Calling all US Military Fall 2013 Applicants!

Blog post that's relevant for the position a lot of you are probably in right now: https://militarytobusiness.blogspot.com/2012/06/should-i-retake-gmat.html

This is the position I'm in. I was lucky and worked my separation date far enough from completing my commitment that I will at least get 30% eligibility. That was the best I could do though without taking another assignment and signing up for 2 more years.

Are you specifically referring to places like Sloan and Johnson where they have 14 and 21 slots respectively? I can definitely understand Johnson vets being hosed because it's attractive due to it's free tuition and being very military friendly (high acceptance rate). Is cost not much of a factor at all because of potential earnings, signing bonuses, and internships that help to alleviate the cost of tuition for you guys? I'm also assuming we get little to no financial aid and scholarships as well.

Based on my observations, schools that give merit-based scholarships don't care if you're already getting GI Bill money. I know of a few other vets in addition to myself (this year and last year) who got generous partial scholarship offers to Anderson and Haas that would have been completely independent of our GI Bill money. From what I gathered in some other cases as well, state schools (particularly if their military representation is low) tend to be more generous with merit-based offers.

If a school only offers money based on need, they'll look at all your assets, earnings for last three years, outstanding debts, etc. before offering you some combination of grants and loans. Even some the guys I know at HBS who are YR-eligible were still offered some Federal Stafford loans to cover the rest.

In the end though, going +/- $10-20K on your tuition isn't going to make a huge difference in your lifetime earnings. If going to a better school that is more closely aligned with your goals leaves you with a bit more debt it'll probably be a wash over the next few decades. The few exceptions I can think of are if you're planning on working in the non-profit world or want to start your own business and don't have the capacity to be hamstrung by student debt bills.

Hello all.

I am currently in the MIT LGO program and want to help advertise it a little to anyone interested. It is a dual MBA from Sloan and an SM in an engineering degree of choice from MIT. It also includes a fellowship with a minimum of 45% to a maximum of 80% of tuition covered. Then add in a partial benefit of the Post 9/11 and you're golden. You should have some kind of engineering/science/math undergrad background. If anyone wants any advice and lessons learned from my applications last year (from any school, including the ones I flubbed - I saw flubbed because looking back at my applications I could have definitely done better), feel free to PM me.

Also, 3x other USMA grads in my current LGO class group. It's kind of like a reunion of sorts. Didn't think we'd all make it when we met on interview day, but fortune smiled on us.

Hi all,

My name is Sonny. Profile below:

Background: I was born in Taiwan, my father passed away when I was 3, and my mother sent me to live with my aunt in the United States for several years. Soon after, my mother packed up our meager belongings and moved us to South Africa, where we lived for six years right before apartheid was repealed.

Ever since witnessing the abject poverty of black South Africans, I’ve grown a passion for pursuing a career to serve the indigent in developing economies. We moved to the United States in 1999. After I graduated from high school in 2004, I took a year off for training and enlisted in the Marine Reserves, hoping I’d get an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of people in Iraq or Afghanistan. From 2005-2009, while I was in the reserves I attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Upon completion of training, I was assigned to be a Financial Management Officer. I knew that wasn’t what I joined the Marine Corps to do, so I immediately volunteered for a deployment to Afghanistan as an Information Operations Officer, where I am currently serving now, conducting the Psychological Operations campaign to persuade the Afghan people in Helmand Province to work with the Afghan government and pursue legitimate socioeconomic development instead of siding with the Taliban and growing opium.



Stats:

Education: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (B.A. Political Science): I finished with an abysmal 2.84 GPA, partially because I worked full time because my mom couldn’t afford tuition, and I was chasing my dream of playing Big Ten Varsity Football. I was ultimately cut during Spring Training, ending my walk-on campaign. Additionally, I'm taking an online Calculus course through UC-Berkeley Extension while I'm on deployment, which I plan to receive an A in. I'll probably also take an Accounting course before I apply if it's going to help.

GMAT – 730 (47Q 42V), I plan to retake and score a 750+. I don't think I'll have a problem doing that.



