Ideally, you should decide to pursue a full-time MBA about two years before you aim to start business school, which is about one year before Round 1 applications are due (think August or September of any given year). This timeline will allow you plenty of time to study for the GMAT, research schools, and craft your applications. In an ideal world, here is how you could time your MBA application steps:

24-18 months before your MBA start date

Enroll in a GMAT prep course, take six or more practice tests, and get a score that will be competitive for your top choice programs. Giving yourself this much time gives you a buffer if you need to take the test several times. Once you have a competitive score, you can focus on narrowing your school selection.

18-15 months before your MBA start date

Research your top choice schools, get in touch with their veterans’ clubs, and get paired with a Service to School Ambassador. You should use the time between your GMAT completion and MBA applications’ opening to finalize your school list and get a support network to help you with your applications. Often veterans’ clubs will put you in touch with their members who share a similar background and give you insights into how you can best convey your experiences on your application. Likewise, Service to School will pair you with a dedicated MBA ambassador who will help you with all of your applications.

15-12 months before your MBA start date

Prepare and submit your Round 1 applications. Schools typically release their applications in June, with a Round 1 deadline in September. I recommend applying to about four schools in Round 1. You should aim to craft thoughtful applications, and you should not sacrifice quality for quantity. If four applications are too many, then hold off on submitting some until Round 2. There are some benefits to submitting your applications in Round 1, but your admission chances are similar. Therefore, you should prioritize submitting high-quality applications over making the Round 1 deadline.

12-9 months before your MBA start date

Get ready for your Round 1 interviews and prepare a couple of Round 2 applications. Schools that offer interviews should let you know whether you were selected about four to six weeks after submitting your application. If you were chosen for an interview, your application is heading in the right direction. Reach out to your contacts at the schools' veterans’ clubs and your Service to School Ambassador for advice on interview preparation. You should also take time to prepare a few Round 2 applications as a backup should you not get into any schools during Round 1.

9-6 months before your MBA start date

Make your decision. Hopefully, you will receive good news in December when Round 1 decisions are typically released. If this is the case, you have much to celebrate as all of your hard work has come to fruition. Attend schools’ welcome weekends and make your decision on your top choice. If you were unlucky with your Round 1 applications, you will have another chance in Round 2, so finalize and submit these applications, ensuring you include a couple of safety schools.

6 months to your MBA start date

Prepare yourself for school. Get up to speed on business news and take some preparation courses for your core classes (most schools have some online programs). Complete your military transition and discharge. Submit any disability paperwork to VA so you can get a rating that will provide you with income to help support you during school. This rating may also make you eligible for Veteran Readiness and Employment (VR&E) funds. Go house hunting and pick a place to live. You should look to move to your new home about two weeks to a month before school starts so you can get settled in and acquainted with your new surroundings.

Final Thoughts

This is an ideal timeline, but many have been able to succeed in much more compressed circumstances. Deployments and service commitments often make studying for the GMAT and crafting your application a chaotic process. Veterans are highly adaptable and know how to achieve their goals in less than ideal circumstances. So, do not worry if you cannot make the dates on this timeline. It is more general guidance than the hard truth.

Congratulations on making your decision to head back to school! For most veterans this decision is a very personal one that is filled with a lot of unknowns and uncertainity. This is further exaggerated by the fact that much like the military, there is almost a unique sub culture and language to learn in preparing to apply to an MBA program. Everything from understanding the differences between what a GMAT or GRE is to finding the right program fit can be overwhelming at first.

Our goal with this guide is to help illuminate the path forward. As a veteran you have honed traits that will undoubtably make you successful in this transition and we at Service to School want to ensure that you are set up for success. Our community of over 300 volunteer veteran ambassadors have been there and done it and have contributed some of their vital lessons learned to this guide. Use it like you would use any good after action review. Read it, take from it what you need, and apply it to your situation to enhance your chances of success.

Useful links

Last updated January 6th, 2023

About us

Service to School (S2S) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that provides free college and grad school application counseling to military veterans and service members.

Our goal is to help veterans gain admission to the best college for them while empowering each veteran to make informed decisions about their education.

Our Methodology

Our Story

In 2011, S2S was founded by Gus Giacoman, Tim Hsia, Khalil Tawil, and Anna Ivey — three veterans and an admissions expert who believe that all veterans should have the opportunity and access to a great education. Through grassroots efforts and thousands of hours of volunteer time, S2S grew into a national non-profit that connects military veterans and service members with mentors to ensure veterans are being admitted to and attending our nation’s best colleges and graduate schools.

Since then, we have stayed laser-focused on our mission of supporting veterans into higher-ed and have worked with thousands of veterans during different points of the college and graduate school application process. You can find S2S Alums on hundreds of Undergraduate, MBA, Law School, Policy, and Medical School campuses where they are studying and forging new paths for their future.

Our Core Values

Lead From the Front: Our volunteers, called Ambassadors, give their free time to support veterans who are seeking higher-education.

Build Solutions, Not Organizations: We focus our efforts on solving problems. We do not engage in empire-building or self-aggrandizement. Titles do not matter; only results.

Empower Everyone: Ambassadors, applicants, and leadership are empowered to work on any initiative or project that fulfills our fundamental mission of helping transitioning veterans.

We Have No Ego: Everyone is a leader. Service to School does not exist to build ourselves up, but to help veterans.

We Have Fun: We maintain the same light-hearted atmosphere we found with our military friends on active duty and the reserves. We enjoy working together because we all care about the same thing: helping veterans.

We Enrich Others, Not Ourselves: We exist solely to benefit transitioning veterans. Whenever we spend donor money, we look for the most efficient way to do so.

We Are a Flat Organization: Our best ideas and biggest accomplishments have come from the bottom-up.

We Are Honest with Ourselves: We provide each other thoughtful, honest, critical and substantive feedback. We quickly determine what is working and what is not working. Constructive feedback is always accompanied by proposed solutions.

Our Model

Our Results

For more visit our website

The following has been adapted, with permission from the author, from the upcoming book: Breaking Business School: A Military Veteran's Ten Step Guide to MBA Success

30 is Too Old For an MBA

This one is near and dear to my heart because it almost kept me from applying to Wharton. People repeat this over and over again, and they are wrong. I started considering an MBA when I was 33. I thought I was too old but, luckily, I got some good advice from my Naval Academy roommate, who graduated from Wharton. He told me that there were numerous people over 30 in his class, especially veterans. I listened to him, applied to Wharton when I was 34, started my MBA when I was 35, and graduated at 37. I was not the oldest person in my class, but I was one of them. There is no specific age cutoff for MBA admissions, but you may want to look into EMBA programs if you are in your late 30s or older as they may be more in line with your career goals and progression.

Another age-related myth I heard was that top consulting firms and banks do not want to hire Associates in their 30s. Again, I am living proof that this rumor is completely false. I was hired by McKinsey when I was 36. My intern class had multiple people over 30. Age is certainly not a disqualifier for a full-time MBA or a job in consulting or banking.

Although schools and companies will not discriminate against you for your age, you will have to provide a compelling answer to why now is the right time for you to go back to school to change your career if you are older. The average age at most MBA programs is about 27. if you are like me and apply when you are in your mid-30s, you will be significantly older than your peers and on a different social wavelength. Furthermore, even though you can definitely still get a job in consulting or banking in your 30s, your boss will most likely be your age or even younger. If you are ready to accept this reality, you should not let your age get in the way of your goals.

You Need a Stellar Undergraduate GPA to Get into a Top MBA Program

I got into Wharton with an unspectacular GPA as a Naval Academy English major. This fact alone should give you hope. I know many veterans whose GPAs were even lower than mine and still got into elite programs. My mediocre grades as an undergraduate did not hold me back, but I did have to make-up for them in other ways. For your reference, in most veterans’ cases, I would consider a sub-3.0 undergraduate GPA low, one between 3.0 and 3.5 average, and one over 3.5 strong. However, these are general guidelines as several other factors come into play, such as your major and undergraduate institution's strength.

The easiest way to compensate for a low GPA is to crush your GMAT, which means getting about 20 points above your target school’s average. Also, taking post-graduate, quantitative courses, or even getting a Masters’ Degree are good ways to show MBA admissions committees that you have what it takes to succeed in their program. In my case, I earned a Masters’ in Finance from Georgetown University. If a Masters’ Degree is too much of a commitment, completing Harvard Business School’s online Credential of Readiness (CORe) program is an excellent way to strengthen your academic profile. You will need to address your poor undergraduate academic performance in your application by explaining it and then detailing ways you have grown since your undergraduate days. My story shows that you can definitely overcome a low undergraduate GPA and get into a top program.

Only Officers Get into Elite MBA Programs

Yes, the vast majority of veterans in MBA programs are former officers. However, this reality is not because admissions committees discriminate against enlisted veterans; it is more because the path to business school is more well-trodden for officers who complete their initial tour of duty following commissioning and then go to graduate school. There is a contingent of enlisted veterans in every class at Wharton, and I have known several in other top programs. Admissions committees are more interested in what you did in the military, your academic credentials, your long-term career vision, and how you will benefit your community at school than your military rank.

You Need to Have Gone to a Prestigious Undergraduate Institution to Get Into a Top Business School

You do not need to have attended an “elite” college for an MBA admissions committee to take you seriously. Although many of my veteran-classmates at Wharton were Service Academy or Ivy League graduates, quite a few went to state schools and smaller colleges. Admissions committees want leaders who will benefit their communities. So, they care less about where you went to school or how you got your commission and more about what you actually did while you were in the military.

Admissions Committees at Top Schools are Only Interested in Special Forces, Combat Arms, and Aviation

Some military jobs such as serving in special forces or as a fighter pilot will get admissions committees' attention. Since these roles are typically reserved for high-caliber individuals, it is only natural that veterans who selected for them should have strong grades and test scores. Even if they do not, having served in an elite capacity may get an admissions committee member to forgive a lower GPA or GMAT. However, the ability to skillfully fly a jet or lead a raid does not mean that someone will succeed in business school. Admissions committees look for high-quality people who will add value to their programs and want veterans who excelled at their military role, whatever that was. The most important aspect of your military service was your impact on your unit, not your specific job. While there was a heavy contingent of pilots and operators in my class at Wharton, we had numerous veterans who served in roles including Human Relations, Logistics, Acquisitions, and IT. These veterans were often some of our top performers as they leveraged their specialized skill sets to succeed in the business world.

Selecting and Getting into an MBA Program

“Goal Picture” - Veterans can’t paint a clear picture of what they want to do with their degree

a. Yes, we know you are still figuring it out, and you just got out of the military and know very little about the civilian world. However, on the other side of the admissions window is a person who is assessing you based on who you are and more importantly, what you are going to do. “I’m still figuring it out” is not good enough. You have networks, friends, blogs, conferences, at your disposal. You have the entire internet.

b. Find something and stick with it as your story, your goal picture. No one knows exactly what they’re going to do, so you pick something and you research it. Try it out. Attend a cryptocurrency conference and follow up with fellow attendees or speakers, take a small class on French pastry, delve into the world of third-party logistics and talk to old classmates who are doing it now

c. Look up industries and how they’re structured. Healthcare is vastly different from CPG (consumer packaged goods), AI/Machine learning spans across industries, logistics serves other industries B2B, finance has many different levels of risk and reward for varying growth stages of companies. Some are more dynamic than others: pay more, riskier, more corporate, closer to helping people, better for the environment, infused with tech, etc.

Veterans don’t boast about themselves enough

a. It’s not boasting; it’s stating the facts of your accomplishments. If you don’t advocate for yourself, no one else will.

b. You can frame it as “I did XYZ, and what I learned from that was ABC. I hope to take that experience to the next level in my goal to start a social enterprise in saffron in Afghanistan to help those Afghan women I came across while deployed. Harvard Business School has a terrific track record of producing social entrepreneurs. I talked to ____ and ___ who are both graduates and they told me what great resources HBS offered: the iLab, Rock Center for Entrepreneurship, and the Social Enterprise Fellowship…I am excited to do XYZ after HBS…”

c. You should talk about your accomplishments as it relates to how it supports your goals in the future

Veterans need to take more time to appreciate the strengths of each MBA school

Veterans sometimes target MBA schools superficially based primarily upon perceived program prestige or school location. What is often absent is doing the homework to fully appreciate the pros and cons of each school. It is important to have a good understanding of how each potential MBA school’s strengths really align towards individual personal and professional goals. Additionally, it is important to know these strengths in order to highlight sincere interest in an MBA school for MBA admissions essays and interviews.

Granted, having a strong appreciation of individual MBA school dynamics is something many prospective MBA students struggle with, veterans struggle with it more simply due to being less familiar with civilian career dynamics. The best way to navigate through information gaps is to simply ask the admissions office to talk to a military-connected student and most schools have student clubs or admissions programs dedicated to helping veterans.

Applications are too rushed

Veterans do not give themselves enough time. When they decide to leave the service, most active-duty soldiers and officers have been promoted a few times and have a very important and demanding duty position. It is very difficult to manage both the grueling applications process and the demands of leading soldiers or planning operations. Even more difficult, many veterans find themselves trying to apply to schools from Iraq or Afghanistan or trying to apply right after returning from such a deployment.

In balancing these demands, transitioning veterans find themselves on very tight timelines and try to mitigate their situation by working on applications for an hour a night or on weekends. This can work, but any snag, such as a low test score, can wreak havoc on an admissions packet. Further, veterans are often competing against folks who treat school applications as a full-time job.

The Solution: Preferably, a veteran can steer their career into a less demanding job such as being an ROTC instructor or working as an active component supporting the Army Reserve. Since such jobs are often difficult to get, and the operational tempo of many active units do not allow for such planning, the best solution is to plan alternatives:

• Cast a wide net for schools – if a veteran is determined to leave the service, then they need to make sure to apply to more than just one or two top schools.

• Plan for testing snags – Of course, veterans always ace standardize tests, right? But if they do not, vets need to make sure to plan for multiple takings of any standardized tests and for the ability to take an online or in-person preparation class (like Kaplan)

• War-game worst-case scenarios – If the worst happens, a veteran should still have a plan. There are other options to school such as Teach for America, going into industry, or just staying in the service another year. In the unlikely event that a veteran does not win gain admission – they should know what route they can take to make themselves more competitive for the next cycle

Some things to think about:

Career outcomes: What career fields are each school strong at sending graduates to?

Among MBA schools, there are some noticeable differences among schools on what careers each of them historically is strong at sending their graduates to. Sometimes it aligns with general brand perceptions like how Stanford GSB has a strong history of graduates entering technology venture capital firms. Other times it is more nuanced such as how Vanderbilt Owen has an exceptionally strong pipeline to the healthcare/hospital management industry or how both UNC Kenan-Flagler and Georgetown McDonough have strong real estate pathways. As industry exposure is becoming more and more important for hiring, going to the program that gives you good industry access will only matter more.

Location outcomes: What are the regional strengths of each school?

Every MBA program has relative regional strengths in terms of where the brand and alumni base provides career leverage and it is smart to tap into that. For example, if you want to live in Seattle, it might be smarter to go to the University of Washington Foster rather than Emory Goizueta.

School Learning Dynamics: How does each school program its education delivery and what is the range of learning opportunities?

Although the MBA core curriculum is nearly universally the same, how the curriculum is delivered and additional learning opportunities can vary greatly. Personally, I am a big fan of the “case method” of learning made famous by Harvard Business School, but I also fully appreciate that it is not for everyone. I think most veterans have at least a sense of how they learn best and it is smart to dig into the prevalent teaching approaches of each MBA school to make sure it is a good fit. Additionally, each MBA school has a different portfolio of learning opportunities based upon what is internally available at the MBA school and what MBA students are eligible to partake in via partnered learning opportunities (other schools within the University or neighboring University experiences). For example, if a veteran is really interested in sustainability, it makes sense to go to Duke Fuqua or the University of Michigan Ross, as they can do a dual degree with an environmental program or have a good suite of elective learning opportunities.

Mustering for Success Once You Accept Admission

Veterans don’t take enough time to prepare themselves for the MBA experience

Once you accept admissions into the MBA school of your choice, it is smart to take some time to set yourself up for success. Some key things I recommend that veterans should do is:

Take time to appreciate the civilian career landscape

MBA admitted veterans have often been witnessed to highlight interest in finance or consulting, but they struggle to highlight a baseline understanding of potential post MBA career trajectories. The best position to be in coming into an MBA program is having a good idea of what career fields are of interest and can coherently speak to it based upon a strong understanding of the industry and career trajectories. The best way to get there is to do your homework. Between Google and talking to veterans in career fields of interest, veterans can learn a lot to better focus their career interests.

Get your personal life in order (as best as you can) for the intensive MBA experience

MBA school is intensive and can be all-consuming, especially in the first year. You want to ensure that you minimize your life distractions so that you can fully take advantage of the MBA experience. It is smart and healthy to proactively make arrangements with your family and close friends to best support your success for your MBA experience. Veterans often present questions about conducting a part-time job or a major time-consuming extracurricular activity while pursuing a full-time MBA - which is ultimately something strongly recommended against.

