Written by Meghavaty Suresh
Meet Lee Buttolph.
Lee is currently a grad student pursuing a Master’s in Entrepreneurship at the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University. He served in the Marine Corps and spent many months out of the country in Iraq. When he returned home he decided to step into his family business, ultimately becoming an entrepreneur when he bought the firm from his father. In 2014, Lee decided it was the right time to sell the business. He made up his mind to come back to school and explore the unexplored.
If you’ve ever wondered how a day in the life of a student veteran goes by, here is an inside look:
6:00 am – Lee says he tries to look at his time at grad school like he is working a normal job. He comes into school early, between six and seven in the morning, and starts getting his work done. He compares it to when people head into their office early to get a head start when all is quiet around the office. If there is any reading or any assignments to be completed, that is his time to tackle it without the usual buzz around school. In a couple of hours the place will burst into a flurry of student activity and it is rush hour from then on.
8:00 am – The first of Lee’s classes starts at 8 sharp. From then until 2 there is a constant drone of feet on the various floors of school of students running from one class to another and Lee is one of them. He usually has about four classes that go on for about an hour and a half each. A typical class at the management school is comprised of interactive discussions, real life case studies and examples, and a lot of student feedback. Lee says his class in particular is a tight-knit one and they often sit down and talk about different topics. Everyone learns from each other and according to Lee all of his classmates have great ideas and unique perspectives.
2:00 pm – After morning classes are done, Lee gets a breather from about 2 to 6:30. Even though it is technically free time, he uses it to meet with his different project groups, work on assignments and occasionally meet with professors. Somewhere in between he tries to sneak in some dinner.
6:30 pm – Lee’s three-hour-long class starts now. Lee says that the dynamic in his class is great. Being a student veteran and a little older than the average age in class, the learning is different on many levels. While a lot of the students are learning concepts for the first time, Lee pretty much knows the basics since he has served in the military and run a business. Now he says he gets more time to think about the foundation of concepts and dive into the details of what is being presented in class which is eye-opening on many levels.
The end of the day brings with it a sense of achievement that is unique to graduate school. It is a lot of learning and thinking, but also the exchange of experiences and the application of concepts to real world scenarios.
Lee is a student veteran at the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University pursuing a Master’s in Entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship at the Whitman School of Management is highly ranked nationally. The Master of Science in Entrepreneurship (MSE) degree prepares students to become leaders of one of 2.4 million veteran-owned businesses employing 5.8 million people, with four focus areas: Social, Corporate, Family Business, and New Ventures. The deadline for applying to the program is April 19. | Download informational handout
Veterans looking to continue their education should consider Syracuse University’s graduate management degrees designed with veterans in mind as well as all of the undergraduate and graduate programs offered by a school committed for over 70 years to serve those who have served.
Meghavaty Suresh is a Graduate Assistant at IVMF currently pursuing a Master of Science in New Media Management from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. She holds a Master’s in Management and Bachelor’s in Commerce from Mumbai University.