Calling all US Military Fall 2015 Applicants!

Now that R1 interview invites are starting to go out, I'd like to make a plug for our interview prep services which are available for anyone who wants to be as prepared as possible for their interview.

The packages include 30 minutes of general interview strategy, 60-75 minutes of an actual mock interview (tailored to a particular school or schools if requested), then another 30 minutes of debrief and Q&A. You'll also get access to ~190 pages of interview AARs submitted by our military clients over the last four years which are invaluable.

Available here: https://www.militarytobusiness.com/purchase/

Did anyone in the military get a R1 interview invite from HBS?

Four of my clients did--I can give you vague information about their profiles if you're interested.

I'd be interested to see an overview of their profiles..thanks.

1. Pilot, 10 years active duty, 3.1 GPA in a tough major at service academy, 720 GMAT. Unique career goals, good community involvement, and strong personal story.
2. Comm officer, 4 years active duty, 3.2 GPA from Ivy-equivalent private school, 4-year varsity athlete, two banking internships before joining military, 710 GMAT. Fluent in Mandarin and has some pretty unique tech and international-specific goals.
3. Supply officer, 10 years active duty (returning to active duty post-MBA), 3.5 GPA from small liberal arts school, 780 GMAT.
4. Supply officer, 9 years active duty (also returning to military post-MBA), 3.6 GPA from large state school, 710 GMAT.

FROM MilitaryToBusiness.com: Duke Fuqua Symposium for Military Applicants

The following was submitted by a client of MilitaryToBusiness... As a separated service member who's now attended four prospective military applicant days at three different universities and researched several more, I can assure vets that all top business schools want you to apply to their school. However, Fuqua's Military Symposium stands above all other recruiting programs I've encountered.  Most other schools put on single day affairs, but the Fuqua Symposium includes three days of quality events.  Fuqua paid for hotel rooms (with roommates) for 57 veterans at a nearby Hilton for two nights and provided six meals along with two open bars.  Throw in unique Fuqua Military t-shirts for everyone and an event-specific military style coin, and you can consider me convinced that Fuqua is interested in increasing their veteran population.  As far as programming goes, Fuqua provided multiple hours of free access to six to seven members of their admissions committee.  A single committee member didn't just present, answer questions and then leave.  The admissions committee members spread out and sat at tables to engage as much as possible for several hours during the day.   It's easy for business schools to host student panels, but Fuqua also gathered a panel of six veteran industry alumni that included an entrepreneur, a manufacturing VP, a Deloitte partner, and a Goldman banker.  The fact that so many alumni were willing to return to Durham to help Fuqua's recruiting effort spoke volumes.   Unfortunately, there's no spring event, but for any veterans considering an MBA, I heartily recommend including Fuqua in your fall search.  Fuqua might not become your ultimate destination, but the quality of the programming throughout the three days will make the cost of the airline ticket or drive worth your while.  If you are already considering Fuqua, you can actually do your interview for any Round during the weekend, even if you haven't submitted your online application.   To all veterans, I hope you end up in an MBA program that you enjoy and feels like the right fit!

FROM MilitaryToBusiness.com: Cornell Military Preview Days Nov 13-14, 2014

The veterans at Cornell would like to invite you to their Military Preview Days. It seems that b-schools are leaning more and more into these events, and are competing for your attention. Below is from the Cornell Association of Veterans... Veterans make up just under 10% of the student population, but have a disproportionate impact on the community as many Veterans hold leadership positions throughout the student club ecosystem. We represent all four branches of the US military (Coasties too!) as well as a few international veterans from Greece, England, Israel, and Korea. On faculty, Bill Huling (Associate Dean, Alumni Affairs and Development), Jerry Rizzo (Director of Leadership Programs), and, of course, George Casey (Guest Lecturer) represent the Army, Marine Corps, and Army respectively. Cornell as a whole has a long history of military service, and boasts an active Tri service ROTC program.  We currently have 4 active service members at Johnson, a platoon sized force of children, and gaggle of Veterans receiving a dual degrees. The Association of Veterans is integrated into the Admissions process at Johnson and are happy to answer any and all questions, edit resumes/essays, talk admissions in general (not just Johnson, but other schools too). Our Guest speaker will be LtCol Chuck "Chim Chim" Dockery. Register here: https://www2.johnson.cornell.edu/forms/military_preview.cfm

FROM MilitaryToBusiness.com: Five reasons veterans should give law school a second look

