Future Army officer aiming to be a management consultant

Hey fellow monkeys. Hello to you from the lovely state of Arizona where it is a beautiful 75 out, only days from Christmas. I am a junior at Arizona State studying finance. I have a 3.7 GPA, am a proud brother of Delta Upsilon, and am in Army ROTC. My career plan is to serve 4 years as an Army officer, graduate from a top 25 MBA and work as a management consultant.

Now the question lies here in which branch would provide the leadership building and overall development that would help me succeed in an MBA, as a management consultant, and in the business world in general. I will be choosing my branch within the next year, so I am feeling it around well ahead of time.

I am currently thinking about going armor or aviation. I believe that being in a combat arms branch would be more intense than a combat support branch, thus requiring myself further my leadership skills and my ability to think and act well under pressure. I'm sure there would also be a good argument for going a combat support branch route, I've just yet to find that reasoning.

Much thanks and I look forward to hearing your insights gentlemen.

 

Doesn't matter. Combat arms > Combat Support or service support branches but only marginally. Aviation is cool for the wow factor but its harder, imo, to show tangible leadership experience on the same scale as an INF PL can. By the way, don't count your chickens before they hatch big guy, I saw some pretty quality guys get sent home from camp so get through Lewis then worry about this kinda stuff

If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses - Henry Ford
 
Best Response
2x2Matrix:
No idea as far as the actual experience of each of those options, but when you apply for a consulting job, what you did in the Army won't matter. "Army officer" is pretty much the most detailed label that anybody with a non-military background will be able to affix to you: what you actually do in the army matters significantly less than the fact that you're in the army. Just pick whatever sounds the most interesting/fun/rewarding/etc. to you. Nobody will ding you for picking the wrong branch. The least pressure-packed job in the armed forces has many times the pressure of consulting, so you really can't go wrong.

I answered with more of an eye toward the MBA aspect but this is largely true in general for both options. The only time people will actually know or care what you did is if you did something they've made a movie about...and I'm only about 10% kidding.

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

I just completed a similar path to what you are about to begin. The differences in my experience were a low GPA from a school so far down on the radar it doesn't even register and I didn't get into MC but risk advisory with a big 4.

My four years of active duty service were in the Ordnance branch which included a year of platoon leader, 14 months deployed to iraq, and the rest of the time as the S4 in a battalion.

When it comes time to transfer out of the military, you will have the same basic talking points as any other military officer. e.g. you have good decision making skills (MDMP), intense leadership/teamwork experience, work well under pressure (hopefully), time management/multitasking abilities, and of course on a personal level you can tell them you're not a shitbag because of the living the Army values.

the differences will come with the positions that you have past platoon leader. For example, my staff job as the logistics OIC gave me bullets relating to budgeting, acquisition, supply chain activity, etc. While nothing in the military will give you financial experience, managing money in a budget is more applicable than say, commanding a company of light infantry.

As far as helping get into a MBA after your service, I have heard of many instances where retards were getting into very good schools based primarily on the fact that they were prior service officers. It did not matter what branch.

Finally, don't be fooled about "choosing" your branch... unless you are at a service academy, you will get needs of the Army and placed into whichever branch they want you to be in. Regardless of how well you do at Fort Lewis your junior year. I was top third of my group that summer and still got god damn ordnance when I wanted armor, just like you.

Did you fly over my helmet?
 

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