Work – Led section of 35 Marines as the Assistant Separations Officer in the Disbursing Section in Camp Pendleton, California. Volunteered for deployment in Afghanistan and filled the billet of Regional Radio Officer (formerly held by a Major. I am currently a 1st Lieutenant, 2 grades junior), in charge of 8 direct reports and a Radio program with 2.3 million dollars of equipment that disseminates information from the coalition to Afghans throughout Helmand Province. Selected for promotion to Captain.



Extracurriculars –

- Actively participated in service projects for the poor such as Habitat for Humanity and Chicago Urban Project (volunteer spring break in the most poverty stricken neighborhoods of downtown Chicago) during undergrad.

- While stationed in San Diego, volunteered with a homeless shelter to tutor young children in math and English.

- Currently developing a plan to bring a prosthetics workshop to serve victims of Taliban roadside bombs in Southern Afghanistan with the Prostheses Foundation of Thailand and USAID.

- Developed stronger bonds between the Marine Corps and the local community by leading my section of 35 Marines to actively participate in the Habitat for Humanity Project in Oceanside, California


Goals – Land a position as Management Consultant at McKinsey/Bain/BCG. Hone my business acumen and establish strong network of contacts and start my own non-profit consulting firm that stimulates third world economic development by assisting small businesses with sustainable and innovative solutions. I believe that capitalism does play a vital role in combating global poverty, and "Net Impact" and "Social Responsibility" need to be much more than just the buzz phrases that they seem to be today.

Target Schools –

Round 1:

HBS

Kellogg

Booth

Ross

Fuqua

Darden

Possibly Round 2:

Haas

Anderson

Hi Guys,

I'll be attending Darden this fall along with many others that have military backgrounds. Please feel free to reach out with any questions that you have.

I was accepted at two schools (one public, one private) during last year's application cycles and selected Darden for the following reasons:

1. Former military officers and enlisted make up about ~8% of each class so I knew that I would have plenty of vets in the alumni database that would be willing to help.
2. The core curriculum is rather robust, which is something that appealed to me considering that I didn’t have a professional business background or exposure to business courses during undergrad.
3. The class size is smaller (a little over 300), which I thought would make it easier to develop meaningful relationships with a greater portion of the class.
4. Charlottesville is a pretty awesome place if you like the outdoors, being in a college town, and/or dislike the idea of shoveling snow (<--that last one should be a big selling point to those of you that have ever spent a winter at Ft. Drum or in RC-North/East).
5. My GI Bill went further here because Virginia’s a public school; additionally, the state allows all transitioning military personnel to claim in-state residency, thereby lowering the price tag a small amount.
6. I respected the fact that they only made me write one 500 word essay . There is only one question this year as well.

Darden is having several summer visit days commonly referred to as “Fridays in July” on 13, 20, and 27 JUL. I attended one of these and it was an invaluable way to not only communicate my interest in the school, but also to hear first-hand from students, faculty, and admissions about their various experiences.

Best of luck and please let me know if you have any questions or plan to visit.

Hey brother,

Applying to Darden Round 1. I'll be leaving RC(SW) for the rest of my life in early September, and I'll be visiting Charlottesville in mid-September.

Let's grab lunch and a few drinks if you'll be on campus? Then I can pick your brain a bit before I click "send" on the application.

My email is sonny.tai@afg.usmc.mil if you or anyone else wants to discuss anything b-school related.

Lonesoui,
If you're still interested, PM me your contact info as I have a resume book from Darden (albeit an older one) that includes resumes of 3-4 former military guys.

Army Nat'l Guard Guy here,

Any idea if the DD214 from Basic/AIT will qualify for the application waiver? From a technical standpoint, it is a release from Active Duty.

Hello everyone! I'm also applying this year for several of the MBA programs. My background is a little less "conventional military" and I have been out since 2004. I spent 6 years in the U.S. Navy as an enlisted Nuclear Electrician's Mate aboard fast attack submarines. After that, I was supposed to start college in Michigan (grew up near Detroit) but my daughter was diagnosed with cancer so my school plans were put on hold. Fortunately, she has been in remission for a few years now and I was able to finish my degree at Post University in Waterbury, CT this May.

