Mr. GI Joe

GI Joe, right from the start let me tell you that I greatly admire your service to our country and what you have accomplished as a platoon leader and battalion training officer. Your role during your recent deployment in Eastern Europe makes for a compelling story. And you are applying to a school that loves and understands smart, dedicated veterans who have proven leadership skills as you do. So let’s go through the paces here. You have the stats for Darden, both your GRE which is three points above the latest class average and a strong GPA. Your undergraduate insitution is not considered a feeder school to an elite MBA program but because Augustana is a private Lutheran university, I wonder if there is a strong personal reason why you chose it. If so, you should make this choice part of your narrative because you will be competing for a slot in the class with veterans of military academies. I love your stated motivation and the way you expressed it: “During my time in the service, I discovered both my ability and desire for building relationships, creating and fixing systems, and leveraging whatever resources we had to achieve mission success.” What you want to do is let this powerful story unfold naturally, just as you have here, in your essays, application and ultimately your admissions interview. If you are focused only on Darden, you should apply in the school’s early action round to demonstrate your commitment to the school. That could be very important to your success at Darden. You need to reach out to Darden alums who have been vets to get a better understanding of how the culture at the school is supportive of veterans. I would seek out Mark Delaney, who just earned his MBA from Darden, and does an excellent podcast called The Veteran Professional. He’s a great guy and can help you for free with your journey into Darden. Like you, Mark did not go to a military academy for undergrad. I think the two of you would hit it off and he would be of immeasurable help in offering advice and possibly reading over your essays before submission. In any case, I like you and bet that Darden will, too. Good luck to you!