The Value of MBA Veteran Clubs

by , Mar 10, 2012

One of the things that I quickly realized during my MBA journey is the value of contacting other veterans who have already successfully made the transition. The first piece of candid advice I have received from students across multiple schools is that being a veteran in itself is not unique. Frankly, we are competing with each other, and in some cases, Army competing against Army for a few spots.

Therefore, your acceptance or rejection isn'tindicativeof your admissibility, there is such a roll of the dice element to it which is why I advocate veterans to apply to as many schools they can visit and research. I was lucky to be a consultant so I just visited schools as Itraveledfor work. My general experience was that veterans clubs are always out to help, but not every program has helpful.

I want to mention that this is only my own personal experiences and perhaps I caught some students during finals or some other unforeseen circumstances. I didn't feel like I had terribly good support from Columbia or Yale, but that doesn't mean their veteran clubs aren't helpful, I'm sure they are. I didn't want to uniformly proclaim that all veteran clubs are helpful because I don't want you to step in with unrealisticexpectations. Veteran clubs can help review your resumes and essays.

	Club	Unique Characteristics	My Impressions
Berkeley (Haas)	Haas Veterans Club		N/A - Did not apply
SchoolChicago (Booth)	Armed Forces Group	Booth AFG has an applicant mentorship program that provides a mentor that guides you through the whole process.	I didnt utilize the applicant mentorship program until I already applied. This would definitely be a game changer had I known about it earlier in the process. I received great support from Booth vets.
Columbia	Columbia University Military in Business Association		Being a native New Yorker, I was a little disappointed with the level of support from Columbia vets.
Cornell (Johnson)	Johnson Association of Veterans		The level of support I received from Johnson vets was insane. They frequently bothered the admissions committee on my behalf and I still keep in touch with one vet even though I didnt get in.
Dartmouth (Tuck)	Tuck Armed Forces Alumni Association	TAFAA had a webcast specifically for veterans. During the Q&A session, the admissions staff logged off and the veterans provided very candid advice to all the attendees. I think this is the only veteran club to provide a veteran-specific webcast.	Tuck is the smallest MBA program and the people there are very friendly and supportive. I had frequent discussions with veterans and one person provided really good advice for my essays
Duke (Fuqua)	Duke Armed Forces Association		I have nothing but good things to say about my experiences with Fuqua vets. I kept in touch with a student who met with me even 8 months after my interview.
Harvard Business School	HBS Armed Forces Alumni Association		Great response time. Had a 30-45 minute phone call with a current student and he spent a few hours reading my essays and providing valuable suggestions.
Michigan (Ross)	Ross Armed Forces Association		Good experience overall, had a 30-45 minute phone call a current student and he encouraged me to visit Ross
MIT (Sloan)	Sloan Veterans Association	Sloan is one of two schools (other being Johnson) with a domain registered specifically for its veterans club. Pretty cool and full of info.	I went out for drinks with a first year veteran student. He provided a lot of tips and encouragement. Very positive experience with the Sloan Veterans Association.
New York (Stern)	Stern Military Veterans Club	Stern has a dedicatedpagewith information for veterans, I think this is one of the best out of the top 16	Ive been interacting with Sterns MVC for over a year now, especially since Ive been in NYC. I went to a Veterans Day Beer Call and it was a blast. Sterns MVC definitely takes pride in taking care of other vets.
Northwestern (Kellogg)	Kellogg Veterans Association		Good experience overall, had a 30-45 minute phone call a current student. I didnt schedule a meeting while I made a class visit, which I should have done.
Stanford GSB	Stanford Veterans Club	I couldnt really find the link to the veterans club, the link to the left is to the list of all the clubs	N/A I didnt contact them for some reason. One of my first applications, newbie mistake.
UCLA (Anderson)	Anderson Military Club		N/A - Did not apply
UPenn (Wharton)	Wharton Veterans Club		I had a very well-coordinated visit at Wharton and veterans led me through the whole day, including lunch and a class visit. I thought I wouldnt get this level of support as Wharton is a big program, but I received top notch support from the Veterans Club.
Virginia (Darden)	Darden Military Association	Darden probably had the first veteran page of all MBA programs, I recall seeing thispageback in 2009/2010.	Darden loves vets. I think Darden has been loving vets more than any other MBA program. It is also a public school so your tuition is taken care of completely. If you are an out-of-state student, the Yellow Ribbon Program will cover the rest.
Yale School of Mgt.	Yale Veterans Club		I got a pretty cold reception but then again, could have been just my own personal experience

My next post is going to be around GI Bill analysis. I used to rely on the analysis provided bywww.militarymba.net, but now that I've done my own calculations, I have realized that they are wrong.