Boston College or Michigan?

<p>Carroll School of Management Honors Program or Ross School of Business? What do you guys think? I have 3 siblings who all went to BC so I'm getting a lot of pressure from that side, so I wanted some more objective opinions for this one. I come from a small Jesuit high school, so I have grown up with a Jesuit education. Will a transition to a large state school be tough? Should I stick with the Jesuit education for 4 more years? Any and all opinions are appreciated! Thanks.</p>

<p>I would choose BC, smaller, you are in the honors program, have siblings there, strong academics, amazing location, sports, BC more selective, and also, you’d be very surprised, BC is more racially diverse than michigan (by a little bit)</p>

<p>BC undergrad, Michigan grad :)</p>

<p>I’m not a big fan of undergrad biz, but if you must go, go to the higher ranked B school (Ross). (Prestige matters in biz.)</p>

<p>Michigan over BC for business. Get away from your family for a bit!</p>

<p>Whichever one is cheaper for you.</p>

<p>the average salary for graduates of both schools is almost the same (ross being a couple thousand more) so prestige does not play a huge role here. go to whichever you like better</p>

<p>I would choose BC given your circumstances unless you want to be adventurous</p>

<p>I would not worry about going to Michigan from a Jesuit high school. Plenty of students from Jesuit high school attend Michigan and do well there. I think Ny0 thinks the world is flat and you fall off at the Hudson River.</p>

<p>"I would choose BC, smaller, you are in the honors program, have siblings there, strong academics, amazing location, sports, BC more selective, and also, you’d be very surprised, BC is more racially diverse than michigan (by a little bit) "</p>

<p>Ny0rker, some of your comparative statements above are incorrect.</p>

<p>1) Although BC is smaller than Michigan, Carroll is actually larger than Ross. Carroll has 2,000 undergrads enrolled in a 4 year program (roughly 500 per graduating class) whereas Ross has 1,000 students enrolled in a 3-year program (roughly 350 per graduating class).</p>

<p>2) BC as a whole is not more selective than Michigan. A similar percentage of students graduated from their high school in the top 10% and SAT and ACT ranges are virtually identical at both schools. And again, we should be comparing the two programs. Carroll is actually less selective than Ross. Although neither program releases statistics specific to their BBA programs, Boston College’s undergraduate admissions handles all applicants, including those intending on majoring in Business. Ross, which has separate admissions for undergrads, does release pre-admit admissions stats, and they tend to be quite high (average unweighed GPA of 3.8, average SAT over 1440 and average ACT of 32). </p>

<p><a href=“http://www.bus.umich.edu/Admissions/Bba/09PAProfile.pdf[/url]”>http://www.bus.umich.edu/Admissions/Bba/09PAProfile.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Admittedly, pre-admits make up roughly 25%-30% of the overall Ross undergraduate population, but the remaining 70%-75% or so must apply once at Michigan, and generally maintain 3.5+ GPAs during their first two semesters at Michigan, taking some of the more challenging classes LSA has to offer (including Calculus 1 and/or 2, Statistics, Macro and Micro Economics, Accounting etc…). </p>

<p>3) I don’t think BC is more racially diverse than Michigan. At BC, 75% of undergraduate students are white, 14% are URM, 9% are Asian and 3% are international. At Michigan, 71% of undergraduate students are white, 12% are Asian, 11% are URM and 5% are international. I’d say both schools are equally diverse racially. </p>

<p>At any rate, both programs are good, but Ross is ranked higher than Carroll. Ross is almost universally recognized as a top 5 BBA program, whereas Carroll is typically ranked between #15 and #30. It is important to remember that many top Business schools (such as Harvard, Stanford, Northwestern, Chicago, Columbia, Dartmouth, Duke, Yale and UCLA to name a few) do not offer BBA programs, so once you leave the top 10 or so BBA programs, the reputation of the program drops significantly. </p>

<p>To the OP, don’t listen to your sibblings and go with your gut. Better yet, visit the two schools and the Business school facilities.</p>

<p>I was considering BC or Northeastern for math. I visited BC and hated it. if you consider Preppy whites and some Asians diverse think again. Definitely visit the campus. I would choose umichigan over BC in a heart beat especially for finance. Umichigan is target for prestigous investment banks and consulting groups.</p>

<p>“I come from a small Jesuit high school, so I have grown up with a Jesuit education. Will a transition to a large state school be tough?”</p>

<p>beardo, I attended a small Jesuit boarding school just outside of DC and my transition to Michigan was pretty seamless. Michigan does not really have the feel of a “large state school”. Yes, it is large and it is public, but Michigan hides its numbers well and has a pretty affluent student body, so the public school feel is not that pronounced. Besides, Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan are very welcoming, so you should have no trouble fitting in.</p>

<p>Upfront Disclaimer: I graduated from BC CSOM, (many, many, many years ago), my wife is a Michigan Alum and we’ve lived in Ann Arbor for the last 8+ years.</p>

