An Up and Coming MBA hopeful

<p>Hey, Im new to these forums and have a few questions. Any help would be appriciated greatly.</p>

<p>I am a freshman in college and already preparing for an MBA after undergrad, however i have a few questions in order to make myself a competitive applicant in the future. First, i joined the Marine Corps reserves after high school and am currently scheduled to go to basic training May 15 (after my first year of college). I will be serving in the reserves all through college in order to help me pay for it. On an MBA application would those 4 yeras of reserve duty count as work experience? Also, should i choose to go active duty after college, (and be commissioned as an officer as the program im on allows) would my active duty service count as work experience and if so how competitive is this route vs. other jobs? One more thing, my reserve job is infantry however when im commissioned i plan on choosing an MOS (job) centered around linguistics. Would this job choice make myself more competitive when applying to an international top business school, as is my goal.</p>

<p>My second set of questions. Im going to a state school (Georgia State). Assuming im aiming for a top 5 business school and assuming all my trimmings (GMAT, Work Experience) are all good (a big assumption i know), would the undergrad school I chose affect my competitiveness as an applicant?</p>

<p>Im thankful for anyone who takes the time to read all that.</p>

<p>For the top 5 business schools, yes, your undergrad school may affect your chances because all the ivy leaguers are aiming for those schools too.</p>

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For the top 5 business schools, yes, your undergrad school may affect your chances because all the ivy leaguers are aiming for those schools too.

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<p>It may affect it. However, what's really important is what you do with your degree. If someone accomplishes as much or more with a lesser degree then it would be silly to rate the other person higher.</p>

<p>Since my interest is Real Estate and I realize that many MBA Real Estate clubs post resumes, here are the undergraduate institutions of the MBAs in the Wharton Real Estate Club: </p>

<p>UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA- CHAPEL HILL
Dartmouth
EAST CHINA NORMAL UNIVERSITY (China)
University of Delaware
UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN ONTARIO AND YORK UNIVERSITY
LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS
UNIVERSITY OF SAN DIEGO
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
DUKE UNIVERSITY
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY
SUSHANT SCHOOL OF ART & ARCHITECTURE (INDIA)
BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY</p>

<p>That being said, I would question what kind of job you could land out of Georgia State..especially since I don't know your major. Additionally, I would question how a full-time military officer's resume would stack up for a school like Wharton. Unless you do something truly outstanding I would guess not that well. I do know that military officers are able to get into very good business schools, but IMO it would take something special to get top 5.</p>

<p>What, at this time, makes you think you can get into a top 5 school? No offense, but you just barely started at Georgia State...which is a tier 4 school (per USNews) and is not the top public school in the state of Georgia. </p>

<p>As for work experience, they only care about post graduate work experience. Your active duty work after college would certainly count as work experience.</p>