By Anjali Patel T'17
Anjali is a first-year student at Tuck. Originally from Philadelphia, Anjali studied industrial and operations engineering at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.
The “pay it forward” mentality is deeply instilled within the student body and administration at Tuck and extends to alumni without bound.
As a Tuck student, the opportunity to connect with alumni, who are so gracious and attentive to helping you, is unparalleled. This aspect of our culture is so unique and important, but especially so if you are working towards paths less traveled post-graduation.
You have a lot of access to resources on-campus including classmates with relevant experience, professors, student organizations like Net Impact and the Center for Business and Society; but, nothing beats talking to someone who is in the position that you would like be.
Since we were going to Seattle for the Net Impact Conference, we reached out to Alumni Services to see if we could arrange a mini Tuck ’Tails in the Emerald City. They not only directed us to the Seattle Club President, they also identified several Tuckies working in the social impact space in Seattle.
Before we knew it, our calendars were filled with office visits and happy hours with Seattle-based Tuckies!
Patty Russell T’02, managing director at FSG Social Impact Advisors, and Katherine Errecart T’08, senior consultant at FSG, invited us to the FSG office to learn more about their hands-on consulting work related to philanthropy, international health, education, and collective impact. We discussed how FSG remains competitive and influential with its focus on idea generation and communities of practice. They also advised us on how to leverage Tuck resources when navigating through our MBA and recruiting in the social impact space.
After leaving the FSG office, we headed over to the Brave Horse Tavern where we met with eight recent alums (T’13s through T’15s) who were working at Amazon, Starbucks, and other smaller firms. Though they weren’t necessarily directly involved in social impact, they explained how Tuck prepared them for their current positions and examples of their companies were contributing to society. Plus, it was a blast hearing them reminisce about their time at Tuck!
These two meet-ups were unanimously our favorite moments of the trip. Their willingness to meet with us at the end of the week on a rainy Friday afternoon is a testament to the strength and generosity of the Tuck community. After all, once a Tuckie, always a Tuckie!