Calling all US Military Fall 2011 Applicants!

Round 1: Sloan, Tuck, Stern
Round 2: Johnson, HBS, Darden

4 years USAF, 3 years Biotech since separation. Cornell University engineering undergrad.

Not a lot of movement on this thread. Hope everyone's apps are coming along nicely.

For anyone applying to Sloan and eligible for Post 9/11 GIB, here is some info I received:

$2307 per month BAH, prorated in September and May, for a total of 8 months and 13 days. The VA uses a 30 day month for prorating. Total is $19,455.70.
$340 per VA credit hour. If you will be register for 54 units per term the tuition benefit will be $12,240 over the two terms.
Fees of either $272 for student life fees only, or $2,012 for student life fees and MIT health insurance.
$1,000 book allowance.

i thought this was pretty interesting, you guys may have already seen it:

https://www0.gsb.columbia.edu/students/o ... sions.html

Applying to CMU, Kelley and Owen

I know there hasn't been much activity on this thread, but for my fellow Marines... Happy 235th Birthday, Semper Fidelis.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8HBeks_T4g

And Happy Veterans Day to all service members, especially those currently deployed. My thoughts and prayers are with you.

We even managed to have a small celebration down here in Kandahar. The oldest marine was a guy who was born in 1933. Very interesting.

So, how is everyone making out? I'm in for R1 at Kellogg and Chicago. Interviewed at both, awaiting decision.

Deechi, Rodger Dodger,

Happy Birthday. I am in Lashkar Gah.. we had a small get together as well. I'm starting the Duke CCMBA next summer...

Deechi - In for R1 at Kellogg (interviewed), Sloan and Anderson. Haas for R2 (hopefully).

hawaiimba - Congrats on your decision for Duke CCMBA.

I'm glad you gents were able to celebrate -- Hopefully you were able to scrape together something better than MRE pound cake sliced with a Ka-Bar... but nothing wrong with that either

How are you guys doing?

I just wanted to send an update: i submitted for MIT and NYU Round 1; had to push some schools to round 2 so doing Darden, HBS, Yale, and undecided on Wharton for Round 2.

If I got into MIT I'd have to sit and seriously consider withdrawing my other apps. I visited and that place was a great community feelt.

I like the smaller schools but as a vet with decent GMAT (700 now), I felt compelled to take a shot at penn and hbs.

Its only money right hah

Hope everyone is doing well and good luck!

Hey wp - congrats on submitting R1 and good luck in R2.

I've submitted for Sloan, Kellogg, Anderson and a safety school for R1. Interviewed with Kellogg (self-initiated) and safety, waiting (hoping) for invites from Anderson and Sloan. I'm pretty burned out from R1 so I'm pushing Haas to R2/R3, depending on Kellogg's decision mid-December.

Good luck everyone.

hopefully we will be up at Sloan, one thing that annoys me on all these posts is people peg MIT as "quanitative" and not social, my very good buddy from the army is a first year there and its the total opposite,

it has quant like all other mba programs but it has so many opportunities in operations, general management, consulting (40% of the class goes into this), finance etc

the people there were very humble, outgoing, and creative, and i think 35-40% come from social science / humanities background

Agree with you there. A lot of folks don't realize how well rounded the program is and it ends up falling off radar... hell, I almost did the same thing before my research and campus visit. Definitely enjoyed speaking to current students. Great crowd.

wp, what industry/function are you targeting post-MBA?

Hey all - finally getting plugged into this thread.

Army officer here in the Corps of Engineers and in the midst of putting together my applications. All the schools to which I'm applying are in Europe, so unfortunately don't think I can take advantage of the GI bill, although I will research this further to verify (any knowledge about this from anyone on this thread?).

I have a few questions with which I'm hoping you all can help.

- What's the best way to indicate my military experience on the applications? On my resume it's broken up by position, but since I had 3 positions while on active duty and have had 2 civilian positions, this requires 5 lines for my resume, which many schools don't offer in the online application systems. What's the best way to combine all your military experience into one "position?"

