Booth (Full) vs. Kellogg ($$$) vs. Tuck ($$$)

With 100% free tuition and you not being sure about your post MBA plans, I would go with Booth.

I would use the elimination method for making the right choice, so Tuck is primarily a consulting school and it’s not strong in other industries. Given that you’re unsure about your post MBA plans, I would eliminate that because it wouldn’t be a good choice if you want to pivot to marketing or finance post MBA

Now, Kellogg and Booth are great schools, but one school has given you 100% free tuition and the other wants you to pay $15k. Booth is significantly stronger than Kellogg for Finance, but Kellogg is slightly stronger than Booth in technology, so I would suggest Booth

I have never understood the meaning of commuter school. People network if they want to, regardless of they living in the same neighborhood or a different neighborhood
Also, with your family with you, do you think you’d really want to care about the others in the MBA program beyond the projects and networking opportunities?

Posted from my mobile device

Congrats, esp as a fellow vet! Before I tell you what school to go, consider these.

1. Career goal: I know you said undecided, but you must have at least something in mind (whatever you wrote in your essay). For transitioning military people, management consulting and investment banking (MC/IB) are the two top choices since they do not require relevant prior experience and actually welcome vets (for being tough, working hard and long...). If you lean one way or the other, I guess Kellogg for MC and Booth for IB...? But I think it's fairly negligible as both schools are strong. If you are thinking of something (GM, BD, tech PM, start-up, corporate rotational programs, etc) else other than MC/IB, definitely reach out to the vet club at both schools to figure out. I would generally say the bigger employers (who hire a lot of MBA interns/full-timers) welcome non-traditional background career switchers, and the small ones (who hire 1-2 MBA/yr) not so much (because they need you to hit the ground running on day 1). Compare pros and cons of MC/IB/other paths and see which you think would fit you better. Don't think you could wait until August to choose. You need to be ready to dive into one of these paths come September (preferably before, but September is fine). Make this your #1 goal until you matriculate. Figuring this out is very important. I had classmates who wanted to stab at both MC/IB and most of them lucked out on both for not having enough focus. Make sure you research, talk to vet club/alums/anyone in those industries BEFORE you start school. September is not the time to wonder what path you should go for. You could recruit for 2-3 industries if still undecided (many people do), but you need to narrow down a little bit to recruit. If you just show up to everything casually, you won't get any interview/offer.

If you learn something new while in school and change your mind, that's perfectly fine. However, I cannot emphasize enough to have at least 2-3 recruiting paths you want to focus on initially. I hope this is your takeaway from my long post about recruiting.

2. 15K/year is not a huge deal especially if you end up at MC/IB. If you really liked Kellogg more than Booth, I would just choose Kellogg over Booth for that reason. Although you can enjoy great things with that 30K, I say MBA life is one of the things you could enjoy with 30K.

3. Part-timers: they can actually help you expand your network. I wouldn't have prestige freak mindset here. Having many part-timers would actually help you network down the road I think. Also, hold your ego. You will get many rejections from applying to companies and best not your ego comes out every single time. Be humble and grateful (that you have these amazing offers!)

4. While Tuck option is great, unless you are from NH (or your wife) and want to go back, I don't think it makes sense here.

Good luck and enjoy last few months before starting your MBA (while trying to narrow down the career-path)!