I’m prepping my applications for several APM programs and honestly feel like my materials are blending into the noise. I’ve heard the mentorship program here helps, but how exactly do you translate mentor advice into concrete improvements? Specifically, how have folks here worked with mentors to refine their storytelling around non-traditional PM experience? What specific elements do mentors typically flag as ‘generic’ that we should avoid? Bonus points for examples of before/after changes that made a real difference.
mentors aren’t gonna rewrite your essays for you. best case they’ll point out the buzzword vomit everyone uses – ‘synergy’, ‘disruptive’, ‘user-centric’. cut that crap. ask them where they stopped caring while reading and rewrite those parts. nobody cares about your student council presidency.
my mentor told me to add metrics to my volunteer project example! changed ‘organized events’ to ‘scaled attendance 40% by partnering with 3 clubs’. got way more interview invites after that tweak 
Focus your mentor sessions on identifying the ‘so what’ of each experience. Early-career applicants often list responsibilities without connecting them to product thinking. A strong revision might shift from ‘Managed a team’ to ‘Prioritized feature backlog based on user survey insights, balancing technical debt against stakeholder requests’.
This is awesome! You’re already ahead by seeking feedback. Mentors love when you bring specific drafts – maybe share your weakest essay first? Growth mindset wins! 
I used to cram all my consulting projects into one essay. My mentor literally sighed and said ‘pick the time you failed’. Ended up writing about a missed deadline that taught me stakeholder comms. Got into 2/3 APM apps that cycle. Counterintuitive but worked!
Analysis of 2023 successful APM applications shows mentors most frequently recommend: 1) Reducing resume bullets from 8→5 per role, 2) Adding 1-2 ‘failure pivot’ stories, 3) Quantifying scope (‘$50K budget’ vs ‘managed budget’). Prioritize depth over breadth in revisions.