Veteran Profile evaluation/Consultant Recommendation

Question

Hello consultant reps. I'd like to ask for some assistance with deciding on a consultant for the coming round of applications. Also, I'd love to hear some feedback on my profile. Here is my background.

GMAT: 690 (Q44/V40) IR-8.

Undergrad: UCF-Criminal Justice GPA 3.3
Grad: Didn't complete MS Aerospace Science GPA 4.0 (15 credits)

Air Force Major with 12 years of service. I will be 34 when applying to school. I'm an HH-60 combat rescue pilot with repeated top 10% performance and multiple leadership roles. I am currently in a leadership role leading ~450 aircrew. My job is more than full-time (10-14 hour days) and during my ~90 days of study I was gone for ~26. I went from a 530 to a 690 on my practice tests during that time. I have no doubts in my academic ability given the time. I deploy as the commander of ~25 personnel supporting ops in Syria this summer. My one shot at the GMAT was really my only available window before my attention was required to focus on preparing my personnel to deploy, retesting is just not an option for me.

I am shooting for many of the top 10 schools. I plan to visit them over the next 3 weeks to try to narrow them down based on their programs. I plan to apply in the 1st and 2nd rounds. I will be deployed during the 1st round which is why I am seriously considering using a consultant.

I would love to hear from any consulting firms that have had success with veterans with similar experiences. Right now, I am shopping around for the right fit.

Thank you for your time,

Adam

Admissionado · Answer

Hey Adam,
Good to hear from you. You have overall an interesting and strong profile, albeit with two weaknesses - your age, and your GMAT. Now my feeling is that given your vast leadership experience and int he Air Force no less, and as a pilot, you still have a shot at Top 10 schools. It will depend upon your story (why didn't you do this before? why did you wait so long? Why now? Why an MBA? How does this relate to your past?). Secondly, okay you know this, and I'm sure you lack the time for it, but nonetheless, if you believe you could get higher on the GMAT, it would be folly not to try. I mean you even have the time till June. And every little bit helps, esp. if, as you are, you will be applying to Top 10 programs,

Best,
JF

VeritasPrepEdison · Answer

Thanks for sharing your profile.

You have a very unique profile with strong leadership experiences and critical responsibilities. You have the potential to contribute greatly to the class discussions and enrich the experience of your peers. All of these strengthen your chances.

You would need to address why you need an MBA, identifying specifics of the target program, and how all of these would tie in together towards a well-defined post-MBA goal.

Wish you all the best!

MG4MBACrystalBall · Answer

A few reflections on your profile Adam:
 
  In general, schools love folks with non-traditional background. We've worked with several folks from the armed forces background and the reason is clear - the sort of experiences you have are pretty unique; and the best part, many of them would apply to a business scenario too. That is the key when you are articulating your essays - make sure you are not too self-absorbed and are able to link those to the business world (assuming that's where you want to head out). 
  The years of experience can work both ways. It is not uncommon however for folks from the armed forces to start late - service before self is something that most would understand. So provided you can reason out why you'd want to stop an apparently blooming career, this could indeed be an asset. The optional essay does have to clearly articulate the reason for the relatively lower GMAT of course.  
  Finally, contrary to popular belief, in most cases, hiring a (good) consultant can actually slow down the application process. Read  this . So if you are hard pressed for time, try to rework that timetable or go solo.

Cheers,

HBSGradPE · Answer

Adam - as mentioned in earlier posts, trying to get a higher GMAT score will go a long way. I won't give a detailed profile evaluation as that is not my level of expertise, but I will say you should definitely reach out to Scott at Personal MBA Coach. He is absolutely incredible. The support he gives and his model is quite unique and vastly different from the other players out here. He has been helping applicants for over 8 years and with Wharton and MIT degrees, to get his direct help throughout the process (rather than a junior editor) is quite amazing.

He works with a ton of military applicants every year. Look him up, you won't be disappointed. www.personalmbacoach.com

VantagePointMBA · Answer

Hi Adam! Hope you're doing well. I like working with vets (that's why we offer a vet discount actually), and we have an advisor on our team who is Navy pre-MBA. Anyway, That's the context for where I'm coming from. I think you have a great profile! For the top 10, it would be nice (and safer) to have a higher GMAT score, especially since I'm assuming you don't have a ton of quant from undergrad? If you cannot take the GMAT again and don't have quant on your transcript, then I strongly recommend you take an online course from a credible institution (asap). Is that something you'd be able to do or would the timing be challenging with deployment? Regardless, you need to prove your academic abilities so perhaps it's a longer discussion in terms of how to do that given your timing constraints. Military deployment is something that is treated as an exception, so I wouldn't lose hope. Either way, you're going to want to take advantage of the "optional information" section of any application so that you can talk through the timing elements (eg. age, deployment, etc) to address some of the concerns already brought-up here. But typically vets have amazing stories, so I think you really have something in your back pocket there! One word of caution - please be sure to get many opinions on your essays, resume etc. I worked with a vet last year who had incredible stories / details that weren't even on his resume when we first started working together (although they seemed boring to him, they were stories that could really resonate with an adcom who probably knows very little about the military). He also tended to use military lingo that was very hard for the average civilian to follow. He thought it was hilarious when I didn't understand what he meant, but by talking through it, we were able to restructure his explanations to be understandable to a broader audience (eg. ensuring he got full credit for his experience). And now he's going to a top 5 school! Just something to consider as you start down this process.

My firm offers a free 30-minute consult if you'd like to chat further ([email protected]). Thank you for your service and best of luck!

adamtooch · Answer

Wow. I didn't see all these replies. Thank you everyone for the evaluation. 
If anyone has the time for a follow up question I would appreciate it.

Do I apply to schools in range in first round and wait for second round for stretch schools? In hopes of attempting the GMAT again and improving my score. Are the increases in the competitive field of round 2 worth the increase of 20-30 points?

As I mentioned, I don't have the time to take the test before round 1. But I do have the time to retake before round 2. 690 was the highest I got on practice tests doing self study while studying 2-4 hours every day for 3 months. 690 was my final score (44/40/IR8)

Regardless, I start a calc course and accounting course this summer while deployed.

Thank you all again for your time!

Veteran Profile evaluation/Consultant Recommendation

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards