Get to Know Jake Sparano, US Veteran and Co-Chair of the Armed Forces Group

Jake is originally from Charleston, South Carolina. As a kid, his dream was to go to West Point and become an Army officer. Jake was lucky enough to be able to make that dream a reality, and in 2018 he graduated from West Point and was commissioned as a Field Artillery officer in the Army. Jake’s time in the Army took him from Oklahoma to Savannah, GA, South Korea, Seattle, WA, and lastly Australia. As he finished his initial service obligation to the Army, he knew he wanted to pivot to a career that provided more stability. From there, he began exploring potential civilian careers and talked to a few friends who left the Army to pursue their MBAs at top business schools; hearing about their experiences helped Jake realize that pursuing his MBA was the right next step. Jake knew he had a lot to offer with his leadership skills, but he recognized that he needed to develop his business acumen in order to successfully step into his next chapter within the civilian sector.

Jake’s journey to Chicago Booth was an unexpected one. He was originally dead-set on going to business school on the East Coast to be close to family, but one weekend he decided to take a trip to Chicago and visit Booth with a friend. That day on campus made Jake realize Booth was the perfect program for him—the location in an amazing city, second-to-none professors, and most importantly the students (specifically the veterans!) who were so eager to reach out and tell Jake about their experiences all made Booth an easy choice for him. While at Booth, Jake recruited for consulting and will be heading to McKinsey’s Chicago office after graduation!

The first thing that drew me to Booth was AFG. I reached out during the application process and was shocked at how much effort AFG put into helping service members navigate the application journey.

Next was the partner culture. My girlfriend moved with me three times while I was in the Army, and each time she had to build a new support network from scratch. I knew Booth had a thriving partner culture, and I wanted the MBA experience to be one that she could be a part of. That has rung so true so far, from Random Walks to Booth clubs and events, my partner has done everything with me at Booth except for recruiting!

To my fellow veterans/service members planning their transition out of the military—don’t sell yourself short! I almost passed on applying to Booth because I didn’t think I had a strong enough profile to be part of the student body. The veteran experience and perspective is extremely valuable here, and Booth truly values the soft skills we developed through service. The worst thing you can do is self-select out of applying to Booth!

When I showed up to Booth, I had a whopping six months of experience out of uniform, which may not seem like a lot, but it was more than most of my veteran classmates who moved to Chicago as soon as they completed their last day of service. I left for West Point a month after I turned 18 years old and this was my first time really tackling civilian life. Joining AFG was important to me because I wanted to connect with other veterans navigating the same issues that I was.

Not only has AFG given me a support network through my MBA, it has also been a huge help in recruiting. The AFG alumni network is strong, and as I navigated consulting recruiting, AFG alumni from every firm I was interested in reached out eager to help me. Something that really impressed me was that they weren’t necessarily reaching out to recruit me, but to help another vet and Boothie successfully navigate recruiting. I don’t think I would have been successful in my recruiting efforts had it not been for AFG.

The annual Dining Out event has also been one of my favorite Booth experiences. Once a year, Boothies and alumni come together around Veterans Day to reconnect and pay homage to those who served. It is such a fun night and really makes you reflect on your path from the military to Booth.

Absolutely. My initial worries in applying to an MBA was that my skills weren’t valuable—the only civilian job I found that involved shooting cannons was the Circus. When I started consulting recruiting, however, I realized that the leadership skills I developed in the Army were very much in demand. The hard skills can be taught, but very few of my classmates could speak about leading a platoon of men and women from around the world and the challenges that come from managing such a diverse team. Leadership is such an important part of the MBA journey at Booth, and I am grateful that I was able to really build that muscle in the Army before coming to Booth.