Calling all US Military Fall 2010 Applicants!

Welcome to all the recent posters here and also congrats to those recent admits. My application season is done: after being dinged at Kellogg and w/l at Booth, I was excited to be accepted to Wharton. With a few more apps already submitted, I'm still in a holding pattern for now but it's nice to start figuring things out. For those of you applying right now in R2, here's two things I learned:

- As a military applicant, you've got a great foundation of experience. Along with solid academics and a good test score, you'll have a shot at the top schools. But even though it might seem extremely obvious, the time and effort you put into essays and interview prep is going to make the difference. Of my R1 apps, each result was related to the quality of my final complete app (self assessed of course).

- I definitely thought the biggest challenge throughout the process was translating military to business. See lakai777's recent posts for some good concrete examples. If your essays and interview can clearly and specifically convey how your experience will let you be successful later on, then your military background will have the maximum impact. Otherwise, you'll be hoping that the general perception "military=leadership=success" will carry you through. When there's lots of military applicants, that alone won't be enough.

As a parting thought, keep charging ahead. Don't get discouraged by dings or waitlists. Put the effort in so you're confident that your final app represents who you are and what you're capable of.