Veterans sometimes rest on their laurels

Some MBA veterans go into MBA school with the mentality that between their military experience and their attendance of an MBA program, they should be set for acquiring recruiting opportunities in a competitive job market. There are military career impressive MBA students (Special Forces, Aviator, #1 Surface Warfare Officer on a ship, and etc.) that struggle with recruiting every year. Oftentimes, this is an issue with not taking sufficient time and mentorship to properly message military experiences for the job market. The important thing is to take the time to appreciate what it takes to be the most marketable and make the necessary effort to get the desired position.

Dismissing Pre-MBA career/recruiting opportunities (if it works with scheduling)

Increasingly, there is a broader range of pre-MBA recruiting and career preparation opportunities out there that every incoming veteran MBA student should take advantage of if possible. Speaking specifically to each type:

Pre-MBA recruiting:

Pre-MBA recruiting is becoming more prevalent. Historically, many of these Pre-MBA events and programming catered towards diversity groups (which military veteran is often considered a target diversity area), but are increasingly occurring for the general population. For some companies, they do the bulk of their MBA internship hiring for non-core schools via pre-MBA recruiting. Some MBA students start school with summer internship offers stemming from these activities, which is an envious place to be.

Pre-MBA civilian professional experience

Any credible civilian professional experience on top of a quality military career strengthens both the resume and narrative. For those leaving the military, programs like the Army’s Skillbridge are terrific opportunities to gain that civilian exposure. Some firms are offering pre-MBA summer internships/mentorship programs targeted towards MBA accepted students, and it is very smart to jump on those opportunities if possible.

1) Test Prep Company or Not

Test prep companies such as Veritas Prep, Manhattan Prep, and Kaplan offer structured environments that are ideal for military applicants out of school for several years. Test prep companies are thorough because they cover every aspect of the test. Some companies such as Princeton Review are known for covering the basics, while other test companies like Manhattan Prep are known for their detailed instruction on even the most arcane and rarely tested material. More than just test coverage and analysis, the test prep companies aid military applicants because they provide a structured setting. Hence, we usually recommend that veterans take a prep course. While the majority of the classes offered are in a structured classroom setting, some test prep companies offer self-paced online instruction. Also of note: many test prep companies offer a military discount.

The downside to preparing with a test prep company is that some prep companies provide material that is too basic or moves too slowly over topics that an applicant already understands. Moreover, some transitioning veterans who are still serving simply do not have the time to take these classes. For those who are busy with work, two good options are online classes or self-study.

With self-study, studiers can move at their own pace, focus on weaknesses in a certain area, and forego paying for a test prep class. However, we are generally skeptical of self-study because it is difficult to keep disciplined for several months without getting distracted. Also, score improvement guaranties offered by many test prep companies are another compelling reason for vets to use a test prep company. Should you decide to take the individual study path, you still should rely on the test prep material provided by prep companies provide.

2) Simulate test conditions and eliminate areas of weakness

Whether you decide to self-study or enroll in a test prep company, it is very important that one balance studying with test taking. Taking numerous tests without focusing on weaknesses is poor management of time. However, practicing on sample problems to hone overall ability can lead to a false security as doing so eliminates the “time stress/crunch” of test-taking under simulated test conditions. The military stresses rehearsals and battle drills. Battle drills are analogous to simulated test taking and sample problems. A transitioning veteran needs to do both in order to succeed. Because it is so important to simulate actual test conditions, it is also imperative to find and study questions that have been used in previous exams. While test prep companies often provide their own questions, the best questions are those previously administered by the standardized test prep companies.

Save yourself money by not taking the test if you have not yet simulated test conditions or worked through multiple problem sets. A test score will not improve just because you have taken the actual test multiple times . However, your score will improve if you are diligently studying and preparing. A good target is to take 4-6 full length practice tests under timed conditions before ever sitting for the actual exam.

3) Prepare as early as possible; use backward planning

Beware of not allocating enough time to study for the test. Ideally, you will begin to study at least a year prior to your application. . The best possible scenario is that one has prepared for six months and takes the real test. Hopefully, the test taker is satisfied with the score but realizes that one can do even better. The applicant continues to study and six months after taking the first test, one gets the score of one’s dreams. Although one and done would be ideal, it is often not practical. Hence, one should not wait to take the test just days prior to an application is due. Oftentimes this is not feasible because many tests do not report official scores until weeks after the test has been administered.

4) Set Goals

With everything in life, setting goals helps one focus on the mission. Create a list of the schools you want to gain admittance into, and see what they report as their median test score for their latest incoming class. That is the score you should aim to getbeat . Applying to schools is a numbers game. Schools want applicants who have a proven track record and who can handle the rigorous curriculum which students will encounter while they are attending the school. Aim to score either above or at the median test score that schools report. Ideally, one’s test score is not handicapping one’s ability to gain admittance into a certain school.

5) Take time to rest and refit.

One can only take time to rest if one has planned accordingly. That’s why it is really important that one allots plenty of time for test preparation. If one has several months to prepare, one can take breaks in order to avoid test fatigue. Plus, the brain needs to recover after a hard workout (test preparation). When taking a test, bring along a healthy snack that will help sustain your body through several hours of test taking. Taking a four- hour test can be a mentally and physically draining exercise. Bring whatever snacks you prefer, however, make sure you also use these snacks during your mock tests. You don’t want to bring a snack you’ve never had before and then have an unexpected physical reaction. Taking a break can also help avoid straining relationship. Test preparation can be stressful to one’s immediate family, as often it can feel like one test will determine one’s fate. Taking breaks and adding fun activities between intense study sessions will help one break away from the gravitas of test preparation.

6) Leverage online content, but take it with a grain of salt

There are many great websites that provide strategy and helpful hints on how to “defeat” a test. These sites also are great places to share “war stories” about how one did or how one is feeling. However, don’t waste too much time on these websites. Some advice given at these websites should be taken with a grain of salt. While websites geared towards a test or graduate school can be fun and entertaining, they can also include misleading statements.

Useful links

The following has been adapted, with permission from the author, from the upcoming book: Breaking Business School: A Military Veteran's Ten Step Guide to MBA Success

The GRE is administered by the Educational Testing Service (ETS) and you can register for it on the website www.ets.org for a fee of $205 that can be reimbursed one-time for active-duty military personnel. The test can be taken once every 21 days, up to five times within any continuous rolling 12-month period even if scores were canceled.

The test consists of six sections. The first section is always the Analytical Writing section consisting of two separate essays. The next five sections consist of two Verbal sections, two Quantitative sections, and an experimental section. The experimental section does not count towards the final score but is not distinguished from the scored sections. The five sections may occur in any order. Unlike the GMAT, individual questions are not computer adaptive, but, rather, your performance on the first verbal or quantitative section will determine the difficulty of the subsequent one. Also, unlike the GMAT, you are able to flag questions in a particular section and return to them. The sections are scored separately in single-point increments with Verbal and Quantitative scores between 130 and 170, and Analytical Writing on a six-point scale. Based on the performance of two-million people who took the test between 2015 and 2018, the mean and standard deviation of the verbal section were 150.24 and 8.44. Whereas, the mean and standard deviation for the quantitative section were 153.07 and 9.24. Analytical writing had a mean of 3.55 with a standard deviation of 0.86. At the end of the test, you will be given the option to report (view) or cancel your scores. Once you view your scores, you cannot cancel them. You cannot cancel your score for one section of the test and have the scores for the remaining sections reported.

Analytical Writing (AW)

The analytical writing section consists of two different essays, an "issue task" and an "argument task". The writing section is graded on a scale of 0–6, in half-point increments. The essays are written on a computer using a word processing program specifically designed by ETS. Each essay is scored by at least two readers on a six-point holistic scale. If the two scores are within one point, the average of the scores is taken. If the two scores differ by more than a point, a third reader examines the response. The issue task is an essay on a particular topic, while the argument task analyzes the logic of a particular argument. A test-taker has 30 minutes for each essay.

Quantitative

Each quantitative section consists of approximately 8 quantitative comparisons, 9 problem-solving items, and 3 data interpretation questions covering basic high school level mathematical knowledge and reasoning skills. A test-taker has 30 minutes for each quantitative section.

Verbal

Each verbal section consists of about 6 text completion, 4 sentence equivalence, and 10 critical reading questions that cover reading comprehension, critical reasoning, and vocabulary usage. A test-taker has 30 minutes to complete each verbal section.

Useful Links

The following has been adapted, with permission from the author, from the upcoming book: Breaking Business School: A Military Veteran's Ten Step Guide to MBA Success.

MBA Overview

According to Merriam Webster: “A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a graduate degree in business. An MBA typically involves the study of accounting, financial markets; and instruments, corporate strategy, negotiation, business ethics, statistical analysis, marketing; and management.” While this definition is technically accurate, it misses much of the degree’s true purpose. In short, an MBA is meant to set you up for the next stage of your career, whether it be starting a company, landing a job as an investment banker, or simply moving up the corporate ladder. The degree comes in multiple formats: full-time, part-time, executive, and online, each tailored to an individual’s specific objectives.

The vast majority of veterans in full-time MBA programs have recently separated from active duty and are using the degree to help them transition to the civilian world. However, some have worked in the private sector for a few years before starting school. Conversely, those in the other formats are usually already working and use the degree to strengthen their business acumen and add a qualification to their resume. Therefore, you must decide which type of program works the best for you.

Reasons to get a Full-Time MBA

A full-time MBA often requires a greater financial investment than other formats due to the tuition and opportunity cost of two-years' lost income while attending school full-time. The part-time formats allow you to continue working while pursuing the degree, which offsets some of the cost, but they still require a financial outlay. As with most investments, there is some risk involved. Committing to a full-time MBA program means that you are betting that the benefits you get from the degree will outweigh its costs, both financial and personal. However, this higher investment brings the opportunity for greater professional rewards.

Although getting a full-time MBA is not the best course of action for everyone, the degree has clear, universal benefits. As someone who went through the job search process both before and during my time at business school, I can speak to the benefits full-time programs provide. I refer to the most significant advantages as the three “E’s:” Education, Employment, and Experience.

Education

Do you know what the following abbreviations mean or how to calculate them: CAGR, EBITDA, NPV, IRR, and DCF? Can you read and understand an income statement, balance sheet, statement of cash flows? Have you ever read (not run) a 10K? If the answer to these questions is “yes,” you are ahead of most of your fellow veterans. If not, this knowledge forms the foundation of what you will need to understand to succeed in the corporate world. You will have these concepts drilled into you during your MBA in core classes like accounting and corporate finance. Additionally, you will be able to study concepts ranging from venture capital funding to corporate valuation to impact investing. While you can certainly study this material on your own, learning it in a structured, immersive environment has clear advantages.

Employment

You may be asking yourself: when there are so many good career options for veterans leaving the military, do I really need an MBA? Going to business school full-time will help you professionally in several ways. You typically have a higher starting salary with an MBA, you will have more job options available to you, and you will be better prepared for your interviews.

Although your post-MBA salary varies with the type of job you take, generally speaking, you can generally expect to make about twenty to thirty-percent more if you have an MBA from a top program than if you enter the private sector straight from active duty. You will also have greater access to both corporate recruiters and potential investors if you plan on starting a company. The higher ranked your program, the more actively these individuals will make themselves available to you. Firms like McKinsey, Goldman Sachs, and Amazon regularly host recruiting events and veteran-focused meetings and dinners for students at select business schools. Likewise, prospective investors often put on start-up pitch competitions for MBA student-entrepreneurs. You cannot get this level of access to both companies and capital outside of a prestigious, full-time MBA program.

One more consideration is that, even if you are lucky enough to get recruited by a top firm straight out of the military, you will have a steep learning curve to get up to speed for its demanding interviews. However, if you go to business school, you will learn what you have to know to succeed through the interview process. You will also have industry-focused clubs and a career services office at school that will help you prepare for these interviews. On the other hand, you will have to do the bulk of your job hunting and interview preparation on your own if you do not attend a full-time program.

In my case, I saw the value of my full-time MBA firsthand when comparing my experience recruiting right after leaving the military and during my MBA. I went to the Service Academy Career Conference (SACC) and worked with some military placement firms. My background as a nuclear submarine officer got me attention from prestigious companies including, McKinsey, the Boston Consulting Group, Google, Bridgewater Associates, and Morgan Stanley. None of these interviews resulted in a job offer. However, I got both an internship and a job at McKinsey while I was at business school. I have the same raw IQ now as I did when I left the military. Why did I get a job offer from McKinsey now and not before?

When I interviewed for jobs immediately after leaving the military, I did not understand EBITDA, nor could I calculate Net Present Value or a break-even point. I felt like I was drinking from a firehose as I attempted to learn business basics on my own. By contrast, my interviews during my MBA were much smoother because I knew what I was talking about and had prepared tirelessly with my classmates. To be clear, I do have friends who have broken into top consulting and tech firms without an MBA, so it is definitely possible. But these people are fewer and far between than those who got these roles from business school. Full-time MBA programs set you up for success in your job interviews, especially with highly selective companies.

Experience

When I started my MBA, I remember thinking: “I have the next two years to focus on developing myself.” Going to business school full-time is one of the only times where it is professionally acceptable to take a couple of years off from the corporate grind. As a student, you can participate in various activities, from sports to musical theater to technology conferences. You can travel to foreign countries on global business ventures and learn about diverse career fields from investment banking to social entrepreneurship. In my case, I used my time at Wharton to participate on the school’s rugby and boxing teams and lead a sailing venture in New Zealand. I would never have had the opportunity or time to participate in these activities had I not pursued my MBA. This time to decompress and expand your horizons is hugely beneficial as you enter the civilian world.

You also will get the chance to a diverse group of people who are very different from those you knew when you were in the military. These individuals will broaden your horizons from the world you knew in the military. They will also be the core of your professional network that will be a resource to you both at school and after graduation.

Part-Time MBA formats

As previously discussed, MBAs come in several varieties: full-time, part-time, executive, and online. I earned a part-time Master of Science in Finance (MSF) from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business. So, I have a fairly good perspective on the benefits and drawbacks of the part-time programs. Part-time formats are geared towards people who want to strengthen their resumes, learn business fundamentals, and improve their position with their current employer. However, career services departments and recruiters tend to focus more on an MBA program’s full-time students than their part-time counterparts. If you are working full-time, you cannot pursue an internship, one of the best ways to get experience in a particular industry.

Excepting online programs, the price tag for each part-time program tends to parallel its full-time counterpart. However, you will not have to sacrifice two years of income while pursuing the degree, so there is no real opportunity cost. You are also eligible for similar veterans’ tuition benefits.

Here is a quick summary of each of these programs:

On-Campus, Part-Time MBA

As its name suggests, a part-time MBA is generally conducted on campus a few nights a week. Students typically receive the same curriculum as the school’s full-time program. They also have the benefit of spending time with their classmates in person, thus broadening their network. However, one generally has to live in the same city where the part-time MBA program is located, making this option more limiting. The on-campus option requires a substantial time commitment meaning that free-time will be scarce while completing the degree.

Executive MBA (EMBA)

These programs typically take place in week-long intensives or on weekends and are geared towards more experienced professionals. Like on-campus, part-time programs, EMBAs equip students with the same academic education they would receive in a full-time program. There is also the added benefit of being able to attend a program outside commuting distance. This flexibility makes these programs ideal for people who do not live in major cities or around top universities. However, as with part-time MBAs, completing coursework while working full-time is never an easy task.

Online MBA

Some schools, notably the University of North Carolina, Indiana University, and Carnegie-Mellon University, offer online MBAs. You can complete these programs anywhere and do not have to worry about commuting to class. I completed the first half of my Georgetown Degree in Washington, D.C., and the second half overseas. This flexibility does come at a price, though, as you lose out on the opportunity to get to know your classmates and broaden your network.

Should You Get an MBA on Active Duty?

Service members often ask whether they should pursue an MBA while they are on active duty. My answer is that it depends on what you are looking for with the degree. You will learn business fundamentals and be better prepared to enter the workforce once you separate from the military. However, you will miss out on many of the benefits you get from a full-time program. Depending on how much time you have left on active duty, you may not be able to leverage your school’s career services department to the same extent you would in a full-time program, and you will also most likely not be able to pursue an internship. So, if your goal is to use the degree to set yourself up in a new career when you leave the military, especially in banking, consulting, or tech, you should seriously consider a full-time program. However, if you are looking to learn business basics and check the box that you hold an MBA when you leave the military, getting the degree while you are on active duty is not a bad idea.

MBA Format Decision Key Take-Aways

• Every MBA format has its unique benefits and drawbacks. There is no concrete answer as to which is best. That answer comes down to your individual goals and personal situation.

• Generally speaking, you should target a full-time MBA program if you are looking for an immersive experience that will transform your career.

• One of the part-time programs is not a bad option if you want to increase your academic knowledge and get a solid resume bullet but are not looking to change careers.

School Selection

Once you have decided that an MBA is right for you and researched various programs, it is time to decide which schools you would like to attend. In deciding on your top choices, you must ask yourself several questions: what career do I want to go into? Where do I want to live? And how much am I willing to pay for the degree? I call these elements “The Three C’s:” career, city, and cost. You should prioritize these three and focus on schools that best meet these goals.

