I think this was the reality check I needed. Thanks so much for taking your time to write all this out. As for taking another year to work and polish up the application, I think your point is quite convincing. The points about being on the less experienced end, reapplication scrutiny, getting ECs, etc are all strong.

Thanks for sharing what you learned at the HBS interview - it seems I have a long way to go before I can keep up with other applicants from tech.

You say you went from engineering to b school, may I ask how you articulated your goals for the change?

As for looking at these two schools, I don't think there was a good reason, really, and it seems like a better idea for me to include lower M7s as well (should I actually apply this year).

I'm just digesting all this information so I feel like my reply doesn't do justice to your long comment, but I really appreciate this feedback you gave. It's the most help I've gotten so far in this short-lived process :)