Skip to main content

From the Military to the MBA: The Student Veteran Experience

MBA Student Veterans, Class of 2021
The MBA is an effective path for former and currently serving military personnel who wish to either pivot into the private sector or advance their careers within the military. In particular, a full-time program offers essential career support and training and experiential opportunities that help veterans translate the value of their experience for the civilian sector while using the academic offerings of the program to add new skills and practice current skills in new industries. The Georgia MBA programs enroll the highest percentage of military veterans of any program at the University of Georgia and 100% of our Full-Time MBA veteran students transition into rewarding civilian careers. That transition isn’t always easy, but the Georgia MBA provides them with the support they need to succeed.

To understand what that transition looks like as a Georgia MBA student, listen to two of the Dawgs on Top podcast episodes from 2022 and 2020 to learn more about the student veteran experience. The 2020 episode interviewed John Davis, MBA ’21 (Coast Guard), Travis Hawkins, MBA ’21 (Army), and Joseph Tereniak, MBA’21 (active-duty Army). The 2022 episode interviewed Kayla Vickers, MBA ’22 (active-duty Army), Jason Hedrick, MBA ’22 (Army), Mason Strain, MBA ’22 (Army), and Allan Wilshire, MBA ’22 (Marine Corp). Each of their experiences (and MBA journey) was different, so there is a lot to learn by listening in!

 

Comments

Popular Posts

The Bike is the Answer: Charlie Mustard and Jittery Joe’s Coffee

Like many other schools during this pandemic, the University of Georgia has been closed since mid-March, and students and staff are working remotely. In lieu of in-person meetings and events, MBA Admissions staff launched a podcast, Dawgs on Top, to bring the program to a larger audience. In Season One: The Rona Files, we covered Georgia football, provided highlights of the first annual Graduate Women’s Business Association Summit, and heard more about the student veterans experience, the March trip to South Africa, and our Non-Profit Board Fellows Program. In Season Two: Town & Gown, we focused on the Athens community and interviewed local business leaders. One of those interviews was with Charlie Mustad, owner and Head Roaster of Jittery Joe’s Coffee. Jittery Joe's Coffee opened in 1994 on Washington St. near the 40 Watt Club and was open 24 hours a day to serve everyone: students, townies, and artists. Since then, it has grown into a roaster on Barber Street and 14 loca...

Silicon Valley Trek 2018

Our finals ended on December 11th, but we didn’t have the time to celebrate as we were headed toward the West Coast the very next day! Twelve first-year MBA students travelled to San Jose and San Francisco as part of the Silicon Valley Trek organized by the Georgia MBA program. The main goal behind this trek was to enable students to get a feel of the work-life culture on the other side of the country and make those invaluable connections that will only enrich their professional network. We did all of that, and more. Over the course of two days, we visited 7 companies: PayPal, Tesla, Facebook and A9.com on Day 1 and Salesforce, Jackson Square Ventures, and Thumbtack on Day 2. Day 1 We started the day with Paypal . Learning what goes on behind the scenes of one of the largest online payment companies in the world was so fascinating. You could see all the transactions happening on PayPal anywhere in the world in real time on this screen below in the photo. Next, we went to the Ka...

Three Veterans' Perspectives on the Georgia MBA Experience

(L-R) Brandon A. Shah, Phillip Edmondson, and Nicholas Cherry, MBA Class of 2018 Below is summary of our three Active Duty Military Officers within the program, each has their own motivations for selecting an MBA, specifically at Terry, but cumulatively their choices have been influenced by slightly different motivators than the rest of their cohort. You’ll hear words that resonate with the military, retirement positioning, and family. Albeit other students have just as many special considerations, these members bring a much different perspective to selecting and experiencing Terry. Brandon A. Shah I debated incessantly about the right school, the right graduate degree, and right location, both internally and with family. The struggle was more than just finding and being accepted into a competitive school, it was about a strategic reflection on what would benefit my family and I during our remaining years in service and what I might find myself doing in a future civilian care...