The programs you consider should have a strong track record of placing their graduates in your top industry choices or in the region where you want to live. For example: if you are dead-set on investment banking, you should focus on highly ranked schools that have a track record of placing well in this competitive industry. If your priority is to pay as little as possible for your degree, you should look at state schools and those with generous veterans’ benefits. Finally, if you want to settle in a particular city or region, focus on schools in its vicinity.

After researching MBA programs and getting an idea of the scores you need to get into them, it is up to you to decide which of these fits your profile and goals. I recommend looking at a broad spectrum of schools and place them in several categories. Generally, you can categorize schools as “reach,” “50/50,” and “safety.” Reach schools are those where your GMAT and GPA are below average, and you have about a one-in-five to a one-in-ten shot of admission. Because of their selectivity, I would consider highly competitive schools such as Wharton, Stanford, HBS, Booth, Columbia, MIT, and Northwestern (referred to as the “M7”) to be reach schools for any applicant regardless of scores and background. A 50/50 school is exactly what it sounds like: one where your numbers are around its averages and thus have about a 50/50 shot of being accepted. A safety school is one where your numbers are above its averages, and you have upwards of an eighty-percent chance of admission. You should definitely put time and effort into researching your back-up schools because, even if you get into your top choice, one of your second choice schools may provide you with a scholarship that could make you choose to attend it.

When speaking to veterans about MBA admissions, I typically recommend applying to one to three reach schools, two to four 50/50 schools, and one or two safety schools. Therefore, you should develop a list of about four to eight schools of varying degrees of selectivity based on your priorities. You can then identify which of these are your absolute top choices. Narrowing your focus will allow you to set your GMAT goal and figure out how hard you need to study and any additional work you need to strengthen your profile. For example: if you target an M7 or you have a low undergraduate GPA, you will want to do all in your power to break 700 on that GMAT. If your goal is not quite as lofty, you may not have to stress out as much about the test.

Useful Links

The following has been adapted, with permission from the author, from the upcoming book: Breaking Business School: A Military Veteran's Ten Step Guide to MBA Success

The GMAT is administered by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) and you can register for it on the website www.mba.com for a fee of $250 that can be reimbursed one-time for active-duty military personnel. The test may not be taken more than once within 16 days, no more than five times in a rolling 12-month period, and no more than eight times total, even if the scores are canceled.

The test consists of four sections: an Analytic Writing Assessment, Integrated Reasoning, Quantitative, and Verbal. Although your scores on every section are reported to MBA admissions committees, only your scores on the Quantitative and Verbal sections impact your overall score. These sections are “computer adaptive” meaning that each starts with an average question; if you get it right you will get a harder one, if you get it wrong, you will get an easier one. The test’s algorithm uses these questions to home in on your ability and then translates this to one score in 10 point increments on a 200-800 point scale. Scores are distributed in a bell curve with a deviation of approximately 120 points with two-thirds of test-takers scoring between 430 and 670. The score is displayed shortly after test completion. Unlike the GRE, after previewing the score, a GMAT test taker has two minutes to decide whether to keep or cancel it at the test center. The score can also be canceled online within 72 hours after the test starts.

Test takers have the option of choosing several configurations (this option was not available back when I took the test in 2016):

1. Analytical Writing Assessment, Integrated Reasoning, Quantitative, Verbal (original order)

2. Verbal, Quantitative, Integrated Reasoning, Analytical Writing Assessment

3. Quantitative, Verbal, Integrated Reasoning, Analytical Writing Assessment

Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA)

The AWA is a single essay with a 30-minute time limit that analyzes a particular argument. It is evaluated on a scale of 0 to 6 by two evaluators, one automated, the other human. The two scores are then averaged. If there is more than a point difference in the two evaluations, a third expert reviews the essay and decides on the final score. As with the GRE, the AWA is graded on a six-point scale using the following criteria.

Integrated Reasoning (IR)

The integrated reasoning section consists of 12 questions with a 30-minute time limit. These questions come in several forms: graphics interpretation, two-part analysis, table analysis, and multi-source reasoning. Each type of question involves interpreting multiple sources of data such as graphs and spreadsheets to reach a conclusion which comes in the form of a fill-in-the-blank statement, yes or no statement, or a table. IR scores range from 1 to 8.

Quantitative

The Quantitative section consists of 31 questions with a 62-minute time limit. This section has two types of questions: data sufficiency and problem-solving. Data sufficiency problems are unique to the GMAT in that they pose a question along with a couple of pieces of data that a test-taker must determine is either required to solve the problem or is irrelevant. Problem-solving questions are designed to test an individual’s ability to work through a variety of mathematical problems. These questions require knowledge of algebra, geometry, and arithmetic, and calculators are not allowed. The only tools that are permitted are a wet erase pen and laminated graph paper which are given to them at the testing center.

Verbal

The Verbal section consists of 36 questions with a 65-minute time limit. There are three question types: reading comprehension, critical reasoning, and sentence correction in a five-option, multiple-choice format. Reading comprehension consists of analyzing a short piece of writing. Critical reasoning requires a test-taker to synthesize the main points of a particular passage. Sentence correction involves choosing if or how to rewrite a sentence to be both succinct and grammatically correct. Since the vast majority of veterans are native English speakers, we are at a decided advantage in this section over international students whose first language is not English.

GMAT or GRE?

One of the most common questions people ask is whether they should take the GMAT or GRE. The first thing you need to do is determine if your target MBA programs accept the GRE. Although most do, you should always double-check. There is a perception that the GMAT is the preferred test both with MBA admissions committees and corporate recruiters. I have not seen firsthand evidence that this is the case. I know numerous veterans who have gotten into Wharton and HBS using GRE scores. These same people have gone on to get jobs at top banks and consulting firms. So, I did not see using a GRE score as a disqualifier for any school or job. However, the GMAT is more widely recognized and respected.

My recommendation is fairly simple: if you are applying for a dual degree program that accepts a GRE but not the GMAT, take the GRE for the simple reason that it is a single test. If you are only applying for an MBA, I recommend that you start with the GMAT because its score is more recognized, and many perceive the test to be harder, especially the Quantitative section. If you have issues getting a strong score on your GMAT after a couple of tries and hours of work, then I recommend you give the GRE a shot. The material covered on both tests is largely the same, so you can shift your focus with little difficulty.

Beating the GMAT Useful Links

The Executive Assessment (EA) is designed for working professionals, primarily targeting Executive MBA programs but are accepted at many full and part time MBA programs, https://www.gmac.com/executive-assessment/about/accepting-schools. Unlike the GMAT, the EA was created to function as a readiness assessment, which is an assessment of whether you are ready to perform the level of work needed during grad school. The EA is a test of your business ability and decision-making skills. As this is a relatively new test, there isn’t a standard goal score for the EA but if you look online, 150+ appears to be what most schools are saying they would prefer.

The EA is administered by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) and you can register for it on the website https://www.gmac.com/executive-assessment for a fee of $350. The test may not be taken more than two times and has more flexibility to reschedule than the GMAT. The time to take the EA is only 90 minutes, with no official breaks, compared to 3.5 hours for the GMAT. You are allowed to take a break, but your time will keep running. Your score will be valid for five years from the test date.

As a working professional, this test is less time consuming to prepare for than the GMAT. GMAC has official study material you may purchase to prepare and take practice tests prior to scheduling for the actual test https://www.gmac.com/executive-assessment/prepare/official-prep.

The test preparation materials are from $25 for the Official Practice IR Questions to $150 for the Official Practice Premium Collection. I purchased the Official Practice Premium Collection and took a week off during the holiday season and completed the practice tests prior to taking the test. From the first practice test, I improved my score 4 points and received my highest score on the actual test. I found the practice tests to be slightly more difficult than the actual test. I recommend that you complete the practice tests in a similar environment in which you would take the official test. Until 31 December 2020, the EA Online is an online and remote proctored version of the EA to support candidates during COVID-19, and appointments are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The online version of the EA is set up in the same structure as the center-based version.

It consists of three sections: Integrated Reasoning, Verbal Reasoning and Quantitative Reasoning. The scoring translates to one score, per section, in 20 point increments on a 100-200 point scale. The highest practical score for each section, though, appears to be an 18 (If you get every single question correct on one of the official EA practice tests, you’ll score 18 in each section. Why? I’m not sure, but maybe they’re giving themselves room to expand the scoring range in future, if needed).

Each section is given in two panels. The first panel will consist of mixed difficulty, mostly at a medium level. Once you submit the first panel, you will go to the second panel. The difficulty level will depend upon your performance in the first panel. If you get all the questions in the first panel correct, your second panel will be quite a bit more difficult. If you miss every questions in the first panel, your second panel will be less difficult. Within each panel, you may jump around and answer the questions in any order you’d like. There is no penalty for incorrect answers so you should answer them all.

The score is displayed shortly after test completion. Because you can only take the EA a limited number of times, GMAC does not allow you to cancel your scores. If you do not want your scores sent right after your completed appointment, it is recommended not to select any schools/programs prior to your appointment. The assessment allows you 30 minutes per section, for a complete length of 90 minutes.

Integrated Reasoning (IR)

The IR section consists of 12 questions, six questions per panel, with a 30-minute time limit. This section tests quant and verbal skills together. These questions come in four problem types: multi-source reasoning, graphics interpretation, two-part analysis and table analysis. Each type of question involves interpreting multiple sources of data such as graphs and spreadsheets to reach a conclusion which comes in the form of a fill-in-the-blank statement, yes or no statement, or a table. IR scores range from 0 to 18.

Verbal Reasoning (VR)

The VR section consists of 14 questions, seven questions per panel, with a 30-minute time limit. This section tests grammar and meanings as well as logical reasoning and comprehension. There are three problem types: reading comprehension, critical reasoning and sentence correction in a five-option, multiple-choice format. A calculator will be available during this section only. Reading comprehension consists of analyzing a short piece of writing. Critical reasoning requires a test-taker to synthesize the main points of a particular passage. Sentence correction involves choosing if or how to rewrite a sentence to be both succinct and grammatically correct. The level of difficulty in your first panel will be determined by your performance in the IR section, and your second panel difficulty level will be determined by your performance in the first VR panel. VR scores range from 0 to 18.

Quantitative Reasoning (QR)

The QR section consists of 14 questions, seven questions per panel, with a 30-minute time limit. This section tests math as well as your ability to reason or think logically about quant topics. There are two problem types: data sufficiency and problem solving. Problem solving questions are designed to test an individual’s ability to work through a variety of mathematical problems. Calculators are not allowed during the QR section. The only tools that are permitted are a note board and markers they will be provide for you to work out the calculations.

The QR section does not test most geometry topics (unlike the GMAT and GRE), though it does test coordinate plane topics that are technically considered algebra. The difficulty of your first QR panel is determined by your performance in your first IR panel and the second panel is determined by your performance in the first QR panel. QR scores range from 0 to 18.

Useful Links

S2S Test Prep Partners

Service to School has agreements with the following services for discounted services. Contact the S2S operations team at s2s.mba@service2school.org for the discount codes for these programs.

Manhattan Prep

Veritas Prep

Target Test Prep

Sherpa Prep

MBA math

Other Test Prep companies

Kaplan

Magoosh

Princeton Review

Who are our Ambassadors?

Our ambassadors are:

• Veteran and active duty volunteers from all branches and communities.

• Current students or graduates of top MBA programs. Every top 20 MBA program is represented on our ambassador bench. All of our ambassadors have walked the walk and are qualified to help you follow in their footsteps to a top MBA program.

• Many have families. All are full time students or have full time jobs working in high performance industries where their time is highly valuable. They are incredibly smart, talented, hard-working, all around great people. Please be respectful of their time and energy that they are dedicating to your success.

• Having said that, our ambassadors are willing, they want to help you. Use them. They are expecting to spend up to 10 hours throughout the application season helping you with your application. As a benchmark, the industry going rate for an admissions consultant is in the ballpark of $350 per hour. Service to School is a completely FREE service. Maximize your ambassador!

Requirements for pairing

Below are the minimum requirements Service to School.

1. Scan of official GRE/GMAT/EA score report

2. Completed inventory/intake form OR completed draft essay to any of your top target schools

3. Resume

4. Signed statement of understanding

To apply to be paired with an ambassador send the required documents to s2s.mba@service2school.org

Please note we require a minimum GMAT score of 560 and GRE score of 151/151 in order to pair you with an ambassador. This is done in order to help concentrate on applicants who are academically ready for graduate level coursework. That being said if you don't meet these cutoffs, please reach out to us to see how we can help you get there.

How do we pair you with an ambassador?

Once we have recieved your full packet the MBA operations team will begin searching for your ambassador. Our current ambassador team consists of over 300 MBA specific ambassadors and the operations team will do it's best to match you with the best ambassador possible. Typically considerations the operations team takes when pairing applicants include applicant school preference, branch of service, common undergrad institution, and applicant preferences of the ambassador. As all of our applicants are volunteers, this process can take a short as a few hours to as long as a few weeks depending on availability of ambassadors.

What can you expect from your ambassador?

Every ambassador/applicant relationship is going to be different. Some applicants are simply looking for a second pair of eyes on their applications while others are looking for the more extensive help navigating their MBA journey. After being paired with an ambassador you can expect an initial phone call or email to work out your needs. As with any good partnership this relationship is a two way street and your ambassador should explain his/her expectations of you as well during the call. From there you both are off to the races.

Sign up to work with an ambassador

Many of the top business schools require at least two letters of recommendation from sources that can highlight why you fit well with your school of choice. Letters of recommendation are an important way for the admissions committee to learn more about your skills from a different point of view. These letters should not be taken lightly – if a school is on the fence about you, a strong recommendation will propel you into the interview pile. Plan accordingly! With that in mind, here are a few tips that will help you get the most out of this aspect of your application:

Choose your recommenders wisely

Your recommenders can be professional or personal contacts though, business schools prefer professional contacts. These recommenders should be able to speak eloquently on your skills, character, and the value you will add to the school. If a school requires two recommendation letters, try to get one from your current supervisor. If this is not possible, a former supervisor will suffice. Many applicants make the key mistake of asking a senior member within their organization they have little interaction with for a letter – this rarely bodes well. Business schools are looking for substance about YOU in the letter, not the credentials of the individual writing it. Think carefully about the people who can talk highly about your qualifications. If they are that senior official within your organization, great. If not, no worries. Remember, the school wants to know what value YOU will provide to them.

Equip them with as much information possible.

No one likes to enter a battle ill-equipped. The same will go for your recommender, so provide them with the ammunition they need to craft an excellent letter. Unfortunately, you cannot write the letter for them, but here are some tools that you can provide to glean a compelling recommendation from them:

-Your most recent resume

-Background Story:

Why Business School? Write up a brief background about yourself. The recommender should know enough about your professional life, so this is to make sure that they can connect add a personal touch to your recommendation. You should already have an idea of why you want to attend business school, so be sure to provide that to them as well.

-Talking Points

If there are any key tasks/ missions/ projects that you worked on that you want your recommender to highlight, provide them with the task you were assigned, the actions you took, and the impact that you left on the organization as a result of your actions.

-Give your recommenders time to write the essay

This may be the last bullet, but it is as important as the first two. You should know the key application windows for each business school you are applying to. Once you have determined who your recommenders are, notify them as soon as possible – Give them at least a month’s notice. This is both cordial to the recommender and beneficial to the quality of product you should expect in return. If you are unable to notify your recommenders in time, it is best to notify them through a phone call or in person so you can explain your situation and highlight your intent. Once they complete the recommendation send a thank you note and keep them informed with your application results!

Useful Links

Purpose

It is important to remember why you are writing this version of your résumé: to get into business school. This version should not be the same one you might use in parallel to find that sweet first job post-transition (although it may be similar), or that 10+page monstrosity you are about to submit on usajobs.gov for a GS position.

Arguably, this version of your résumé has an even more specific purpose: to convince the MBA program admissions counselor who is reading thousands of applications that you - yes, YOU - are a top-notch, high-performing, upwardly mobile servicemember who outperforms her / his peers, and is therefore deserving of an invitation to interview.

As a veteran applying to business school, you will be competing with your peers - other veterans and perhaps some other government folks from the FBI, CIA, State Department, etc. - for admission. You do not have to beat out the PE bros, McKinsey consultants, Goldman bankers, or Google engineers as they are competing in their own pools. The best business schools have a pretty good idea of the make-up of their ideal class, which includes a certain portion of veterans (e.g., at HBS, around 5% per year). Therefore, when you apply, most admissions departments will put your application in the “veteran and other” pile and sift through that one as its own group.

Why is this important? Because it gives you both the freedom to strip from your résumé anything that does not support this goal and the expectation to brag about yourself.

Your Résumé’s Audience: MBA Admissions Counselor

While the admission counselors who read military applications probably have picked up some insights along the way, they will never have the depth of knowledge about your branch / specialty to “read between the lines” and understand if they should be impressed by your role and achievements. Just think about how little you know about the day-to-day of other servicemembers not in your community, never mind other branches of the military. And these folks have likely never served in the military.

