Calling all US Military Fall 2012 Applicants!

This may have already been discussed on this thread, I haven't checked the whole thing... I've recently been accepted to a few schools, and I'm weighing options. Now that I'm calculating financial aid packages, I can't help but notice that with the changes in the GI Bill implemented in August, the total package we vets get at public schools is just outrageously better than at a private one.

If the GI Bill is offering to pay full tuition at a public school but it's capped at ~$18500 TA annually for a private school.... well, apart from HSW, it just doesn't seem to make sense to go to a private institution when you can go to Haas, Darden, UCLA or Ross with virtually the same opportunities as any other program. Am I crazy?

I have good offers from top 10 programs, but I'm probably going to turn them down to attend one of the public university programs. Combine a public university program like UCLA, throw in a merit scholarship, and you can actually pocket cash while at school, as opposed to going into six-figure debt at Kellogg, Chicago or Tuck.

I'm eager to hear everyone's thoughts on this. I'm married with a kid on the way, so going to school and getting out debt free is pretty huge to me. If I could go back in time, I would have targeted all the top 15 public schools.

You didn't mention Yellow Ribbon--most private schools offer YR these days, which will match the VA's contribution of $17.5K if you're at the 100% level on the GI Bill. Throw in YR with the VA's money and you're not going to graduate with anywhere near six-figure debt.

You also may want to confirm that the GI Bill pays full tuition for public schools--I could never get a really good answer on that subject. I know that the GI Bill is supposed to pay tuition at the maximum credit hour rate for a public school in a particular state, but that applies much more directly to undergrads than to grad students. I always got the feeling that $17.5K was the cap for grad schools whether they were public or private. Maybe someone on here at a public school MBA program can confirm how much they're actually getting from the VA.

My advice (same advice I got from a few vets at Stanford last year) is to go to the best school you can get in to and don't worry too much about the money side of things. By "best school" I don't mean to go strictly by rankings--I mean to consider school location, where and what you want to do after graduation, your "fit" at each one, alumni network, course offerings, etc. In the grand scheme of things, $20-30K of student loans is not a lot of money when you're talking about your potential earnings over the next 30-40 years. I turned down merit scholarships at two public schools in favor of another school, and aside from the short-term hit on my bank account I still feel like I made the right call.

Kudos to emont for your thoughts.

I'm not eligible for Yellow Ribbon, but I agree, if a military candidate is eligible, that's fantastic. I qualify for about 60%, and no, I have yet to verify with any current students if the whole public school = full ride is legit. However, my local ed dept tells me it's real, and the updated GI Bill website seems to validate it several times over.

The difference, in my case with 60% eligibility, is about $39K total. I combine that with a full-ride merit scholarship I received from, let's say, UCLA, and well, that's too big to pass up for anything but HSW, at least for me. I respect the idea of getting into the best school possible, but I'm personally not trying to take over the world after my MBA... I just want an interesting, decently paying job, plenty of time for my family and (maybe) enough money left in the bank to put a down deposit on a house post-MBA.

I'm mainly posting this to see if I'm an outlier or not (and please tell me if I'm off the mark) and to suggest that other folks consider this issue as well. I was deadset on a couple schools, but the financial aid offers I received changed everything. They forced me to reevaluate my decision process and left me regretting that I did not apply to more public schools where the GI Bill is generally stronger and one's chances of receiving a merit-based scholarship are higher than at most top ten schools.

I don't think that you are necessarily an outlier. While it may be true that a moderate amount of debt is not too much of a burden over a full career, some people are just more debt-adverse than others. From what you've told us, I think the key point - which you have already mentioned - are your anticipated post-MBA career goals. I'm not talking about the specific industry or functional role, but more so that you've identified making a reasonable living while having work-life balance as being important. To me, that would indicate that the difference between a top 10 school and well-regarded public school might be as great as it might be for someone who is looking to be an investment banker or management consultant.

With regards to the experience, I think it would hard for anyone to really draw a direct comparison between what it would be like at one place versus another . . . hopefully you will be able to visit the schools you are considering to see if anything stands out. Best of luck as you think things through and keep us updated.

Trail, if you're interested in the other public schools, there's still round 3/4?

Regarding housing, take a look at the VA Loan, which offers 0% down for a ~2% funding fee that can be rolled into the principal (so still no cash up front). I think it's only for conforming loans but not sure, and some details change every so often. Currently, it offers a discounted fee for a small down payment.

