Luke Anthony Peña, Tuck executive director of admissions and financial aid for the Tuck School of Business. Tuck photo
Don’t call him a gatekeeper. At Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business, Luke Anthony Peña is in charge of admissions, but there’s one title he’d very much like to avoid.
“We know about the stress and anxiety that the term ‘gatekeeper’ can create,” says Peña, whose official title is executive director of admissions and financial aid. “It’s a common term in the admissions lexicon and media coverage of admissions, and yet my colleagues and I think differently in light of the stress and anxiety that so many applicants have going through this process. I sometimes worry that ‘gatekeeper’ conveys to applicants that admissions officers hold all the power in this relationship, and I don’t believe that to be the case. I believe applicants are in charge of their own journeys — applicants hold the power of agency, applicants have control over when they apply, where they apply, how they choose to apply.
“It’s the thinking that when you apply to Tuck, you own how you state your candidacy, but our role is not to judge arbitrarily and authoritatively,” Peña tells Poets&Quants. “It’s to recognize and acknowledge how a candidacy aligns with our criteria. So I think differently about that term because I want applicants to feel like they are in the driver’s seat, and they have control over what they present and our job is merely to recognize greatness when it comes in the applications.”
NICE? TUCKS HAVE LONG DEFIED MBA STEREOTYPES
Peña came to Tuck from Stanford GSB, from which he graduated in 2012 before becoming director of MBA admissions. He served in that capacity for five years until joining Tuck in the summer of 2017. It didn’t take long for Peña to make an impact: just one year into his tenure at Tuck, the school was making headlines with its approach to admissions, particularly the focus on four key attributes linked to the school’s mission of wise leadership and collaboration: Tuck students, the school posits, are “Smart,” a nod to academic achievement and strong test scores; they have “Accomplishments,” to be revealed in resumes; and they have “awareness” and “niceness,” qualities which emerge in essays and interviews.
Nice? Tuckies have long defied MBA stereotypes in the nice department. Maybe it was the open interview policy at the school which allowed admissions officers to better evaluate the interpersonal skills of candidates. In one survey after another, applicants have long singled out the school as one of the few that gets to know its candidates best through the application process (see Most Transparent MBA Admissions: Tuck, HBS, Ross & Fuqua). Maybe it was the close-knit bonding that occurs in a highly collaborative culture where MBA students live, work and play together on a residential campus. Maybe it was being located in Hanover, N.H., where students can’t disappear into a big city.
The admissions changes reaffirm the school’s values and branding. They are a key development of Peña’s goal to make Tuck’s application process the most enjoyable and least stressful among top business schools. To that end, the school also reconfigured its essay and short-answer questions, announcing the changes at the end of June: “Tuck students are aware of how their individuality adds to the fabric of Tuck,” reads the first essay prompt. “Tell us who you are and what you will contribute.” And: “Tuck students are nice, and invest generously in one another’s success. Share an example of how you helped someone else succeed.” Both essays are 500 words. The four short-answer questions, requiring answers of 50 to 75 words, ask applicants about short- and long-term goals, how they developed those goals, and how Tuck can help them achieve those goals. Tuck also announced a set of new reference letter questions.
A B-SCHOOL APPLICATION WITH A HEART
Altogether, the new application could be described as a B-school app with a heart.
“My colleagues and I believe that the admissions criteria are really important markers and signs of what the admissions team is looking for,” Peña says. “We believe that the admissions criteria are reflections of the values and cultural of the school. We looked at our existing criteria and while they were accurate, we felt they didn’t match the spirit of accessibility and transparency that we’re proud of at Tuck, so we started thinking and discussing amongst ourselves, ‘How can we simplify and streamline the criteria in such a way that they are accessible, that they are digestible, that they are transparent, and that they are easy to understand for applicants?’
“We brainstormed with our admissions team, with our students, with our alumni, with our faculty, and we sourced a number of different descriptions for the Tuck community. Then we refined them to come to a few words that are simple in concept but rich in quality. And that’s how we arrived at our four new criteria, which we believe are perfect reflections of what has long defined the Tuck community.”
STEADY AS SHE GOES
Dartmouth Tuck ranked No. 10 in the latest U.S. News & World Report MBA rankings, down from No. 8 the year before. The school also ranked 16th in The Financial Times Global MBA Rankings. Its highest ranking is in the latest Poets&Quants list, where it has been No. 7 for the last two years.
Like most admissions directors, Peña says he doesn’t worry much about rankings. But he acknowledges that they have an undeniable impact on the school’s admissions process — not least in the caliber of applicant.
“I believe that many applicants use rankings to begin their search process, to identify schools that may have a sense of quality that they’re looking for,” Peña says. “I also believe that the discerning applicant will start their search and then quickly begin to form their own ranking. I often advise students that the best way to think about the ordinal arrangement of schools is not to rely on one particular ranking or another particular ranking prepared by somebody else — I encourage applicants to form their own ranking. Rank the schools according to your own preferences, your own criteria, and then prepare accordingly for the application process.”
