MBA Admissions: Tuck and Financial Services

This post about Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business, focusing on financial services, is part of a series of interviews about top MBA programs called “MBA Career Goals and the B-Schools that Support Them.” Please subscribe to our blog to ensure that you receive all the posts exploring the elements at each school that will help you pursue your goals in finance, consulting, general management, entrepreneurship, marketing and more.

A quick glance at Tuck: Tuck currently has the 3rd highest average starting salary and bonus among the business schools ranked in US News & World Report (March 2012). About 29% of Tuck graduates go into careers in financial services (16% in investment banking, 5% in private equity/venture capital, 4% in investment management, and 4% in other financial fields).

Incoming Tuckies and Financial Services

Tuck students graduating in 2012 have on average five years of work experience, an undergraduate GPA of 3.5, and a GMAT score of 718.

17% of class of 2012 students entered Tuck with backgrounds in investment banking or private equity, and 10% worked in other financial services or real estate. 22% majored as undergraduates in business or finance and 23% in economics. (More info is available on Poets and Quants. Note: A lot (but not all) of the stats from P&Q are extrapolations and estimates.)

Tuck’s Classes Related to Finance

Corporate finance and capital markets is one of the key functional areas and disciplines that comprise Tuck’s integrated core curriculum, which takes up all but two classes in the first year. Students with an “extensive background” in a particular area can opt out of the related core course and take an elective instead.

For the elective courses, students can choose the Finance, Accounting, and Economics courses which are taught by experts on investments, private equity finance asset pricing, auctions and game theory, international economics, portfolio management, corporate governance, management controls, capital structures, and corporate valuation.

Classes that may appeal to students interested in private equity include Private Equity Finance, Corporate Valuations, Corporate Restructuring, and Managing Mergers & Acquisitions.

Students interested in venture capital may choose to take some of the following: Emerging Technologies, Marketing New Products, Strategic Innovation Management, and Advanced Entrepreneurship.

See this list for course descriptions:

Tuck also is home to two research centers focused on finance. The Lindenauer Center for Corporate Governance studies how “international differences in capital markets, ownership structures, and legal traditions affect financial contracts and best practices in corporate governance” as well as other governance issues. The Center for Private Equity and Entrepreneurship studies young companies and the role of private equity in their growth. The center is “actively involved in practitioner communities of private equity, and its outreach facilitates the pursuit of venture-backed activities.” That active involvement could be something of interest if you want to move into the clubby world of PE/VC. The Center for Private Equity and Entrepreneurship also helps students secure internships and fellowships, and runs prestigious programs such as the Tuck Capital Management Program and the Private Equity Internship Program.

Finance-Related Clubs and Extracurricular Activities

There is an active student-run Finance Club at Tuck that runs regular events throughout the year intended to familiarize student with finance-related job opportunities. The Finance Club works in conjunction with the Tuck Career Development Office and in close cooperation with the Investment Club and the Private Equity Club.

Examples of Finance Club events include the Sales & Trading and Private Wealth Management Breakfast (with representatives from Goldman Sachs), a trip to Wall Street, Art of a Deal Workshop/Cocktail Party, Interview Workshop/Wine Tasting, Valuation Workshop, and others.

The Investment Club also provides a forum for students to learn more about the investing and the career search. The club also manages the Tuck Investment Fund.

Investment Club events and activities include regular “Stock Pitch” sessions, mock interviews, and a trip to Omaha to visit Warren Buffett.

Finally, there’s the Private Equity Club, a large club with over 120 members. There is a wealth of information on the club website, including a list of speakers for the club’s Visiting Lecture Series.

Top Investment Banks Hiring at Tuck

Top investment banks that hired at Tuck in 2010-2011 include:

Bank of America Merrill Lynch
Barclays Capital
Citigroup
Cowen & Company
Credit Suisse
Deutsche Bank
Fidelity Investments
Goldman, Sachs & Co.
Harris Williams & Co.
J.P. Morgan
Jefferies & Company
Liberty Mutual
Morgan Stanley
UBS

The following list indicates the number of students who received job offers from top recruiting organizations from the most recent academic year (Class of 2011):

J.P. Morgan: 5 students
Goldman Sachs: 4 students
Harris Williams & Co.: 4 students
Morgan Stanley: 4 students
UBS: 4 students

For internships, the list goes as follows:

Citigroup: 7 students
Goldman Sachs: 7 students
Barclays Capital: 4 students
Cargill: 4 students

According to a BusinessWeek profile on Tuck, 30% of graduating students accepted jobs in the functional area of finance/accounting, and 29% accepted job in the financial services industry.

The following chart (from Poets & Quants) provides an estimate of the class percentage and number of students expected to receive job offers from top investment banks in 2013:

Goldman Sachs: 3.2%, 9 students
Ernst & Young: 2.7%, 7 students
Credit Suisse: 1.4%, 4 students
Bank of America: 0.9%, 2 students
Barclays Capital: 0.9%, 2 students
Citigroup: 0.9%, 2 students
UBS: 0.9%, 2 students

Are you applying to Tuck? Please see our Tuck B-School Zone and Tuck Application Package for more information on how Accepted.com can help you get accepted.

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