Business schools look very positively on military MBA candidates. Veterans emerge from their service with leadership, strategy, planning and management skills that companies want and need — and business schools appreciate.
With an MBA to complement those skills with fundamental business knowledge, veterans and active duty military personnel can position themselves for a rewarding corporate or entrepreneurial career.
However, those in the military may not be familiar with the benefits and opportunities of an MBA. They may have limited exposure to industries and business functions and may be unsure about how their experiences transfer to the business world. And when it comes to the rigorous and competitive MBA application process, they may find themselves a bit at sea.
With some guidance on how to position themselves, veterans and active-duty military personnel can be strong candidates for top MBA programs.
My colleagues and I have coached countless veterans through the process, and we’ve rounded up some tips and strategies. Also check out the advice from my former client who successfully applied from the military to business school:
In this article, we explain:
- The benefits an MBA can offer veterans and military personnel;
- Why b-schools value veterans
- The best military friendly MBA programs for veterans
- Tips for applying as a military MBA candidate
- The timeline for your application process
- How to translate military experience for an MBA application
- How to secure strong recommendations from military commanders
- MBA scholarships for veterans
Benefits of an MBA for Military Veterans
Business is a logical arena for veterans to deploy their leadership, strategy, logistical and management skills after leaving the military, and an MBA can provide the launchpad into the business world. Here are some of the many benefits of an MBA for military veterans:
- Leveraging Leadership and Management Skills
Veterans often have strong leadership skills from their military experience, but those skills are acquired in a specific, hierarchical context. An MBA helps refine and deepen these skills with formal grounding in management principles, strategic thinking, and decision-making. - Increased Earning Potential
One obvious and attractive benefit of an MBA is the boost in earning potential. MBA graduates typically command higher salaries compared to those without the degree. “An MBA puts you on a path to rapid career advancement in the civilian marketplace. You can expect to make more than a battalion or brigade commander in your late 20s to early 30s,” according to the website Sitreps2Steercos. - Career Transition Support
Many MBA programs have dedicated resources to help veterans transition into the civilian workforce, including career counseling and support for the internship and job recruiting process. - Networking Opportunities
MBA programs provide extensive networking opportunities with fellow students, alumni, professors, and industry professionals. This network can be invaluable for career exploration, transition, and advancement. - Business Operations Knowledge
An MBA provides a comprehensive understanding of business operations, including finance, marketing, human resources, and supply chain management. This knowledge is crucial for veterans moving into corporate roles. - Entrepreneurial Skills
As seasoned strategists and problem solvers trained to perform under pressure, veterans may emerge from the service with ideas for new ventures that can fill a niche or make an impact. An MBA offers essential knowledge in areas such as strategy, finance and marketing that can help turn these opportunities into thriving businesses. - Enhanced Problem-Solving Abilities
Military training emphasizes problem-solving under pressure. An MBA builds on this by teaching advanced analytical and critical thinking skills applicable to business challenges. - Global Perspective
MBA programs often emphasize international business, strengthening veterans’ global exposure and perspective. Specifically, MBA programs will illuminate the workings of international markets and practices, which is valuable for roles in multinational corporations. - Personal Growth and Development
Pursuing an MBA can be a personally rewarding experience, offering veterans the chance to explore new interests, challenge themselves academically and achieve personal goals.
All these benefits make an MBA from an American university a strong option for military veterans looking to leverage their skills and experience in the civilian job market.
Why B-Schools Value Veterans
Veterans may feel that they are disadvantaged in the application process because they don’t have direct business experience. In fact, a military MBA candidate is very attractive to admissions committees at business schools. In my experience as an Associate Dean at Chicago Booth, I found that veterans and serving military officers bring with them discipline, patience, focus, teamwork, a sense of responsibility, and a mission focus. This makes them good students, classmates and team members.
They almost always have greater leadership training and experience than most b-school candidates — and they often have exercised that leadership in intense, often life-threatening, circumstances.
The catch is that applicants from the military sometimes don’t know how to translate their military experience into business skills that admissions committees understand and appreciate. In my experience, business schools don’t always know how to do this either.
Many aspects of the military experience support a strong MBA application: Planning, analysis, logistics management, leadership, training, budgeting, personnel management and development, team building and more. The trick is to call out these skills with concrete examples and show how they support your career goal and prepare you to succeed in b-school and in business.
