Mr. Navy Nuke

Hi Mr. Navy Nuke, this is Kristen from MBA Prep School. Firstly, I’d like to thank you for your service. Military applicants tend be viewed favorably by Admissions officers, as they naturally have many opportunities to exhibit leadership. It sounds like you have had lots of experience leading others, and I like the image of you also helping your sailors plan for their futures beyond your day-to-day responsibilities. I’m also intrigued by your record of entrepreneurship; I often find military candidates struggle to display qualities like stepping outside the status quo because of the lock-step hierarchy they are expected to follow, so showing ways in which you have respectfully challenged that authority would be beneficial. Your academic background is solid and it’s clear you are a smart guy, majoring in Neuroscience at Duke with a 3.6+. Your GMAT is maybe a little lower than I would like to see for an M7; it’s still within the range of their admitted classes but you’ll have to make a convincing case for why you should be selected over someone with a higher score. You also mention MBB as your career goal but don’t provide much detail on why. Consulting is a common path for MBA vets because it gives them a broad business experience and they can rely on their strategic experience, but you want your motivation to be more than that. What is attractive about the industry, is there a certain type of client or sector you would want to work on (and why), are you only interested in MBB or other firms? These are all questions you will need to address in your career story to illustrate you have given this plan thought as opposed to choosing a default path. I’m keeping my odds conservative for HBS specifically because there will be stiff competition, but I think you have some other solid choices on your list that would be a good fit (Columbia, Sloan, Booth, Fuqua). I’d be happy to chat further about how we might be able to help you tighten up for message and increase your odds!

Poor leadership examples. How did you actually lead?