McCombs, Goizueta, Owen? Product Management/ Consulting/UX Research

Question

Hi GMATclub community,  bb , ...
I got admission and scholarship from McCombs ($), Goizueta ($$) & Owen ($$).
I have a strong research background with 5 year experience (3 years at a research consulting agency and 2 years at a tech unicorn in Vietnam). My latest role is User Experience Researcher. My post MBA career goals in prioritized order are Product Management, Consulting (Strategy, Operation) and UX Research. In the long run (probably 10-15 years), I would like to start a tech company. I have financial constraints and self-sponsor for my journey. I target postMBA companies that can sponsor. MBA FT tuition in Goizueta is 77k/year while in McCombs is 58K/year.
I am looking forward to receive your advice on which school to choose that fits both my short term and long term goals as well as insights on Atlanta, Austin, Nashville.

Many thanks.

yashikaaggarwal · Answer

Congratulations on receiving multiple admission offers and scholarships! Here are a few insights from based from my side.

• McCombs has a strong reputation for product management, with many alumni going on to work in that field at top tech companies. Additionally, Austin has a booming tech scene with many startups and established tech companies, which could offer you great opportunities for networking and job opportunities in the tech industry.

• Goizueta has a strong consulting focus, with a high percentage of graduates entering consulting careers after graduation. If you're interested in consulting, Goizueta could be a good fit for you. Atlanta is also a major business hub, with many large corporations headquartered there, which could offer you great networking and job opportunities in consulting.

• Owen has a strong reputation in operations management, which could be helpful if you're interested in pursuing a career in operations consulting. Nashville is also a growing business hub, with a thriving healthcare industry and a growing tech scene, which could provide you with networking and job opportunities.

Given you are paying your fees yourself, it might be helpful to choose a school with a lower tuition cost like Owen, which has a lower tuition cost compared to Goizueta and McCombs (after deducting the scholarship).

In terms of location, Atlanta, Austin, and Nashville are all great cities to live in, each with its own unique culture and lifestyle. It's important to consider which city you could see yourself living in for the next two years and beyond. Austin is known for its vibrant music and food scene, as well as its outdoor activities, while Atlanta is known for its diverse culture, great food, and access to major corporations. Nashville is known for its thriving music industry, southern hospitality, and growing tech scene.

Ultimately, the decision of which school to attend should be based on the best fit for your personal and professional goals. I suggest doing additional research on each school, reaching out to alumni or current students, and visiting each campus (if possible) to get a better sense of the culture and community. Good luck with your decision!

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linhkieudl · Answer

Hi  yashikaaggarwal , thank you for your insights. I am an international student from Vietnam. I am reaching out to several students and alumni to get more ideas. I do want to visit those schools but right now what helps is to join virtual events. I am grateful that you provided me details of each city and school to help me make decisions.

I am interested in AI right now. By the way, if you have some other info about the difference rated to tech among cities, please help to share some more infos or further resources so that I can check them out.

Once again, thank you a lot.

yashikaaggarwal · Answer

A question before I research, do you have any prior experience - work or academic in AI or Machine Learning?
Because if not, I don't think MBA without tech major will get you in proper AI field.

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linhkieudl · Answer

Hi  yashikaaggarwal ,
My latest role is senior user experience researcher in a tech unicorn in Vietnam. Our company's products are top products in our country. They are similar to Facebook, WhatsApp-social messaging app, Spotify, Siri, etc. I worked for a project on an AI voice assistant app using our mother-tongue language. This project triggered my interest towards AI.

Cheers,

yashikaaggarwal · Answer

Copy that,

In that way, Austin is a better tech location than rest two. Big city, more companies, more networking. But as I said, it's all upon you. If cost is a major factor, I will suggest you do a cost analysis and see what school suits you better.

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bb · Answer

I have to applaud you and say that I am honored that you cannot complain about GMAT club. I think you have all the rights to complain about out our UX experience 😂

My recommendation would be McCombs. The job market for tech is quite strong in Austin and a lot of the incoming class is focusing on tech which helps to have the numbers. There’s also alarms who already in tech so they can help you break through some of the recruiting barriers.

Do you have any concerns about going to Texas?

