University of Georgia: Thomas Kidd
Thomas Kidd enlisted in the US Marines as a private first class in 2005, right after graduating from the University of Florida with an undergraduate degree in business finance. His military occupational specialty was infantry, and he also provided combat instruction in water survival. His deployments included the Middle East and the Antilles Islands. He left the Marines as a sergeant in early 2009 and took a job providing administrative support for criminal prosecutions in the US Attorney’s Office in San Diego.
Thomas had seriously considered pursuing an MBA since his undergraduate days, and given the weak economy, “it became evident that I was going to need that additional qualification to achieve what I wanted to in the civilian world.” So he enrolled in the University of Georgia Terry School of Business in August 2011. His goal: to blend his business background and Marine experience by becoming an operations manager in a large nonprofit that works on domestic and international disaster relief. As he says, “I want to be able to use the skills I gained to continue serving the public and, hopefully, make a career out of it.” Based on informational interviews he’s conducted with nonprofit executives and University of Georgia alumni, he believes combining his military leadership training with an MBA will allow him to fulfill his strong drive to both serve and contribute to a nonprofit’s operational and financial efficiency.
What are some unanticipated benefits of pursuing a graduate business degree?
While I was in the military, my classmates were here in the States building their professional networks, leveraging their contacts, and gaining insights into careers. By networking with my classmates, I’m starting to receive those benefits second-hand.
What’s an example of the insights you’ve gained from classmates?
A friend of mine was in the AmeriCorps program up in Juneau, Alaska, before coming to business school. He’s provided me with a lot of the benefits and the drawbacks of specifically targeting nonprofits as a career. Because I didn’t really have direct knowledge of how you get into that sort of career and progress through it, he’s given me a wealth of information based on his service with some of these larger nonprofits. It’s helped me outline what sort of operation to get into, which particular organizations do and don’t see the value in hiring MBAs, and which ones are going to be difficult to get into.
What would you recommend to others in the military who are thinking about getting an MBA but aren’t certain it’s right for them?
Before you make the decision, know what you’re looking to get out of an MBA. You have to really look at where you want to be in the next year, the next two years, and five and 10 years down the road to see if the MBA is the right avenue to get there.
For me, knowing that I want to continue with operations management and go into nonprofits meant I already had several big life decisions taken care of. So in business school I can focus not on making the decision but on pursuing the education and the networking that will help me get to my goals.
If you don’t have a specific direction, pursuing an MBA will still, most likely, help you get a better job with better pay. But it may not fulfill your specific professional goals as much as if you decided on a direction beforehand – so you could concentrate your coursework on exactly what you want to do.
You took the GMAT exam. What advice can you offer based on what worked for you when you were studying for it?
I basically took the test in between deployments. I had always anticipated taking it more than once, but my first scores were average for the schools I was specifically looking at, so there didn’t seem to be a need to retake it.
My preparation involved using the GMATPrep material that comes from GMAC when you register for the test. I didn’t really use any outside sources or courses. My verbal scores were right where they needed to be. But as a member of the Marine Corps in an infantry setting, you don’t really use all the quantitative skills you once learned, and you do lose those skills when you don’t use them, that’s for sure.
Did you find the materials on mba.com useful?
They were definitely useful for getting back into the swing of taking this kind of test. We took tests in specific courses in the service, but they were nothing like the GMAT exam in the sense that they didn’t test general skills.
If you were going to take the GMAT exam again, what would you do differently to prepare?
If I was looking for the maximum possible score, I would most likely go through some of the test preparation courses that independent third parties offer. Some of my classmates used them to boost their scores the second time.
If I was looking to do just a little better, I would definitely use the test preparation books, practice exams, online tutorials, and things like that—to get more involved in the material. I would spend more time and be more respectful of the fact I have not been involved with this material for a few years.
How did the military help prepare you for graduate business school?
A lot of my classmates get pretty stressed out about the rigors of the MBA program, the basic class requirements, the internship search and job search, graduate assistantships, all these things. But having been in the military, I think: Realistically, what’s the worst that can happen if something falls through the cracks? Nothing’s going to explode, and no one’s going to be physically harmed.
We veterans have more perspective on certain things. This is not to say that the requirements of the MBA are not important. But the MBA program is not going to put any kind of stress on me that I hadn’t previously experienced. What you get from the military environment you can’t really teach. You can’t buy it. You can only get it from being in that particular situation at that particular time. Being a US Marine in the infantry in wartime—you really can’t beat that for leadership experience, for learning how to prioritize your time and resources.
When you add an MBA to a military background, how does the combination help you succeed in a civilian career?
I’ve met recruiters who didn’t even want me to bother talking about my leadership background. They basically told me, “Oh, I see that you’re a former active-duty Marine, so we don’t have to worry about your leadership qualifications.” And you really can’t beat that. That’s almost half of what a lot of recruiters are looking for—your demonstrated ability to lead and manage.
As far as leveraging the MBA with that, I’m in a position to get the best of both worlds. I’m going to have the MBA credential, which is very specific to corporate America, but also management experience in high-stress situations that you can’t get outside the military.
Any parting advice for fellow military veterans?
Do not ever pass up a free education. Just by being on active duty, veterans automatically qualify for so many educational benefits that a majority don’t ever pursue. If somebody is going to pay to give you more knowledge, boost your qualifications, and make you more marketable, you really can’t beat that. Whether it’s an MBA or any other sort of training, don’t pass it up.
