Dartmouth Tuck School of Business MBA Essays + Analysis 2025 - 2026

Dartmouth Tuck has released its MBA essay questions for the 2025 - 2026 application cycle. Essay 3 has changed this year.

Here are the new Dartmouth Tuck MBA essays, with analysis, for 2025 - 2026.

Dartmouth Tuck MBA Essay 1

Why are you pursuing an MBA and why now? How will the distinct Tuck MBA contribute to achieving your goals and aspirations? What particular aspects of Tuck will be instrumental in your growth? (2000 characters)

Tuck’s career goals essay has a lot going on. The prompt is essentially asking you three big questions:

• Why do you want to get an MBA?

• Why is now the right time in your career?

• Why is Tuck the ideal place for this journey? Specify those aspects of the Tuck MBA that will help you grow.

With a character limit of only 2000 characters (which is approximately 300-330 words), you’ll need to structure your essay well to keep it tight while answering all parts of this question. 

Start With the "Why MBA": Don’t dive straight into listing out your goals. Instead, begin with a short, meaningful story in the SCAR format or a reflection that shows how you realized where you want your career to go. Maybe it was a challenge at work that sparked a new interest, or a volunteer project that inspired you to think bigger. 

Use this story to show what motivates you: what is the larger mission of your career? Think of this as your “North Star”: a clear purpose that connects your past, present, and future. That way, when you briefly recap your short-term and long-term goals (which you’ve already outlined in Tuck’s short answer section), they’ll be connected to something greater. 

Keep Tuck’s vision in mind: to shape wise, decisive leaders who improve the world through business. So if your story touches on leadership, strategic thinking, or creating positive impact, it can show better fit with Tuck’s MBA. 

Why Now: Next, why do you need an MBA at this moment in your career?

To tackle this, you’ll need to reflect on what you’ve already achieved in your current role or industry. What experiences or skills have prepared you for your next step? 

Now, what are the gaps you still need to fill? Whether it’s learning how to lead cross-functional teams, building financial acumen, or developing a deeper understanding of global markets, specify what’s lacking in your current role.

Think of this as showing the AdCom that you’ve outgrown your current toolkit and are ready for a transformational experience like Tuck.

Why Tuck: Once you’ve identified what you need, it’s time to explain why Tuck, specifically, is the school that can help you build those skills and move toward your goals.

Here’s where many applicants go vague; don’t be that person. Avoid generic mentions of “collaborative community” or “world-class faculty.” Instead, dig into specific aspects of the Tuck MBA program that match your career goals and learning style.

This could include:

• A particular course or elective (e.g., “Leading Through Innovation” or “Strategic Decision Making”)

• Centers or initiatives (like the Center for Business, Government & Society, or the Revers Center for Energy, Sustainability, and Innovation)

• Student-led clubs tied to your target industry (such as the Tuck Consulting Club or Women in Business)

• Global experiential programs or consulting projects

• Small class size and tight-knit campus community that fosters mentorship and collaboration

And don’t just drop names and centers in your essay. Explain why these resources matter for your goals specifically.

For this, you can connect with current Tuck students or alumni, especially those in your target post-MBA role. Ask them what surprised them, what helped them the most, and how they leveraged the Tuck experience. Weaving in insights from these conversations adds depth to your essay and shows real interest.

You can also mention Tuck’s location and campus, if it fits into your goals or what you value in an MBA program. Tuck is one of the few top business schools with a truly immersive, rural campus experience. While it’s just a few hours away from major cities like Boston and New York, Tuck is nestled in Hanover, New Hampshire.

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Dartmouth Tuck MBA Essay 2

Tell us who you are. How have your values and experiences shaped your identity and character? How will your unique background contribute to Tuck and/or enhance the experience of your classmates? (2,000 characters)

The second Tuck MBA essay flips the spotlight onto you. How can you give back to the school? 

This is your chance to show the Admissions Committee who you are beyond the resume. It’s your opportunity to share what makes you you, and how you’ll enrich the close-knit, collaborative Tuck MBA community.

Tuck is looking for leaders who care about the impact they have on others. They want to admit students who will be active, generous contributors to their culture, and frankly, who aren’t boring and have something unique to bring to the table!

Tuck’s values are your roadmap here. The school specifically looks for applicants who can be:

1. Personal: Demonstrate that you are self-aware, reflective, and authentic. You understand your own values, what drives you, and where you want to grow.

