My Story: The International Finance Ironwoman At Tuck

Tuck Interior

I’m also a Portfolio Manager for Tuck Asset Management. We hold pitch meetings once a month and if three out of four people on the investment committee approve, we will add the position into one of Tuck’s two hedge funds. Applying an analytical framework and convincing people that you know what you’re talking about in regards to a stock is an essential skill for investment management interviews. Tom Naughton, Director of The Center for Private Equity and Entrepreneurship at Tuck, ensures that we take appropriate risks, approves our final trades, and helps document our reasoning. He’s been a wonderful resource for us. He provides some continuity for the fund since business school students are only there for such a short time.

Tuck is an open and supportive place. There’s an incredible amount of collaboration for interview preparation. Just today, I had to send a model for an investment idea and I didn’t know the sector very well. One of my classmates was on his way to vacation for the weekend, yet he took the time to talk to me on the phone for an hour-and-a-half because he had expertise in the sector.

That’s emblematic of Tuck. Everyone is willing to help or connect you with someone who can. Many people probably don’t expect that from business school. People think it’s going to be a cutthroat environment, but my experience has been absolutely the opposite. It’s a tight knit community so it will be sad to leave everyone after graduation.

MBA students at Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business

I’m really passionate about getting more women into finance so I mentor for the national Smart Woman Securities program. It’s meant for undergrad women and provides them with basic investment banking and finance knowledge for interviews. Twelve people, usually Tuck students, lecture them throughout the year about how to calculate Weighted Average Cost of Capital or what to include in an investment deck.

Tuck is starting a business bridge program for undergrad woman at my alma mater, Smith College, and I’ll be helping as an alumnus of both schools. I’m very proud of Tuck for pioneering this program and I love everything about Smith.

As far as advice to future Tuck applicants, I’d encourage them to visit campus and experience Tuck – so much of its magic is best communicated in person. Before you come to campus, learn more about us and find some Tuckies to speak with. I was a Tuck Admissions Associate, so I interviewed students with aspirations to study at Tuck. You don’t have to be a selected student to interview. Tuck students have high-level communications skills and I think that’s necessary to be successful here. I believe Tuck is focused on assessing your total self and that can only be evaluated in person. It’s a school that you really need to come visit to decide if it’s for you.

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