These admissions counselors also have to time-box their reading of your application: your background information, your short-answers, your essay(s), your résumé, your letters of recommendation. In this process, they are trying to make a few decisions:

• Do I want to meet and talk to this person?

• Could I see this person contributing to and enriching our class’s experience?

• Could I see this person convincing one of our corporate recruiters that they should be hired?

Also, thinking ahead a bit, at many schools, the admissions counselors use your résumé to frame and structure your interview. In my interview at HBS, the counselor started at the top, going all the back to my college days, and then we worked our way through the experience portion in the first 15 minutes or so.

Putting it into action

• Keep your résumé short: One page and one page only.

• Summarise all the key information that the admissions counselors expect to see - make their lives easy:

  • Education: Highlight your undergraduate and any other education accomplishments. Here you can add a GMAT, GRE or GPA (typically GMAT > 700, GPA >3.5) and significant leadership roles or accomplishments - but do not spend much space here as your professional accomplishments are much more important.

  • Experience: Most people lay it out in reverse chronological order in order to show progression. Most veterans bucket their experience by duty station and overall responsibilities (e.g., from division officer to department head or platoon commander to company XO to company commander). Dates of your experience and location are also helpful to understand your career journey.

  • Personal: Here you can add information such as your hobbies, interests, and any volunteer activities, awards or other relevant information. This section is important as it shows a window into you as a candidate outside your professional life, so do not underestimate it and be as specific as you can.

• Be clear about the purpose of every single sentence and word on the page

  • For each role you are highlighting, there are two items to get across and they are not equally important: role description and your achievements in the role. Clearly separate the two so that it is easy for the admissions counselor to distinguish.

    • Role description: In 1-2 lines, lay out the scope of your responsibilities in clear english. Quantify thing that make sense to (e.g., “led 100 sailors to…”) and don’t for things that are of questionable relevance (your nuclear submarine does not sound more impressive if you say it is a “$2 billion submarine”, same with the “$X million of gear” you were in charge of).

    • Achievements: Devote the bulk of the real estate to what YOU accomplished and make sure the reader comes away with the clear sense that you are at the top of your community.

      • Articulate them with a fact-base: Bring the datapoints (your FITREP or award citations can be great sources here) that demonstrate:

        • How you made a mark on your role: what metrics improved, what inspections were excelled, what operations were completed successfully

        • How selective or exclusive the roles you were picked for (how many others applied or were considered, how important was the GOFO who hand-selected you)

      • Compare yourself favorably to your peers: Here the concept of a “soft break-out” that is so important in Navy officer FITREPs comes in handy. Drop in all the times you were ranked #1 in the wording (if not in the block), were in the top x% of your peers, or were compared to others and came out on top.

      • Liberally sprinkle your awards: Nothing says that your achievements were meaningful like getting awards for them. Whether it’s expected or not, it can be a way to prove that you had impact.

  • Use your bullet points effectively

    • Try to follow the “Situation - Action - Result” format: put the reader in your place, describe what you did and why it was effective, and what the result was.

    • Start with a past tense action word and do not repeat them - use a thesaurus to diversify your expressions.

      • Examples: led, managed, overhauled, trained, organized, created, analyzed, improved, transformed, identified, delivered, etc.)

Example Resume Template

Useful Links

Prompts may vary widely, but every MBA program requires at least one essay as part of the application package. For many MBA applicants, writing the essay is a stress inducing event. What does the school want to see? How should I best present myself in writing? How should I think about the essay? These and many similar stressors can be frustrating obstacles to beginning the MBA school journey. Yet, no matter what the prompt, there are broadly applicable recommendations to approaching the MBA applications essay that we believe can truly guide to you put your best self forward in writing to the admissions committee.

Connect the dots between your past, your goals, and how that MBA is going to help you get there

You can frame it as, “I did XYZ (accomplishments); and what I learned from that was ABC. I hope to take that experience to the next level in my goal to start a social enterprise in saffron in Afghanistan to help those Afghan women I came across while deployed. Harvard Business School has a terrific track record of producing social entrepreneurs. I talked to ____ and ___ who are both graduates and they told me what great resources HBS offered: the iLab, Rock Center for Entrepreneurship, and the Social Enterprise Fellowship…I am excited to do XYZ after HBS…”

You can talk about your accomplishments as it relates to how it supports your goals in the future

Be Genuine

The essay is an opportunity for you to express yourself, and the best way to do it is to be genuine and tell a powerful narrative about yourself and how the MBA school experience is best for you based upon reality. You’ll find that the essay becomes easier to write and more compelling if you dig deep to highlight your impactful experiences and illustrate your goals. Yes, being tactfully boastful to market yourself to the admissions committee is recommended and very much in line with being genuine as long as it is based in reality.

What becomes a problem is when people become insincere on their essays because for whatever reason, they believe identifying certain topics or using certain buzzwords are standard fare to get admitted. Some examples of such troublesome essay writing are such occurrences:

• Highlighting a career path that there is zero interest for or knowledge about in order to sound compelling (e.g., want to go into finance without grounding in reality)

• Unfairly exaggerate or extrapolate prior military experience (e.g., after being a Platoon Leader in Afghanistan, I can start the next unicorn startup)

• Use MBA buzzwords repeatedly in an essay (e.g., return on investment)

Highlight how the school in particular can best equip you to be a successful businessperson and leader

It is important to have a good appreciation for the qualities of each MBA school and coherently highlight how what the school offers makes it an exceptionally good fit. Some potential areas to highlight are:

• Education delivery (e.g., teaching style, global capstone, or certificate programs)

• Extracurricular opportunities (e.g., community consulting)

• Community culture (e.g., if a smaller program like Georgia Tech has a very tight-knit culture)

Highlight how you can best contribute to the MBA community

MBA schools are also looking for how individual candidates can contribute to the MBA learning experience and community. Once again, in order to highlight this in your essay, it really helps to have a good appreciation of each MBA school. Two areas that would be good to know are how:

1. Structured learning challenges that are present in each MBA school (e.g., some schools have an intense pre-term or capstone that are infamous for being points of student stress)

2. The community presents opportunities to add towards the MBA experience (social, academic, or professional)

It should be pretty easy for veterans to highlight how they can be a bedrock of stability through tense situations like an MBA group project or be a student leader in the community. The key to doing so most effectively on an essay is to signal how your veteran experience makes you a strong contributor to your classmates and the MBA school at large.

Slim it down. Keep it terse. Illustrate, don’t tell.

• Use direct verbs, i.e. subject-verb-object, rather than passive voice.

• Actively edit your essay to make it punchier and to-the-point

• Don’t use too many SAT words, but use a few!

• Show, don’t tell. Example: instead of “Our company leadership expanded the operational capabilities of our unit, solving the toughest challenges in the face of the region’s kinetic environment,” would rather say, “Our executive officer immediately upgraded our vehicle armor against rocket propelled grenades while our first sergeant mandated that dismounts and gunners cross-trained. Because of their leadership and logistical support, our platoon was better equipped to survive in the Afghan province of Ghazni.”

Useful Links

While LinkedIn is not necessarily required for graduate school admissions, you will certainly be expected to have one once you are in school and in the job hunt. Your LinkedIn profile is an excellent way to provide more information about yourself then what can fit onto a resume.

Intro Section

Headline

This is a great place to give a quick “pitch” on who you are and what you’re doing. An example of a headline would be, “Navy veteran currently pursuing a Master’s of Business Administration at school X.” If you are still working, then this would be a good place to give just a little bit more information about what you do.

Current Position

This is pretty self-explanatory. If you are waiting to matriculate, it would be appropriate for it say something like “matriculating student to school X in fall of 2020” or if you are in school then it should reflect your student status such as “full-time MBA candidate at school X.”

Education

This is not required to be shown in the intro, but if you would like to be associated with your undergrad or another school you’ve attended then you can choose to show that here.

Location

This should be based on the location you primarily live in or the city that the school you’re attending is located in.

Industry

Before you land an internship this could be a bit tough to decide. If you know you want to focus on working in a specific industry when you are done with school, it’s okay to put that industry here, especially if you’re studying things related to that. This will show recruiters that you are focused on the industry you are trying to break into.

Experience

Title

You will have the opportunity to add multiple titles/positions within the same company. As long as you assign the proper dates worked to them, they will be in order of the most recent positions.

Employment Type

This is not something that has to be filled in. Most anyone looking at your profile will be able to tell if you had a full-time, part-time, or contract-based position. You can put it in if you think it helps clarify things.

Start and End Dates

If your time with a company isn’t too short, then it’s a good idea to use both month and year. This is especially the case if you were with the same company for many years but held different titles and positions so it can be known how long you were in each. If you have jumped around a bit more, or took some time off before matriculating and are worried about what it looks like using months, only going by years is not taboo.

Description

This section is open to interpretation as far as the best way to describe what you did. Some people prefer to write it resume style, describing what they did and accomplished. Others may choose for it to be skills based where they list a skill and then describe things they did in this role that contributed to that. You don’t want to write a novel, but you do want to include anything that you think is important but you couldn’t fit on your resume.

Education

Most fields in this category are self-explanatory. However, if your current institution does not allow you to put your GPA on your resume then you shouldn’t put it on your LinkedIn either. Description could be used for numerous purposed here. One good way to utilize it is to list positions like being an RA or a TA, as well as if you won any awards, grants, or contests based on your academic performance.

Licenses and Certifications

This section can be tricky based on what you are planning to do once you’re done with school. If you are focused on a niche industry you have experience and certifications in, then you should certainly list those. If you are being more broad in your employment search, it could potentially make employers wonder if they see you have highly specialized knowledge in an area that has nothing to do with their business. Here you need to use your discretion based on your goals.

Volunteer Experience

Arguably the hardest part about this section is having something to put in. If you haven’t been volunteering yet, you should try and find opportunities to do so as many schools and companies value those who give back to their communities. If possible, try to find volunteer opportunities that align with what you want to do in the future. For example, if you’re going to business school, the Volunteer Income Tax Preparer program, as well as Junior Achievement and other economic empowerment volunteer opportunities would look very good to any b-school admissions officer.

Skills & Endorsements

Here you can list areas that you have prior experience in and connections on LinkedIn can endorse you for these, vouching for your proficiency in that area. Again, this is an area you may want to be careful in if you are doing a drastic career pivot. Highly technical skills from a totally different industry may not be viewed in the best light by the companies you’re recruiting with. One thing you can do is update this as you progress through school and you gain experience in the things you plan to do with a future employer.

Recommendations

Like Skills & Endorsements, people can vouch for you and you can vouch for them by writing recommendations. It’s a lot less likely someone will write you a recommendation on a whim like they may endorse you for a skill. If you have a highly respected or accomplished supervisor from the past and you think their word could boost your profile, then you may want to ask them to fill one out for you. Having a recommendation isn’t a necessity for a complete profile.

Accomplishments

There is a long list of things you can add to this section. Any reasonably respected honor and award from your professional experience would be a good add in this section as well as any language proficiency. If you have a test score (like the GMAT or GRE) that is in the top percentiles then this is another good place to list that.

Interests

In this section, companies and groups that you have “followed” on their page will show up. This can be a great way to signal the industries that you’re interested in by following companies within that area of expertise.

Miscellaneous

URL

On the upper right-hand side of your profile go to “Edit Public Profile & URL.” On the next page, you will see the edit button for changing your LinkedIn URL. If you have never done this, it will just be a series of numbers. If it’s not already taken, try to do “firstname-lastname” in place of the numbers. Try whatever combination of initials or relevant numbers. The purpose is to allow your URL to be more readily identifiable to you, and also show that you have done more than just bare minimum of setting up an account.

Viewers of This Profile Also Viewed

By default, LinkedIn will show the profiles of others who are similar to you and were viewed by the same people on the right-hand side of your page. While you like to see everyone succeed, this is your LinkedIn page and you should be using to promote yourself, not others. To turn this off, go to “Settings & Privacy,” then “Site Preferences,” and here you will see “Viewers of This Profile Also Viewed.” Set this to No so that people can stay focused on you while on your page.

Useful Links

Applying to business school takes a lot of internal reflection, meticulous planning, and extraordinary effort. Most applications comprise of similar components: administrative information, official college transcript(s), resume, GMAT/GRE/Executive Assessment score(s), recommendations, and essays. Before you submit your application, make sure that your efforts are not in vain. Comb through your application thoroughly, verify that all the information you input is correctly formatted and that your story flows cohesively. Each application component should all highlight one or more of your strengths. If there is an area that leaves more to be desired, be sure to address that in an optional essay, if one is available. Here are some additional tips as you comb through your carefully crafted application:

1. Verify your research! Top tier schools all have an exhaustive amount of information available to you through various outlets: information sessions, networking seminars, websites, videos and more. Take the time to sign up for these to glean as much information about a school as you can. This will help you ensure that the application you are submitting shows your understanding of the school’s culture, community, and opportunities.

2. Articulate specific future goals Admissions members want to understand what your short term and long-term goals are, and how an MBA will help you achieve them. Reflect on where you see yourself in a few years – if you believe an MBA will help you get there, then you are on the right track. Make sure your goals are as specific and measurable as possible. Take time to think through this – if your plan changes at school, that is okay! Business schools won’t force you to become exactly what you wrote about in your essay. Just be sure that your background, your strengths, and your rationale for applying to business school all tie into a specific set of goals that you have set for yourself.

3. Highlight strengths Every applicant will have a different type of value that they add to a school. Schools are looking for applicants that have leadership skills, analytical intelligence, emotional intelligence, creativity, self-awareness, global awareness, and many other traits. Think of a few that you are strong in – these areas should be highlighted in what you have done (resume and transcripts and recommendation), what you are doing (resume and transcripts and recommendation), and what you intend to do (essays, and recommendations).

4. Don’t overlook the extracurriculars One of the best ways emphasize your uniqueness to the admissions committee is through the extracurriculars section on your resume. Take it from Peter Johnson, the assistant dean of MBA program at UC Berkeley: “To be honest, while the description of work achievements and things is very important, one of the things I enjoy is seeing what people put at the bottom of their resume… secretly I enjoy jumping down to the bottom to say, ‘what’s this person really about beyond their day-to-day job?’”

After you click submit, the battle is not yet over. Make sure you continue to maintain communication with current students, admissions members, and alumni that you have established relationships with as you crafted your application. Finally, enjoy the process! Life consists of seeking opportunities, so congratulate yourself for seeking out this one!

So, tell me a little bit about yourself…

Well, uh, I like playing video games, drinking beer, and lifting weights. Not necessarily in that order [Buzzer Sound].

One of the first questions you’ll have to answer in your admissions interviews will sound something like “tell me about yourself” or “walk me through your resume.” They both mean the same thing – give the interviewer a rundown of the past 5 years or so in, oh, a couple minutes. This might seem a little overwhelming, but with a some organization you can condense your college and working life into an attention grabbing (and short) speech.

1) Segment your life

Break up the past 20-odd years into distinct periods of time. I segmented my time mostly by position, so it was West Point, 1st Deployment/Platoon Leader Time, 2nd Deployment/Executive Officer time, and Squadron Chief of Operations. Choose segments that are meaningful to you and that make sense in terms of your personal timeline.

2) Craft a one sentence description of your segment and determine key lessons

For each of your segments, describe them in a sentence that a middle schooler could understand. For an executive officer in an infantry company, the description could sound something like “As an Executive Officer, I was responsible for three things: 1) Making sure $160mm in equipment was ready to go to war, 2) Making sure 160 soldiers were ready to go to war, and 3) Be personally prepared to act as second in command of an infantry company”.

Next, think about the most important thing you learned in that position. As a Platoon Leader, for example, you probably learned about the importance of communication. Of course, you probably learned a lot of things, but try to pick 2-3 key takeaways. Use these key takeaways to highlight important and transferrable skills that you have. Make the takeaways applicable to the program you are applying to. Leadership and communication are great, but so are problem solving, analytical ability, and management.

3) Create a transition

Link each of your segments with a transition statement. For example, if you have a Platoon Leader segment and an Executive Officer segment, the transition statement would be something like “After my strong performance as a Platoon Leader, I was selected to become second in command of a company and took a position as an Executive Officer .”

You should explain the transition, but also portray the move in as positive a light as you can. Remember, 90% of people will have ZERO experience with the military. You need to explain that you are being promoted to positions of increasing responsibility. While we do not necessarily call the move from Platoon Leader to Executive Officer a “promotion” in the military, it is one.

4) Pull it together and cap it with a value statement

We now have all the elements of the masterpiece: distinct segments, descriptions, key lessons, and transitions. Can you guess the next step? Pull all the pieces together and start painting. Start with the first segment, briefly describe your role and what key lessons you learned, then transition to the next segment and repeat.

For example: “As a platoon leader I was responsible for accomplishing our infantry mission while looking out for the health and welfare of 40 soldiers. From my time in this position, both in Iraq and back home, I learned the importance of taking care of people who work for you. By making sure my soldiers were healthy and motivated, I ensured the success of my platoon as we conducted hundreds of patrols and decreased insurgent attacks in our area. After my strong performance as a platoon leader, I was selected to become second in command of a company and took a position as an executive officer.”

