Mr. FAANG PM

Hi Mr. FAANG PM,
This is Debbie Choy, Senior Consultant at mbaMission. It definitely sounds like you went through a difficult time during college with your mom’s health. Like Melisa, I also encourage you to share these circumstances that impacted your GPA in the Optional Essay, so that Adcom can understand the story behind your grades. These things happen. And I think your GMAT score does help to alleviate the potential concern with your academic capabilities. I also agree with you that I do think moving to a FAANG company does help strengthen your profile. It looks like you’re performing well at work – and you want to support that with robust recommendation letters. I also like that you’re involved with your community through the local school and online bootcamp. I do worry that your work experience might still be on the shorter side, especially for a selective school like HBS. Do consider applying in 1-2 years after you’ve amassed more experience, eg. in leading more projects or larger teams. I think that could help you have a stronger shot at HBS. Wishing you the best in your MBA journey!

Hi Mr. FAANG CEO, Melisa here from Stratus Admissions. I am so sorry to hear about your mom and hope she is doing OK. If her battle and your care for her impacted your GPA, make sure you use the optional essay to tell this story – this is something admissions teams will want to know. Your GMAT will help overcome the concern of your GPA – but you might want to consider also taking a stats or finance course to help reinforce you academic abilities – both UCLA and UC Berkeley have great management for math classes. This would do twofold – showcase a recent ability to handle academics and highlight your commitment to getting an MBA. Another option would be to look into MBA Math. Also, could your recommenders talk about your quant ability, to reinforce your GMAT score? It is possible that a large tech brand will be an enhancement to your profile as a re-applicant – you definitely have something new to discuss! It could be that you were applying to early before as well and the added experience will enhance your profile as well. Your skills in PM will be highly valued in a classroom – so think about how you can help others that want to transition into PM. What perspective, now both from a start up and large tech perspective, will you bring the classroom that is unique? All top programs will also be looking for your leadership potential – sounds like you have a couple products you’ve nurtured through – bring out the leadership you exhibited through these launches. How are you a leader in the classroom of your CS class? Lastly, long term goal of CTO makes sense and growing in PM to get there. What isn’t clear to me is how the entrepreneurship fits in there. Be careful to not be unclear about your goals path – admissions will want to know you’ve thought through your goals – and entrepreneurship may fit – but it will be up to you to tell that story. If this is the year from an MBA, I suggest you expand your list a bit. Given the competition we are seeing this year – you’ve got 3 tough schools on your list. Maybe consider Ross, Tepper, Duke, UCLA to help get you to the same place? Wish you the best of luck!