Calling all US Military Fall 2014 Applicants!

The GMAT Club has been a great resource for me throughout the application process.

I was accepted at Kenan-Flagler, Ross, and Johnson. After 4x years in the Marine Corps I will be heading to Ithaca this fall.

Thanks for all the quality posts. Please let me know if I can pay it forward and answer any questions for those future applicants.

I like hedging my bets... the essays seem a little tricky but I'll give it a shot. The worst they can do is say no right? Thanks!

JLong I wouldn't worry too much about your GMAT. While it is lower your GPA is still pretty good and you have intangibles that others do not. With regards to the essays, be yourself. Don't sugar coat, don't reword things to sound better, just be straight forward, honest and open. I have a terrible GPA and made it to Notre Dame I imagine only because of my character and what I have done with my work life. Now, if you wanted to take it again, I wouldn't stop you, but I think you have the strength to get beyond that by giving the admissions board an insight into who you are more and what this means to you.

Congrats on ND! That's an awesome opportunity! I literally took the GMAT with about 30 days of studying because I decided to deploy instead of getting out when I originally planned. That's also why I applied RND 2 to a lot of places; the whole deployment threw off my timeline. I just got back less than a week ago and I'm afraid I would still need another 30 days to get anywhere close to what my math should be.

Do you know what you want to recruit for? There are a couple of reasons why re-taking the GMAT to get a better score isn't a bad idea:

1) You want to go into consulting or banking. Those two fields want GMAT scores of 700+ on your resume.
2) You get waitlisted somewhere and your GMAT score was the weak spot. Much easier to update the adcom that you got a better score than to write an update email that you plan on taking it again soon.

Just some things to think about.

Hello all,

I have been snooping on the forums for a few days and finally decided to post. I am currently an active duty enlisted Airman (E-3) working in contracting and acquisitions. I have less than two years remaining on my enlistment and I would like to attend a MBA program once my enlistment ends.

Before enlisting, I was a student at a top 50 private school on the east coast. I spent four years in school in which I did not graduate and subsequently accumulated a paltry 2.3 gpa. I am currently finishing my undergraduate degree in Health Sciences with a Management concentration at Excelsior College (online), a regionally accredited non-profit school in NY state. While I was in college, my low grades were caused by immaturity, issues with my girlfriend at the time, and being coerced by my parents to complete a degree in which I did not desire. I decided to enlist to take a break, grow up, and gain a sense of responsibility. Since enlisting, I have grown up tremendously and I am determined to succeed.

I have taken 8 classes at Excelsior so far with a 4.0 gpa from the school with 2 more classes to go. Do I have a plausible shot at a top 30 B-school if I attain a 700+ on my GMATs given my cloudy past and lack of prestige of my degree granting school? I have my eyes set on Columbia, Fuqua, Darden, Anderson, Haas, and Stern.

Any insight, information, and advice would be greatly appreciated. Good luck to all Fall 2014 applicants!

You definitely have a shot at top 30, but be aware that the schools you listed are top 15, not 30. To be honest, schools like Columbia, Haas, Anderson and Stern would be tough to get into with an online degree (accredited or not). Not sure about Fuqua and Darden, they may be more receptive.

The other question I have to ask is what you're looking to do post-MBA and what you want out of the experience. Other than prestige, it's tough to find a common thread between the schools you listed as they're VERY different programs.

Thanks for your input. I appreciate it. I will definitely do more research on B-schools and define my career goals. I just honestly started looking into B-school recently. I had intentions of commissioning into the AF Medical Service Corp program to be a healthcare administrator, but with the recent talks of force management and the fact I wanted to serve, but not make military my career has me exploring B-schools.

Good luck - first order of business is nailing down the GMAT. You can't change anything in your past, but you sure as hell can make sure you get a good score.

Agree with CobraKai--those schools you listed all range anywhere from ~#3-15 depending on who's doing the rankings, and would be long shots given your low initial GPA and an online degree. That's not to say they're impossible, but just that it wouldn't be smart to pin your future on applying to only those 6 schools.

These guys probably do the best job of weighing out rankings from multiple sources and coming up with one consolidated list:
#1-25: https://poetsandquants.com/2013/12/02/po ... of-2013/3/
#26-50: https://poetsandquants.com/2013/12/02/po ... of-2013/4/
#51-75: https://poetsandquants.com/2013/12/02/po ... of-2013/5/

Assuming a 700ish GMAT with a relatively strong quant score, my advice would be to apply to two schools in the 15-30 range, two schools in the 30-50 range, and one or two schools in the 50-70 range. Don't go strictly by rankings--especially as you get further down the list, it becomes much more important to consider geographical factors (i.e. if you want to work in Atlanta, then Georgia at #49 is probably a better choice than Wisconsin at #30) and what each school specializes in (i.e. Michigan State is well-known for supply chain/logistics despite its relatively low ranking).

That's where it becomes vital to have good idea as to why you want an MBA, what you want to do afterwards, and where you want to do it.

Hi to all,

I am a naval officer on active service. Although I am not in the US military as I am European, I hope that I can count on your help to solve a doubt about the background check!
Even though as I said I am not from the US, I think that a background check on anyone coming from the military is similarly a problem regardless the country.

As a R2 applicant of course I've no clue whether I'll be invited to interview by any of the top schools I am applying to, still I've a question about the "post-admission" process.
Everything I've written in my application is absolutely honest and true, but I'm really wondering how schools (or any firm they delegate) could check my background.
I mean... unlikely a "normal" employer, I think that any Armed Force would never give names, locations, and duties of its operatives if someone calls and asks for these information. Similarly, checking military accomplishments is almost impossible as post deployments or post drills reports are, of course, classified material and cannot be provided.

So... how would it work, if I were good enough to go through it?

Thank you for your time and for any information you will share with me!

As long as you were truthful in your information, you've got nothing to worry about.

Pretty much all they'll do is contact your Navy's Manpower or Personnel HQ and confirm that you were actually on active duty for the dates that you said you were. They may contact your recommenders to verify that they actually wrote a letter on your behalf. None of their requests will violate any security or privacy regulations.

Background checks seem to be a very generalized did you work there at that time, not a specific is this resume bullet exact... You will be fine

I am not worried about the content of the check at all, I would simply like to make it as smooth as possible if it is needed.
Thank you for your replies!

I'm curious if anyone has experience using Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits for an MBA program? I just applied to schools in R2, so I'm hoping to start next August. The catch is that my Active Duty Service Commitment (ADSC) ends in May, and while I'll serve through August (I'll go on terminal leave for the entire month), I won't be eligible for the minimum level of benefits until I serve 90 days after the end of my ADSC. Has anyone else faced a similar situation? Will I be able to apply for benefits before I actually finish those 90 days? I'm kind of at a loss trying to figure out how this will work...

Hi all,

I had a question regarding grants, etc. I graduated from a service academy in 2006 and will begin a full-time mba program this fall. I've been in the reserves the entire time (they had more than enough pilots and allowed me to) with no stints of active duty. Is there anything that I qualify for to receive any type of financial support? Thanks!

- J

Go ahead and apply for your GI Bill benefits. I think you specify an end of service date, and based off of that, they'll let you know what you're eligibility is (should be 40%).