Ouch. What's your branch/what's your relationship like with your branch manager? He'd probably be the best guy to advise you.

All my round 1 applications are in. Commence the waiting game.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fWvub_WBho

I'm curious to hear the thoughts of the group on USC Marshall's Masters of Business for Veterans (MBV).

Feel free to Google it, I can't post a link because I'm new here...

I know this has been discussed before but does anyone know how the yellow ribbon program works? Do some veterans really get hosed for a year because the spots fill up?

I'm trying to figure out how common it is. I'm not sure if I would rather just stick to applying for private schools in order to make the most of my GI bill. I'd rather not get stuck with a 70k+ bill because I couldn't get the yellow ribbon match.

Number of Yellow Ribbon slots vary widely from school to school--but since most vets at MBA programs tend to be service academy or ROTC grads who did 5-6 years of active service, a large number of YR spots go unclaimed. The only people who get them are enlisted vets, guys who went through OCS, and academy/ROTC guys who stayed in for 3+ years after their initial obligation.

Best bet is to talk to vets at your prospective schools and see if they know the answer, or if they can refer you to someone in the FinAid department who handles vets' cases.

Thanks for the replies. I mistakenly wrote in my post about applying to only private schools when I meant public. The schools I'm looking at have 20 spots or so. I would just hate to get in and expect to get 20K in yellow ribbon payments and end up having to pay out of pocket when a similar caliber school would have been free. I'll try and get into contact with the veteran associations at the school.

One more question for those that have BTDT. What is your opinion on rank vs location of where you would like to live? I really like what Darden has to offer and, assuming I could get in, would be grateful to attend there. But, I'm from Hawaii and my wife is from Califonia and I plan on living in SOCAL. Would I be setting myself up for failure attending a school on the opposite coast?

Yes in that case I can see how the money would play a bigger role. Will you be coming off Active Duty directly into the MBA program? One interesting piece of info is that the state of Virginia will allow you to declare residency in Virginia to attend school when you leave AD. Which means you can get Darden for a free ride even without the Yellow Ribbon program. That is a pretty good deal if you think you are competitive there. I would encourage you to not sell yourself short either. I have a 3.03 GPA in engineering from a state school and got into Columbia despite that being well below their average GPA and "pedigree" for undergrad institution. The military experience gives you some great leadership so if you have the time it never hurts to throw in a hail mary school or two. Here is a good right up of where your GI Bill will get you at some top programs:

http://militarytobusiness.blogspot.com/ ... chool.html

If you know you want to be in SoCal, I'd say you'd be better off going to UCLA or Haas (or possibly USC) than a Darden/Duke level school. You mentioned you're targeting schools in the 10-20 range, which tend to be more regional in their job placement. Not to say it's impossible to get a west coast job out of Darden/Duke (or an NYC investment banking job out of UCLA) but you'd have to do a lot more legwork and traveling to make it happen. Proximity is a big advantage, which I've seen with plenty of my classmates trying to get into the Silicon Valley tech/startup scene. A Stanford or Haas student who can drive 30 minutes up the road for networking events has an easier time finding those kinds of internships or jobs, just like a Stern or Columbia student can easily attend those types of events with NYC banks and PE shops.

Not necessarily. IMHO, it's easier to go from an east coast school to a west coast job than vice versa. Sure UCLA is your top choice as you'll be covered under the GI Bill and be in SOCAL, but here are some other schools to consider that recruit surprisingly well on the west coast, are covered under the yellow ribbon, and are in that 10-20 range:

Darden (unlimited yellow ribbon participants):
13% placed in the west region (3rd behind Northeast - 35% and Mid-Atlantic - 18%)
http://www.darden.virginia.edu/web/MBA/Career/Employment-Reports/

Ross (unlimited yellow ribbon participants)
23.8% placed in the west (though only 1.9% in LA - 2nd behind mid-west 34.3%)
http://www.bus.umich.edu/Admissions/MBA/Careers.htm

Duke (40 yellow ribbon slots - I don't think they even have 40 enrolled at a time)
http://www.fuqua.duke.edu/mba_recruiting/recruiting_duke/employment_statistics/
17% placed in the west region (3rd behind Northeast at 29% and South at 20%)

Granted those numbers don't blow you away, but by comparison, here's UCLA's employment report:
An astounding 71.1% in California, with 47.5% of the class staying in socal. The next largest region is the Northeast at 7.4%.
http://www.anderson.ucla.edu/x37212.xml

As you can see, schools in the east and mid-west tend to place people all over the place with a more even distribution, whereas UCLA's California placement dwarfs the rest of the regions combined. Not that it's a bad thing, it's just the reality.

Best of luck with the school search!
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fWvub_WBho

If anyone is planning on applying to Tuck in the January Round (or heck, the November Round if you were impacted by Super Storm Sandy), recommend staying at the Hanover Inn for your interview. They're giving 50% to active duty military.

http://www.hanoverinn.com/hanoversalute.html

Yes, the only parking available is valet, and it'll still be more expensive than if you stay at a hotel in the surrounding area, but walking to Tuck the morning of my
interview and not having to deal with parking shenanigans made it worth it.
_________________

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fWvub_WBho