PS. Owen is in Nashville in the very vibrant location but I don’t think it’s better than Austin from employment standpoint… it does have one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country but that is mostly due to hospitality and restaurant jobs coming back recently in strength… however McCombs has a better career outlook in Austin. It’s hard to compete for other programs.

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linhkieudl · Answer

Thank  bb  for your reply. Not everything is perfect but Gmat club has some parts that are too good for me to concern or pay attention to the others. I applied for the PM internship but unfortunately could not have the chance to do it, to complain about gmat club's UX, a little bit sad lol.

My concern about Texas is that is it too focused in Tech, if then whether going to Emory will open up more opportunities for me besides tech (for example: consulting/marketing), also leveraging its undergrad reputation? I heard that Emory is one of the top undergrad programs in the southern US, then the network of Emory in general may be stronger? The other side is the budget constraints.

bb · Answer

Sorry about the internship

I appreciate your understanding - it is a hard process that I mostly dread selecting and short-listing people

P.S. About the undergrad reputation and bschool reputation - that's a good idea but it does not work... unfortunately. This is what MBA students at Emory, USC, Notre Dame, and even Yale realize. Yes, Yale too - their undergrad is insanely competitive. What happens is that recruiters are not idiots and they realize there is an order to things and selectivity and frankly choice of candidates are quite different. E.g. If you go to Yale UG, you are going to M7 as your worst outcome simply because it is so hard to get into UG and you will see some amazing companies coming on campus to recruit the UG students but they are not hiring grad level folks and don't have any positions. Believe, me, I tried to snick into an Undergrad fair. It was like going to a massive feast that I could not afford

linhkieudl · Answer

thank  bb  for the explanation on undergrad. That makes senses.

bb · Answer

Sure. Good luck with your decision. Let me know what you end up choosing and I would love to know why. It’s so hard to make these decisions so I appreciate all the multiple perspectives. They keep learning new things and keep learning reasons. Good luck

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linhkieudl · Answer

Hi  bb ,

Yes, it is very hard to make the final decision, especially when each school has pros and cons. Besides connecting to other people, I did the cost analysis and compared the interest rates from Prodigy if I go to McCombs and Emory's fund. I finally decided to go to Emory because of the larger scholarship amount gives me less stress to start the program and the lower interest rate the school offers. It was a tough choice but I am happy that I finally made it. Now I am trying the best with what I have on my hands and leverage what the school can offer for the recruitment.

bb · Answer

Congratulations!

I totally understand the stress about the money. It’s going to be hard even with the scholarship to look past the mountain pressure. Hope you have a great time do the next two years and remember that it’s never too early to start recruiting and you should start doing as much research about companies and where to apply as soon as possible. Now is a great time to think where you would like to work or what roles you’d like to pursue and start bugging some of the alumni to see if they have any tips or potentially any recommendations. I have to say however, these are some of the dark days for product management folks so perhaps waiting I tiny bit for that layoffs to blow over may be a good idea. I would also recommend starting to get involved in the product management communities and groups. There’s an app called blind for tech folks and may give you a good idea about what’s happening in the space and so on.

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linhkieudl · Answer

bb  Thank you for your thoughtful sharing and advices which are helpful to me and quite clear on which actions to start. I am grateful to receive your reply.

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bb · Answer

Interesting enough, I pulled up employment reports for McCombs for last year and product management kind of dried up. I don’t think it’s a big surprise or a shock today but last year practice management jobs are still strong in June… so not sure why it slid down to single digits…. But the bottom line is I still should be jobs and even if you don’t get a PM roll to start, you can always work yourself into one overtime. I don’t know if it’s true anymore but pre-pandemic statistics was that most NBA graduates something like 75% change jobs during the first 12 months … which is not a problem but rather an indicator that they find better things. With product management I think it’s 18 months because that’s how long it takes to get a promotion usually.

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linhkieudl · Answer

thank  bb  for the insight, that's interesting to know.

bb · Answer

I recommend doing your own analysis as I recently was poking around at Tepper and their stats were completely different from what I remember in my mind and that kind of got me a bit concerned - so double check the numbers too!

linhkieudl · Answer

Sure  bb  Validating is always needed. Thank you for reminding me.

McCombs, Goizueta, Owen? Product Management/ Consulting/UX Research

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