Isabel Steffens

Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth

“I’m a Californian by blood but an East Coaster by heart!”

Hometown: Los Altos Hills, CA

Fun Fact About Yourself: I have an identical twin sister who just started at Dartmouth’s medical school.

Undergraduate School and Major: UC Santa Barbara, Economics

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Uber, Senior Operations and Logistics Manager

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. My favorite thing about meeting alumni is that they say the same thing every time: “Tuck was the best two years of my life!” My impression of Tuck students and alumni has always been that they are very well-rounded and interesting, which makes conversation so easy and fun.

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? Given the size of my undergrad school, I really prioritized a small program for business school. I think the small class size helps cultivate the community that Tuck is known for. Even just three weeks in, I feel close to my classmates and am excited for all that’s to come with my class.

What excites you the most about coming to live in Hanover? What is the one activity you can’t wait to do? One of the reasons I decided to come to Tuck is the accessibility to the outdoors in Hanover. Around six of my classmates and I run every Wednesday morning and then jump in the river before getting ready for our morning classes. I really don’t think there’s any other business school where it’s that easy to have high-quality outdoors time before class. During the winter I’m looking forward to diving into winter sports like skiing and snowshoeing.

What course, club or activity excites you the most at Dartmouth Tuck? One of our courses—Management Communications—requires us to stand in front of an audience and present every week. After our presentations, we get feedback from our classmates and professor. I’m so excited about this class and future management communications courses because one of my goals coming to business school was to graduate with strong public speaking skills. I’m so glad that only a few weeks in I am already tackling this goal.

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: At Uber, one of my main responsibilities was managing a program to ship drivers onboarding packages upon signing up to drive. When I joined, this program was highly executional. By the time I left, I had transformed the program to be a strategic lever of growth for the company. When I left Uber for Tuck in July, I left knowing that I created sustainable change from a driver-experience and driver-growth perspective.

What do you hope to do after graduation (at this point)? I’d like to work in a client-facing role within finance or go back into tech.

What other MBA programs did you apply to? Northwestern Kellogg, Berkeley Haas, NYU Stern, Michigan Ross, UVA Darden

What advice would you give to help potential applicants gain admission into Dartmouth Tuck’s MBA program? The first time I visited Tuck, I left Hanover with a strong feeling that it was the right program for me (in other words, I completely fell in love). If this is the case for you, make this known while interviewing! One thing that makes Tuck such a special place is that students whole-heartedly want to be there, and I think conveying that during your interview can be really valuable.

DON’T MISS: MEET DARTMOUTH TUCK’S MBA CLASS OF 2025