THIS YEAR’S CLASS PROFILE EXPECTED TO STAY STEADY
As in the rankings, so too has Tuck remained steady in key metrics. The school’s Class of 2019 (the Class of 2020 profile will be published at the end of August, Peña says) was 44% women, 23% minorities, and 29% international (not counting dual citizens and permanent residents). All those metrics will stay steady for the next class, Peña says. Same goes for GMAT (Class of 2019 average: 722) and GPA (2019: 3.51). Tuck has 293 students in the Class of 2019 and expects 288 in the Class of 2020 — maintaining the school’s “distinct scale,” he says, adding that “the class size this year will return to what we believe is the right size for the Tuck School.”
“Our markers of quality are very consistent from last year,” says Peña, adding that MBA applications are actually up at Tuck, which he considers an encouraging sign in light of the waning popularity of the degree. “You can expect to see similar metrics along the lines of GMAT, GPA, etc. The Class of 2020 will be similarly strong to the previous classes. You should not expect to see great variation in the class profiles.”
Peña recently spoke with Poets&Quants about the changes and the Tuck experience, fleshing out what he thinks ‘nice’ really means and how some applicants have uniquely gotten his attention.
See the next pages for our interview with Luke Anthony Peña, which has been edited for length and readability.
Luke Anthony Peña. Tuck photo
Tell me about “nice.” Why is it important that Tuck MBA students be nice?
We announced the new criteria in June and we have been watching the reaction both externally and internally very closely. We are happy that the reaction both internally and externally has been overwhelmingly positive. Our alumni and our students feel that these words really capture the essence of the Tuck experience. The external constituents — our applicants in particular — have found this simplification and streamlined criteria to be very understandable, very accessible, and very intriguing. Certainly, many of the media publications that have picked up and covered the criteria have been curious and intrigued by the new words. Certainly the word “nice” has been the word that has attracted the most attention of the four.
I think this is exciting and appropriate — it’s quintessential Tuck. This has long been a particularly distinctive feature of the school. I will confess that we wanted to be thought-provoking with this word. We wanted to get people talking. We wanted people to see this word and be curious to learn more. We wanted them to ask, “When Tuck says they want nice candidates, what does that really mean?”
For us, “nice” means that our candidates will have practiced a habit of kindness. It means that applicants are invested not only in their own success but also in the success of others. We believe that the wise leaders of today and tomorrow acknowledge that the world’s most challenging problems are not solved alone. We believe that wise leaders work to build the right teams that will elevate outcomes and elevate our ability to tackle our world’s greatest challenges and problems. In order to build the right teams, our wise leaders need to engage others effectively, motivate others, empower others, and have empathy for the diverse experience of others — and in order to do that, we believe that our students should care for others, be kind to others, respect others, lift others up.
I’m also careful to note, being nice does not mean weakness. When you care about another person and are invested in that relationship, you have the courage to stand up to them. you have the courage to challenge them tactfully and thoughtfully, and you have the courage to act with principle with that person even when it’s not easy or convenient.
The wisest, nicest leaders will make not only themselves successful but the others around them as well.
When you accept someone who also gets accepted to one of your peer schools, say Columbia or Haas or Ross, who wins that fight more often? This is less a data question and more a sense of where those lucky students usually choose to go.
Tuck photo
I believe that it’s wide and varied, the places that people go. It’s very personal, a very individual decision. There are some students who are admitted that know Tuck was their top choice throughout the process, and they’re excited to be here the moment they receive admission. There are other students who have a very difficult decision, and we work with them and provide all of the great information about our community that we can. We admit every student with the hope of enrolling every person that we admit. That’s not always the case. (Tuck’s yield rate in 2017 was 48.8%.) Of course students sometimes choose to go other places, and yet I think because our candidates are looking at many different schools, it means we’re attracting students with a wide range of preferences and a diverse set of options. That to me is a sign of a great recruitment and selection process.
Relatedly, what is the pitch Tuck uses to get the students you want?
We believe very deeply in our mission of wise leadership to better the world of business. We are very clear that we want to not only train leaders but train leaders who practice wisdom. Wisdom to use means the combination of the aptitudes of confident humility, empathy, and judgment. And so we will tell students, “If you aspire not just to lead change but to be a wise leader, to change and impact the world, Tuck is a great place for you.”
I believe Tuck has a distinct combination of three factors: First, we focus exclusively on the two-year, full-time MBA. Tuck does not have a Ph.D. program, Tuck does not have an undergraduate program or a part-time program or an executive MBA. All of our faculty resources, our initiatives, and the classmates within the community are focusing on one another and pushing each other beyond their limits.
