Tuckies Take Over the West Coast 12/13 – 12/18

We finished our last final (Capital Markets) at noon on Wednesday the 12^th and a bunch of us immediately took off for the airport to catch flights out to SF. Several Tuckies had spent months organizing the West Coast Trek and their hard work paid off – this was the largest turnout of Tuckies we’d ever had on a trek to the West Coast, and the list of companies we visited was expansive, ranging from tech and consulting to energy and retail: Facebook, Google, IDEO, Responsys, GetGoing, Genentech, Stion, Bloom Energy, McKinsey, LEK, the Parthenon Group, Clif Bar, Gap, Ebay, Intel, Toktumi, Reputation.com, OPower, PG&E, Solazyme, BCG, and Bain in San Francisco and then Microsoft, Brooks Running, Amazon, Starbucks, and Nordstrom in Seattle.

 

It was really neat to be able to see the HQ of companies we know so well, such as Starbucks and Google as well as to visit more niche companies such as Clif Bar and Brooks Running (the CEO Jim Weber is a Tuck grad!) There is definitely something to be said about meeting people that work at these companies and experiencing the culture firsthand. Many of these companies had formal MBA recruiting processes in place, whereas others were just starting to develop their MBA recruiting efforts. In every case though, we had Tuckies who warmly welcomed us to their offices and answered our questions, giving us insight into Tuck and post-Tuck life. This is just another example of how tight-knit and supportive the alumni network is – Tuck alums are always so excited to continue sharing their experiences. We organized TuckTails (our term for happy hour J) in SF and Seattle and had great turnouts at each (Jim Weber even joined us in Seattle).

 

Along with the official company visits, we also of course wanted to make the most of our West Coast experience. A couple of Tuckies organized a party bus that took a group of us on a tour of the Napa Valley, stopping at Cakebread, St. Supery, and Turnbull. Dance parties always ensue when you bring a bunch of Tuckies together, so that was also a good time. The other half of our group that didn’t do Napa Valley went to a classmate’s house in Monterey, which she generously offered up to everyone. Either way, everyone had a blast! Later that evening, many of us took over a karaoke bar in Japantown, exhibiting those singing skills that Tuckies are known so well for (or not).

 

 

And now it’s time to enjoy some down time before recruiting season kicks off full force when we get back to Hanover in January. Happy Holidays, everyone!!