Finally, we still need a conclusion. A strong conclusion will help set you apart from other candidates and put an exclamation point on the interview. One of the best ways to conclude your resume overview is with a value

statement. That is, what unique value are you bringing to your target school. For example, to highlight leadership you could say “After 5 years in the Army, I’ve had intense experiences, at home and in combat, that have helped me understand how to mobilize people from diverse backgrounds towards a common goal. I feel I can bring this perspective of leadership to XYZ university and build strong relationships with my classmates and future employers.”

Lastly, practice, practice, practice. Practice out loud, not just in your head (everything sounds good in there). A good rule of thumb is to have a couple versions of your resume overview (one minute and two minute), that way you can read your interviewer and cut the overview short if they appear disinterested. Remember, the most important part of any interview is to try and establish a genuine connection with your interviewer. Good luck and when you hear “tell me about yourself” in your next interview, know what it really means.

Useful Links

The section that follows was made possible by the independent contributions of several different admissions offices at top tier programs across the country. They gave this advice and their time to write it voluntarily, which is a testament to how much they value their veteran student population. Hopefully it will provide you with a slightly different but still complementary view of how you should be thinking about your MBA application.

Thank you emails are important! Recently, the Managing Editor of Business Insider wrote that the biggest mistake job applicants made was not sending Thank You emails. The same thing can be said for business school applicants. When applying to schools, you should send thank you emails to just about everyone you interact with – students, professors, and definitely admissions officers. Here are a few tips on writing a great thank you email:

1) Timing

When sending your thank you email, do not send right after you meet or wait for days. While there is some flexibility around this, it is generally recommend 18-24 hours after the meeting occurs. If you send a thank you email right after your meeting, you risk looking like you just want to get the email over and done with. But if you wait too long, then you risk looking like you forgot or are not organized.

2) Content

Your thank you email should be memorable while also expressing your gratitude and interest. Showing your gratitude is straightforward – just say “thank you!” but being memorable can be tricky. Try to recall a specific aspect of the conversation where you felt a connection with the person or where you felt genuine interest in what they had to say. For a business school interview thank you email, you might write something on how you appreciated an answer to a question: “I really appreciated your insight on Professor Z’s Valuation Course,” or something that came up in the course of conversation: “I enjoyed our discussion about veterans at [insert school here] and I was fascinated on your take on why vets were successful.”

Save your thank you emails. To save time, you can sometimes use the same general format to send to multiple people – just make a few personal touches and you are done. Be careful though – make sure you do not send the exact same email to people from the same school. People will talk to each other about you as a candidate and if they see the same email it will make it seem like you are not making a strong effort.

3) Spelling & Grammar

This goes without saying, but double check your emails! Make sure you have spelled names correctly and have no “their, there” or “two, too” mix ups. For best results, run that spell check and read the email aloud to yourself a few times before sending.

4) Follow Up

Individuals you interact with will want an update. So if you get into that dream school, make sure you reach out to the folks that helped you get there and share your big news. Or, if things didn’t work out, let them know you are reapplying. Your network will want to circle around you and support you regardless of the outcome.

Useful links

After months of preparation, grueling hours of drills, excruciating over resume bullets, fine-tuning essays, and interviewing at your dream school, notification day finally arrives – and you’ve been waitlisted. So, what do you do now?

The fact of the matter is that business schools make judicious use of waitlists to shape each class. Consider that “yield” is a factor in several MBA rankings, and those rankings will shape applicant views on the prestige of each program. Business schools are thus incentivized not to extend an offer of admissions unless they believe a candidate is genuinely interested and likely to matriculate. During years with exceptionally high numbers of applications, such as the 2020-2021 admission cycle, Round 1 and Round 2 candidates can expect to see the waitlist used much more frequently. Applicants may even be waitlisted for multiple rounds or kept on through the summer.

However, the Admissions Committee likes you enough to keep you in consideration, so being waitlisted means you’re still in the fight – keep thinking in those terms.

FIRST STEPS

Evaluate your candidacy to find where your weaknesses are, employing your S2S ambassador or utilizing your contacts at the veteran’s club at your target school. Some items on your application are rounds downrange, such as your undergrad GPA and letters of recommendation, so there’s no sense in worrying about them now. If you already addressed a GPA below 3.4 in the optional essay offered by most applications, there’s no sense in revisiting it now. Focus on efforts on what you can affect: your waitlist package, your standardized test scores, your professional life, your community involvement, your perceived level of interest, and clarification of your MBA goals.

REATTACK THE TEST

GMAT scores are a hefty portion of your application package. Strongly consider retaking the GMAT/GRE if you’re under the average score for your target school. It’s not a test of how smart you are, just a test of how well you know those problem sets – and they do succumb to brute force study efforts eventually. Veritas Advanced Verbal and Manhattan Prep Advanced Quant are next level materials for when you're at V40 and Q48 and need that little extra push.

If you’re a Round 1 applicant who struggled with the GMAT Quant section and you have ample spare time, you could consider switching to the GRE to play to your strengths in the verbal section. This approach is not recommended for Round 2 candidates since there is limited time to get sped up on a new style of test.

Veteran applicants who find themselves stuck with at a certain score above the 90th percentile but below the school average should not write off their chances. Veterans are “leadership admits” above all, so it’s conceivable that you can still be accepted. The school will find its perfect 800 GMAT whiz elsewhere. However, this is still an area which can move the needle significantly in your favor since they can still only take so many candidates with lower scores. Removing this potential red flag is in your best interests.

For schools with Grade Non-Disclosure such as Booth, Columbia, Haas, Ross, Stanford GSB, and Wharton; employers will not be provided with information on your academic performance during your MBA. This means that employers could index more heavily on your GMAT or GRE score, so pumping up your stats has broader implications for recruiting. This being said, your interactions with firm representatives is likely a more significant factor than a test score anyway.

PAD YOUR STATS

If your undergrad GPA was below 3.4, consider taking a course at a nearby school in a quant-heavy class. Recently completed graduate degrees will also contribute to a better academic package. However, online courses are also helpful. There are courses you can complete during the trial period with Coursera if you are willing to give up some evenings and weekends. Other online options like MBAmath, HBXcore, and EdX come at a cost. In any case, performing well in these courses and making the Admissions Committee aware of the results is a powerful signal of your commitment to academic success. You would want this course to add to your skillset and make sense within the overall context of your candidacy. Attach any paperwork you receive to your waitlist periodic updates.

REVAMP YOUR RESUME

Poorly formatted resumes are common application weaknesses. This is where the veterans’ clubs can really add value, providing examples from current members in the format approved by their own Career Services. Ensure that your resume matches the school’s format.

Re-evaluate the content of your resume and update it accordingly. Purge any bullets that are purely job responsibilities with no indication of how well you performed a given task. Use the following formula check your work:

Action Verb (conveying a skill) + Situation or Tasks (conveying scale) + Result = Great Resume Bullet

At a high level, the action verbs you use should translate to the mix of skills you want to demonstrate and not lean too heavily on just one type of skill. Leadership, problem solving, quantitative analysis, creativity, and collaboration are all worth highlighting. Also consider what recent changes in your career could add value to your resume. While promotions only come so often in the military, changes in responsibility are common. Painting those billet changes as a promotion is well within your right, especially since your resume is likely organized by your key billets anyway. Earmark these changes for inclusion on your resume if not at least for your communications with the Admissions Committee. If you have no accomplishments to report yet, nesting “Selected for [billet] ahead of X peers”.

Many business school resumes have “additional information” sections which include fun facts about what you do in your spare time. This can humanize your application and allow the Admissions Committee (and prospective employers) to relate to you at a more personal level. Do not simply list out that you “enjoy movies, working out, and hiking” – instead, mention in-depth details like “Attended every Marvel movie premiere in costume” or “Hiked Mount Fuji in Japan and Mt. McKinley in Alaska – Mount Kilimanjaro is next”. Making yourself relatable can only help your candidacy.

RE-EXAMINE YOUR “EXTRAS”

Your application is more than just the sum of your achievements at work and school. You are competing against people who have started their own nonprofits, taken service trips to dig wells for starving refugees, and who mentor inner-city school kids with leprosy while balancing highly successful careers. Building out or accelerating your own “extras” will immensely help your case.

Veterans are often subject to deployments and high operational tempos which prevent similar ventures. However, you may have volunteer opportunities in the form of collateral duties. Getting involved with your command’s efforts to solicit charitable donations, receiving training as a Victim Advocate or Casualty Assistance Officer, or simply helping registering service members to vote are all worthwhile efforts. Your volunteerism should make sense within your overall story and ideally fit your vision for how you would get involved at business school as well. If you take on a new “extra” activity, weaving it into your overall story will keep it from being discarded as an irrelevant fun fact.

Corporate fellowships like Hire Our Heroes or Deloitte CORE, internships offered by DoD Skill Bridge or Career Skills Program, and business school programs like Stanford Ignite or Tuck Next Step can serve as strong credible signals of interest that provide you with a good professional network before even getting into business school. Pursue these opportunities regardless of your business school application outcome.

REVISIT YOUR REASONS FOR APPLYING

It can be hard to convey long-term goals at times and even harder to convince a school that you would go to them over a competitor with similar offerings. Sometimes, the weakest point in the application is reasoning for why you want to go to a certain school in the first place. Essays which have not been peer reviewed sometimes list prospective activities that are easily found on the front pages of the school’s website and do not provide an adequate vision for student involvement. Avoid the temptation of listing the many programs and classes you would simply join if given the opportunity. Instead, think strategically: if you’re a leadership admit conducting a career change, where are you going to focus your limited leadership bandwidth outside of academics and recruiting?

Offering your target school, a vision for how you’d get involved as a leader of the school’s first Rugby Club, how you’d partner with local veteran incubators like Bunker Labs to assist founders, or how you’d lead the Net Impact club in serving struggling communities is much more compelling than talking about how you’d simply be a member of a certain club. Are there opportunities in the school’s existing structure for you to be a value add as a resilient leader or is there an initiative you’d like to spearhead? Be imaginative and thoughtful.

If you choose existing academic or extracurricular offerings, do your homework by connecting with current members and asking about their experiences to validate or disconfirm your idea. It’s often helpful if the offering is unique to your target school so you can demonstrate to the Admissions Committee that their school is absolutely the only one tailor-made for you. If you haven't already, download the free Insider Guides on MBAmission.com and dig into them to find more information on classes, culture, events, etc. You can showcase those items as well as your findings from conversations with current students in your waitlist package.

Be prepared to tie those interests, in any case, to your long-term or short-term goals. You may need to take another crack at why you’re choosing a given route if you get feedback that your reasoning wasn’t compelling. Lean on your S2S Ambassador or trusted veteran’s club contacts to give you those hard critiques.

FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS

Upon receiving the waitlist notification, the Admissions Committee will usually direct you to a website to familiarize you with the process. Carefully read all the guidelines and restrain yourself from immediately contacting the school. Do not be the one who can’t follow simple instructions. Your communications with Admissions should be carefully crafted and infrequent, so responding within the first week is likely not a great idea. You’ll want to balance your communications to be top of mind for the Admissions Committee without becoming annoying.

If you’re given an opportunity to write another essay or submit a video, the video is often the stronger choice. You’ve already taken a crack at conveying your interest in written form and you’ll continue to do so with future waitlist updates. Video offers another chance for you to charm the Admissions Committee and to showcase your personality, but it’s only 1-2 minutes in length. You’ll need to take the time to write a quality script, set the stage, and suit up to look the part. Given the short window, you may save precious seconds by adding post-production text to introduce yourself or thank the Admissions Committee, allowing more time for the key messages in your talk track. Do not try to cover every topic under the sun or revisit topics addressed in your essay. This is an addendum to your existing application so it’s better to add value than regurgitate old talking points. Pick one or two key messages that fit the video prompt, addressing assessed weaknesses if possible, and go deep on those topics.

If you’re given an assigned Admissions Officer, send an email every 3-4 weeks with updates to your candidacy, but ONLY if you can share substantive information. Awards, promotions, and upcoming decision deadlines are all fair game. Reiterate your interest and enthusiasm and give these update emails a significant amount of scrutiny, leveraging your vet club contacts or your S2S Ambassador for edits. If you receive other offers of admission, you may choose to pay the deposit to secure your spot but remain on the waitlist at your target school. If you are extended an at your target school, just be sure to update those where you already made a deposit so that slot can be opened for someone else.

PERSEVERE

Finally, understand that Admissions is a black box. At most schools, Admissions will likely not say anything to you and your updates may go unanswered. You won't be able to get on a call with anyone and the Admissions Committee will likely just refer you to the waitlist FAQ page if you ask any questions. You won't know if you're doing well or if you're last in line.

Be honest with yourself about your appetite for risk but understand that you're still very much in the running. There is movement on the waitlist in every round. Those websites collecting data on waitlists have not done so with the veteran population in mind. You are not subject to those same statistics, so shake off the noise and don’t let anyone tell you the odds.

At Darden, veterans are valued and valuable members of our MBA communities. They bring incredible experience to the classroom, and they impact life outside of the classroom through student organizations like the Darden Military Association (DMA) and the Veteran Executive Students at Darden (VESD), but also through UVA Darden’s diverse array of club offerings, as well as class- and program-wide leadership positions and more.

Many of our students who do not come from a military background are both surprised and impressed by the amount of responsibility and managerial authority military candidates have had during their careers. However, many of our military candidates do not immediately recognize their own strengths and the potential value they bring to an MBA community.

When we speak with military candidates, many are worried they do not have the “right” background for business school. We say it often, but it bears repeating – There is no one “right” background for UVA Darden. “Traditional” and “Non-Traditional” do not apply here. Many of our students do not have prior exposure to traditional business subjects like finance and accounting, and they hail from a broad range of industries and organizations. For example, our Full-Time MBA Class of 2022 boasts over 70 undergraduate majors and represent 25 industries and over 300 employers.

As an Admissions Committee, we are trying to bring as much difference as possible to the classroom. Darden is a case method school, and the more diversity present in the classroom, the richer those case discussions will be. We are looking for students who know their story, who want to be active participants in their MBA experience, who are going to share their perspectives with others but also recognize they have much to learn from their peers, who will be great classmates and teammates, who want to make an impact outside of the classroom. The list goes on, and many of these attributes directly intersect with military candidates’ strengths as well as past experiences.

At Darden, you will bring your whole self to the learning experience. For this reason, we encourage you to be authentically you during the research and application process. Take time to get to know us, but give us an opportunity to know you. And remember, the better you can understand your story – particularly the “whys” of your narrative – the stronger your application will be.

On a more practical level, here are a few more tips we typically share with military candidates:

Make sure your resume is understandable to a lay audience.

Typically around 5-8% of our full-time MBA classes and approximately 30% of our Executive MBA classes come from a military service background, so our Admissions Committee is familiar with some of the jargon and terminology unique to military careers. However, when crafting your resume, you should assume the reader will not know much about your particular branch, organization or responsibilities. Your resume is a great opportunity to highlight leadership, impact and progression in your career, and you will want to make sure you make the most of this important space.

Engage your networks.

Many of the military candidates we meet, particularly those who are in the process of separating, are less sure about what their next step might be. There is typically an element of “I don’t know what I don’t know” and applicants are looking to use their time in an MBA program to narrow their career interests and goals. While this is understandable, your short-term and long-term career goals will be important parts of any successful MBA application, and they are also fundamental to other important questions – for example, “why MBA.”

So what is a candidate to do? Network. Network. Network. And by “network” we mean talk to people! Informational networking is great place to start any MBA journey. Who in your communities has pursued an MBA? Who has recently transitioned out of the military to the private sector? Talk with them about their experiences. What did they learn? What would they recommend? Use these conversations to also learn about companies and industries that may be of potential interest to you. These conversations will give you an opportunity to test hypotheses about potential career paths, and even better, you will be building relationships that – if maintained – will continue to benefit you as an MBA student.

Connect with our military-oriented affinity groups.

If you’re applying to our full-time MBA program, be sure to connect with the Darden Military Association as you learn more about our program. Executive MBA applicants are encouraged to connect with the Veteran Executive Students at Darden organization as you explore our executive MBA formats – Executive MBA (EMBA) and Global Executive MBA (GEMBA) – which are offered out of our Washington, DC area grounds. These kinds of connections can help candidates get a feel for the culture of our programs and add a personal dimension to the MBA research process.

Good luck on your MBA journey and congratulations on taking this step in your personal and professional development!

Useful links

Become the Leader You’d Like to Follow at Berkeley Haas.

Veterans traditionally make up around 10% of the Full-Time MBA Class each year here at Berkeley Haas. The incredibly unique perspective of those in service coupled with the commitment to service has only enhanced the Haas community. Our veterans hold leadership positions, including our MBAA president. The veterans on faculty further enrich the experience in our program.

Veterans who come to Berkeley Haas join a strong, tight-knit community driven by shared values. Our strong culture is rooted in our four Defining Leadership Principles: Question the Status Quo, Confidence Without Attitude, Students Always, and Beyond Yourself.

Successful candidates to our program focus on these core values. They focus on the leadership attributes that are gained through service. Even candidates who haven’t been in formal supervisory positions have an opportunity to reflect on these attributes as they are often central to their time in service.