2. Connected: Show how you can build trusting relationships, collaborate effectively across backgrounds and cultures, and contribute meaningfully to communities.

3. Transformative: What is the positive impact you want to have on both your career and in the world?

Here’s a structure we recommend: 

Personal story: Rather than leading with a list of clubs you plan to join, ground your essay in a story. Pick an experience – personal, professional, or extracurricular – that reveals something authentic about you. This doesn’t need to be flashy, but it should be something meaningful to you.

For example, maybe you:

• Mentored a first-generation college student because you once had a mentor who changed your life

• Organized a community fundraiser that brought together different groups for a common cause

• Took a risk by stepping into a leadership role outside your comfort zone, and grew from the challenge

• Supported a colleague through a tough time and learned the value of empathy and listening

Once you’ve chosen your story, walk the reader through it using the SCAR framework (Situation – Challenge – Action – Result). Make it vivid. Help the AdCom understand not just what happened, but how it shaped you and what it taught you about yourself and your values.

Remember that this isn’t a second career goals essay! The focus here is your character and community engagement, not your professional ambitions. Extracurriculars make for great Tuck Essay 2 fodder.

What you will contribute to Tuck: Use these experiences, highlight the unique perspective, mindset, or experiences that you’ll bring to Tuck.

Avoid saying things like, “I’ll contribute to diversity at Tuck,” or “I’ll bring my global perspective.” Instead, be specific.

For example:

• If your story involved mentoring or education equity, you might want to work with local school programs through Tuck Gives or the Center for Business, Government & Society.

• If your experience centered on mental health awareness, you might talk about launching a new initiative or workshop through Tuck’s student wellness initiatives.

• If you learned the power of storytelling in building empathy, maybe you’ll start a speaker series that brings students and alumni together to share vulnerable career lessons.

It’s not just what you’ll do. It’s why it matters to you, and how it connects to your past experiences and growth.

In our experience, it’s best to talk to current students or alumni to learn what roles are available in student-led clubs, career development initiatives, and social impact efforts. This will give your essay depth and credibility.

Dartmouth Tuck MBA Essay 3

Describe a time when you meaningfully invested in someone else’s success without immediate benefit to yourself. What motivated you, and what was the impact? (2,000 characters)

Like many other US business schools, Tuck has chosen to tweak their Essay 3’s application prompt to shift an explicit focus on DEI to a more community and collaboration based prompt that essentially asks the same thing. 

Tuck wants to see how you lead with empathy, support others without expecting something in return, and help create an inclusive, values-driven environment, just like you'll need to do during your MBA.

Tuck wants to know:

• Do you actively help others grow?

• Can you lead with values?

• Will you be a collaborative, impact-driven peer at Tuck?

  
  

Again, use a story in the SCAR format to paint a picture for the AdCom. Pick an example where you:

• Helped someone else succeed, even if it didn’t benefit you

• Acted based on your personal values (e.g., fairness, equity, inclusion)

• Saw a real, tangible impact from your support

  
  

If you're from an underrepresented background, focus on how your lived experiences motivated you to help others. If you're from an overrepresented background, focus on allyship, including examples when you used your influence to elevate someone else.

1. Situation – Set the scene. What was happening? Who was involved?

2. Challenge – What was the issue? Why did it matter?

3. Action – What did you do? What steps did you take?

4. Result – What changed? What was the impact on the person or team?

End by analyzing the situation: How will you continue to invest in the success of others? 

If you have room, you can choose to connect this story back to Tuck (but given that the first two essays are focused on the school, you can keep it brief). 

Dartmouth Tuck MBA Optional Essay

Please provide any additional insight or information that you have not addressed elsewhere (e.g., atypical choice of references, factors affecting academic performance, unexplained job gaps or changes). Complete this question only if you feel your candidacy is not fully represented by this application. (2,000 characters)

Like the prompt says, answer this question only if you feel your candidacy is not fully represented by your application. Don't add information here just because you have an extra 300 words to work with. 

Topics that you can discuss in your optional essay include employment gaps, your choice of recommenders, low undergraduate GPA or GMAT/GRE scores, any criminal records or expulsion from school, or any other extenuating circumstances that may affect your application. Reapplicants will have a separate question to discuss their reapplication.

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