding which school to attend, which internship to take, and which full-time offer to pursue.
• When you get to a new place, new phase, or new job, believe that you belong – you can truly do anything, so use your time in business school to pursue your dreams.