Dartmouth Tuck MBA Application Essay Tips, 2025–2026
Known for its extremely close-knit, down-to-earth community, Dartmouth Tuck wants to learn about you and how you will contribute to and support the individuals in it. Through its application essays, Tuck asks you three questions intended to highlight aspects of you that are not conveyed in the other parts of your application. Take the time to assess what is included in your resume and the short answers of the application, as well as what your recommenders might say, to identify your best stories for the school’s essays.
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)
Interestingly, Tuck has transitioned from word to character limits this year. However, this doesn’t significantly change the way you should think of this essay and imposes approximately the same constraint. Approach this essay as you might other goals essays. Think about roughly splitting your allotted word count between outlining your goals and why you need an MBA to achieve those goals, including why now is the right time for you to pursue this degree, and explaining why both Tuck’s culture and specific resources are essential for you to achieve those goals.
The “why MBA” element of your essay should include what you want to do after Tuck (your short-term goal) and where that will aspirationally lead you (your long-term goal). For your short-term goal, be specific — include an ideal role and company, and provide a reason you want to do this work. For example, “I want to transition within the energy sector from a corporate finance role into investment banking at a firm like Goldman Sachs so I can influence future energy investments into renewables.” From here, you might go on to explain what skills you need from an MBA and why now is the right time to earn yours. Consider what skills will help you land your post-MBA role that you might need to improve and how you want to grow as a leader.
Consider starting the “why Tuck” portion of your essay by identifying which specific Tuck classes, clubs, conferences, and/or experiences will help you gain the skills you identified. A significant part of your learning at Tuck will be experiential — outside of the classroom — so make sure to include how you will be involved at the school apart from your coursework.
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? (2000 characters)
With this essay, Tuck wants to understand what unique perspective you will bring to classroom discussions and the Tuck community and how you will share that background with your classmates. This is an opportunity to highlight your values and discuss how you will apply them at Tuck. Consider splitting this essay between your values/experiences and how you will leverage them to contribute to the school and classmates. Reflect on what is unique about you that can add to the class.
Consider starting this essay with a story that illustrates your values and then explain to the admissions committee how and why this story reveals who you are. How will your values influence the perspective you bring to class discussions? How will you contribute through your involvement in the clubs and experiences at Tuck? Don’t be redundant from the first essay — this is an additional opportunity to showcase how you want to be involved as a Tuck student. Pick something that allows you to show how you will apply something from your past to build on what already exists at Tuck. For example, if you want to move into healthcare, perhaps you would pull together a panel of hospital administrators through the Healthcare Club to talk about the biggest technology changes that are affecting them. This way, you gain knowledge, you bring knowledge to your classmates, and you might even walk away with some relationships that could help in recruiting!
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? (2000 characters)
This essay prompt is slightly updated from last year but still generally requests the same information: how have you helped someone else out for their benefit, not yours? Consider using the SCAR method (Situation, Challenge, Action, and Result) to present your story in this essay. Your actions should showcase how you helped facilitate an accomplishment for someone specific. Highlight the steps you took. Tuck values collaboration and working together to solve problems, so this is a great opportunity to highlight your ability to support others empathetically. It is more impactful to “show” how you helped enable someone’s success by offering an example and including what you learned from the situation, rather than merely talking about success at a high level.
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. (2000 characters)
The optional essay is one that should be used judiciously. If you feel your application conveys a complete, accurate picture of who you are as a deserving Tuck candidate, then you are best off not submitting an optional essay. There is little to be gained from adding to the admissions committee’s workload by asking them to read another essay that doesn’t answer something new. But if you have something that warrants explanation, this is your chance to clarify it for the admissions committee.
Reapplicant Essay: (To be completed by all reapplicants) How have you strengthened your candidacy since you last applied? Please reflect on how you have grown personally and professionally. (2000 characters)
Ideally, in the time between your previous application and now, you have assessed areas of your candidacy and career that could be improved in this application — and have taken steps to fill those gaps. Tuck wants to know not only that you bring new experiences to the table this year but also that you are not easily deterred by setbacks and continue to strive toward your goals. Outline for the admissions committee what you have done, gained, and learned since you last applied. Highlight what new skills or experiences you bring to Tuck and how you will use them to contribute to your classmates’ experiences. For more tips on writing a reapplicant essay, see Six Tips for Business School Reapplicants.
In Stratus Admissions’ How to Get into Dartmouth Tuck, you will find information on a variety of the MBA program’s offerings, such as the OnSite Global Consulting program, First-Year Project, Tuck Winter Carnival, and small group dinners. This free guide also includes class profile statistics.