Kathryne Crowley

Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College

“Boy mom and veteran; passionate about skiing, hiking, and all things aviation.”

Hometown: Portsmouth, Rhode Island

Fun Fact About Yourself: Two months after my son was born, my husband and I sold our house and moved into our 36-foot fifth-wheel RV home-on-wheels for three months before I started at Tuck. We drove the RV from Alabama to New Hampshire and had a blast ‘glamping’ along the way.

Undergraduate School and Major: Boston College, Mathematics

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: United States Army, Blackhawk Pilot (most recently Instructor Pilot)

What has been your first impression of the Tuck MBA students and alumni you’ve met so far. Tell us your best Tuck story so far. I have been absolutely blown away by the Tuck community. My husband is on active duty in the army and is stationed in Alabama, so I am a geographically single mom of a six-month-old, which can be overwhelming at times. Every single person at Tuck, from the partners to the alumni to the faculty, has offered to help in any way possible to ensure that I succeed. I have been welcomed to the Upper Valley with open arms and empowered to ask for what I need to thrive as both a mom and a student.

Aside from your classmates, what was the key part of Dartmouth Tuck’s MBA programming that led you to choose this business school and why was it so important to you? I love the emphasis that Tuck places on family. I wasn’t just uprooting myself, I was also moving my son and husband to business school, and it was really important for me to find a place where my family would flourish. The community at Sachem Village, the Tiny Tuckies Club for children of Tuck students, and the inclusivity of partners for all events are just a few of the reasons why I knew that Tuck would be the right fit for my family. Even though my husband isn’t physically here with me, he still feels connected with the other Tuck Partners which helps enhance the experience for both of us.

What course, club or activity excites you the most at Dartmouth Tuck? I am so excited to be a part of the Tuck Veterans Club and to connect with current and future Tuck vets. The mentorship that I have already received through the Veterans Club has been incredible, and I feel so lucky to have such a great support network and resource as I navigate this career pivot. I am hoping to help the T’25s in their journey in the same way the T’23s have helped me. I’m also an avid skier and am looking forward to hitting the slopes with the ski and snowboard club this winter.

What excites you the most about coming to live in Hanover? What is the one activity you can’t wait to do? There were so many things that excited me about moving to Hanover! One of the big reasons that I was drawn to Tuck was the aspect of community, not just for me, but for my husband and son. I live in Sachem Village which is the graduate student family housing complex, and it has made the transition so much easier being surrounded by so many other students with partners and kids. There are great hiking trails that start right from Sachem that my son and I love exploring after class and on the weekends. If you love the outdoors, the Upper Valley is definitely the place for you!

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: I had the privilege of serving as a company commander for a Blackhawk helicopter company for 18 months as one of my last jobs in the army.  I took command of my team a year before a scheduled combat deployment and spent the year leading up to departure building a cohesive and collaborative unit to succeed in our assigned mission. My team was very junior, and we had to work extremely hard to be prepared for the ambiguity we knew we would face overseas. We were halfway through our deployment in March of 2020, and COVID added a unique and extremely difficult element to an already tough operating environment. The biggest accomplishment of my career thus far was bringing each one of my fifty teammates home safe from combat after a challenging and dynamic deployment.

What is one thing you have recently read, watched, or listened to that you would highly recommend to prospective MBAs? Why? I spent a lot of time on the Tuck360 blog and connecting with both current Tuckies and alumni as I was researching the program. I would highly recommend reaching out to students at different programs to find out where you best fit in. A full-time MBA is a huge time and financial commitment, and you want to be sure that you are choosing the school that is the best for you, your family, and your goals.

What led you to pursue an MBA at this point and what do you hope to do after graduation? I spent nine years as a helicopter pilot and officer in the army and had the opportunity to travel to some amazing places and worked with the most incredible people. Last year, I spent a lot of time soul searching, and trying to map out what I wanted my life to look like for the next decade and beyond. I realized that I accomplished all of the goals that I set for myself in the military and knew that it was time to open a new chapter. My military experience helped me to develop soft skills, but I knew that I lacked the hard skills necessary to succeed in the business world and that an MBA was the ideal platform for me to pivot from the military into the civilian sector. I am hoping to pursue a career in consulting or general management and am embracing this opportunity to explore different career paths and find the one that is right for me.

What other MBA programs did you apply to? Harvard Business School, MIT Sloan, Cornell Johnson, Yale SOM

What advice would you give to help potential applicants gain admission into Dartmouth Tuck’s MBA program? Be yourself. Use the application process as a time for introspection and for you to find out what excites you, and how you can make a living from your passion. Be genuine and authentic in your application and show the admissions team how you want to make a difference in the business world. Reach out to both current Tuckies and alumni to gain their perspective on the program and what life is like in the Upper Valley.

DON’T MISS: MEET DARTMOUTH TUCK’S MBA CLASS OF 2024