Texas Business
A True Texan and recent Mays Business School admit gives us her insight on applying somewhere other than HBS and making a practical decision to get an MBA where you ultimately want to live. She also helps provide some great resources on state provided veteran benefits.
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When I first got the crazy idea to apply to MBA programs and I started navigating business school forums, I noticed that most of the discussions revolved around the tips and trick to get into a top-10 school. (So, you don’t know anyone in Philadelphia or Boston? Hate cold weather? Who cares! Go to Wharton! Harvard is the best!) Now don’t get me wrong, it’s certainly a wonderful goal to get into the best graduate program at the best university that you can. However, not every veteran applying to graduate school has the motivation or ability to pack up and move away from family and friends for two (more) years if they don’t happen to live near a top school. Life is complicated, and sometimes geography can force your hand when it comes time to decide where to apply to graduate school.
My business school application experience was restricted by geography before I even thought about applying. My ties to Texas run deep. My husband and I are both from Texas and we both received our undergraduate degrees here. Also, our first duty assignments were both at Fort Hood, so it’s where we’ve continued to live for the past three years. Like most typical Texans, I can’t think of a better place to live and work during my post-military career. Fortunately, my state also happens to be home to three of the country’s major metro areas and several Fortune 500 companies, so opportunities abound. Though it was tempting to try to reach for the stars and see if I could make it into a top 10 (or 5? or 3?) b-school, I ultimately didn’t feel like it was a practical decision for me. Texas just so happens to have several excellent business schools, and I felt that if I wanted to work in Texas, then it made more sense for me to attend one of those MBA programs.
Another major factor that limited my search is a state veteran’s benefit program that Texas offers called the Hazlewood Act. The Hazlewood Act provides qualified veterans with an education benefit of up to 150 hours of tuition exemption, including most fee charges, at public institutions of higher education in Texas. Since I had an ROTC scholarship, I couldn’t qualify for education benefits until after I had finished my initial four-year obligation. While under other circumstances it would have been worth it to stay long enough to qualify for partial federal benefits, I opted not to since I had only applied universities that qualified for the benefit.
Unfortunately, the military seldom focuses on state benefits as an option for transitioning veterans. I have typically only heard about the Hazelwood Act by word of mouth from other Texas veterans. In fact, neither my Dad nor my older brother, both of whom are Army veterans, had ever heard of this benefit until I told them about it. And it’s been around since before World War II! I would encourage anyone who is thinking about transitioning to do research on your home state’s veteran’s benefits. Though most states don’t offer the same educational benefits as Texas, (another reason why Texas is awesome!) it is important to leave no stone unturned when seeking out the benefits that your military service has brought you.
Here are a couple of website where you can find out more about your own state’s veterans benefits:
http://www.legion.org/education/statebenefits
http://www.military.com/benefits/veteran-state-benefits/state-veterans-benefits-directory.html