I agree with gregarious that if you're sure about what you want to do afterwards, then perhaps a school good enough is good enough. We're supposed to not know what we want to do all over again during school though, so who knows. Have you tried bargaining with your competing offers?

I will probably end up trying to work the bargaining piece with a few schools. I guess, at the end of the day, my thoughts are pretty much like the old "HBS vs. Booth with full ride" dilemma-type threads, but, in my case, adding the extra $38K to the public school scholarship offers I've received makes the private school offers pale in comparison. Not complaining! I'm real stoked to be where I am.

Good luck to everyone who's still applying! And thanks for your thoughts gregarious and segfault.

The debt is a concern, especially given that tuition increases aren't benchmarked to starting salaries. Graduate Leverage was founded by some HBS students about 6-7 years ago and basically exists to help people figure out how to manage the debt burden. There are a lot of private loans that are better than Grad PLUS. I've not tapped into it yet, but I'll probably ask for a consultation. They can help you shop around. It looks like the real advantage is that they help you consolidate your loans in an efficient way to minimize fees and interest. The first is a direct link to their site. The second link is the article about them on Poets and Quants. The third is an article about schools where the average student will rack up some serious debt.

https://www.graduateleverage.com/student ... ation.aspx
https://poetsandquants.com/2011/08/22/he ... bt-burden/
https://poetsandquants.com/2011/04/25/25 ... -mba-debt/

I may be wrong, but I think the GI Bill is applied after any scholarships -- I don't think you can end up pocketing any of the money that would've gone toward tuition (only the housing allowance).

The school scholarships I've received don't actually go directly to discount one's tuition. I still get charged the full price for tuition, and periodically the school deposits my scholarship money directly to my bank account. It's very convenient for us G.I. Bill folk.

Oh nice, that is convenient.

Apparently I should have applied to lower tier schools. 3 dings w/out interview and a waitlist. I knew my GPA was low but really hoped that being a strong engineering degree and military experience would make up for it.

Sorry to hear that, Mappleby. I was dinged by H/S and I thought I had great stats as a Ranger, triple major, high GPA and high GMAT. During the application/interview process, I had two admissions directors tell me that military applications were WAY up in R1. I think the whole military -> MBA route has gotten popular in the past year, and left it very competitive for us. Try to squeeze into R2 or R3 at other top ten/fifteen schools. I'm sure you'll be fine. Tuck and Darden recruit military pretty hard, for instance.

Sorry to hear Mappleby, but you do still have one more round at most places and I think your stats are pretty solid. Plus you're waitlisted at a pretty good one one.... there's still hope.

Questions for you guys. If we receive scholarship/fellowship money and, with our GI Bill contribution, the total amount goes over the amount needed for actual payment to the school, is that money then given to us? I ask because obviously it will be nice to have some extra pocket money in school....we all know that, over the course of the first year, those multiple internship interviews in New York will not be cheap.

I think that depends on the scholarship you receive. I received a different letter from each school about how the scholarship would work. In particular, I received one from UCLA that said the money would go directly into my account at three times a year, etc. In no way would the scholarship automatically reduce the tuition I would be charged. Therefore, I'd actually put money in my pocket because the GI Bill would cover my tuition (or at least most of it), and the scholarship would going directly to the bank. Then again, I'm not an active student, so someone else on here might have some better insight.

I'm getting married this summer so I think unless I get accepted off the waitlist at Kellogg I'm going to take another year and re-apply for the following year. I can't do anything about my GPA but I can retake the GMAT and find some more extra-curriculars maybe.

Congrats on getting married, your time will come. I skipped all optional essays in my apps so far and I also have a low 3's GPA. Maybe worth submitting something to show continued interest? Also not sure if you're interested in Booth for R3 but it seems to have different preferences from Kellogg, if Chicago is where you want to be. Insignificant sample size but the windy city students I've met got into one or the other but not both.

Darden has one 500 word essay and is due in two days; also two 150 word short responses (Elevator Pitch and How you'll contribute to your learning team).

I have rather pedestrian stats (680 and 3.2 from service academy) and got into Darden in R1. As I look at the Facebook group, I only see two other military guys (one Marine and one Navy EOD guy). There may be more, but I would say take a shot. Kathi Grant is the Military Liaison at Darden. Her husband's a retired AF 0-6.

I am technically a California resident, but I learned yesterday that Virginia changed the law this year so that for educational purposes a military veteran can become a Virginia resident the first day they arrive in state, thereby getting you in-state tuition. That reduces your annual tuition by $5K ($52/year to $47K/year).