Military and MBA advice
Ok, so this is my first post but I've been lurking for a couple months reading just about every thread on here.
I've learned a ton but I'm looking for more specific advice based on my situation.
As of now, I just finished my freshman year at a non-target in a pre-med program and decided it's not for me. I've changed direction and now my long term goal is anything IB, PE, or HF. However, at this point, it's a long shot because I completely blew my first year off and have a horrible gpa. So even if I get into my schools finance program (top 10/15) next year, I'm afraid of not getting offers after graduation because of my wasted year.
What I'd like to do is join the ROTC, do four years in the army, hopefully top ten MBA, then IB because I feel like I won't make it right out of undergrad. I think the army would be a great fit for me, and could also help with the MBA admissions and IBD recruiting. My question is if I should try for internships during school so I have experience come post MBA recruiting, or just focus on the army since that's what I plan on doing right after school. Also, for the military guys out there, are there any officer MOS's you would recommend? Both for job satisfaction and post-army business skills?
18A then again if you're a slacker or decide it's not for you, probably not a good one. 11A then.
Somewhat joking. Just pick something that you are actually interested in and stick with it. Just make sure there is opportunity for leadership in there (I wouldn't go be a dentist). I think that leadership under pressure is what we get to sell from the military. Quality of the experiences over number of men you lead.
I'm not the best person to give the civilian career advice, but I"m thinking you have three years left to get solid grades... I think it would be perfectly acceptable by most places if you show that you got yourself together for the last three years... throwing away your freshman year of education is certainly not acceptable but you wouldn't be the only person in that situation to get a good job provided you fix yourself now. Additionally, I would offer that a stark improvement in grades needs to be bolstered by "total package" improvements as well. Serious extracurricular resume bullets. Like, run the finance club, start an adoption and blood donation center in your city, and go on the road speaking to fellow college students about getting good grades your freshman year. You probably will not end up at GS but maybe you could go to another firm, do well, and still go to a top ten... and maybe you could do it faster than 4-5 years in the military. Then again, the military could be a lot more fun and I don't really know about the civilian job market.
Just my two cents. Good luck.
Goldman Sachs hires West Point Graduates, thats a fact
Agree... I was responding to the post... I don't think he is at West Point at present.
I agree... don't go into the finance corps.... check it out: If an employer is looking at you and the other finance guy and you did it in the army okay, not so bad, but the other guy did it in the real world... it's more applicable.
Again, they pick up us military candidates because of the most transferable skill set military guys bring: Leadership, thinking, and calm under pressure.
For you in the future, or for any other MBA hopefuls coming from the military, MilitaryToBusiness is a consulting firm specializing in this. Check them out here:
http://www.facebook.com/MilitaryToBusiness
Thanks LIBOR, I came across that site a few weeks ago and it's total money. Haha Mozaq I've thought about spec ops but i think the finance corp would be pretty cool. Thanks for the advice man. I do feel if I work incredibly hard the next three years I could land something but if not it'd be pretty disappointing. I'm also out of cash so the army money would be really helpful. If I take out loans and graduate without a job I could be in some trouble financially.
I just feel like the army is the best way to accomplish my goals and get me through college without being broke, plus it's a great thing to be a part of. In case I don't go that route though, any one out there land SA offers with around a 3.0 gpa, assuming good EC's and stuff?
Finance corps. is boring as shit and its not an easy slot to get either. Don't be one of those fucking homos that hasn't done anything and talks about how they want to go spec ops.
The jump to a good MBA and then banking only works if you're an officer commanding a unit, preferably combat based. You're competing for MBA spots against Navey Seals and fighter pilots. You can't be anything less than a frontline combat lieutenant to get into a top MBA
Wrong. MBA programs don’t know the difference between signal corps and artillery. Check out student profiles at top programs and you will find people who did non-combat jobs in the service. A Naval Academy grad who served as an engineering officer and has a 700+ GMAT will do quite well in terms of admissions. A fucking logistics officer may not have a badass combat record, but he/she will still have strong managerial and leadership experience.
Let me put it this way, I was part of the student admin group that did first reads of applications. You can tell very quickly who has great military leadership experience and who does not. Do you really think that after many years of seeing applications that MBA programs wouldn't know the difference? That's like thinking you can get away with insider trading becaus people who work for the government must be dumber than a heavily recruited trader at GS. Pretty sure I can tell when the guys put "lead XX soldiers in combat situations in Iraq" vs the "organized logistics"
As an example,I've worked in banking with 6 different HBS grads - 1 was some crazy engineer that worked on a nuclear sub, 1 was a ranger, and 4 were seals. While I know that's not all inclusive of military at HBS, I'm pretty sure it's representative.
HBS Class of 2011: Combat Arms: 19% of military admits Combat Support: 11% of military admits General Support: 71% of military admits
Quote: In reality most former military HBS students are not of the more exotic flavor (SEALs, Green Berets, fighter pilots, etc.) but actually rather representative of the wide variety of professions within the military.
http://militarytobusiness.blogspot.com/2009/07/hbs-class-profile-milita…
@happy: Just wondering, what MOS is the easiest one if someone was entering the Army from OCS? Public Affairs I'm thinking, somewhere you don't have to do shit.
First of all, in the army, Officers don't have an MOS they have a branch and ease is all relative. You would be put into an OML (Order of Merit List) and then you would submit your packet with your preferences for branch from there. As there are 16 branches, you would order them from most to least desirable, cross your fingers and hope that you don't get anally pounded by the long dick of the army.
Just because you get a shit branch doesn't mean you can't do cool shit though. I have a friend, well acquaintance, that got Chemical or something and made it to the Q course so its all what you make of it. The hardest ones to get are generally Aviation, Infantry and Intelligence and/or Finance depending on the year and who you ask.
According to my research, it is almost impossible to get Aviation coming from OCS. Much better chances coming from West Point or ROTC. Otherwise better to go the Warrant Officer route if you want to fly Apaches or something else.
What is the Q course? Is the USMC better when it comes to job selection? Ie. more based on merit rather than "needs of the Army'?
Final question, how hard will it be for me to get security clearance to get Intelligence Branch if only immigrated to the US recently and parents are non-US citizens living outside the US?
Thanks.
I omitted the rest of your questions because I have no idea how to answer them.
To clarify Gongo's comment... when I was applying to B-schools last year, I was told flat out by an HBS student that you actually have a lesser chance getting in coming from the SOF world.... so, again it's about the quality of your experience (and GMAT) not what your title is. Buyside is absolutely correct... adcoms will have no idea unless there is a prior on the board to explain and I certainly wouldn't count on that. Do what you like... just make sure there is leadership involved.
Crickets....
Really dude? I only check this place maybe once a day when I'm not beating the crap out of my analyst for busting my model or missing the double period in the footnote in the appendix.
So while that is a nice stat, how many of them go into banking? Because that's what we're really talking about here. My subset experience was banking specific.
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