At the Center of Innovation

Study at Berkeley Haas, and you study at the heart of the new economy. The San Francisco Bay Area is home to companies that are redefining industries and driving global economic growth, such as Apple, Google, and Airbnb.

Opportunities for growth and development are at your fingertips, with the world’s largest assembly of innovators in tech—from information to bio and clean—right nearby. We partner with industry leaders to bring guest speakers to campus and to provide experiential learning, internships, and networking and career opportunities.

The Berkeley MBA experience produces leaders who excel at the core skills that businesses will always need—critical thinking, communication, and constant adaptability—and who deliver strategic, operational, and organizational innovation.

You gain these capabilities through:

• Leadership development. Learn how to inspire others and how to make decisions based both on analytic rigor and on understanding the impact of those decisions on real people.

• Experiential learning. Absorb, question, discuss, and debate in the classroom. Then, test your growing skills in one (or more) of our nearly 20 applied innovation courses.

• Global fluency. You’ll find opportunities to understand the nature of global enterprise and leadership in the curriculum, as well as sitting right next to you—with classmates from as many as 40 countries.

Connect with Us

At Haas, we understand that making the transition from the military to the civilian world can be tough and intimidating. Here, you'll find a Career Management Group that helps you explore and determine which industry and function are right for you and the insights and support of peers in the Haas Veterans Club.

Founded in 2008, the Haas Veterans Club is designed to serve U.S. and international military veterans in the Haas community. Today, the club includes veterans from six nations and five U.S. military services. Club membership is open to veterans, students pursuing careers in the defense industry, and anyone interested in learning more about military service.

The Haas Veterans Club hosts events throughout the year, supports club members as they transition from the military to the civilian sector, and connects club members to the professional military network.

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The Georgetown University McDonough School of Business is located in the heart of Washington, D.C. There are many military installations located through the D.C. Metro Region, making Georgetown a perfect destination for business school if you’re thinking about your next PCS or transition to the civilian world. Because of its location and resources, Georgetown McDonough’s Full-time and Flex MBA programs also have a strong military population. Approximately 8% of our incoming Full-time MBA class and 12% of our incoming Flex MBA class in Fall 2020 were members of the military.

“As the spouse of an active duty U.S. Army soldier for the past 16 years, I appreciate the value that military service members add to the classroom. They provide strong leadership and global experiences and the grit to excel under pressure.”

Shelly Heinrich, Associate Dean, MBA Admissions

Advice for Military Applicants

• Translate military jargon: As with any industry, it is important to translate the industry specific terms into more general terms. So, if you were in charge of a battalion, how many people does this equal? How would you translate your rank title into a civilian equivalent? What do the numerous acronyms stand for? Be prepared to do this not only on your resume, but also in your interview. And leverage our McDonough Military Association (below) to assist you in this translation.

• Relax in the interview, but prepare: In general, civilian life is a bit more relaxed, so while you should still be professional, don’t feel you need to prepare as if you’re briefing a general officer. Come prepared to answer questions like: Why are you pursuing an MBA? Why are you interested in this school? What do you hope to do post-MBA? Typically, military officers haven’t had as much time to practice interviewing as their civilian counterparts. If you went through ROTC, you may not have completed an internship as an undergraduate and it’s likely you haven’t had to interview for jobs within the military in the early part of your career. However, you have had more than enough experiences that will be very compelling to share in an interview. So, do some research on typical MBA questions and prepare, prepare, prepare.

• Highlight your global experiences: Military candidates typically have had strong global experiences as compared to their equivalent peers. Highlight what you have learned by working with other cultures. Demonstrate how it has made you think differently about the importance of diversity and how that experience will be valuable in a very diverse MBA classroom.

• Capitalize on your ability to work under pressure and overcome obstacles: One of the best characteristics that military applicants have is their ability to work under pressure and overcome obstacles. The military trains you to keep going even when it’s challenging, and this trait will be important when classes get challenging and the workload of balancing everything seems unmanageable. Admissions committees appreciate the grit that military candidates often bring to the classroom experience, so be sure to highlight this in the interview.

There are many resources to consider as you research Georgetown McDonough.

The McDonough Military Association (MMA) is a group of veteran students who form both a social and professional network to promote engagement and outreach. This organization facilitates career-oriented professional development and provides opportunities to serve the broader community. Contact MMA at mba-vets@georgetown.edu.

Some highlighted MMA activities:

• Vet Pre-Orientation to set expectations and highlight resources to prepare you for the coursework. Questions as simple as what to wear to class will be covered, as we know that some of our veteran students will be making a cultural transition as well by returning to school.

• War Stories: This annual event is hosted by the MMA and provides the platform for our veteran students to share their military experiences with the broader McDonough community.

• VetImpact: Students gain consulting experience by doing pro-bono consulting work for veteran-owned businesses.

• Speaker Series: The MMA hosts prestigious members of the military community to share their experiences and provide a broader network of professional connections for our students. Of note, we have hosted Colin Powell, former U.S. Secretary of State and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to share insights from his years of service.

The Georgetown University Veterans Office serves military-connected students as they apply to, attend, and advance beyond Georgetown. The Hilltop is home to close to 1,400 military-connected students including service members, veterans, and military families. The Veterans Office connects military-connected students with the resources including information around admissions, finances, academic support, and career networking.

Funding and Scholarships

• Application Fee Waiver: Active duty, reservists, or veterans of the United States military receive an application fee waiver to the Full-time and Flex MBA Program.

• Yellow Ribbon Program: Through the Yellow Ribbon Program at Georgetown, eligible Full-time and Flex MBA students receive $15,000 per year from Georgetown McDonough, which is matched by the Department of Veterans Affairs, for a total of $30,000 annually toward tuition and fees in addition to the Post-9/11 tuition benefits.

• Pat Tillman Foundation University Partner: Georgetown University is a Pat Tillman Foundation University Partner. Through this partnership, our nation’s active and veteran service members are eligible for scholarship funds during their MBA studies.

Other programs within the McDonough School of Business that many veterans consider include:

Executive MBA Program The Executive MBA (EMBA) at the McDonough School of Business is a 20-month program that, in addition to classes on campus, includes two international and two domestic week-long residencies. EMBA students also complete Global Capstone Residencies in which they study the impact of globalization in a foreign country at the national, industry, and firm levels.

Executive Master’s in Leadership Program The mission of the Executive Master’s in Leadership (EML) is to develop principled leaders who are steeped in an understanding of scientific process and know how to use evidence to make decisions when confronted with complex problems for themselves, their organizations, and their communities.

Useful Links

At NYU Stern, we value the perspective that our veteran applicants bring to our program, and we encourage applicants to lean in to their military experience in their application. Veterans typically have leadership experience beyond that of a non-veteran applicant coming from a more traditional business background, and they should highlight this leadership experience throughout their application.

Additionally, while it's important for veteran applicants to pull out key skills and translate some of their work experience into civilian terms, they shouldn't do so at the cost of highlighting the quality of work they have done in the military. Applicants shouldn't water down their experience for the sake of making it more digestible for the admissions committee. We have experience reading military applications. Make clear connections between your work in the military and the business role you are interested in, but don't shy away from your specific, unique military experience.

Michigan Ross values the unique qualities that veteran bring to our MBA program. Veterans have been incredibly successful at Ross and is a growing community. Seven percent of the fall 2020 matriculating class were veterans, a record for the school. As you prepare to embark on the MBA Application journey, we wanted to share these key tips:

Deal with the Standardized Test early on

Most applicants, including our vets, agree that the standardized test is the most time consuming part of the MBA application process. Given that test scores are valid for five years and the amount of test prep required to do well, we recommend beginning test prep 12-18 months before intended matriculation. The vast majority of our students take the test multiple times and see improvement on subsequent attempts. You’ll want to leave yourself adequate time to retake the exam or even switch to a different exam if it’s a better fit. It’s easier to work on this earlier in the process rather than under a time crunch in the spring if you’re placed on a school’s waitlist.

Share your full self in essays

Essays are one of the only opportunities for Admissions Officers to learn about who you are and what you value before interview selection. Many veteran applicants write essays about their experiences in service for many if not all of the essay prompts. These experiences are often strong and well written, but they also frequently repeat experiences we hear about in other parts of your application. You bring more experiences and perspective than just your time in service, so don’t be afraid to share your full self when writing essays.

Translate leadership experiences and impacts for your resume and interview prep

All Admissions teams are looking for students who have made an impact in their respective careers thus far and show an upward trajectory of success. It’ll take some time and preparation to clearly define your experiences on your resume. When possible, be sure to quantify key parts of your day to day duties- i.e. size of your unit and value of equipment you oversee. Clearly outline new ranks as they were earned and any accommodations or rankings that positively reflect your success. As you prepare for your interview, take time to practice limiting jargon and breaking down service experiences for those unfamiliar with military practice.

Define your career path

For any school you apply to, you’ll be asked to share your career goals. Most full-time MBA students are making a career switch, so don’t feel intimidated explaining your transition. The key is to clearly define your transferable skills and why you’re passionate about an industry. As much as possible, show the Admissions team you’ve done your homework on your post-service career and have already begun talking with people in the field to prepare. Recruiters always tell us that they trust MBA programs are providing students with the core quantitative skills to be successful. They focus heavily on matching student’s passions and values to their industry and company culture. If you have a personal connection and passion for your post-MBA goals, be sure to communicate it.

Leverage current veteran resources

Most schools have a veterans student group which is really hands-on in the Admissions process. Many schools even have special visit weekends for veterans which are a great way to learn about a school’s culture first-hand. Current students understand how demanding the Admissions process can be and make themselves available to help review essays/resumes etc. Don’t be bashful reaching out for this support- they were in your shoes just a year or 2 before and excited to pay it forward.

Why Ross for Veterans:

• Michigan Ross is known for having more opportunities for action-based learning - learning business by doing business - than any other program. We repeatedly get feedback from our alumni veterans that this is a natural fit for their preferred learning style. Ninety-five percent of Ross students made a career pivot so you’re in good company. The best way to prepare for a post-military career is getting hands-on experiences from programs like MAP- a 7-week immersive consulting engagement course with real companies and organizations around the world, which gives you high-impact experience and helps prepare you for your internship.

• The Armed Forces Association at Ross is an incredibly tight-knit group of veterans who support each other throughout the MBA experience. The group hosts one of the largest student events of the year- VetX, a TedTalk style event where veterans share their service experiences in front of hundreds of their classmates. Students also plan the Veterans Leadership Summit, bringing together veterans from all MBA programs with top companies at Ross.

• As a public institution, the University of Michigan is proud to provide in-state tuition for all veterans and allows veterans to take full advantage of GI Bill benefits. In addition, Ross has recently created a cost of living stipend scholarship awarded to many veterans.

• Ross is well known for having one of the most inclusive and largest partner communities across the country. Nearly a third of Ross students have a significant other and the University of Michigan offers generous child care stipends for graduate students. Ann Arbor is routinely ranked in the top 5 of best US cities to live in and is home to a top-ranked VA hospital.

• As part of your Ross MBA, you can apply to the Tauber Institute a world-class Operations and Supply Chain program. Tauber offers students a highly interdisciplinary academic experience with a top engineering graduate program and a guaranteed operations focused summer internship.This program has been a natural transition for a number of veterans over the years.

To learn more about Ross, reach out to the Armed Forces Association and watch this webinar featuring a panel of veterans.

Useful links

The following has been adapted, with permission from the author, from the upcoming book: Breaking Business School: A Military Veteran's Ten Step Guide to MBA Success

An MBA’s cost depends on numerous factors: How much of the GI Bill are you entitled to? Are you going to a private or a state school? Did you get any scholarship money? Do you qualify for Veterans Readiness and Employment (VR&E)? Depending on the answers to these questions, the degree’s cost can range anywhere from $0 to $200k. Here is an overview of both the GI Bill and VR&E :

The Post 9/11 GI Bill

The GI Bill is an entitlement meaning that, unlike VR&E, if you served on active duty for a set period of time, you are entitled to the GI Bill to pay for your education. Here are the rates for 2020:

So what does this all mean? It means that you are entitled to receive a portion of this rate if you serve on active duty past any initial service obligation you have from your undergraduate education (four years for ROTC and five years for academies). Therefore, your clock only starts ticking once you have served your initial commitment. So, you will have to serve more than 90 days past your service obligation to get 40% benefits and an additional three years to max out your benefits. Enlisted time including prep schools such as the Naval Academy Preparatory School (NAPS) and the Military Academy Preparatory School (MAPS) also counts towards your service total. For example, if you served two years enlisted, followed by one year at NAPS, and went on to graduate from the Naval Academy, you will be entitled to 100% GI Bill Benefits at your five-year mark.

If you paid out-of-pocket for your undergraduate degree and served on active duty for three years, you will get 100% of your GI Bill Benefits. The 100% threshold is significant because it opens up the Yellow Ribbon program whereby your school and the VA provide matching funds to close the gap between a school’s tuition and what your benefits cover.

In addition to tuition assistance, you also receive a monthly housing stipend equivalent to the E5 with dependents Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) rate for the zip code of your school or a flat fee for an international school. This amount is also prorated to your GI Bill rate. You only get this stipend while you are attending school because it is pro-rated for the days you spend in class. For example: if you start your semester on the fifteenth of a given month, you will only get paid half of your usual rate.

Given the extent of these benefits, you may ask yourself if you should stay on active duty up to your full-benefits point to increase the financial support you receive from the VA. There is no catch-all answer to this question. Rather, this decision should come down to your personal circumstances. What will you have to do to get to that length of service? If it is only a matter of extending your current orders by a year or less, you may want to consider staying in to get your Yellow Ribbon benefits because they can often be worth as much as $70,000. However, if the additional service required will put stress on you and your family, then I would say that you should start the degree at your earliest opportunity. You will have plenty of time to make back the money you spend on an MBA.

Veterans Readiness and Employment (VR&E)

This is a lesser-known but incredibly generous program the VA offers that covers 100% of education costs for a veteran pursuing professional training. That’s right, VR&E will pay the entire costs of your MBA and give you an identical stipend to what you would receive from the GI Bill. So what is the catch? VR&E is not an entitlement. To qualify for the program, you need to have a service-related disability rating of 10% or more and convince a counselor that you need the degree to gain “suitable employment” after leaving the military. There is a high degree of subjectivity in what type of job is considered “suitable employment” and whether an MBA is required for it.

Even if you have the required disability rating, there is no guarantee that your counselor will find you entitled to the funding. You will need to demonstrate any barriers your disabilities present to you in the job market and how an MBA will help you get a job where they are not exacerbated. For example: one of my good friends was a Marine Corps Infantry Officer who suffered from chronic back pain as a result of his numerous ruck marches. His military training translated into a career in law enforcement or security services. However, his back pain made a job where he would spend most of his time on his feet unsuitable. Therefore, he needed to get an MBA to get training for a new career. He was successful in getting approved for VR&E; however, many who apply are not.

Even though VR&E is not a guarantee, there are certain things you can do to maximize your chances of receiving the benefit. First of all, you need to get your disability rating documented as soon as you can. I highly recommend getting the ball rolling before you separate because the approval process often takes well over six months. Second, you need to do some soul searching. Do you need an MBA to enter your chosen career path? Did the military provide you with the training you need to succeed professionally in this career? Do your disabilities preclude you from any careers? You will have to provide honest answers to these questions to your counselor and show that you genuinely need the degree to get suitable work. Finally, if you are eligible for the program, you should apply for these benefits when you move to the city where you will be getting your MBA. The best piece of advice I have regarding VR&E is that, when planning your budget, you should only plan for GI Bill funding and treat anything you may get from VR&E as a bonus.

Cost and Benefits

Even though an MBA can be a huge professional benefit, it is by no means a guarantee of success. It is up to you to prepare for your job interviews, leverage your network, and make use of your time at school. If you party your two years away, the degree will be a complete waste of your time and money. Furthermore, the high-paying jobs many MBAs gravitate towards are high-pressure and often require over sixty hours of work a week. So, if you are looking for a relaxed, nine-to-five job that pays you about $100,000 a year, there is really no point in a full-time program. In a nutshell, earning an MBA from a top program will only increase your chances of getting a high-paying, intense job, not guarantee it. You must recognize this reality when you decide whether or not you want to go for a full-time MBA after you leave the military.

From a purely financial perspective, you can calculate the value of the MBA investment in terms of how long it will take for the degree to pay for itself. This calculation depends on a variety of personal factors and circumstances, many of which you will not know until you have finished your MBA. So, the best you can do is make a guess as to what they will be in your case and run through the calculation for yourself. I have run through two sample calculations and you can use this same methodology to predict how long it will take for your MBA to pay off. I assume each veteran will be able to get a job with a total annual salary of $110,000 ($75,000 after taxes) had she not gone for an MBA, and use after-tax, take-home income from Virginia to calculate the two-year opportunity cost. I also use the after-tax income to calculate the salary differences in each case. Since these are rough approximations, I did not factor in student loan interest payments or raises which can affect the total payback time. I assume that these veterans attend a hypothetical MBA program with a $140,000 total tuition and a $2,000 BAH stipend for 20 months.

