I am applying first round to top 10 business schools for the class of 2010. I have been in the military for the past four years and will be getting out on October 15, 2009. I am confident about my application (3.7 GPA from Ivy League School, 770 GMAT, strong work experience), but there are two issues that concern me.
1. I have been involved in military training and deployments for three out of the four years. And I have never been at home for more than three months at a time. Because of this, I have not been involved in any significant extra-curriculars since college. Do you recommend that I address this issue in the optional essays?
2. My fiance is in the military as well and will be for another 2 years. We have been apart for the past two years due to deployments. And she will most likely deploy again in the fall of 2010. I want to use this year before business school to stay close to her. But she does not know where she will be stationed until October. How do you recommend I approach the issue that I do not know where and what I will be doing after October 15th? Should I mention this in the optional essay? Or should I ignore this, since my applications will be turned in prior to my departure from the military.
Thank you in advance!
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- jjzweller
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Re: Optional Application Essay
Hi, thank you for your questions.
I think service to your country is considered strong community involvement! If you can show additional activity within your unit provide that, but I think the nature of your work should make the limitations clear. You certainly can address it in the optional essay but I don't think you need to go into it in much depth.
As for your second question, you don't need to address what you'll be doing in the application, but remember that by the time of your interview, they will want to know what you're doing. You have a logical reason for not knowing now, but once you get settled, I would try to find something interesting to do with your time so that in the interview you can explain how you're spending your post-deployment/pre-MBA time.
Best of luck,
Jessica Shklar
mbaMission
Our blog: www.mbamission.com/blog
I think service to your country is considered strong community involvement! If you can show additional activity within your unit provide that, but I think the nature of your work should make the limitations clear. You certainly can address it in the optional essay but I don't think you need to go into it in much depth.
As for your second question, you don't need to address what you'll be doing in the application, but remember that by the time of your interview, they will want to know what you're doing. You have a logical reason for not knowing now, but once you get settled, I would try to find something interesting to do with your time so that in the interview you can explain how you're spending your post-deployment/pre-MBA time.
Best of luck,
Jessica Shklar
mbaMission
Our blog: www.mbamission.com/blog
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