After spending eight years as an Army Officer, Hall Wang (McDonough, ‘19) entered Georgetown University’s MBA-MPP Program with the intention of transitioning to a new career. He shared his insights about how he made the transition from the Army to his MBA program, what his new classmates helped him learn, and how he used his military experience to contribute and help his classmates.
MBASchooled: What did you do prior to business school and why did you choose to go to business school?
After doing ROTC at Wake Forest University, I was an Army Officer for eight years. I had a terrific experience working with lots of talented professionals and was thrilled to be in an environment where nearly everyone cared to put in a tremendous effort to strengthen the team. However, after eight years, I felt like I had experienced a good variety of projects the Army offered and wanted to branch out to other opportunities in the world while I was still generally young. I viewed one of the best ways to be supercharged to transition to the civilian career was to acquire an advanced degree. I at first enrolled in Georgetown University to acquire a Master in Public Policy (MPP) with inspiration from my oldest sister’s life experiences. Upon starting graduate school, I came to appreciate that I wanted a more action oriented program that had the team minded and get things done culture that I really enjoyed about the military. I found that environment among the MBA program and hence added the MBA as a three year dual degree candidate at Georgetown.
MBASchooled: What was it like to be back in an academic setting?
For me it was pretty seamless to slide back into an academic setting. I think a big part of it was that before I applied to graduate schools, I forced myself to take some online classes in economics and statistics (via Colorado State and Michigan State) in order to be more competitive for applications and arrive better academically prepared. I thereby came into graduate school already decently readjusted. The other piece was paying attention to the wisdom the student veterans were passing along about classroom dynamics and common best practices and missteps.
MBASchooled: What were some of the new and exciting aspects of business school?
I really appreciated that business school was like a Disneyland of business learning opportunities to be exposed to the many facets of business dynamics. As someone who didn’t have a prior business experience or academic background (political science and history major), it was all new and exciting to me. Introductions to the some of the business facets occurred in the classroom, but the most fun exposure were all the extra-curricular activities business school offered. To name a few, I took advantage of case competitions, volunteer consulting, and guest lectures by executives. Each opportunity was a new experience for me to explore, both in the interest of my curiosity and to inform what career paths I may seek.
Also, one thing I really appreciate that I will probably never get back again, is the ability to email people and pull the I am an MBA student card to get them to have a conversation with me about their job and industry. More often than not, I found that people responded and happily engaged me. Those conversations were profound learning experiences during my student years.
MBASchooled: What were some of the challenges you had to overcome?
I felt that I was regularly typecast as a military veteran, which was a challenge for me because my interests in MBA were beyond the scope of the typecast. Being different than the expectations meant that I had to do a lot more explaining and there were less people I could commiserate with. Altogether, it made my MBA experience a little bit lonelier than those of others.
This is best highlighted via the perspective of recruiting. I felt that I was regularly directed to consider government consulting or supply chain. This is rather understandable as both roles are rather clear and well precedented post-MBA transitions for many military veterans. It is not as if I was ever discouraged from other career options, but rather regularly encouraged by recruiters, peers, and business leaders to focus on it. I felt that by departing the military veteran typecast in being interested in technology marketing, I operated with little guidance and encouragement simply because there simply wasn’t a clear line for people to confidently highlight precedents for me.
MBASchooled: What did you end up recruiting for during your first year, and how did you decide on that industry or function?
I ended up focusing on marketing in the high tech industry area. Marketing was hands down my favorite class, and it really combined my strengths of storytelling, data analysis, and creatively managing a process. That plus how I really enjoyed my volunteer consulting project in marketing made it an easy pick for me. In the Army, I had a real passion for technological capabilities and identifying strategies for leveraging them to support military operations, so I found the high tech industry naturally appealing to me.
MBASchooled:How did your experience in the military help you for your first year?
One of the most valuable skills I learned from the Army was learning how to manage chaos. With that skill, I found being able to manage the many competing demands of MBA student life (academics, recruiting, social, and me time) with deliberate planning and discipline. The skill also empowered me to help organize my team projects to optimize efficient desirable outcomes, making everyone’s life easier.
MBASchooled:What was the area that underwent the most growth during your MBA?
Granted there was a lot of diversity that I encountered and learned from in the Army, my MBA experience exposed me to new diverse experiences, personalities, and issues that I previously hadn’t been familiar with. It was in my MBA that I worked with many women closely on a regular basis (I worked in mostly combat units where there were very few women during my tenure). I also was regularly exposed to active members of the LGBT community for the first time during my MBA, having had them as project teammates and Student Government leaders. It was also a learning experience to work with international students who came from countries such as India, China, and Switzerland and experience their individual culturally informed outlooks. I strongly believe this increased exposure to diversity made me both a better person and a more capable business leader for the future.
MBASchooled: How does your military experience connect to your current job?
I am currently a Senior Strategy Consultant with Accenture Strategy. A lot of what it means to be successful in the Army is to be eager to learn and adapt to the operational situations in order to do what it takes to achieve a mission. I find that mindset to be equally present as a Strategy Consultant. Between ongoing changes brought by an ever changing world and working through a variety of projects, being successful means being capable to always keep on learning and creatively adapt towards new solutions.
MBASchooled: What advice do you have for veterans, who are currently in their first year of business school?
I would tell them to not rest on their laurels. I say this because I see so many veterans struggle with recruiting because they rested on their laurels, however super impressive they might have been. Sure, having been in an elite unit or having remarkable military achievements are highly impressive, but that in it of itself doesn’t necessarily translate to career success. At most, a strong veteran background might help acquire an interview, but doing well in the interview means doing the legwork to understand the industry, the organization at hand, and speak the lingo. After all, at these interviews, a veteran is often competing with candidates who have years of industry or tangential functional experience.