BigRedEnvEng wrote:
Hey all - finally getting plugged into this thread.
Army officer here in the Corps of Engineers and in the midst of putting together my applications. All the schools to which I'm applying are in Europe, so unfortunately don't think I can take advantage of the GI bill, although I will research this further to verify (any knowledge about this from anyone on this thread?).
I have a few questions with which I'm hoping you all can help.
- What's the best way to indicate my military experience on the applications? On my resume it's broken up by position, but since I had 3 positions while on active duty and have had 2 civilian positions, this requires 5 lines for my resume, which many schools don't offer in the online application systems. What's the best way to combine all your military experience into one "position?"
- Have any of you served in the Reserve? Do you include this in your "hobbies and other activities" section? What's the best way to indicate this?
- Not quite as related to applications, but a question that's been seriously weighing on my mind. Are any of you staying in the Reserve while going to the MBA program full-time? I'm in the midst of trying to figure out what to do. I sent draft paperwork to resign my commission and get out entirely, which I do think is probably better, but is difficult to come to terms with. But if I stay in the Reserve, I'm not sure I'd be doing my unit or the Army any justice. Any insight from others who have been in this position would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks and Happy belated Veterans Day!
You can definitely use your GI Bill online. The institution has to be approved, and you can find a list of pre-approved programs on the GI Bill website. If it's not approved, then you can ask that it be approved. I don't know what the guidelines are, but I think you should be good if the school is generally accredit. As long as it would be recognized by a US institution you should be good. However, in general with the GI Bill you should always be prepared to support yourself for at least the first semester and going to an unapproved institution will only add to that.
I was in the reserves for 2 and a half years after I got off active duty in 2005 for similar reasons. It was an utter waste of time and incredibly frustrating. It's honestly a function of the unit you get into and whether or not they do good things. I signed up to be an instructor, which would have been cool, except the unit neglected to tell me that they were transitioning away from that mission to one that still remained undefined when I left 2 and a half years later. To top it all off, they wouldn't sign off on my transfer out of the unit once I got there so I was stuck. I'm not telling you not to do it, but just be weary about where you're going and what you'll be doing.
It was also a huge hassle when it came to school, and resented how much it took me away from interacting with people in my program and interfering with things like midterms and finals. A huge part of a MBA program is your ability to network and work in groups. I'd imagine you'd have similar experiences.
I just list it as another position. For space you can just put your branch/mos with years served and just highlight the different positions in a bullet or incorporate it into your statements (i.e. Supervised X soldiers as Company commander...Developed operational processes as Planning officer at whatever )