Will going into the navy put me at a disadvantage?
I'm currently a senior in high school who is looking towards going into finance. NROTC scholarship winner (which basically does nothing for me because of how good the financial aid is at the school I'm going to), and prospective student at a top university (think HYP). Now here's my question; will going into the Navy for five years, coming out, getting my MBA, then trying to enter the private industry put me behind my peers significantly? Is the time spent as an analyst valuable/important? What can I expect to be earning when I come out with an MBA?
I want to go into the Navy, because it seems like an awesome way to pay back my debt to society, but if it's going to affect my future plans too much, I feel like there are other ways I could do that too, ya know?
Try to find some alumni in finance and reach out to them for their input. I think your mindset is admirable, and I think employers do look at service favorably, but you are right that you may not just hop into a position with an equivalent skill set. I have seen some equity analysts (and I am sure there are some in IB and other specialties) with prior armed forced experience.
Thanks for the response!
I was in your position in college; I turned down my ROTC opportunity and decided to do college "normally", then decide if I still wanted to serve a few years later. In my case the answer was yes, so I simply did the 10 week OCS and then went on to military service.
What I've realized after the fact is that I am much better off- I got a more rounded college experience (was able to do varsity sports, fraternity, internships, whole 9 yards). After a few years to mature and round out, I was able to make a more informed decision about my decision to serve.
More importantly........I got access to my GI bill for my MBA program after just 4 years of service. If you do the ROTC scholarship, you must serve additional time past your initial contract in order to be GI bill eligible; no one explains that to you going in and it would certainly be relevant to your decision. You will need 4 years of service to pay back ROTC, and an ADDITIONAL 3 years to get the full GI bill. You're actually looking at a 7 year minimum, which means starting your MBA at 30.
Your plan of MBA after 5 years isn't going to work, unless you foot the bill on your own.
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