Profile Eval: Former US Military Officer, 730 GMAT, Crap GPA

Question

Good Morning All,

I put this up in a few of the other "Ask Consultants" threads, but haven't received a response, so I figured I would throw it to the group as well. Let me start off by thanking everyone in advance for their help with this. I am looking to get my MBA with the goal of getting in to Management Consulting.

Nationality: US
Gender: Male
Age: 30

GMAT: 730(Q49V40)
Education:
B.S. Computational Mathematics 2005 - 2.82 GPA (w/ slight upward trend)
- Air Force ROTC for final 2 years; Held highest cadet leadership position over ~75 cadets; Numerous accolades and awards for leadership & performance
- Arnold Air Society (Community service club for ROTC Cadets) - Held leadership position
- Worked full time throughout college at Circuit City in various leadership positions
M.A. Interdisciplinary - Emphasis in International Relations 2011- 3.7 GPA (Includes an 'A' in graduate level stats)

Work Experience:
2005-2010 Air Force Intelligence Officer
- Stationed in Korea (1 Year) - Worked with A-10s & F-16s (fighters); ran Personal Recovery program for the Wing; went through survival school - Overall, a good first assignment where I was ranked highly among my peers by our leadership, but admittedly not too sexy
- Stationed in Germany (3 Years) - Worked as a liaison between U.S. and Israeli Military Forces and traveled to Israel often in these efforts; Supervised a 7 person team responsible for Intelligence training of NATO and partner nation intelligence officers and international special operations forces - included travel throughout Europe for training
- Deployed to Iraq (6 months...an admittedly short time compared to my Army & Marine counterparts out there) - Served as a liaison between the Counter-Bomb Task Force and various Law Enforcement and Intelligence Agencies; Redesigned the entire support program of the counter-bomb Task Force's efforts toward intelligence and law enforcement collections; Ended up getting an award from the FBI Director and a fairly high medal for my rank at the time (DMSM as a 1Lt for my military brethren out there), which will be explained in civilian terms in my Letters of Rec

2010-2012 Intelligence Analyst (Working through a defense consulting firm)
- Supported a Special Operations Task Force, leading a team of 5 analysts while deployed (2 deployment to Afghanistan for a total of 8 months); Wrote some relatively important analytic reports and authored a background paper and talking points which were used by Senior U.S. Gov't personnel in talks with foreign heads of state; Several of my reports were also cited by Petraeus (pre-scandal) and were used in the shaping of national-level foreign policy

2012-2013 Intelligence Advisor (Working through a defense consulting firm)
- Supported the same Special Operations Task Force (though this was a promotion) for approximately 6 months; Performed similar analysis as discussed in the previous position
- Served as senior Intelligence Advisor to an Office of the Director of National Intelligence initiative to enhance a social collaboration platform bridging the Intelligence Community with Academia, Industry, etc - this position is a mix of advisory and operations management, providing me a small glimpse in to the business world

Awards, Achievements, & Extracurriculars:
- Plenty of awards & recognition from my military days which should stratify me from my peers
- Decent on community/extracurriculars (American Heart Association, Special Olympics Volunteer, variety of military organizations, some tutoring, etc)

International Experience:
1 Year Korea, 3 Years Germany (though 6 months of that was in Iraq), 8 months Afghanistan, plenty of travel

Extras:
- I'm a language buff, so I've taken a year of Korean (while living in Korea) and a semester each of French and Spanish (to prep for some travel); I also learned proficient German while living abroad
- Played in a few cover bands

This schools I'm looking at are as follows (though I am open to recommendations):
Reach - Wharton, Tuck
Competitive - Darden, Duke, Ross, Anderson
Safety - Texas

I'm entertaining LBS & INSEAD as well, though I haven't quite made up my mind.

Again, thanks to everyone for entertaining my ramblings, and any and all suggestions are much appreciated.

AlexMBAApply · Answer

In short, yes your GPA sucks, but you can't change it. Good news is that given your major (math - not engineering but still graded on a harsher curve than other subjects like econ) and the fact that you're a military officer -- the adcoms will cut you some slack. It also helps that your GMAT is strong.

As such, you're targeting the right range of schools. At this point it's really a matter of putting together the strongest applications you can, and hoping that you can get into at least a few of them (and all you need is one). You have a strong profile and it's really just about telling your story and what aspects of your military experience will be valuable and/or carry over into a more corporate environment. As for LBS and INSEAD, only apply there if you feel there's a good chance you want to work/live in Europe right after b-school, because it's much harder to make the transition back to the US from a European b-school (even with consulting, since the recruiting at LBS and INSEAD will be focused on hiring for their Euro offices).

