By Kiley Winsnes T'16
Kiley is a first-year student at Tuck. Before arriving in Hanover, she was living in stunning San Francisco and working for an integration software company. Originally from Chicago, Kiley spent her formative years in Seattle before chasing the California sunshine for her undergraduate degree in economics and religious studies. After Tuck, she hopes to get a job that combines two of her passions: fitness and technology. Outside of the classroom, Kiley enjoys running, road biking, writing, and the beverages of her two home cities: coffee and wine. Kiley can be contacted at kiley.j.winsnes.tu16@tuck.dartmouth.edu. Follow her on Twitter at @kileywins.
That’s a wrap, folks.
Okay, fine, it’s … half a wrap. But it is official: I’m done with my first year of Tuck. I know saying things like “I can’t believe it!” or “The time really flew!” are about as cliché as it gets, but seriously, people, this year was a Boeing Dreamliner and I am sitting here awe-struck.
It’s almost as cliché to do some sort of look back, to reflect on the “lessons learned” from this year, but as I’ve already made pretty clear: clichés are kind of my jam right now. So here we go, a few takeaways from year one of my MBA.
1. The real challenges weren’t academic.
The hardest part of this year, by far, was the time outside of the classroom. Leaving the life I’d built in San Francisco, being 3,000 miles away from friends and family. Trying to balance my own preferences with the perceived social norms of Tuck life. Figuring out it’s not the end of the world not to go to that party. Realizing it’s also not the end of the world not to be best friends with everyone. Tuck is about as easy as a moss-covered rolling log when it comes to finding a balance, but attempting to do so is a lesson in itself, one I’m sure I’ll continue to struggle with through second year, but also one I think will be defining in my overall MBA experience.
2. The true learning wasn’t academic, either.
The topic I learned about most this year? Nope, not Excel (seriously good guess, though. I’ll put that at #2). #1 for me—and I’d venture to guess for just about every one of my classmates—was myself. The intensity of an immersive program like Tuck, paired with the small size and strong culture, makes for an incredibly self-reflective experience. Just getting through the year requires a level of self-awareness and thought that’s easy to avoid in the “real world.” Questions we mostly don’t have to (or choose not to) face as adults are constant: What are my priorities? Am I spending my time in a way that reflects those priorities? What kind of people do I like to surround myself with? What do I hope to do immediately after school? What do I hope to do 10 years from now? What attracts me to that career path? Is that dream in line with the priorities I’ve outlined? That level of mental dialogue is exhausting, and can make the whole experience feel a bit heavy, but that kind of self-learning is also the greatest gift we’ll get from this time. Making the effort to remind myself how unique it is, and embracing rather than avoiding it, is, in my humble opinion, the hardest lesson Tuck will teach me.
3. I was more prepared than I expected.
Coming to Tuck, I basically imagined I would be ten years younger than everyone (Yes, I know the average age of my classmates. No, this did not deter my irrational paranoia, thank you very much.); that I would be completely lost every time I stepped into a classroom; that I would feel incredibly intimidated by my classmates’ resumes; and would basically just feel like I’d somehow snuck my way into Tuck. The truth? Academically, I was just fine. In fact, not to toot my own horn (weird, weird saying, by the way), but I was more than just fine. I felt comfortable in all my classes and even felt quite familiar with some of the topics we covered. I was pleasantly surprised by the strength of my undergrad program (props, Santa Clara) and its business curriculum. That being said, there were definitely times when I was completely overwhelmed by an assignment, and relied heavily (okay, completely) on my study group. And there were definitely times (read: all the time) when I felt intimidated by my classmates’ resumes. But hey, they’re just that impressive. And trust me, it’s much better than going to school with people whose backgrounds don’t blow your socks off (I’m full of fun axioms today!).
4. Choosing the right length of program is important.
This is something I’ve been thinking about for the past couple of months, a question that really surprised me when it arose: Is a second year really necessary? Looking back on my admissions process, I didn’t even consider one-year programs. In all honesty, I kind of considered them … sub-par. I’ve always thought of the MBA as a two-year degree, and doing it in one year seemed like a cop-out. Not to mention, at the time, a huge factor in my decision was getting out of the working world for a while, and two years sounded approximately 200x better than one year (that’s MBA math, folks). But as I approached the end of year one at Tuck, I couldn’t help but wonder: do I need another year? Honestly, I don’t know if I have an answer yet. As classes were wrapping up, I thought it was a pretty strong “no”. Now that I’ve been away from school for a few weeks and am back in the working world, I’m closer to “yes." What I do know for sure: it’s an important, and personal, factor in the MBA decision, worth serious consideration.
There are so many more lessons I could probably think of, but I’m kind of tired and you’re probably really tired (of reading, because this entry got out of hand FAST). Maybe I’ll regale you later on with a second entry (I know, almost too much anticipation to handle, right?!).
 |
My first photo from Tuck: Day 1 of Math Camp! |
 |
Winter was ... cold. |
 |
Spring Break in Israel! Here, a look over the city of Jerusalem. |
 |
Summer meant weekend trips to gorgeous towns nearby. Here, Burlington, Vermont. |