Five reasons veterans should give law school a second look: Even if you never gave law school a first look, it deserves your consideration. My transition a la law school has had its highs and lows, but I couldn’t be any happier with my decision to attend. That being the case, I think law school is a great transition option for at least these five reasons: 1) Tactics 101 If you want to work in a highly competitive, adversarial environment, you should consider law. Just as the military required you to “put on the read hat” and sharp shoot a plan so you can always stay several steps ahead of your enemy, war gaming is fundamental to legal analysis. Anticipating the strongest counterarguments and identifying the weak points in your own arguments are crucial exercises, whether in class or legal practice. This starts on day one in law school. Moreover, what makes veterans great law students is their ability to confront opposition and conflict with that same calm, military bearing they learned in the service. Thinking on your feet in these situations is an essential skill and, as a veteran, one with which you’re well acquainted. 2) Discretion Lawyers are trusted counselors for their clients because of their honed ability to exercise discretion, and your military experience has given you a head start. After conducting a rigorous analysis and considering the breadth (or dearth) of possibilities and options, lawyers are frequently required to make tough calls and choose or recommend a course of action. This is doubtless something you’ve done before in the military, and your ability to tackle a complex problem, tune out background noise, apply the doctrine (much like a battle drill) and explain your charted course will be a familiar exercise. 3) Practical knowledge for life This point isn’t veteran specific but it is, in my view, one of the major pluses of law school: learning substantive material that will benefit you for life. Now, I certainly don’t want to create the expectation that you won’t be required to study arcane cases of no contemporary import—that’s definitelysomething you will do, a lot, in your first year, because your courses focus on getting students to “think like a lawyer” and they start from first principles. However, after crossing that bridge, you can take courses geared towards your interests or that will be most helpful to you outside of legal practice. By way of personal example: recognizing the only two certainties in life, I’ve taken courses in Estates and in Income Tax. Now, I have no intention of ever even drafting my own will, nor will I ever fill out my own tax forms. However, I am able to incorporate what I’ve learned from those classes in my personal life, whether it’s long term estate planning (which can go very wrong, even with relatively a simple estate plan), or day-to-day financial decisions and their tax implications. 4) Legal employers strongly value military experience. While this is true across many industries, it is especially true within the legal profession. Many JDs go straight from high school to undergrad to law school, or only take a year or two off in between. As a veteran you stand out because you already understand the hard work necessary to perform at a high level in your occupation. You have helped build and maintain strong, adaptable teams and worked under tight deadlines on challenging tasks. Perhaps most significant—much like military service, the practice of law requires adherence to a strict code of ethics. Don’t let pop culture’s relentless caricature of lawyers fool you, the overwhelming majority of lawyers take this very seriously; it’s the outliers that make the news. As a veteran, you already know what it means to choose the harder right and you understand the consequences of sacrificing integrity. 5) Law school offers an inroad to more career paths than pretty much any other professional degree. While the best reason—in my opinion—to attend law school is because you want to practice law, law school by no means locks you into the field. Outside standard JD-required jobs, you will find no shortage of JDs in high-power positions. Business, public policy, venture capital, consulting, academia—pretty much any career field that doesn’t otherwise require specialized education is accessible for JDs (check out the end of this 2011 post for some related discussion). Additionally, you can still network with MBAs during law school. All top law schools have top MBA programs and many, if not all, have student-veteran affinity organizations. The veteran nexus makes networking that much easier. Everyone goes to law school for different reasons. Whether you were dead-set on becoming a lawyer before joining the military or are just now considering it for the first time, the legal profession needs more veteran representation and it would benefit from your addition!

Hey guys,

So, checking back in here. I'm looking for some advice, particularly from those familiar with military applications.

I bombed my 2nd GMAT attempt....660. I got 680 on my first attempt back in August and pushed my apps from R1 to R2 so that I could improve that score. So much for that....

Anyways, I'm looking for some advice. Technically, I could retake a third time. But I need to apply by R2, and I'm just getting the applications started right now. Five schools...HBS, Haas, UCLA, UW-Foster, and one more top 5 school (Booth or Wharton or MIT). So studying for and retaking the GMAT on top of 5 apps is probably....unwise.

So, all that being said...do you guys think I have a shot at these schools? I included UW-Foster because I am from Seattle, and a 680 is already above their average....I figure UW would be a good safety. Plus I'm interested in tech and Foster fits. Originally, I had Stanford in that spot....but I am not going to waste my time applying with a sub-700 there

For reference....I'm a nuke/submarine officer, 3.56 GPA from the Naval Academy. Will be at 7 years when I get out. Nothing else really noteworthy in my app (I was top-ranked and all that, so I don't think I'm barking up the wrong tree here).