CriticalSquare · Answer

Hey there,

Your GPA isn't great but to be honest, as I read past that I completely lost track of what it was. That's how impressive your profile is. Will it raise a flag? Sure, but you have a great GMAT score to counteract it along with a significant litany of undergraduate involvement - 4:30AM PT can put a crimp in your academic style.

Honestly, you have an amazing profile. I think the list of schools you've listed are, from a range perspective, realistic. I will say your list of schools has significant variety, however, which leads me to believe there might be some room for improvement in the selection itself but overall, you're in a great spot.

You wrote a lot (thanks for that!) and in return I wrote a short reply but that's simply because there's not much else to say. Color me impressed!

If you have any specific questions, I'm happy to answer them.

Bhavik

SM2014 · Answer

Alex & Bhavik,

Thanks for your replies! I have a couple follow up questions if you don't mind. First, will low math grades in upper-division courses be seen as my inability to handle the quantitative portions of an MBA program? I tested out of the first 2 of 3 freshman level calculus courses, and completed the third (and received an A+) at my university while I was still a junior in high school. Will highlighting this, my grad level stats class (received an 'A'), and GMAT score mitigate concerns? I'm hoping a 'D' in some partial differential multi-variable blah, blah, blah isn't seen as an inability to handle stats, for example (though I know the actual 'D' will be held against me).

Alex - I would have no hesitation to live overseas again, thus the contemplation over INSEAD and LBS. I have heard it is difficult to get back to the U.S. immediately following a European b-school, but have you heard whether it is difficult after spending a few years abroad? While I would love spend a few more years overseas, I want to ensure I wouldn't be effectively blacklisting myself from U.S. employment in the future.

Bhavik - Thank you for the kind words. My variety of schools is based on a few factors, but one of the major points I'm considering is how "military friendly" they are. With this, I'm not just talking about an Armed Forces club or effective transition plan, but also how their student aid packages are put together. As a (future) recipient of the GI Bill, all public schools are covered 100%, making several of my choices very attractive. Additionally, Duke & Tuck have a great program for covering the remainder of tuition for the vast majority, if not all, of veteran students. All of the schools also seem to place strongly for consulting, especially Wharton (which is why it is included despite it's mediocre veteran aid package). I recognize that each has its own culture, method of instruction, and so on, but those are factors I will consider if (or hopefully once!) I am accepted and have multiple options.

Thanks again!

SM

CriticalSquare · Answer

Hey there,

You're quite welcome! As for your grades in upper level quant courses - eh, it's not great but I mean, your GPA had to come from somewhere, right? Wouldn't make sense for your GPA to be what it is and you to have aced a ton of courses. There's a lot that goes into assessing the ability to handle academic rigor and undergraduate courses are merely proxies. They look at more than just that to make a call about whether or not you can handle it.

As for your question about LBS and INSEAD, not to step on Alex's toes here, no, you're not blacklisting yourself. A few years out of your MBA, your career prospects are once again in line with the network you've developed. You'd be fine.

Bhavik

mbaMissionJenK · Answer

Hi again SM2014--

Just replied to your post more fully in the 'ask mbaMission' thread, and saw this post as well...
Just adding in support of the above-- there is definitely no reason working abroad would 'blacklist' future US employment opportunities. In fact depending upon where/what you do etc, in many ways it is a plus on your resume for future employment anywhere, to have that international experience! If you think of the US population as a whole, vast international experience is rare so definitely a positive. And you can research hiring profiles/employment statistics at each school, but certainly for management consulting LBS and INSEAD are both considered very reputable and you'll see global firms recruiting there.

On a personal note I got my MBA in Europe (ended up going to Cambridge for a 1-year degree and loved it; was also accepted to LBS but chose Cambridge; did projects and inter-MBA events with other European b-schools, have friends who went to INSEAD and LBS as well) and came back to NYC after graduating without a problem (my role was in brand management/marketing, but know plenty of other European grads who returned to the US). I certainly encourage everyone to figure out what works best for YOU and your personal career goals, as either US or other international reputable programs can be a starting point for a great post-MBA career. But if you have any other q's I can try to help with about European MBA programs vs US (have helped candidates gain acceptance to both over 5 years as an admissions consultant) just let me know anytime!

Jen

Profile Eval: Former US Military Officer, 730 GMAT, Crap GPA

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