Military Friendly MBA Programs
Veterans who feel overwhelmed by the application process and the transition to the very different culture of business school can give themselves a leg up by seeking out the best MBA programs for active-duty military and veterans.
What’s the best MBA for military applicants? Look for MBA programs with a history of admitting veterans and offering dedicated resources. Military-friendly programs may also offer special scholarships and funding sources to help veterans finance their MBA (more on this below.) Additionally, the best MBA programs for military officers offer targeted career services and leadership development opportunities that align with veterans’ strengths.
Some of the best MBA programs for military-friendly MBA include Chicago Booth, Duke Fuqua, and Tuck School of Business. These schools offer generous financial assistance, special programming for veterans and strong, supportive military student groups. The University of Wisconsin MBA Consortium and George Washington University offer services to transition veterans to the business world.
Online MBA programs can also be a good route to an MBA for military personnel and veterans. For a top-ranked online MBA for veterans, consider:
- University of Washington Foster School of Business
- Indiana University Kelley School of Business
- University of Florida Warrington College of Business
- Arizona State University Carey School of Business
- Carnegie Mellon Tepper School of Business
Most schools have veterans’ organizations that can be a great resource for applicants and are a wonderful source of student support. Applicants should reach out to these groups at their target schools to get a sense of the school’s climate and the post-military MBA experience.
Tips for Applying as a Military Applicant
Applying to business school as a military applicant comes with advantages but unique challenges. Here, we’ve gathered some advice and specific tips to help you know what to expect and navigate the process effectively:
Plan a Generous Timeline
One thing military MBA applicants might not expect when beginning the application process is the timelines of the application cycle and the time it will take to complete applications.
“I cannot possibly emphasize this enough. In a best-case scenario, active-duty military members should start preparing at least a year and a half before they plan to get to campus,” says Mark O’Connell, a former Marine and Fortuna client. That can include three months to study and take the GMAT or GRE, three months to assemble all the application elements, and potentially as much as a year after acceptance before the MBA program begins.
The obligations of active service might extend this even longer, O’Connell notes. “If you add in a three- to six-month workup and a six- to nine-month high-intensity deployment, active-duty members may need as much as two and a half years of preparation time before they get to campus.”
O’Connell started exploring career options halfway through his six-year stint in the US Marine Corps, first as a rifle platoon commander and then as a company commander. Including exploration of different career paths, “My preparation stretched over the course of three and a half years, which made the entire process much less stressful and helped my applications be the best they could be,” O’Connell says. He applied to four schools and enrolled at Michigan Ross in August 2023.
Translating Transferable Skills
In your resume and essays, emphasize the leadership, teamwork, discipline, and problem-solving skills gained during military service. Be sure to translate those skills and experiences into business contexts and terminology to show how they apply to the corporate world.
“Make sure that the terms you use are universally understood,” O’Connell advises. “Many titles, roles, and functions like ‘signals intelligence’ are generally meaningless anywhere besides the military.” Veterans’ groups at your target school will likely be willing to review your material and help translate it into business terms. Failing that, O’Connell suggests running your materials through ChatGPT to have it flag any terms that someone without a military background may not understand.
Understand Your Opportunities
For some veterans, defining a viable career goal may require gaining a deeper understanding of the business world. For example, I have had several Fortuna clients with military backgrounds ask, “What is consulting, really?” Take time to do the research and networking necessary to understand the possibilities. An MBA admissions coach can help you understand the MBA environment and opportunities; talking to veterans who earned their MBA is also invaluable. The VA also offers education and career counseling services.
Clarify Your Career Goals
Our advice for a military MBA applicant is the same thing we stress to civilian applicants: Make sure you have a clear and achievable career vision with short- and long-term goals. Why do you want an MBA? Where will you put it to use? How will it help you succeed in your chosen field?
Business schools want students who will contribute to the MBA class and community — and impact the business world with their MBA. Be prepared to explain concisely and persuasively how you will do both. Your career goal provides the thread running through and tying together every element of your MBA application: your resume, essays, recommendations, interview, and other requirements.