<p>Beardo, I feel for your dilemma, with a little luck S2 will be facing the same “problem” next admissions cycle. Here is my assessment:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Michigan is huge. I believe it’s largest regular lecture hall is around 700, with a few 300-seaters thrown in for good measure. That said, it doesn’t feel as big as it is, I think this is due to the fact that the University is seamlessly integrated into the city. You just never get a sense of overwhelming size when you’re on campus.</p></li>
<li><p>Ann Arbor is a great college town, certainly the best one I’ve ever visited. Nearly everything revolves around the University, (the parking meters are maize & blue for God’s sake); the cultural, entertainment and sporting events are an integral part of the city and certainly geared to the students.</p></li>
<li><p>Boston is the ultimate college city. The events on-campus at BC are dwarfed by those available at Michigan. Conversely, the opportunities in Boston, with it’s laundry list of colleges, far exceed the total of what’s offered at the UofM.</p></li>
<li><p>Even as an OOS student, Michigan will cost less than attending BC before adjusting for scholarships.</p></li>
<li><p>I have been in the business world for nearly 30 years, Michigan’s name is a more recognizable brand than BC’s. It’s not that BC is unknown or poorly thought of by people who need to know (employers), it’s just that Michigan is slightly better known, (frankly I think part of it is the football effect). If you are planning on living & working in the Northeast, BC will certainly have a larger alumni network.</p></li>
<li><p>Though statistically similar, Michigan feels far more diverse than BC. I often tell people that after 8 years I still can’t tell where the University ends and where Ann Arbor begins. So part of the diversity you see may be from the local residents and employees who make up the overall UMichigan community. Alternatively, the last time I visited BC I was struck by how preppy and Caucasian the student body was. </p></li>
<li><p>Your Jesuit educational background will make BC feel very familiar. The teaching styles and approaches are more diverse at Michigan. Due to it’s larger size, you will need to be more aggressive, proactive, in seeking out help and support than at BC. Coming from a small school environment may prove to be a large adjustment, but not one that many others haven’t successfully gone through.</p></li>
<li><p>BC is a four-year program and Michigan-Ross is a three-year. You are preferred admit so you have a leg up. But I would remiss in not pointing out that if your GPA falls below a prescribed level the admission can be rescinded. I’m not trying to raise your anxiety level, but I do want to point out that you are in at BC CSOM, the worst that can happen is your GPA doesn’t keep you in the Honors portion of the program.</p></li>
<li><p>There is nothing that happens at a BC sporting event that comes close to the atmosphere and excitement of a Football Saturday at the Big House, (before the BEagles jump on me, I was just leaving BC when Flutie was getting rolling - nothing at BC comes close to Michigan-Ohio State).</p></li>
<li><p>Finally, though I can sing the words to both, as fight songs go, “Hail To The Victors” beats the pants off of “For Boston”.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Beardo, I doubt that I’ve helped, in re-reading my post I notice some bias toward Michigan, but in the end realize that either choice is a good one. As others have suggested, if possible visit both again and then go with your gut, you really can’t go wrong with either school.</p>

<p>I understand the attraction of Ross.</p>

<p>I also completely understand the desire to continue your Jesuit education and all that means. There’s nothing like the long-term comraderie that entails. </p>

<p>If you’ve visited both, which one did you like better?</p>

<p>If you were my kid, I’d push for BC.</p>

<p>Lastly…(and some won’t understand this)…Are you the type of person that enjoys being able to attend family functions? If so, stay close. My niece chose to “go away” and has now returned to go to Loyola Marymount, so that she can still make it to big family functions -weddings, baptisms, parties, etc. We’re a HUGE Catholic family, so all those things are a big deal. She’s still “away,” but she’s only an hour and half away from home. Not several hours like before.</p>

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<p>Salary surveys are nonsensical data – see self-selected reporting in AP Stats. </p>

<p>But regardless, the issue is how easy is it to obtain a job in the first place. Prestige MATTERS in biz, a lot. HR types are directed: ‘get me some resumes from a top 10 program…’ In such cases, those doors are automatically closed and you will never know it.</p>

<p>And, vince makes a great point about alumni networks. Both are strong, but BC’s is primarily in the NE. Great if you want to work there…</p>

<p>“But regardless, the issue is how easy is it to obtain a job in the first place. Prestige MATTERS in biz, a lot. HR types are directed: ‘get me some resumes from a top 10 program…’ In such cases, those doors are automatically closed and you will never know it.”</p>

<p>From what I’ve read on CC, the above is very true!</p>

<p>This is about the 5th BC/UM choice thread I’ve seen in the last year or so. I graduated from BC, but have lived in Michigan (not far from Ann Arbor) most of my life. As with many of these “choice” threads, the differences in prestige and job prospects are tiny compared to the overall college “feel” and the experience of going there. If you visit each, your decision will be obvious.</p>

<p>I would disagree with the people who say Michigan doesn’t feel big. If you start at the tennis center and drive north through the main campus and on to the North campus, it will feel pretty darn big. Lots of big UofM busses shuttling students around…that should tell you something about the size. If you get to class and forget something, you could miss the whole class if you tried to retrieve it. Of course BC has some dorms on a satellite campus too, but other than that, the main campus is very compact, with most dorms being just a few minutes from the academic buildings.</p>

<p>My main concern about sending my own kids to Michigan is the off-campus housing, which looks pretty bad if you want to be anywhere near campus. How many years can students live in Michigan dorms? All 4 years?</p>

<p>Um, Michigan isn’t a top 10 school and neither is BC so this is a moot point. No business programs besides Wharton and Sloan garner an incredible amount of respect from the most prestigious investment banks and management consulting firms and programs like Ross, McIntire, Kelly and Haas will always play second fiddle to Dartmouth, Columbia, Princeton and Harvard Econ majors for instance.</p>

<p>Being close to your family is a great asset and I think the OP should take solace in the fact that BC’s alumni network in the Northeast(NY/Boston) are just as strong as Ross’s and he should have plenty of alumni to network with when he/she begins job hunting. If the OP wants to settle outside the NE, then Ross is clearly the best choice as it is the most well-regarded undergrad biz program outside of Wharton, Sloan and perhaps McIntire.</p>

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<p>Huh?</p>

<p>[Best</a> Undergraduate Business Programs - Best Colleges - Education - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/spec-business]Best”>http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/spec-business)</p>

<p>Go to BC.</p>

<p>Boston>Ann Arbor</p>

<p>(I know that BC is technically not in Boston, but its very close!)</p>