Veterans Pour Into MBA Programs As Military Downsizes

Veterans in business school bring additional veterans into business, wrote Harvard Business School dean Nitin Nohria in a Veterans Day column in the Washington Post last year, “Business school can be a pathway for integrating our service members back into civilian life, and for finding new ways to engage their intellect, integrity and leadership at home,” Nohria wrote. “While a few return to the military after graduation, most take jobs in the private sector – and in those jobs, many of them become advocates for hiring other veterans, doing their own small part to solve the challenge of post-military employment.”

Military MBA’s business school surveys indicate veterans are exiting MBA programs to better average salaries than their peers, netting total starting compensation of $117,000, compared to $105,000 for non-military graduates.

After Tietz finishes at Tuck next year, she’ll start work as an associate for McKinsey & Company. She aims to use her career, in part, to address “a lack of women in C-suites and in Congress,” she says. “I think it’s important for women to strive for those positions and to work for them, and I think society is a lot more forgiving of women who may choose not to take the hard road. Men are raised and really told they should get the job and be the breadwinner. They’re very comfortable going into a job and being uncomfortable in the job for a few years.

“I want to strive for one of those positions where I can be somebody who really has a significant amount of ability to make change, whether it’s in an organization or whether it’s in government.”

DON’T MISS: FROM AN ARMY RANGER IN IRAQ TO HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL or FROM THE MILITARY TO STANFORD GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS