Calling all US Military Fall 2012 Applicants!

I'm a first-year at Tuck and I am looking to pay back all the help the vets in b-school gave me while I was in the application stage. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions on applying to Tuck.

Just my thoughts on visits: if you're visiting Tuck, you'll most likely be interviewing that same day, so definitely wear a suit. If you're visiting a school and not interviewing that day, slacks and a button-down shirt are perfectly fine.
Also, something that should be obvious is that if you're visiting a class, do not raise your hand and try to participate unless the professor specifically wants to get visitors involved and calls on you. Again, it should be obvious, but I've seen prospective students try to get involved in the class and it's completely awkward. Don't be that guy.

Hi all,

I had a question about being admitted but having an impending deployment. I am a reservist and am applying for Fall 2012.

I'm now hearing that I may get deployed to AFG in summer 2012. I've worked too hard on applications and know too well how unreliable the military is to stop my applications in their tracks but...

Assuming I'm admitted, any idea how they treat orders? Will I get a deferral? Will they make me apply again? Are there US laws that apply in this scenario that protect my admission?

No US laws apply. The good news is that schools almost universally will allow you to defer for a military deployment. Most schools say they handle deferrals on a "case by case basis," but I've never heard of anyone that didn't get the deferral if it was beyond their control. The MTB blog has a brief story about a Marine reservist that was activated in his first-year. HBS was very supportive.

MIT is the only school that overtly says it's not big on the deferral thing:

Do you offer deferrals?Our general policy is not to defer admission, except in the case of college seniors who wish to get work experience before returning to school.
https://mitsloan.mit.edu/mba/faq/transcripts.php

They might be willing to work with you though.

Hi fellow vets,

I have posted on this thread before, but wanted to post about MIT-LGO's Ambassador day (the main visit day). It is a great time to see if MIT-LGO is a good fit for you and experience a day in the life of a LGO.

As a brief re-introduction, I am a current Sloan student and LGO Fellow. For those of you who do not know, LGO (Leaders for Global Operations) is MIT's dual degree program with a focus in operations (Sloan and the MIT School of Engineering). It is a great program for ex-military so I hope some of you look into it. Personally, in addition to the Sloan MBA, I am working on my MS in Mechanical Engineering. Please feel free to PM me or post with any questions or really any thoughts that you may have about the program.

So, here's the info:

Event: Experience MIT Leaders for Global Operations, Ambassador Day and Information Evening
Where: MIT
Date: Monday, November 7, 2011
Time: 10:00AM-5:30PM
RSVP: Email lgo@mit.edu.

The following blog has much more detail about the event: https://lgo-blog.mit.edu/2011/09/lgo-ambassador-day-and-information.html

Hope to see you there,
Zach

I think that this really depends on the situation, and here's my thoughts on it:

The higher rank you are, normally your experience of writing recommendations for subordinates is quite extensive. Of course, MBA recommendations in particular are probably somewhat new to them, but you can avoid them screwing you over by providing some guidance on it. For example, I requested a brief 10-15 minute meeting with each of my recommenders separately, talked to them about my goals, and handed them a folder that consisted of my resume, test scores, all fitness reports, master brief sheet, and a copy of Stanford's guide for recommenders. For the commander whom I see almost on a daily basis but doesn't necessarily work with me at all times, I also provided a copy of all the recommendation questions along with some bullet points that I think he could talk about. I left the wording and picking for him to decide. Of course, you'll need to make it VERY clear that MBA programs don't want the standard recommendation letters that are basically templates saved and reused over and over again. Be courteous, and give them ideally 2 months. They probably won't start on it till the last week, but recommenders tend to feel guiltier the longer they sit on it. They'll make sure it reads well.

Also, at the high level ranks, the comparative assessment of your capabilities covers a bigger pool of peers. The letter becomes more compelling when you're the number one Captain out of hundreds he's worked with, rather than only out of fifteen. The library of fitness reports and Master brief sheet that you provide them should cover how well you rank among your peers. This is something that he can mention in questions like "how well does the applicant compare to his peers." For whatever reason, when I sat down and told my recommenders that I realize how large a commitment they will be making, they all smiled back and told me "this stuff is too easy." I was a bit doubtful at first, but I was really impressed when the O-6 later on showed me the letter he wrote on my behalf. I'm not quite sure if O-3 or even O-4's can really capture all the big picture stuff unless they are really eloquent individuals.

Was wondering who else is waiting for interview invites? I only managed to submit R1 for HBS and Stanford. All other schools are pushed to R2... Both should be start sending out invites very soon. Anybody on the same boat with me?

I submitted HBS R1. Like you, waiting for invites on 26 October. Hopefully we will both get one!

Other than that, I'm submitting USC and Duke applications R1 on 31 October. The rest of my apps will be in R2.

Based on the responses to the postings I've made, I haven't identified a ton of ex-military HBS applicants on this forum.

I went Round 1 at HBS, Wharton, Kellogg and submitted for Columbia as well but Regular Decision. Hopefully there weren't a lot of military in Round 1 and we all get interviews.

What's your background mappleby? Which service have you served in?

Personally, I'm finishing up 4 years active duty in the Army. Non-service academy undergrad.

I'm in the Air Force, did ROTC at Georgia Tech. I'll be completing my 4 year commitment next summer as well and looking to get out for the MBA. I'm in acquisitions so I've got the military leadership but it's very much a business like job. I'm hoping that will give me something unique to help boost my chances of getting in.

yeah, it would be great for all of us to get invites. That would be awesome, and then I can start fretting about preparing for interviews. I also sense that there aren't too many military guys going in HBS round 1, and I'm hoping that'll play to our advantage somehow.

Nice. We got Army, Air Force, and Marines one each. We're making the Adcom's job easy regarding diversity. They'd better appreciate it and send us those invites.

We've had a decent number of military guys visiting classes over the last month or so--seem to be split pretty evenly between R1 and R2. Don't know if any of them are on here though.

On that note, if anyone is planning on visiting HBS for their interview (or prior to it) shoot me a PM and we'll take care of you through the vets' club. All of the military guys I've talked to in my class interviewed either on campus or over Skype/satellite phone--we didn't have the option of selecting any of the hub locations for our interviews. So unless you're deployed or stationed overseas, I'd highly recommend interviewing in person rather than over Skype. Just something to think about as you're allocating leave days and money for travel.

Hi all... "long time listener, first time caller."

I'm in a similar boat: HBS/Stanford/MIT R1, Columbia is in as well...
Looking at Georgetown, UT and Chicago R2

Just sitting here on staff in front of my computer getting the fingers ready to constantly hit "refresh" on the email come Wednesday!

Nothing like being on staff. Misery loves company, haha jk. Where are you stationed?

Navy active-duty HBS R1 applicant here, so I guess that pretty much sums up the big 4 services. Good luck to everyone, hopefully we all end up with an interview invite on the 26th (vice Nov 9 - that will still be fairly painful).