Case 1: Veteran with 60% GI Bill Benefits, has an internship that pays a total of $15,000 after taxes, gets a job with total compensation of $150,000 per year, and receives a $15,000 signing bonus after taxes.

Case 2: Veteran receives VR&E (all tuition and fees paid), gets an internship that pays a total of $20,000 after taxes, gets a job with total compensation of $200,000 per year, and receives a $20,000 signing bonus after taxes.

As you can see, in most cases, the investment will often pay off in well under a decade, and, sometimes, even as little as one year. Again, these calculations are rough approximations that depend on a variety of personal factors, so I advise that you develop several projections given your target schools and career goals to determine how long it will take for your MBA to pay off. Whether or not the degree is worth the investment of time and money depends entirely on your professional goals and the quality of school you can get into. However, I can tell you that I never once regretted getting my MBA. Beyond the higher paycheck you should receive, the two years you spend at any program are a transformative experience that will help you transition from the military to the private sector.

Useful Links

Below is an ever growing list of links to veteran schloarships.

There are many important considerations a student must make when choosing a graduate degree program. In addition to the other previous material such as applications and financing the degree, a veteran must choose between a variety of program formats including on-campus full-time, part-time, off-campus, or online programs. The online format offers some distinct differences than traditional formats, and with the proliferation of high-quality graduate schools present in the market, online options are becoming more popular with each passing semester.

Accreditation

One important element to consider when choosing a program is to understand the differences in accreditation and ensure the programs meet your desired standard. Many schools are offering diversity in their MBA programs such as the opportunity to earn a dual masters in engineering, or to focus within the business discipline with concentrations such as analytics or business intelligence, and some schools are having their degree programs certified as STEM.

Residential Requirements

Many of the leading online MBA degree programs will incorporate a residential requirement for the cohort to visit the campus at some point. This is typically for a weekend or a week, and is a mandatory element to completing the program. In some cases, it is mandatory on fixed dates and in other cases, the veteran can choose when they would like to participate. There is an added advantage for some veterans in this instance, because under the post 9/11 GI bill rules in effect September 2020, any class program that requires a veteran to be on-campus will award the veteran the on-campus housing allowance rate for the ENTIRE school term. This can have enormous value depending on the circumstances, but it is a consideration that the veteran must contemplate.

Geographic Considerations

The next important element to consider is the physical location of the school. Typically, graduate schools are aligned with companies and industries located within their geographical area. These partnerships are available to online students as well as on-campus students, and provide valuable learning opportunities and can lead to improved networking and even internship and career opportunities. Another geographic consideration relates to any recurring class or group work. You will want to be in a similar time zone with your school to ensure you can work effectively with your colleagues.

Synchronous vs Asynchronus

Many veterans considering online opportunities may be fully employed while pursuing their education. The online-MBA option offers a high-degree of flexibility for those who are employed, or desire flexibility for any reason. A common format is for students to complete an amount of work that is asynchronous, which means that it’s done on the students’ own time. This might consist of quizzes, video lectures, research assignments, and more. After completing the individual work, class might meet for a live synchronous session. In some programs, the weekly lecture might be a mandatory part of the final grade. Please ensure you work closely with an academic advisor to understand how each program is structured and what all the requirements are for you to be successful in their program.

Final thoughts

In summary, an online MBA is a great option to consider for numerous reasons. The format can vary greatly between schools. In order to ensure greatest success, it is important for the veteran to consider where the school is, how the schedule will fit into their personal lives, and carefully choose which program they are interested in joining.

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Evening and weekend formatted MBA programs, better known as part-time programs, are a great way to earn an advance degree in business and may provide better suitability to your life and career progression. Of the top 10 full-time MBA programs, 4 of them offer a part-time option (US News World Report). All part-time MBA programs are ranked in a similar format to the executive and full-time programs. This data makes it easier to research and compare. I encourage all applicants to visit the school in person, sit through their information session, set up coffee with alumni, and attend a class where you can talk with current students and teachers. This will give you a holistic view of the program to determine if it is the best fit for you.

Advantages

Location. You will not have to move to attend a program that is local. The school will likely be in a location that you are familiar with. This will eliminate moving costs, and adjustment period to a new location.

Career Progression. You will not be taking two-years off from the professional world. You retain the ability to expose yourself to promotions and career growth opportunities.

Income. You will not lose income for two years, you have the ability to earn money, and still keep exposer to earn additional money (e.g. promotion, bonus or raise).

Flexible. You’re on your time to complete the degree requirements. You are not confined to the two-year or one-year model to complete your degree work. The average student takes 2.5 years to complete their degree work.

Funding. Your employer may be able to help supplement the cost of your degree.

Balance. You had a life and a career before you started going to night school, and you can retain that – school is now added. Full-time, your life swirls and is absorbed in the program.

Networking. Everyone in the program, like you, is hoping to connect and build lifelong friendships. It is no different with a part-time program, it is just a smaller time slot to engage – make the most of it.

Disadvantages

Internship. You will not be able to participate in this experience, which is a major part of the full-time program.

Access. In a full-time setting, a student lives in the eco-center of the school. Professors, Speakers, and Seminars are richly available. You may not be able to see them as easily as a full-time student.

Recruiting Season. Similar to internships, this is almost exclusively a full-time experience. Part-time programs do offer career services; however, it is not the same level of intensity that is given to full-time students. Remember, you have a job. They are trying to get the full-time students employed.

Commute. It is not uncommon for people to commute to schools for their part-time program (e.g. live in Indianapolis, and commute to Chicago on the weekend for class). This can taxing to a person on many levels, it is important to consider.

Social Events. Part-time programs have far less social events when compared to full-time program. However, as a part-time student you have access to the full-time events. Keep in mind, that many of them happen during the workday, which may disadvantage you.

Personal Experience at Kellogg

Leave the Military behind Go in there with a clear mind. You have a once in a lifetime experience being given to you, you want to be the biggest sponge you can be. Embrace it all, and soak it all up.

Do everything If there is an event, sign up for it... even if it is out of your comfort zone - over extend yourself. I attended things I never thought I would, just because I wanted to be able to speak the language and know what people were talking about around me. No matter how much you have on your plate at B-school, it will never be anything close to what you have done in the Military. You have the bandwidth; it's just up to you to fill it.

Network Make as many friends as possible. This will be easy if you put yourself out there. Kellogg is known for being one big family - it is. The hard part is knowing how you are going to keep in contact with them once you leave. I do postcards - send a couple out a month to random folks. Easy, makes them feel special, and it is fun.

Don't think that you know what hard work is because you have deployed and been in the Military Everyone there worked their tail off to get into school. I got this advice from a Navy Kellogg grad prior to me enrolling, and he was dead right. All the folks there know how to work long hours on thankless work and away from their families. Don’t come in with a chip on your shoulder.

Start reading the Wall Street Journal and the Economist Every class talks about current events and you don't want to be behind the power curve, and you want to have context.

Take an excel course if you can, even if it is just online You will find that you are going to be the bottom 10% in excel skills. This is not good, because excel if you are good at it, can save you a lot of time with your work. Everyone coming from the private sector are NINJAs at Excel. No matter how good you think you are, you are not that good...

You will likely be the only person in your class that has led or managed more than four people So use that strength. Be the leader, don't shy away from it. The only person that might have been in charge of more people would be the other military guy in your class. It is shocking how none of your classmates have really ever been in charge and understand the human condition like you do.

Be smart on where you live.

Be active with the VETs You are now in an elite fraternity of TOP MBA VETS - use the power! Meet up with VETS at the sister schools (e.g. Booth and Kellogg or Sloan and Harvard)

The following section provides individual stories and their specific lessons learned. Each provides a unique perspective that can hopefully spur thought at what might be possible for you.

The following has been adapted, with permission from the author, from the upcoming book: Breaking Business School: A Military Veteran's Ten Step Guide to MBA Success

Age is Just a Number: How a 35-Year-Old Vet with Mediocre Grades Beat the Odds and Got into Wharton

A few years ago, no one would have given me much of a chance at getting into Wharton. I was in my mid-30’s, had been working in the private sector for a few years, and had a less than spectacular undergraduate academic record. I was hardly the prototypical veteran MBA applicant. However, through focus, hard work, and perseverance, I was able to beat the odds and earn a place at my top choice school. I am sharing my story to highlight that there is no set age when someone, especially a veteran, has to get an MBA. Rather, the degree is a step in your journey that you must take when you are ready. Also, mediocre grades are something you can overcome by getting a high score on your GMAT or GRE and crafting a thoughtful, introspective application.

My story

I graduated from the Naval Academy in 2005 with a degree in English and a mediocre GPA. Looking back at my time at Annapolis, I realize that I did not focus on excelling academically but mainly aimed to stay "sat" (off academic probation). I cared more about leadership and my extracurricular activities, which included sports and community service. I underperformed without question. However, I was lucky enough to be offered an interview for a commission as a nuclear submarine officer, which I passed, earning a spot at Nuclear Power School. I worked hard, made it through the battery of exams, and went on to complete a tour as a division officer on a fast-attack submarine. I had follow-on assignments in the Middle East and Europe. I enjoyed my time in the military, but, after seven-and-a-half years on Active Duty, I decided it was time to see what the civilian world had to hold.

I did not see the value in getting a full-time MBA and wanted to get into the private sector as soon as possible. I went to several placement firms but had my best success with the Service Academy Career Conference (SACC), where I secured a public sector consulting job through a contact I made. So, I moved to D.C. and started my career inside the beltway. After several years in D.C. which, included a Navy Reserve Mobilization to the Middle East, I was offered an opportunity to work as a defense consultant in the Middle East. The opportunity seemed exciting, so I jumped on it.

After a year of this work, I asked myself: "Is this the direction I want my life to go?" I had either served in the military or worked in the defense industry for almost all of my adult life. I wanted a change, but my background and experience were so specific, it made pivoting difficult. The best solution was simple: hit the reset button by getting an MBA from a top program. However, I was over thirty, had thirteen years of work experience, and had a low Naval Academy GPA. I was hardly an ideal candidate. So, how did I beat the odds and get into Wharton?

1. I got a strong score on my GMAT.

If you have a weak undergraduate GPA, you can make up for it by crushing the GMAT. People often target 700, which is fine if you have a good (3.5+) undergraduate GPA. But, if you are in the low 3.0/2.0 range, you should shoot to score close to 730 to compensate for your GPA. Getting this score takes a serious commitment. In my case, I spent about 200 hours over four months of studying. I did over 1,000 practice problems from the Official GMAT Guide and completed eight practice tests before taking the exam. My hard work paid off, and I scored well enough to compete for a place at a top business school. My score went a long way to removing doubts adcoms had about my academic capabilities, given my subpar GPA. To be clear, the GMAT is only one part of your application. Many people have gotten into top programs with lower scores. A higher score only improves your admission chances.

2. I developed clear answers to the questions, "Why an MBA? Why now? What am I going to do with the degree?"

If you are older and have significant work experience, as I did, adcoms are bound to wonder what you hope to gain from a full-time MBA. In my case, I hoped to use the lessons I learned serving and working overseas to methods to use business to improve a wide variety of global issues. I sought to leverage my experience and combine it with a top MBA program's resources to pivot to the next phase of my career by joining a consulting firm that does social impact and sustainability work.

Before you start your applications, I advise you to sit down and write a concise one to two-sentence answer to the questions: "Why an MBA? Why now? What am I going to do with the degree?" These answers will provide the structure you can use in writing your essays and during your admissions interviews.

3. I narrowed my focus and leveraged my connections.

I chose Wharton as my top school because I had several friends who had graduated from it, each of whom had an incredible experience. The school has a well-deserved reputation for being very vet friendly. Furthermore, I knew its name would open doors for me professionally. Therefore, I contacted my Wharton friends to get their advice on my application essays and resume. The best part about working with your friends is that they will give you brutal, honest feedback. One of them tore my resume apart and said it was one of the poorest written he had seen. Although that feedback was tough to swallow, it made all the difference as I revised my resume and essays over a dozen times until each was polished to perfection. By narrowing my focus, I ensured that I devoted considerable time to get my application right. If you do not have friends at particular schools, reach out to their veterans’ clubs and get a Service to School MBA Ambassador. These people have been through the process you are starting and will share their insights into how you can best translate your experiences into a compelling application narrative.

My hard work and focus paid off when Wharton accepted me. I went on to have an incredible time during my two years at the school. The maturity and perspective my age brought, coupled with my years working in the private sector, served me well. I definitely do not think I would have gotten as much from my experience had I pursued an MBA at the “normal” time.

Conclusion

You should not go to business school just because you think it is the right thing to do at a particular time. Rather, you should apply to MBA programs when you have a clear focus and reason for wanting the degree. My example should also show you that you should never sell yourself short because you do not think you have a strong enough background for a particular program. A strong GMAT score and thoughtful application will go a long way to compensating for an unimpressive undergraduate transcript. Do not sell yourself short, and do not deselect yourself from a program you want to attend.

UCLA Anderson School of Management is very heavy in entrepreneurship. I was already expecting that, but I was surprised at the number of opportunities to help you advance your ideas towards reality.

In the beginning, I felt out of place (impostor syndrome) from being next to so many talented and successful individuals. Then you realize that most people think the same way about everyone in the room.

When you break into your core teams, most people look to the veteran to get things going or start things up. Similarly, we tend to take an extra second to analyze things before jumping to conclusions.

Expect to spend more than 20 hours per week on schoolwork. You can get away with less, but it depends on what kind of grades you are looking to achieve. Also, most of the work is performed in teams; you must be clear with your teammates about grade and work expectations. You could be in a group where everyone is shooting for a B, and you want to get an A. In this situation, you will be doing most of the heavy lifting. In my case, I have spent, on average, 30 hours per week in schoolwork. When you are not working, you are doing schoolwork.

As a veteran, I received a lot of help getting my tuition requests from the VA established. I am using Vocational Rehab benefits that fully cover my tuition. My experience with our Veteran office has been outstanding.

If I used my GI Bill benefits, tuition would be fully covered too because UCLA is a public school. It is crucial to do your homework and find out how far you can stretch veteran benefits to cover tuition.

I am an active member of the Anderson Veteran Association (AVA). I have answered to many veteran requests for information about the program. Before beginning at UCLA, I did not know I could reach out to veterans at Anderson to help me navigate the application process. Please reach out to your intended school’s veteran association before applying.

Switching to 100% online was tough. UCLA was not immediately ready to do the change from my experience, but this was new for everyone. EMBAs were significantly affected because, in a hybrid program, we already have limited interaction with each other.

Since the beginning of 100% online classes, I have seen a lot of effort put in by Anderson faculty and classmates to enhance our virtual school experience. I can honestly say that UCLA is doing an excellent job of listening to student feedback.

Author profile: Single male. Marine officer for 6 years. Attended Stanford GSB full time MBA program 2017-2019.

Regardless of whether someone was transitioning from the military or a different sector, almost everyone I know who got an MBA evaluated the decision (pre-matriculation) from the perspective of financial opportunity cost. While there are many other considerations, it’s the most tangible and concrete data that people can compare on an apples to apples basis. This isn’t a wrong or bad methodology. Just one of many and the most common. It’s not dissimilar to how people anchor on salary in job negotiations when we all know that a job encapsulates so much more than a paycheck.

In hindsight, I can honestly say that I have not thought about my decision to attend a full time MBA program from a financial perspective a single time since I have graduated. I say this as someone who took out six-figure student loans. In fact, I have thought many times that I would make that decision all over again if someone told me that stepping out of the workforce for 2 years and paying a lot of money would have zero positive impact on my future lifetime earnings.

Similar to how it feels wrong to count the money you spent on the countless dates trying to get to know your husband/wife or the money you spend on raising your kids, it feels futile to try to put a price tag on the experience of a full time program. What is it about the experience of a 2 year full time program that underpins such a strong sentiment?

When I think about my time in business school, here’s what I feel I took away in order of significance.

1. Lifelong friends and memories

2. Personal journey

3. Network

4. Education

Lifelong friends and memories

The reputation of business school is that it is primarily partying, schmoozing, and professional networking. That’s partially true, particularly on the surface level. But after you graduate and see the experience for what it is on the other end, it just feels like it doesn’t capture the totality of the experience. It’s like how someone can read a million books, watch every war movie, and talk with hundreds of vets, and even then, their understanding will be lacking and won’t fully capture the totality of what military service entails.

Before business school, every now and then, I would meet someone who would come across as particularly thoughtful, kind, charismatic, interesting, and grounded, and would really whet my appetite to spend more time with them. At business school, I’d say that described the majority of my interactions on any given day.

A full time program afforded me the environment, time, and autonomy to build the foundations for lifelong friendships and to create treasured lifelong memories. I love my friends from the military, but when I left and they stayed in, our common life experiences naturally diverged over time. My military friends understand me in ways that my business school friends never can. Having said that, my day to day life, experiences, and the things I think about on any given day have much more overlap with those of my friends from school.

The experience was incredibly vivacious, perspective giving, and life breathing. Because of the diversity of experiences, I (along with many of my friends) felt like I lived more life during those 2 years than 5 years of working a normal job. I don’t think of my classmates as my “network.” I just think of them as my friends - friends that I feel as strongly about and fondly towards as I do with my friends from the military.

