AAR: Resumes, Interviews, and Acceptance – Winning Admission to HBS (part 3)

We have our final installment of Marty Peters great advice on how he won admission into Harvard (among several other top schools).  Here, he provides his unique take on familiar territory to any applier of schools – resumes and interviews.  Thanks again to Marty for sharing his experience and guidance to transitioning veterans.  If you like what you read here, be sure to like us on Facebook and follow us out on Twitter.    Of course, if you want help winning admission to graduate school – sign up!

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 Resume              

For my resume, I relied on the same group of people who assisted me with the essay.  My father focused on grammar, while Andrew helped me with the format and how to “de-militarize” my resume to make it readable to civilians.  He sent me the format he used and I modeled mine off of his.

LESSON:

• Write in a manner that a civilian can understand – easier said than done.  Civilians do not have an understanding of a battalion, an IED, or PTSD.  Deliberately write in clear, simple terms.
• Ask alumni or current students for an example resume – it will save you time and make your efforts more efficient.

Submission

The applications were easy to prioritize based on due dates.  I turned in the majority of my applications 1-3 days in advance.  Submitting early was a relief because all I had to do afterward was wait.

LESSON:

• Check to ensure if your schools offer military discounts of if they waive the fee for military personnel.  MIT and Darden both did.  It saved me several hundred dollars.

 Interviews

With the applications submitted, I was absorbed once more into commanding a company while deployed.  Gradually, the interview invites came in.  I received interviews to all of the schools I applied to.  I immediately called and emailed the schools to explain my deployment situation.  The schools were very flexible with me.  In the end, I was able to video teleconference using Skype, and all the schools were willing to conduct the interviews via phone if necessary (for those at more remote and rustic locations in Afghanistan).

Darden conducted a video-teleconference, Harvard conducted a video-teleconference, Wharton conducted a phone interview, and MIT was going to be a phone interview.  My primary concern was bandwidth.  The government non-classified network did not support Skype, the internet available for purchase by Soldiers was too slow to video Skype, and the MWR computers only supported voice Skyping.  Fortunately, a Soldier in my company knew I was searching for fast internet and he said he had a connection that could support video Skype – I did not ask questions.  I used his computer for my Darden and Harvard interviews.

To prepare for the interviews I conducted a very realistic Skype interview with my classmate and veteran ambassador Jamal Eason.  He was incredible in helping me prepare and giving me frank and honest feedback.   I also went to www.clearadmit.com and compiled a list of possible questions; I then went through answering them in a large word document.  While many were not even asked, the process helped me organize my thoughts.  There are also several questions I prepared for because they are very likely to be asked (not all inclusive):

• Is there anything you want us to know that your application did not say?
• Do you have any questions? (HAVE SOME PREPARED!!!!)
• Take us through your resume.
• Why X school?
• What will you bring to your classmates?
• What are your concerns?

In addition, I had an interview for the Army fellowship I applied for and it also acted as a mock interview. It helped me to organize my thoughts and prep me for the business school interviews.

The Harvard and Darden video teleconference videos went well.  In hindsight there were things I could have improved on each, but when I closed the Skype session I did not have a feeling of “bombing” the interviews.

The Wharton interview was over phone; I thought it went terribly.  My Wharton interview was the VERY last day of Round 1 interviews and while I drank two cups of coffee in order to keep my energy level up (time difference made it evening in Iraq), the interviewer was dead tired.  I felt sorry for him because I know he had probably conducted hundreds of interviews in the past month and I was most likely one of his last ones.  The Wharton interview was prompt, my answer, directly into the next prompt (with no reference to my previous answer), my answer, directly into next prompt, my answer.  It was so impersonal, unlike the Harvard and Darden interviews which were very friendly and conversational.

LESSON:

• I recommend scheduling your interviews early for your round.  At a minimum, it should help you avoid a burned out interviewer.
• Map your answers to certain “give me” questions that are likely.
• Be yourself.

Acceptance

In late December 2011, I received offers of admission from HBS, Wharton, and Darden.  MIT offered me an invite to interview in January, and since I considered HBS my top choice I wrote them a thank you letter and declined the interview.  After considering all options for a couple weeks, I accepted HBS’s offer of admission and declined Wharton and Darden’s offers.  I believe my success in getting into the schools was based on my strong academic resume from West Point, strong military record with emphasis on leadership, and deliberate, thorough planning aside from the GMAT debacle.

I turned in my Unqualified Resignation packet on 1 February 2012.  My chain of command, while disappointed, was supportive and there were no offers of incentives to stay in (such as allowing me to go to HBS and remain in the Army) from Infantry Branch.  I am planning on taking an Army IG Course at Fort Belvoir for three weeks, hen take my National Guard job, clear Fort Hood, begin terminal leave mid-June, move the family to Boston, throw everything in storage, and go traveling in Central America or Africa for 50 days.  Good luck to all the veterans out there applying!