During that time, I spent a little over 5 years working for a fuel cell company in Connecticut and quickly moved up to a shift supervisor position in the testing and conditioning department. After that I started working for ASCO division of Emerson Network Power as a Senior Engineering Service Representative. I basically take care of the Connecticut area and help with MA, VT, NH, RI, NY and ME when needed.

GPA: 4.0 in B.S. Computer Information Systems
GMAT: Taking it tomorrow (7/13/12 Yes, Friday the 13th)
Target School: MIT LGO
Other applications: Harvard round 2, Yale Round 2, UCONN Round 3

Hey fellas, on Monday, 3 September 2012, we are hosting a Veterans Open House to introduce active military and veteran applicants to the Darden School of Business and its three MBA formats: full-time MBA, MBA for Executives and the Global MBA for Executives.

The day will include:
• Welcome from Admissions representatives
• Distinguished veteran alumnus guest speaker
• Career Development panel
• Financial Aid information session with the UVA Veterans’ Affairs coordinator
• Class visit
• Lunch with Darden Military Association (DMA) members
• Tour of the Grounds
• Student life panel
• Pre-Open House gathering (drinking, war stories, etc.) on Sunday, 2 September with members of the DMA

To register for this event, please visit the Darden Admissions homepage and look for the blog entry dated 24 July. I would have simply cut and pasted the link, but GMATClub won’t let me until I have five posts.

hi,
Anybody has purchased the militarytobusiness.com's guidebook?? can anybody supply a review. I think this book should be useful to all of us if its good. there are soo many guidebooks in the market, should a veteran buy this??

I have not purchased any other guidebooks so I cannot compare it side-by-side to anything however I do find it very useful. I signed up for a full school package with MtB and received the guide as part of the package. I'm waiting until I've submitted my applications to provide a full review on the service but I can provide a short review for the guidebook.

First, at 106 pages it is quite long and full of information. I will be honest that I haven't read it cover to cover but I also don't believe that is really necessary. It contains a section for essays and a section with resumes. The essay portion takes up the largest part of the book and is well organized. It is broken up into sections detailing the "type" of essay question so you can quickly reference examples of the particular type of essay you are working on in your application. It also contains a follow-up to each essay explaining why they chose it, strengths and weaknesses and what could be improved.

I have found it eye-opening and can definitely see some areas for improvement in my essay writing. I would definitely recommend it to other military, especially those still on active duty who might struggle figuring out how to word their essays in business school language.

Hi! I'm a captain in the Army with four years in service, planning to apply for the fall of 2013. My question for everyone is about extracurricular activities. Am I the only one who has had no substantial community service or extracurricular activities outside of the Army? I was in a fraternity in college, and we did stuff for the community through our organization, but that's about all I've got. I haven't ran any marathons for a cause, or tutored any low income kids, or anything that I see a lot of people listing on this web site. Are people making this stuff up? I don't know anyone in the Army who does community service outside of their normal duties and obligations as Soldiers.

Just curious on what everyone's take is on this. I'm concerned that my extracurricular activities are non-existent, wondering if I need to address that in my applications.

Thanks.

I didn't have anything exceptional outside the military so I wouldn't worry about it too much or go out of your way to address it in the application. I know this is anecdotal evidence, but of the ~45ish vets in my HBS class I only know of one or two who had substantial community involvement during their active duty time. I think adcoms understand that our time is pretty occupied either deploying or preparing to deploy.

As a heads up for any of you considering applying to HBS this year, we'll be hosting our third annual Military Prospective Students Day on Friday, September 28. We normally do the event in the spring, but admissions decided to move it to the fall this year so we'd be able to reach R2 and R3 applicants before their application deadline.

Here's a blog post concerning the event: https://militarytobusiness.blogspot.com/ ... s-day.html

BLUF is that it's a great way to visit HBS, meet vets and admissions department reps, sit in on a few classes, and hear guest speakers and student panels talk about applying and the HBS experience from a veteran's perspective.

Registration isn't open yet but will be through the HBS admissions page, and if you've previously filled in their form capture and checked "military" as an interest you should be receiving an email notification about it soon. I'll post a link back on here once registration is live.

I had virtually zero extracurriculars for the duration of my time on active duty, as others above me did as well. Don't sweat it.

This event is on Labor day? I might make it down if it is