Syracuse University: Andrew Hacker
Andrew entered the United States Military Academy at West Point directly out of high school in 2001and earned a B.S. in geospatial information science with a minor in environmental engineering. He was then commissioned in the Engineer Branch of the Army under the 1st Armored Division at Fort Riley, Kansas.
In Afghanistan, Andrew served under Combined Joint Task Force (CJTF) 82 as well as CJTF-101, conducting route clearance patrols, battalion operational planning, and electronic warfare operations. After returning from deployment, he was assigned as instructor/cadre for the Engineer Basic Officer Leadership Course at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.
In 2010 Andrew left the Army and enrolled in the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University. He’s interested in exploring the operational side of production supply chain and blending it with environmental engineering. “Business drives the vast majority of what goes on in this country,” he says, “so an MBA seemed like the perfect tool to help me make the transition from military to civilian life.”
How did your military experience help you make the transition to business school?
I think the self discipline, sense of personal responsibility, and ability to work under stress that most soldiers gain are especially helpful. And the fact that I performed a wide variety of jobs on individual and team levels helps me work well with groups in both leadership and subordinate roles.
Plus I spent my last two years in the Army as cadre at EOBC, which involves teaching both field and in-classroom material about engineering, leadership, and military tactics. So I also really empathize with my professors. That motivates me to ask relevant questions and be an active participant because I know it’s mutually beneficial to keep the class dynamic.
Is there anything about business school you wish you’d known earlier?
As far as the internship search is concerned, I really undervalued the importance of networking—making contact at a company with someone who actually knows you instead of just adding your resume to the pile. I’m convinced now that the personal contacts you make are significant drivers for finding opportunities.
The internship I ended up getting really drove that point home. The people from e2e Materials came and spoke to our class. I didn’t have the agricultural-sector experience they were looking for on the manufacturing side. But I knew some people who worked there and decided to go in for an interview anyway. The personal contact opened the door. I ended up landing an internship because they said, “We think you’ll be a good fit with the culture of this company.”
What would you tell others coming out of the military about why internships are so important?
For starters, it’s a good exercise to put yourself out there and compete with others. Not only that, an internship helps you find out if you’d like a particular job in the civilian world as much as you thought you would, and once you’ve completed the internship, you have a huge foot in the door with that same company. And if you end up figuring out the type of work you did in the internship is not for you, at least you’ve spent only part of a summer finding that out and you can proceed with your job search accordingly.
What’s an example of how the grad school curriculum broadened your thinking about something you’ll encounter in the business world?
When I first took marketing, I didn’t much care for it and even told the professor, “Your class is interesting, but things like perception and behavior and brand image are almost too abstract for me.” But after a few weeks, the class gave me a whole new way of thinking about marketing from a psychological perspective. I discovered that in some ways marketing really is an art form, since there’s no way to know how something will impact your audience based on data or engineering principles alone.
How was your experience with the GMAT?
In terms of scheduling it, finding a location, and going through the process, everything was very smooth, very easy, very painless. I did a little bit of preparation on the math and took one practice test with the online software, and I was pretty relaxed. But then I took the test two more times over the course of a year and never did as well on the quantitative side as I did the first time. I think I prepared to the point where I got more stressed out. So I’d say it’s important to prepare, but it’s also important not to get flustered.
Did you have any preconceptions about the quality of a school or your prospective classmates based on the fact that the GMAT exam was part of the entrance requirement?
If you do a little research, you’ll see that there’s a clear-as-day correlation between a business school’s GMAT requirement, the average test scores, and a school’s overall ranking and reputation. I think a school’s reputation is an excellent testament to the overall value of the MBA degree, and the GMAT is a critical means to being admitted to a business school with a good reputation and well-developed program.
From your perspective, what’s the true value-added of your military background combined with the MBA?
A military background speaks volumes to potential employers about commitment and selfless service. It says that when I come to work for your company, I really am going to put forth my best effort and commit to what you want me to do. I’m not trying to imply that my classmates don’t have commitment and drive. But the unique experience I got from the military gives my claim credibility in the business world.
