As a 1st year MBA student at Tuck, my first 3 months have been more intense than any other time in my life. More important is the fact that I am absolutely loving each and every day of my experience and looking forward to more.

Wonder why I say this? Below paragraphs provide a primer to the stimulating and transformative life we are experiencing at Tuck – intellectual, emotional and social.

Academics – While each professor is free to choose the teaching style (s) he/she thinks is best suitable for the course, professors coordinate among themselves to help students understand the correlation between different concepts. So we engage in case studies in some classes, while some classes are lectures and some are team based. For example, our Decision Science class is usually lecture based. But case studies in the class combine concepts from Statistics, Capital Markets and Economics. So, respective professors visit some sessions to co-teach the relevant concepts in Decision Science class. This helps us a lot in the holistic learning process and in connecting the dots.

Community – I have noticed a very unique and endearing style in which different groups of people engage with others here. Recently, our MBA program office arranged for small group Thanksgiving host dinners for international students who stayed back in Hanover during the break. (A blog post on the same is here).

If this is unique, our world renowned professors also showcase their individual styles in connecting with students. For example, Prof. Rogalski has small group lunch meetings to speak to all students, while Prof. Stocken has a knack of taking time to know about every individual at a personal level! Can you believe that?

Global family – Not only do students make lifetime friends here, but Tuck also ensures that students are part of the larger, Tuck family.

Our International Dinner night during Diversity conference, hosted by people from 30 different nations, was a huge success. We got to enjoy the delicacies and ethnic dishes, enthusiastically prepared by us for each other.

Not surprisingly, ours is a foodie class. A bunch of food enthusiasts inaugurated Tuck Tastes (a food club) this year. So we get to regularly enjoy different, amazing cuisines. It started off with a Russian dinner. Wonder how we find time to do this? Believe me – you get efficient!

A talk about Tuck is never complete without mentioning Tripod-hockey. It is an innate part of our culture. Whether you play hockey or not, you are in it.

Is that all? No way! Tuck life is integrated with after-hours gathering and events. Here’s where you get to know most of your classmates. You play, you talk, you have fun – and finally, you look back and smile.

This article is contributed by Ms. Arpita Dhanapathi, Class of 2015, Tuck School of Business.

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