MBA Admissions Consultant
Joined: 26 Dec 2008
Posts: 2457
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Re: Profile Review- Military Officer
[#permalink]
27 Jul 2009, 20:10
You should be competitive for the schools you mentioned. More guys like you get in than not.
Your GPA isn't great, but it isn't a huge concern (and if you get dinged, it won't be because of your GPA) because it's engineering (they're more forgiving of lower GPAs from engineers given that they know the grading curve is steeper) and also because you're military (for some reason the military applicants historically have lower GPAs). Also, you have an exceptional GMAT.
Everything else looks good. Don't worry about "career switch" -- by leaving the military for civilian life, you are by definition career switching. Whether it's i-banking or something else isn't the issue. The key issue is whether you're prepared for that transition to civilian life, and how b-school fits into that transition. As you may or may not know, lots of military guys transition to banking, consulting and industry all the time. Not to mention that you have a very loyal network of military vets with top MBAs that are known to help each other out. If you're interviewing with an MBA recruiter (whether it's banking, consulting, or industry) and the person interviewing you happens to be a vet (which isn't that uncommon), your military background will be a huge asset.
The biggest hurdle with military applicants is being able to show their readiness for transitioning to civilian life - and that they understand and appreciate the challenges they face. And part of this comes with how you write your essays - it's not just writing your war stories, but showing that you understand which aspects of your experience translate to civilian life, and which aspects don't (even if some of your examples you showcase in your essays are "war stories").
Military guys are probably the most highly coveted applicants amongst top b-schools, but the flipside of that is post 9/11, the applicant numbers from the military have also increased -- not to mention many of them with leadership in wartime (unlike my time in b-school where quite a number didn't have the chance to serve in any conflict) means that the competition is stiffer than before. But nonetheless, your odds are still pretty good so long as you don't completely screw up your applications.