Craft a Compelling Narrative
Your essays and your entire application should tell a compelling story of your military experience, career goals, and why you want to pursue an MBA. Explain what motivates you, how your experience has prepared you for business school and how an MBA fits into your future plans. “There are a million different ways to do this,” O’Connell says. “Your experience is unique, even compared to other military applicants. You want that experience to be the glowing centerpiece of your application.”
Take care with your tone, advises Sharon Joyce, a senior expert coach at Fortuna. “I’ve had a few vet clients who benefited from some softening in their language to avoid sounding overly aggressive. Be careful not to phrase things as if you are always fighting something or frame the fight in a positive way.”
Highlight Your Achievements
With its hierarchical culture, the military offers more awards, commendations, and opportunities for promotion than may be available in the corporate world. Be sure to showcase any that you earned along the way. This will set you apart from other applicants and demonstrate your commitment and excellence.
Be Honest and Authentic
Don’t try to be something that you aren’t, cautions O’Connell. “Many of us in the military have never had to manage a budget or do statistical analysis of a business problem. The acrobatics required to make your experience sound like that will probably make your accomplishments sound made up.”
Do think about what makes your role, function, and experience in the service unique and speak to that. “You’ll have to create resume bullets that communicate tangible impact while simultaneously showcasing your character as a person, but I guarantee they will be incredibly powerful.”
Pick and Prep Your Recommenders Well
For many current and former military candidates, recommenders will likely be their current commanding officer (CO), previous CO, or an independent mentor from inside the service.
“These are all phenomenal recommendation writers because they know you far better than any typical boss in the corporate world,” O’Connell says. “Not many corporate bosses have had to sleep in the mud or walk into the line of fire next to you. A great recommendation leverages that deeply personal connection to showcase your entire personality and your character, not just what you’ve been able to accomplish from a work perspective.
However, there are also some pitfalls to watch out for. One of the biggest is that most superiors in the service have not attended an MBA program and have had little interaction with anyone who earned an MBA. They may be skilled at writing precise, succinct military-style reports but have little sense of what an MBA admissions committee is trying to learn from a recommendation.
This makes “managing up” vital to securing a great recommendation. It’s crucial that the recommendation sounds organic, not coached. However, more coaching than might be normal is needed to make sure the recommendation comes off in a way that is appealing to MBA adcomms.
“Fortuna’s resources were critical in helping me strike that balance,” O’Connell says. “The framework provided was immensely helpful in terms of reminding my bosses of what I had accomplished while I had worked for them. They helped me explain how to effectively communicate their thoughts on my performance and keep them on track and on time for submitting the recommendation.”
Listen to more advice direct from O’Connell:
Tips for Securing Strong MBA Recommendations from Military Recommenders
O’Connell suggests mining past Performance Evaluations, fitness reports, OERs (or the equivalent in your service) for achievements you can share with COs to remind them of your work performance. “You likely had to string together some bullet points that described what you accomplished, and your CO likely had to sign the report. Since you’ve already agreed on what you’ve done, why not use it?”
“If you’re still struggling with pulling together accomplishments, then remind them of deeply personal experiences you shared: the time you were both shot at while on patrol, the time you both didn’t sleep for 48 hours because your ship needed vital repairs to make mission, the time you had to problem-solve on the fly (while literally flying) to make sure nobody crashed their airplane. In some ways, these may be the best stories of all. They’re deeply personal, highly unusual in the context of MBA applications, and they reflect your character under some of the most stressful circumstances possible.”
One concern to keep in mind is that recommendations can be tricky for military MBA candidates because information about operations may be classified or confidential. Acknowledge this constraint when preparing recommenders and trust them to relay the essence of such experiences without revealing details.
Make Use of Veteran Networks and Resources
Most MBA programs have student groups for those with military backgrounds. Connect with those groups to talk with veterans who are current MBA students or alumni. They can provide valuable insights and advice about the MBA culture and experience, potentially supporting your application with advice and referrals.
Also, be sure to take advantage of the resources the MBA program may offer. For example, many schools offer transition programs to help veterans acclimate to academic life and build foundational business knowledge.