- Have any of you served in the Reserve? Do you include this in your "hobbies and other activities" section? What's the best way to indicate this?

- Not quite as related to applications, but a question that's been seriously weighing on my mind. Are any of you staying in the Reserve while going to the MBA program full-time? I'm in the midst of trying to figure out what to do. I sent draft paperwork to resign my commission and get out entirely, which I do think is probably better, but is difficult to come to terms with. But if I stay in the Reserve, I'm not sure I'd be doing my unit or the Army any justice. Any insight from others who have been in this position would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks and Happy belated Veterans Day!

You can definitely use your GI Bill online. The institution has to be approved, and you can find a list of pre-approved programs on the GI Bill website. If it's not approved, then you can ask that it be approved. I don't know what the guidelines are, but I think you should be good if the school is generally accredit. As long as it would be recognized by a US institution you should be good. However, in general with the GI Bill you should always be prepared to support yourself for at least the first semester and going to an unapproved institution will only add to that.

I was in the reserves for 2 and a half years after I got off active duty in 2005 for similar reasons. It was an utter waste of time and incredibly frustrating. It's honestly a function of the unit you get into and whether or not they do good things. I signed up to be an instructor, which would have been cool, except the unit neglected to tell me that they were transitioning away from that mission to one that still remained undefined when I left 2 and a half years later. To top it all off, they wouldn't sign off on my transfer out of the unit once I got there so I was stuck. I'm not telling you not to do it, but just be weary about where you're going and what you'll be doing.

It was also a huge hassle when it came to school, and resented how much it took me away from interacting with people in my program and interfering with things like midterms and finals. A huge part of a MBA program is your ability to network and work in groups. I'd imagine you'd have similar experiences.

I just list it as another position. For space you can just put your branch/mos with years served and just highlight the different positions in a bullet or incorporate it into your statements (i.e. Supervised X soldiers as Company commander...Developed operational processes as Planning officer at whatever )

Great insight on the Reserve Component during MBA, i have a similar concern, I appreciate any input/advice:

I have an 8 year total committment since finishing USMA. I will be done with 5 when I leave and start B-school. I had the option to sign up for MSO redux where my 3 year reserve committment is reduced to 18 months if I go into the reserves (this also includes stabalization - no deployments etc).

I thought I ought to do this because I feared finishing my MBA and then getting a job and getting mobilized if I did the IRR route.

I am a little anxious since I had to submit my REFRAD recently (when my GMAT was a 650). Since then I got a 700 (about a month ago) and now my chances of getting into at least 1 top 15 B-school are much higher.

unfortunately basically nobody in my unit has any knowledge of this and I am not sure which route is best.

I will probably need to figure this out real quick....


also did anyone apply to NYU, there application fee waiver is a pain in the ass but its out there much less user friendly than MIT and Darden

Is there any tradeoff between the 18 and 36 month Reserve commitment? I guess I'm not sure why you wouldn't opt for the 18 months, since you'd be discharged prior to graduation and have less to worry about if your post-MBA job placement took you somewhere w/out an Army Reserve unit. I might be missing some information here.

I tend to agree with Deechi here. From my own personal experience, serving in the reserves while being a student is not ideal (served 6 years -- entire undergrad) but lots of folks power through it. Midterms and Finals inevitably fall on drill weekends. I've spent many a night in 2-man tents with textbooks and a flashlight, studying for a Monday morning exam. AT's have jacked me up too... they get in the way of summer internships, and depending on the AT, will commence weeks before the end of the term. I've had to take finals 3 weeks early once due to AT (and that was after begging the professors not to force me to withdraw). Missing out on 3 weeks worth of lectures before a final exam is not pleasant. In hindsight, working full time and serving in the reserves would have been much easier. I know this doesn't help your situation, but just thought I'd throw in my 2 cents. At least you know you won't deploy -- I did a year for OIF between my junior and senior year. That breaks up the rhythm a little too. Good luck in your decision.

Sorry, just realized -- I think you were referring to dropping to IRR for 36 months versus Active Reserve for 18. I see your predicament now. Very tough decision, good luck man.