Hi all! My sister, currently in Essec, is applying for exchange programs in US colleges. Which is the following universities is better for product management? a) UT Austin (McCombs) b) UNC ( Kenan - Flagler) c) UC Irvine ( Paul Merage ) d) Indiana university (Kelley) Any pointers on courses, culture, placements, brand image etc will be helpful. Thank you 🙏 #pm #product #productmanager #applications #exchangeprogramme
Kelley and Kenan-Flagler made a name for themselves over the years in traditional MBA roles such as management consulting, banking/finance, supply chain, 🥱. Not ideal for tech but ok if she doesn't get into anything better. UCI is not on the map. UCI will not attract the same attention, nor the depth of recruiters that the other schools mentioned wil attract. It lives in the shadow of UCLA and USC. Anyone at UCI is competing for recruiters who have ample options beyond them. UT Austin is the best among the ones listed. It doesn't have nearly as deep of a tech network as Berkeley, Stanford, or MIT (the ideal schools for PMs) but it does have a growing number of employers nearby. Amazon, Google, Oracle, Adobe, Salesforce, and more have offices in Austin. But still it's a tier 2 city and tier 2 school. Set expectations accordingly Each school releases yearly placement reports for their full time MBA batches. In those reports you can find breakdowns of industry placements and sometimes average salaries Your sisters pre-business school experience is the most important aspect here though. Americans really emphasize the "story" of a candidate. A person who ran their grandmothers family business, started a non-profit, and worked on satellites gets more interviews than yet another investment banker rockstar that wants <60hr work weeks. "Craft" the narrative, and consider executive coaching. To evaluate a coach check their LinkedIn recommendations for clients with respectable career paths. This might be controversial advice but you're on Blind. Lean into the fact that she's a woman. Get involved in girls who code or women in tech initiatives as a mentor or organizer. This is a huge green flag to recruiters. I'm helping my fiancee do the same. All the best
There is no school which gives you a leg up for PM. Any "PM programs" are meaningless to hiring managers. The easiest way to get a leg up is study to become a SWE, join a startup, and switch to PM at the startup. This is not what most PMs have done because there is no well defined career path to become a PM, but this is the only relatively clear path out of school I've ever seen.
Large companies hire tonnes of MBAs for post product roles every year from top 30 schools. OP's sister has clearly advanced past the stage where she can study to become a SWE etc.
One of these schools is not in the league of others in terms of name recognition as a B school (Irvine). My pick is Austin > UNC > Kelley.
Exchange program doesn’t matter much since you will only be taking 1-2 classes, which may not necessarily be tech related. Go with the location for networking opportunity. Austin has the best location for tech compare to other options.
Thank you so much for the replies!
Looks like you got the answer you needed. Just want to share that Irvine being a California school, has a lot of focus on tech & entrepreneurship. Both important for a new grad looking to become a PM.My pick would be Austin>UNC=Irvine>Kelley
If the lean is towards mccombs, I’d advise you look at the tech commercialization program offered by mccombs too. I’m a current MBA student (EMBA). It’s good if you’re looking to be a “better trained employee” but the best PMs I know always see themselves as outsiders creating the future vs operators managing the current. MBA is a program for folks wanting to learn the rules and operate within them. I prefer PMs that break things and don’t care about where the broken glass falls.
I have 1 cousin who went to Kelley and another friend who went to McCombs. These 2 have cookie cutter courses but nothing tailored to tech or entrepreneurship. Others idk