Meet Georgetown’s MBA Class of 2018

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Jeff Killian

 

Georgetown University, McDonough School of Business

Describe yourself in 15 words or less: I love competition and challenging myself, but always with a smile.

Hometown: Middleton, WI

Fun Fact About Yourself: I’m a volunteer firefighter and EMT in North Carolina.

Undergraduate School and Major: United States Military Academy, B.S. in Life Science

Employers and Job Titles Since Graduation: I have had many jobs since graduating West Point, but only one employer: the United States Army. Some of the highlights include: Scout Platoon leader in Iraq, Company Executive Officer for the 10th Mountain Division, Special Forces Detachment Commander in Afghanistan, and Aide-de-Camp in Iraq.

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: The biggest accomplishment of my career thus far is successfully training and advising over 750 Afghan Commandos while in command of a Special Forces Team in Afghanistan tasked with conducting combat operations throughout the country.

Looking back on your experience, what advice would you give to future business school applicants? My advice is generic and nothing new, but it works:

  1. GMAT. Take a class. It will force you to begin preparing for your test months out instead of just a few weeks. It will also build in a set time to study and practice prior to your test.
  1. Essays. Go old school: tell them where you have been, where you are going, and where you want to go (given what you’ll learn in graduate school). Then you can weave ‘Why Georgetown’ into the last section. Also, have someone who has already been admitted to graduate school read and critique it. No one knows better how to write an essay for graduate school than someone who has done it successfully in the past.
  1. Interviews. Practice. Research the top 15 questions you are likely to see in an MBA interview and prepare answers for those questions. Have a friend ask you those questions in a mock interview and practice your responses. The night prior to your interview, do a prep session to review what you want to say about yourself that way you will be prepared to do the same in the interview.

What led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA? McDonough provides me with a number of unique opportunities. McDonough’s Global Business Experience provides an unparalleled opportunity for me to learn about international business, a primary focus for me, while traveling and utilizing my foreign language skills. McDonough’s proximity to both industry and government provides me with unique internship opportunities and also supports my wife’s career aspirations. Lastly, I loved meeting and spending time with McDonough students. They truly embody the McDonough commitment to educate the whole person.

Tell us about your dream job or dream employer at this point in your life? Following a career in the Army, I want to utilize my military experiences supplemented with skills from my Georgetown MBA and work for my dream boss—myself. I aspire to start my own strategic consulting firm focusing on the defense/government sector in the DC area. My ambition is to follow my father’s example as a small business owner, and I have always valued service to my nation, as evident in my military and firefighting service. As a small business owner, I can continue to serve my nation in a capacity that will allow me to satisfy my ambition as well as use a lifetime of skills.

What would you like your business school peers to say about you after you graduate from this program?   I want my peers to say that I was always willing to work hard and help anyone else in need.

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