Personal journey

For me and the vast majority of my friends who left the military, transition was a longer, harder, and rockier process than we had all anticipated. Business school is in some ways a 2 year placeholder on your resume where no one will critique what you accomplished professionally.

The full time experience meant that I was immersed in an incredibly supportive and forgiving environment for two full years where I could ask all my dumb questions, explore and learn about what might be interesting for me professionally, soul search about post-military life, and test different hypotheses on how I might best structure my professional career and environment moving forward. It was an incredibly meaningful and powerful opportunity to reflect on my identity outside of that as a Marine and to shed my old skin. Life in the military is the definition of a bubble, and my two years in school afforded me a chance to gain a sense of self-awareness and appreciation for my past life.

When I think about what I learned at business school, my attention immediately snaps to the depth and breadth of all that I learned about myself, the world, and others. It’s only after I spend time reflecting on the big life lessons that I recall everything I learned about the nuts and bolts of the business world.

Network

While I don’t think of my friends as my network, I do think of the general alumni base as the network. One important thing to note when it comes to the value of a network is how responsive and helpful the alumni network is. Some school networks are a loose affiliation. Other schools foster such a tight knit experience that alums will respond to cold emails as if you’re a long lost friend. I tend to think this is a function of the size of the program, the culture and experience of the program, and perceived exclusivity by alums.

I loved where I went to undergrad (a big state school) and wouldn’t change it for a thing if you offered me the chance to redo life and you sweetened the deal by giving me a full ride and admissions to the most prestigious universities in the world. Having said that, the difference in access to people I wanted to engage with before and after business school was on a totally different scale.

Education

I went to school thinking that my greatest takeaway would be the classroom education. Whenever I was assigned to a certain position in the military, I was always sent to a school to learn the ropes whether that was airborne school, MOS school, etc. When I left the military, I just assumed that if I was going to vaguely work in “business,” I should probably go to “business school.” While I chuckle at my naivete, business school in some ways felt like a career starter in a box: “Here are the basic concepts you need to know. Here’s the culture you need to absorb. Here’s the jargon. Here’s your rolodex of people who can help you along the way.”

While I had incredible professors and I learned more in my classes than I can sufficiently capture in this note, the vast majority of my business learnings during school came offline. From asking my friends questions about their previous roles on random weekend trips or dropping in on random conversations on campus, I found that so much of what I learned were things that are more caught than they are taught. How do you communicate the interpersonal dynamics between a lieutenant, the company first sergeant, and company gunny to a new officer? Similarly, I think lessons like that have to be experienced and are incredibly difficult to articulate through a textbook.

It’s also the soft stuff - reading a room, being comfortable talking with executives, developing pattern recognition of complex business dynamics, understanding different organizational cultures (sales, finance, legal, etc), recognizing you aren’t so different from your civilian peers, developing the confidence to feel like you belong in the room and that your opinion isn’t totally irrelevant, etc. To me, the full time experience gave me every opportunity to fill that out.

Conclusion

I haven’t gone through a PT or EMBA or online program. I was intentional in trying not to compare the experiences. Maybe it affords the same opportunity, maybe it doesn’t, but that’s a call that only you can make for yourself. Truth be told, if you’re the type of person that can gain entrance to a top program, you probably don’t even need all the benefits that it affords. You’re the type of person that will succeed regardless of what obstacles you encounter and what disadvantages you may or may not face. But if you have the chance to add all these advantages to your toolkit at what will be a marginal cost in hindsight, why wouldn’t you? I also acknowledge that not everyone is in a position to attend a full time program, but if you can afford to take the time off and have the budget for it, I would highly recommend it. 10/10.

There is a multitude of reasons to pursue an MBA through the Executive route. Those that immediately come to mind are the ability to work full time and directly apply the coursework (many EMBA programs meet once a month, Friday – Sunday), immediately parlay relationships into job opportunities, attend an institution that otherwise would not be geographically possible, and surround yourself with an entire cohort comprised of diverse senior management. I highly recommend the EMBA route to those who feel these factors align with their desires, however, there is another benefit to the Executive route, which leads to its unofficial designation as the “backdoor” to admission.

One of the unique factors in admissions for an Executive MBA candidate is that management experience is heavily weighted when compared to the traditional, quantitative pillars of admissions criteria. I did not have a stellar undergrad GPA and my GMAT scores were nothing to brag about. When I developed an interest in obtaining an MBA a few years after exiting the military, I feared it was too late to fix the blemishes that would prevent admission to a respectable program. Thankfully, I became aware of the Executive route and the emphasis placed on one’s leadership resume.

This is not to say the Executive route allows one to ignore test prep, forgo resume boosters, or expend minimum effort on the essays. Certainly, a quantitative threshold for acceptance must be upheld, even if the candidate holds an accomplished record of management. You possess a unique and valued leadership perspective from your time in the military. For those hesitating to apply to a top notch MBA program due to fear of less than ideal test scores or GPA, consider the Executive route, if available.

Further factors to consider

Many Executive MBA programs require a minimum amount of management experience. For UCLA, the prerequisite was eight years. Often, military candidates have this by virtue of their time in service; however, this stipulation is not necessarily a deal killer for those who would like to pursue this route and have fewer years in uniform. The relaxing of strict admissions criteria also can also extend here, particularly for service members. Military leadership is rightfully seen as management experience placed on warp speed and admissions officers will often waive the requirement for those anywhere close to it (I had less than 7 years management experience between the military and my post-military job upon acceptance). All of this is to say, a polished and deep resume is crucial for the Executive MBA program. Your extensive leadership in the military must be translated to your resume in an easily identifiable manner. This holds especially true for those who feel their quantitative marks may be a hindrance in terms of their over candidacy. This is one of the primary means to make an impact with your application and move on to the interview.

The interview is arguably the second-most important step on the path to Executive MBA admissions. For military leaders used to performing under pressure and briefing audiences of all sizes, this may seem like a formality. Lack of preparation in relying on one’s ability to think on the fly and engage with people is a critical error made in this step, one that may have cost me an acceptance or two. The interviews in my experience ranged from very lengthy informal conversations to a brief exchanging of pleasantries immediately followed by challenging and rapid-fire questions. Again, keep in mind that your military leadership (and post-military civilian leadership if it applies) are a major reason for them extending an invite to interview. In your preparation, ensure that you take every opportunity to highlight this, not through boastful sea stories, but relatable anecdotes that describe the kind of leader you are. I would argue that at the end of the day, the number one factor that admissions officers look for in interviews is relatability. They have now reviewed your admissions package and determined your eligibility based on scores, essays, etc. The focus is now on how will this individual add to the group dynamic, how will they take ownership of projects, how will they add to the brand? Preparation allows for confidently painting a relatable picture of leadership and can make all the difference in this step.

With all of the benefits to pursuing the EMBA, there are some potential drawbacks, depending on individual preference. The cohort usually meets only once a month in person. For those who prefer a classroom setting or the ability to perform group work face to face, this poses a challenge. There is ample opportunity to network and engage in team building through the EMBA, but the nature of the program means long stretches of remote activities. Being a simultaneous employee and student means accepting that in times one must take a backseat to the other. It is possible to not only complete, but also excel in duties for both, but one must adapt to the ebbs and flows of each. If being fully immersed in studies and only studies is appealing, the Executive route may not be the fulfilling choice. Finally, the EMBA option is growing among top business schools, but not all schools are offering it yet.

Advantages

Diverse cohorts with many years in management across multiple industries. Some schools will require 12-14 years of management/industry experience. However, there are waivers for everything.

You will become part of an extensive network of MBAs. This is important for many MBA students and will depend on what school you choose to attend.

The Executive MBA hybrid schedule helps with work/life balance. It also accommodates people flying in from other cities/states/countries. It is usually a 22 to 24-month program—currently, 100% online since mid-March 2020.

Great fit for senior military members transitioning out of the military.

Career coaching and Leadership Training are typically offered as part of the curriculum.

Many business schools actively recruit military personnel. They are looking for a different leadership perspective than what is found in corporate America.

Many opportunities to get out of your comfort zone and explore what others are doing.

Disadvantages

Very high tuition costs. The GI Bill will NOT fully cover most EMBA programs. Yellow Ribbon helps, but sometimes it is not enough for private schools. (NYU, Wharton, USC, etc.)

Most require the GMAT or EA. It can take months to prepare for this test. Look for universities that will consider waiving either test for veterans.

Depending on where you go, it could be very competitive. Not a problem for most veterans but be aware that your classmates are top tier individuals.

Travel Expenses. If you choose to attend a school in a different part of the country, you must consider your monthly travel costs, sometimes biweekly classes on campus. (Some schools have arranged hotel stays for class weekends included in tuition)

Since COVID-19, classes are 100% online. The experience has drastically changed how we keep in touch and network within our cohort and with other B-schools.

Useful Links

Unfortunately, my test scores, GMAT in my case, were extremely low compared to the average applicant at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. Through peer reviews, and talking with the admissions staff it was clear it was going to be large hole in my application to overcome.

I took the GMAT a total of three separate times within a period of two years. Test prep was an investment that I made (classroom, book, and online), but contrary to glossy brochures filled with guarantees, I was the outlier whose score did not increase appreciably. It was devastating; the time, the study, and the money invested did not move the needle in my favor. I remember vividly sitting outside a testing center in a suburban Memphis strip mall frustrated and alone in my 1996 Ford Ranger, “What is wrong with me?” was repeated until I composed myself and drove home. That was my Scarlet O’Hara moment with regards to Business School Admissions.

In the cycle of grief, my sadness, anger all turned to motivation and I developed a new strategy to present the best version of myself to the Admissions Committee without a solid GMAT score. I had been given the advice to take graduate level finance and accounting courses in order to show the board that I could handle the academic riggers and complexity of a top business school education. I enrolled myself into the University of Arkansas satellite campus in Memphis, TN. The University offered a unique one-year degree in Operational Management. The course work included a finance and accounting course - bingo. I am not a dumb person despite what my GMAT indicated, and I knew I could succeed in a classroom environment. I dedicated myself to each course and through a lot hard of work and time commitment in class and out of class I was able to achieve high marks across all my classes.

Instead of hiding from the GMAT, I addressed it head on in my application. Several schools give you the ability to add any additional comments that you feel the Admissions Committee should know upon the review of your application. Northwestern University is no different. I wrote the following to committee

“There is only one reason why I obtained my Masters in Operational Management from the University of Arkansas. It was the next step I had available to prove to you, the Kellogg Admissions Committee, that I have the aptitude, desire, and resolve to handle graduate level business courses. I have been attending night class for the last year and a half, Monday through Thursday, 7pm to 10pm, to prove to you that I can handle: finance, accounting, and management courses. I have dedicated the last couple of years to get to this point – hitting the submit button.”Did this get me into Northwestern? Who knows? The admission’s board does not provide feedback on applications, whether you are accepted into the program or not. Nevertheless, it validated to me that my drive was worth it. It also gave me faith in the system that schools are looking for the best applicant regardless of potential or perceived holes.

Service to School Resources

Our website is constantly being updated with a variety of links to help you with your transition.

https://service2school.org/resources/mba-resources/

The MBA operations team

Feel free to reach out to our MBA operations team if you ever have any questions or need assistance in any way

Steve Hojnicki : LinkedIn

Berkeley: Haas School of Business

Boston University: Questrom School of Business

Chicago: Booth School of Business

CMU: Tepper School of Business

Columbia Business School

Cornell: Johnson School of Business

Dartmouth: Tuck School of Business

Duke: Fuqua School of Business

Georgetown: McDonough School of Business

Harvard Business School

London Business School

Maryland: Smith School of Business

Michigan: Ross School of Business

MIT: Sloan School of Business

Northwestern: Kellogg School of Business

Notre Dame: Mendoza School of Business

NYU: Stern School of Business

Oxford: Said School of Business

Rice: Jones School of Business

Stanford Graduate School of Business

UCLA: Anderson School of Business

UPENN: Wharton

USC: Marshall School of Business

UVA: Darden School of Business

UW: Foster School of Business

Vanderbilt: Owen School of Management

William & Mary: Mason School of Business

Yale School of Management

MBA Veterans Career Conference & Expo

The MBA Veterans Network connects veteran MBA students and alumni of the world’s top-ranked business schools with the country’s best employers. Each October (14 years running) we host the MBA Veterans Career Conference for 2 days of corporate presentations, networking opportunities, interviews and an amazing career expo with over 60 of the best companies in the country.

Breaking Business School: The Savvy Veteran's 10-Step Guide to MBA Success is a new book by Service to School CEO Alec Emmert. Proceeds of the book will go the various military non-profits, including Service to School. You can find it here.

About the Author

Alec Emmert has served as both an undergraduate and MBA Service to School Ambassador since 2015. A former Navy Submarine Officer, Alec received his MBA in Business Analytics from Wharton in 2020 where he was the President of its Veterans’ Club and the Editor-in-Chief of the Wharton Journal. He also holds a Masters’ of Science in Finance from Georgetown where he was the Student Government Association President. He is currently an Associate at McKinsey&Co’s Philadelphia Office.

Bunker labs is a non profit organization designed to help servicemembers, veterans and their spouses become entrepreneurs. They have locations all over the United States and regularly hold networking events both in person and virtually.

Link for our recording of MIT Sloan Veterans Association' admission webinar

Thank you to everyone who has helped to make this guide possible! Below are many of the people who helped make this guide the document that it is today.

Eric Askins Daniel Borchik Andy Boyd Alex Duncan Sam Dunlap Alec Emmert Nicole Faherty Shelly Heinrich Fernando Hernani Steve Hojnicki Asika Isoh Matt Johnson Kimberly Jung Alex Kurth David Lee Michael Lippert Sue Oldham Brent Powers Kelly Rose Benjamin Strickhouser Stephen (Brett) Twitty G. Graham Van Hook Hall Wang

Special Thank yous

Contributing MBA programs

Darden School of Business: The University of Virginia

Haas School of Business: The Univerity of California Berkeley

McDonough School of Business: Georgetown Unviersity

Owen Graduate School of Management: Vanderbilt University

Ross School of Business: The University of Michigan

Stern School of Business: New York University

Service Providers

GitBook.com for allowing us to host this guide on their platform at no cost to our organization.

Service to School is continuosly striving to provide the highest quality advice and help to our nations active duty servicemembers and veterans. If you see something in this guide that isn't up to date any more, have an idea to share in future iterations of this guide, or would like to join our writing staff volunteers please email the MBA operations team at s2s.mba@service2school.org .

You can also rate each individual page by scrolling to the bottom and using the the "Was this page helpful?" tool. This feedback will help us decide what to update next or further enhance in the future.

If you would like to review Service to School's privacy policy please click here.

The one statement most commonly made by our military veterans considering business school is: I don’t think that I have many transferable skills to bring to the business school classroom and the corporate world. That statement is quite simply not true. Business schools are always looking for versatile candidates whose skills will transfer to the corporate and professional world. Military veterans bring many qualities to an MBA program: proven leadership, teamwork, adaptability, perseverance, creativity, diversity, and quite simply GRIT. Military veterans are trained to make decisions quickly with limited data. Military veterans are experts at utilizing their critical thinking skills, oftentimes on a large scale affecting many people. And military veterans work alongside a diverse group of people from all races, ethnicities, socioeconomic backgrounds, and geographical locations. All of these qualities are instantly transferable (and valued) to an MBA program and the corporate world.

So how does a military veteran take all of the above and translate that into a competitive application for business school? First, make sure that your resume translates into “civilian language”. We are looking for career progression and tangible metrics to qualify your work experience. Second, connect with the school’s Armed Forces Club. This student club is your resource about student life activities and access to current military students. The military community is a close-knit one and finding current students (who just went through the application process) will provide perspective and a real testimony. Third, make sure you understand your military educational benefits and align with a business school that will help you maximize these hard-earned benefits.

Vanderbilt Business is committed to helping military candidates transition to business school and is proud to offer not only a collaborative environment at a top-ranked business school but dedicated resources for military candidates. As a Vanderbilt Business student, you will have access to customized executive coaching and tools typically reserved for executives at Fortune 500 companies through our Leadership Development Program.

Our admissions process is a personalized one with every candidate having a dedicated Recruiting Manager assisting you through the application process. We recognize that through the military you have gained extraordinary leadership experience, advanced communication skills and a significant amount of experience working on teams. Our team works diligently to recognize the depth of experience you have gained through the military and the transferrable skills you have developed through that experience.

In recognition of the patriotism, scholarship, and leadership qualities and capabilities of veterans, the Bass Military Scholars Program provides $25,000 per year to an annual cohort of highly talented veterans pursuing graduate and professional degrees across five Vanderbilt Schools. In addition to Bass Military Scholars program and other scholarship opportunities specifically for military candidates, Vanderbilt Business is committed to providing our Yellow Ribbon eligible students the maximum amount approved by the Veterans Administration (VA) based on unmet need. As a military candidate, you also have a dedicated financial aid officer who is familiar with your benefit opportunities to assist you with the transition.

Useful Links