Financing your MBA as a Military Vet
You can use the GI Bill for MBA programs, and other federal programs for veterans will help cover your tuition. In addition, many MBA scholarships for veterans are available from business schools, veterans’ organizations, foundations and other private sources. Financing your MBA as a military veteran involves leveraging various benefits available to you along with other resources. Here are some strategies to consider:
GI Bill Benefits
The Post-9/11 GI Bill provides financial support for education and housing to individuals with at least 90 days of aggregate service after September 10, 2001, or individuals discharged with a service-connected disability after 30 days. It covers up to 36 months of education benefits, including tuition, a housing allowance, and a stipend for books and supplies. This online tool will let you compare GI Bill benefits paid for schools you are interested in.
Montgomery GI Bill Benefits
The VA also provides educational support through an older program called the Montgomery GI Bill Active Duty (MGIB-AD) for those who have served at least two years of active duty. (There is a version for those who serve in the Reserves as well.) This program provides a monthly benefit payment that can be used for a wide range of training, test preparation and educational programs, including advanced degrees. If you have served two or more periods of active duty, you may be eligible for both this program and Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits. Otherwise, you must choose one or the other. Consult with the VA’s education benefit counselors to determine which is best for you.
Yellow Ribbon Program
If you are attending a private school or a public school as a non-resident, the GI Bill may not cover the full tuition and fees. The Yellow Ribbon Program can help make up the difference. Business schools participating in this program agree to cover the tuition gap with additional funds that the VA then matches. You must be eligible for full Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits to qualify for the Yellow Ribbon Program. All top US MBA programs participate in the program. Some elite private schools — Chicago Booth, Yale School of Management, NYU Stern and Cornell SC Johnson among them — provide a 100% match of GI Bill benefits to all eligible veterans entering their program, with no cap on the number of students funded. Several also offer generous scholarships to veterans to help cover costs beyond tuition. You can check for Yellow Ribbon participating schools here.
Veteran MBA Scholarships
The best MBA for military applicants may be at a school that offers generous scholarships and fellowships specifically for veterans. Many top schools do. These are sometimes established by donors who wish to support those who served their country. Check the financial aid office or the veterans’ affairs office of the schools you are applying to for available opportunities.
In addition, many organizations and institutions offer scholarships to veterans. The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), American Legion and Disabled American Veterans (DAV) may offer educational grants or financial assistance. Other examples include the Lunacap Foundation, Pat Tillman Foundation, AMVETS, and Student Veterans of America. Competition is tight, so research and apply for these scholarships early.
Federal Student Aid
Don’t forget to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) to determine your eligibility for federal grants, loans, and work-study programs. Even if you have GI Bill benefits, you may qualify for additional financial aid.
Employer Sponsorships
If you are employed in a post-military position, check your job benefits. Your employer may offer tuition reimbursement or sponsor enrolment in b-school or other relevant business degree programs. Some companies have partnerships with business schools to support employees pursuing an MBA.
Assistantships and Work-Study Programs
You may still have some unmet need after tapping these funding sources. Look for opportunities to work as a teaching assistant, research assistant, or in other roles on campus. These positions often provide a stipend and tuition remission — and give you valuable experience and contacts to boot.
Filling the Funding Gaps
Tuition support and scholarship opportunities for veterans are abundant and generous, and you should pursue as many as you can. By exploring and combining these resources, you can create a robust financial plan to support your MBA journey as a military veteran.
However, even with substantial GI Bill funding and other support, you may still find yourself with costs to cover. You may need to rely on savings or other personal resources to finance part of your education. Private loans are another option. If you exploit all available aid for veterans and stick to a budget to manage expenses effectively, you should emerge with your degree and little debt.
Remember, your investment in yourself is worth it. Your post-military MBA will almost certainly pay off with a salary and rewarding career opportunities.
Let’s Get You In
Topping off your military experience and valuable skills with an MBA can be the path to a rewarding career. B-schools and businesses alike are eager for what you can bring to the table. Fortuna’s MBA admissions insiders can expertly guide you through an application process that may seem quite foreign.
We often do free consultations with military vets. We can provide personalized feedback on your career plans, the opportunities an MBA offers and the process of putting together a winning application. To learn more about how Fortuna can support you on your MBA admissions journey, book a free 30-minute consultation today.
Bill Kooser is a Director at Fortuna Admissions and a former Booth Associate Dean and alumnus of Chicago Booth. With more than 30 years of experience, Bill has been responsible for admissions across full-time, part-time, and executive MBA programs. For a candid assessment of your chances of admission success at a top MBA program, sign up for a free consultation.