Advice for Army Kid

Hi everyone. So I've been lurking around on this forum for a while now but never mustered up the will to post or make an account for that matter. With the end of this summer and my first internship, I'm looking into IB and would appreciate any advice or insight from you monkeys.

I'm a rising sophomore at a semi-target with a decent undergrad business program. Spent the past summer interning in operations at a financial data company (Cap IQ, Bloomberg, Thomson Reuters.) Here is where things get a little complicated... After I graduate, I'm going to be away for four years. On top of that, my junior year summer will also be occupied. Both of these are the result of a military commitment I made prior to enrolling at my semi-target (I'm a ROTC cadet.) From what I've learned on WSO, the latter two combined would pretty much kill the possibility of the textbook SA to FT route.

How difficult would it be for me to get into IB? I've found a few threads related to military presence on the street, non traditional candidate recruitment and the sort. Would my only option be to get an MBA following the four years away? In that case, should I not bother applying to the relatively strong BBA program at my school and just major in say, economics? Keep working on getting finance-related experience such as internships regardless of the commitment to bolster up my resume for MBA apps in...7 years? Thanks, folks!

8 Comments
 

You could always pick up a National Guard contract and work FT while doing the Guard. Its not easy but its the best of both worlds.

If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses - Henry Ford
 
Best Response
2 centsI can tell you that as an officer on active duty you will be pushed to get your masters degree, but if your plan is to get out after your 4 years then it might now matter and you could just use your post 9-11 bill for when you are finished with your commitment.

Echo this. The Post-9/11 GI Bill is a beautiful thing. Wanna know how much I paid out-of-pocket for my Top 10 MBA? Zero!!!!

What I would urge you to do would be to get some great experience on active duty for 2-3 years, then head to a desk job that will allow you to study hard for the GMAT. With your military experience and a solid gmat score (650+) you will be competitive for a Top MBA program. Just make sure you do a 'real' job in the military, not one that they could hire an overweight GS employee to do (I think you know what I mean). A job that shows the ability to perform under pressure and lead/manage will transition well to banking.

 

Can you use post 9/11 GI Bill after already receiving an ROTC scholarship? I didn't think that was possible

If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses - Henry Ford
 

Be aware that the GI Bill part is only true if you did not have an ROTC scholarship. The time served to repay your scholarship(4 years) is not served concurrently to accruing your Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits. This means that to have 100% GI eligibility you would have to serve a total of 7 years, putting you well past the prime for most top MBA programs and making the transition to IB that much more difficult. To me, the scholarship is not worth the time trade-off.

I took a modified approach, I will serve 4 years and 4 months. This gives me 40% eligibility for the GI Bill while not putting me that much older than the average MBA applicant. I don't get the yellow ribbon program but I still get $7,200/year towards tuition, plus 40% BAH. I did the math for Columbia and even at only 40% eligibility I will still get roughly $35,000 over my two years. Not a bad tax free benefit for only serving a few months beyond my commitment.

 

Good tips. I was ineligible for the Montgomery GI Bill because I attended a service academy. However, I used the Post 9/11 GI Bill while still on active duty and still serving my aviation commitment, so the three years needed to build up 100% eligibility ran concurrently with that.

My advice would go to the career service office or educational service office on whatever base you end up being stationed at. They will have experts there who can fill you in on all the ins and outs of GI Bill eligibility. One thing that is important, if you do not end up using it make sure you transfer your benefits to your dependents.

 

mappely did it the right way. do that if you can, my brother got out after 4 years because he couldn't stay in or they would force him to go to further military schooling(squadron officer school maybe?)

i did army ROTC, got kicked out(played varsity sports, tore up knee and couldn't pass the test after my waiver ended), then did air guard. it worked out fine. military is an asset.

 

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