So here we go:
Tuck Pros:
- General management focus (I have a liberal arts background and broad exposure to business fundamentals)
- Sizable merit scholarship
- Very strong brand in Boston area (but I don't know whether I ultimately want to be here)
- Responsive alumni network
- Small class size (as an undergrad my class size was 1650, so this would be a real treat for me)
- Family feel
- Country living
- Close to family and friends (most of whom are in Boston)
- Easier to manage condo (I'll be renting it out)
- Dartmouth Farm (super cool)
Tuck Cons:
- "Drinking in the woods" culture
Chicago Pros:
- Better brand nationally and internationally (I would love feedback on this. In Boston Tuck almost has a better brand than Chicago. What's the case elsewhere?)
- City living
- Good to live outside of Boston
- Large alumni network
- More flexible curriculum
Chicago Cons:
- Commuter culture (strong negative)
- Finance focus (not to the exclusion of other fields)
- Far from family and friends
- Can't fly with two cats (I have two cats, and I'm figuring that to go between Boston and Chicago I'd have to drive 15h. Airlines let you fly with only one cat per person on board. No, I'm not checking them!)
The one thing that's not on this list is the quality of the students and professors. That's probably one of the most important things to me. I want to go to a school where people are smart, people are nice, and I fit in. I got a good sense of that at Chicago, where I really liked everyone I met and I felt like they would be great people to be in class with. I didn't get that impression at much at Tuck, but I also didn't get to interact as much with students there.
And YES, I plan to attend both Admitted Students' Weekends. I'll have to make my decision immediately after Chicago's, though, so I am going to try and have a tentative decision before then.
Your input much appreciated!
9 comments:
Biased, but I'm from the Dartmouth region and it's a fantastic environment. If you're not finance-focused you can't go wrong with either. I've visited both and the culture is definitely worlds different, as you've described. Think it just matters which you prefer. Neither school would limit you geographically post-grad
Congrats on the admits! A merit scholarship sure would be hard to turn down. Did you find yourself trying to find more cons with chicago? Because that's a sign.
I can help you watch your cats if you come to Chicago. I have two myself and will likely be matriculating there. As far as checking them, this isn't as bad as it sounds--my two made it from LA to Honolulu then Honolulu to Baltimore no problem. Hope to see you at admit weekend.
I personaly do not like the commuter culture as well..... so if you are not looking for heavy finance stuff, I'll suggest you to stick with Tuck...... of course I m just a beginner but still.... thats what i'd do.....
Both schools are great and our decision should be on fit.
Internationally Tuck has a weaker brand than Chicago but it's being growing equity for quite some time.
Best way to decide in my opinion is to come to both ASW and make a matrix of what's important to you and put scores for each school.
have you decided ?
come on... we're all waiting...
my call= unless you're too much of a big city person, go for tuck; u'll never get that opportunity again to live in a small close-knit town/community
though i love gsb too, and its a much higher ranked program, with a huge nobel-winning faculty, somehow the students seemed very aloof/disinterested/etc and classes i attended there had zero participation!
(disclaimer-i'm not a chicago waitlister!)
and hey, thats even without considering the $$ at tuck
Hi Eight Schools -
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I'm facing the same decision myself. I'm actually looking to go into finance, so you'd think it would be Chicago hands down, but I'm leaning a bit toward Tuck. The community is just that much stronger than Chicago to the point where it might outweigh the finance advantage. Needless to say, if I weren't a finance person, I would easily choose Tuck.
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