If anyone wants to read my full GMAT experience, you can check it out here. It is long though....
long-post-i-reported-lower-score-on-a-retake-was-this-a-mistake-187525.html

Thanks in advance. I'd really appreciate any advice.

Since you don't have time to retake the GMAT I would make your 5th school something more in the Michigan/Texas/USC/UNC range rather than another top 5. HBS and Haas are already in the "stretch school" range so it doesn't make much sense to add another school with similarly long odds. UCLA is doable but not an almost-sure-thing like UW is, which means having another school where you have a ~50-60% change of admission would be a smart move.

Michigan in particular has been admitting a lot of military lately--something like 9-10% of its last few classes--and you can see here that they're placing plenty people at Amazon: https://poetsandquants.com/2014/10/23/am ... s-14-mbas/ (though it doesn't break down who's doing tech vs. ops vs. supply chain management etc.)

Texas is also a good fit for tech given its integration with the rest of the UT campus and the tech/startup scene in Austin.

FROM MilitaryToBusiness.com: MIT Sloan Webinar by veterans for veterans... (5 Nov 2014)

What:  Webinar with veteran and active duty Sloan MBA students to discuss the decision of leaving the military, applying to business school, deciding where to accept and how to afford the tuition, MBA life, and expected career trajectories after graduation. When:  5 November, 2014, 8pm Why: Promote the Sloan MBA to eligible veterans and active duty service men and women who are interested in pursuing business education after their service obligation or during active duty. Who:  Brian Kirk: Former Navy Submarine Warfare Officer, Sam Perilik: Active Duty Army Ranger, Kellen Mollohan: Former USMC officer Where:  Google Hangouts will be used to launch the Webinar.  Interested parties can sign up at the below link: https://register.applyyourself.com/?id=mit-mba&pid=889&eID=45492&rid=1

Interview invites have been rolling out. How are the military guys fairing so far? Do we get put into the "military" bin prior to or after interviews? I've been wondering if there are any military trends of note during this portion of the application process.

I did mock interviews with two Navy officers who were admitted to Columbia via early decision and one Marine who interviewed at Tuck last spring prior to deploying. Have done one HBS mock interview and have three more HBS and one Booth mock interview pending, so nothing to report on them yet.

As far as the "bin" question, I'm not exactly sure what you mean. But my guess is that most schools have a rough # of military (and PE, and IB, and consulting, and Chinese/Brazilian/German/Aussie) applicants that they'd like to have in each admitted class, so they invite about 2x that number to interview then trim down to their admits after considering the interviews along with everything else.

Looks like a couple of my Supply Officer buddies will be interviewing at HBS...nice! We are all part of a group that were picked up for full scholarships while retaining our active duty status. I applied EA to Tuck and I'm currently deployed, so I'm waiting on an interview invite.

My top three targets are MIT, Kellogg, and Ross. So far so good - self initiated at Kellogg and received invites from both Sloan and Ross. Headed to campus on the 10th and 21st respectively.

I also really enjoyed my visit to Darden - no word from them yet - I saw you and others got invites today - congrats!

As far as the "bin" - I think we are in the "diversity" bin as soon as they get our ap.

Darden invite just came!

Posted from my mobile device

https://blog.militarytobusiness.com/2012 ... chool.html

Can anyone confirm that these numbers still reflect reality? Anyone aware of a more up to date compilation?

The financial factors are definitely going to weigh-in as we begin to gain acceptances and have to make important decisions as to where to attend.

As far as I know those numbers are still fairly accurate but, realistically, financial factors should be the least of your concerns when you're deciding where to go to school. Even if you're only at the 40% GI Bill rate that's much more money than your non-veteran classmates will be getting, and it's not difficult to cover the balance with fellowships and private loans.

When you're plotting out the next 30-40 years of your career (and all the earnings that go along with it), a few thousand dollars one way or another in tuition is very insignificant as compared to the upside of attending the best school you're admitted to.

Financial factor is not the biggest factor but it is relevant (otherwise, why even put it on your site?). If the decision came down to Haas or Darden then finances play no role in the decision, however if it came down to Haas or Sloan then it would definitely come into play. The link shows that some private schools are able to offer more than others and I was just wondering if this fluctuates at all. As a person who is still paying down undergrad loans and the wife's grad school loans, finances are even more relevant for me.