“There is no better way to prepare the business world than the full-time MBA”
------Interview with Tuck Dean Paul Danos
About Tuck School of Business The Amos Tuck School of Business Administration was founded in 1900 at Dartmouth College, in Hanover, New Hampshire and is the oldest graduate school of business in the world. Tuck offers only one degree program, the Master of Business Administration, alongside shorter programs for executives and recent college graduates. It co-operates with a Master of Engineering Management offered by Dartmouth's Thayer School of Engineering and also offers a number of dual degrees, including a joint MD/MBA in conjunction with the Dartmouth Medical School, an MSEL/MBA with the Vermont Law School and a MALD/MBA with The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.
The school was established by Edward Tuck, and was originally named the Amos Tuck School of Administration and Finance (in memory of his father). In 1941, the official name was changed to the Amos Tuck School of Business Administration.
The MBA program at the Tuck School has been ranked first for several years by The Wall Street Journal, and is also currently ranked first by Forbes. Tuck has consistently been ranked among the top ten business schools in the world by BusinessWeek, U.S. News & World Report, and the Financial Times. Tuck, Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, and the Columbia Business School are the only US business schools currently ranked in the top ten of each of these five major publications. These five publications are the main ranking systems in which the top business school programs participate.
Interview Xing Zong: The Tuck School is the first graduate school of management in the United States. At the turn of the 20th century, the plan to establish a school of business with the status of a graduate department was bold and unorthodox. It is such a vision at that time! Do you agree? Danos: Yes. The idea of a graduate business school in 1900 was novel and met a need that has mushroomed into the massive world-wide MBA market of today.
Xing Zong: Dean Danos, in your opinion, what is the real value of a MBA degree? You once said “the MBA is changing people’s lives.” Could you please be more specific? Danos: I believe that the MBA model has been so successful for 107 years because it allows excellent young people to change the emphasis of their careers. Engineers can become bankers, school teachers can become marketing executives, and even journalists can become strategic consultants. I have seen such transformations thousands of times, and it is very exciting to see.
Xing Zong: Tuck is located in Hanover, N.H., the center of New England, which is geographically apart from the center of industry. Do you think this is a disadvantage compared with NYU, Chicago, those located in big cities? In other words, how to make a great business school that is far away from big cities? Danos: Tuck is all about learning and there is no better formula than putting high-potential students in front of a faculty of world renowned thought leaders in such an intimate and intense environment. We believe in building close relationships and maximizing the intensity of the access to others' minds.
Xing Zong: One striking characteristic of Tuck is its small size. Each year, Tuck only admits around 200 students. Why such a small number? In an age of rapid growth and fierce competition within the business education industry, do you face pressure to expand your program? Danos: We believe that our 240 students per year allows everyone to know the other and to learn and draw from all of their collective life and business experiences. Also, it allows us to give so many extras in the educational process. We have more small-scale classes where the students learn from the faculty and each other in ways that are impossible at a large scale. We give personal attention in leadership development and preparation for employment. No top school can match our care for each person.