The second factor is the distinct scale at the Tuck School. We have 285 students, and this is a class size in which the students get to know each other very well and develop deep trust and collaborative, supportive relationships with one another. And so there is a sense of commitment and investment with one another that is unique among business schools. And then finally, of course, the location is distinct. Tuck is — acknowledging my bias — the best business school outside of a major market in the U.S.
This to me means Tuck is the very best school for a truly immersive experience. The students here study free from distraction and free from disruption, and focus fully on the transformative experience of the two-year MBA program. That allows our students to extract maximum value from the experience and leave very well-equipped to be the wise leader that they aspire to be.
What are some unique ways that students have gotten your attention?
Students can initiate their own interviews at the Tuck School, which means that students can show up on campus for interviews, particularly all throughout the fall and winter. The Tuck School is a very open place, so this means students pop into my office unannounced and without warning, which is delightful and fun. And so many times I will see applicants that I’ve met in cities all around the world and they surprise me to say hello, and I always enjoy when that happens.
Has there been a measurable impact on international student application volume since the election of Donald Trump? Have there been discussions in incoming classes the last two years about comfort level or any other related issue?
Our international application volume has been very steady over recent years, including this last year. We have not experienced the scope of decline in international volume that we’re seeing in some of our peer schools. I believe that this has much to do with the supportive community in Hanover. I believe that international applicants look at Tuck and see a community where they will be supported, where they will be safe, where they will be cared for by a community that is known for being supportive, helpful, and collaborative.
Certainly we’ve had many discussions on campus, among faculty and staff and students, about what we are doing to make sure that we are both welcoming and supportive to international students who have concerns about studying in the U.S. I believe that our Career Development Office, our career development team is absolutely fantastic at working individually with all students — particularly with international students — in how to navigate the dynamic and changing recruiting and job markets, so that they are well-positioned to understand what opportunities are available to them.
The most significant questions we get from international students, not surprisingly, are about employment opportunities and employment support, and the distinct scale of the school and the individual career coaching from our office has, I believe, alleviated many concerns and provided great confidence and comfort for our international students.
Thus far, we are fortunate to not have experienced meaningful declines in our international application volume.
What is the lowest GMAT of any class member, and what did they do different or offer different to get you to overlook the low score? Give people hope: What can be done to overcome a bad GMAT score?
Tuck photo
I checked our numbers and I’m comfortable sharing that we expect the low end of the GMAT range to be 620, same as it was for the Class of 2019.
We have taken deliberate steps to align each piece of our application directly to the criteria, the refined and simplified criteria. The first criteria is “Smart,” and we readily acknowledge that GMAT and GPA, test scores and grades, are measures of intellectual aptitude. And yet this is only part of what being smart at Tuck means. We believe that “Smart” means not just that you have intellectual aptitude, but that you also are resourceful and creative when you have reached the limits of that aptitude. So when we see applicants in our application pool that have lower grades or lower scores, our response is to ask ourselves, “Where else might we see this person as ‘Smart’ according to how we think of this at Tuck?” So we will be looking for creativity, resourcefulness — an awareness, from this applicant, of what they know and what they do not know, and then steps and behavior and actions in that applicant to seek out new knowledge, seek out answers, seek out how to supplement their aptitudes. And when we see that, that gives confidence that the applicant can be resourceful and creative within our community in terms of growing their knowledge and their capabilities.
It’s been a little over a year since you joined Tuck. Hanover, New Hampshire is very different from Palo Alto, California, where you last worked. What has the last year been like for you?
Everything that I had heard about the Tuck School and that the Tuck School is renowned for has proven to be true, and more. The welcoming, supportive nature of the community has been wonderful to me in supporting me and helping me transition and acclimating me to a new professional opportunity, and a new location. I have to mention first and foremost how amazingly wonderful the admissions team is. We’ve got a well-tenured, experienced admissions team that lives up to their reputation for being very caring and thoughtful. That same care and thought that they show our applicants, they have certainly given to me, and helped me feel very welcome and very comfortable and also hopefully learn and grow.
The dean of our school, Matt Slaughter, has an unparalleled energy, and he is channeling that energy into advancing our mission of wise leadership, into our current fundraising campaign, the Campaign for Tomorrow’s Wise Leaders, and in leading a curriculum review at the school. And so it’s exciting to see the vision and direction that he has set forth for the school.
And I’ll say on a personal note, Hanover is amazing and wonderful. I have found Hanover to be absolutely delightful. The interaction between Tuck and Dartmouth College and Hanover is very strong, and it is a beautiful place. The natural beauty of the Upper Valley is stunning and refreshing, and it is an extraordinarily high quality of life. It’s a welcome transition for me. I see myself being here and doing good work at Tuck for a very long time.
DON’T MISS CONSIDERING AN MBA AT TUCK? DON’T BE A JERK and MEET UC-BERKELEY HAAS GATEKEEPER MORGAN BERNSTEIN
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