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Product Management Track

Strategy PM track at BYU Marriott

The PM Track in the Strategy major provides students with the training and opportunities needed to launch a career in Product Management.

The PM track is open to Strategy students who have completed the junior core.

Students will complete an upaid PM internship (15 hours per week) to earn 9 credit hours of elective credit towards their degree, during the fall and winter semesters of their senior year.

The PM track is a designed for students who are excited to build products, lead teams, and solve complex business problems.

The PM track has a focus on software products but many of the principles taught apply equally well to physical products.

How to Apply to the PM Track

If you are already admitted to the Strategy Program and have completed the junior core you can Apply Here.

Application OpensDeadlineDecision Notification
Product Management TrackMar 1, 2025Apr 30, 2025May 15, 2025

Apply Here

What to Expect in the PM Track

PM-Focused Courses: Learn the fundamentals of product management through specialized coursework in your senior year.

Internship Opportunities: Students in the PM Track will have the opportunity to complete a PM internship before graduation

Community: Join a tight-knit group of Strategy students with access to top-tier PM resources, mentors, and networking events.

FAQ

  • The strategy degree program provides the same set of core classes for all  strategy students (e.g., Strat 401, Strat 411, Strat 412) but not all students will have the same “real world capstone experience.” Most strategy students take Strat 421 (3 hours) where they do a capstone consulting project for a company.  This leaves them plenty of credit hours to take other courses to hone their analytics skills to prepare them for business analyst positions at consulting firms or corporations.  Others take Sandbox (12-14 hours) where they will create a tech product with a team and start a company over two semesters.  This prepares them to be an entrepreneur but also prepares them for product management positions.  The third option is the Product Management (PM) internship experience where each student completes an 8 month internship (9 credit hours) with a company for 8 months.  Both Sandbox and the PM Internship experience require separate applications and may be seen as a “track” for product management. 

  • Compared to business analyst positions at consulting firms or corporations, product management professionals tell us they strongly prefer hiring someone with prior product management/development experience. Product management requires developing an understanding of product development processes, including doing customer/user experience research, understanding the technology used to build the product, and being able to assess business/market viability. Experience in these areas helps ensure that a candidate can hit the ground running and contribute effectively from the start. However, just because you do the product management experience doesn’t mean you cannot pursue and apply for business analyst positions.

  • Matching of interns with companies happens after a dinner and speed networking event on September 12th.   Each intern will have a 2 minute interview with each company but will also visit with company PM representatives during dinner (we rotate interns to three different dinner tables during a three course meal to give them a chance to visit with different company PM representatives).  After the event each intern reports in a survey his/her degree of interest in each company (and companies do the same of interns).   Then we match interns with companies based on mutual interest.   Before the dinner, interns are given information about each company and companies are given resumes for each intern. 
    Some of this year’s companies include: AwardCo, Gamify, Instructure, Leland, Lendio, Motivosity, Pattern, Qualtrics, Rain Retail, Solen Software Group, Techcyte. Larger companies like Instructure, Pattern, and Qualtrics are taking multiple interns.

  • A company information document will be provided to each intern before the matching dinner to allow for interns to study each company and learn about the project they could potentially work on. Knowing the companies well and being prepared with questions will help the matching process go smoother and create better matches for both company and student.

  • 8 months of product management experience, creates a more competitive candidate for summer internships and full-time opportunities after graduation. This program aims to equip students with both the essential principles and theories of product management, along with practical, real-world experience.

  • Companies expect interns to work up to 18 hours per week. Each sponsoring company has outlined preferred times for interns to come in. Travel time to the internship is included in the total hours. The specific work schedule, including the balance of in-office and remote hours, will be determined through discussion between the intern and the company upon hiring.

  • Assignments include a written summary of key activities and takeaways at the middle and end of each semester, along with weekly hour reports. Your mentor will also provide an evaluation at the middle and end of the semester. The grading follows a letter grade system, similar to traditional classes.