Does applying as a Ross preferred admission candidate limit you once you're at UMich?

<p>I'm interested in applying to Ross, and several of my extracurriculars - making it to internationals in DECA, running an economics blog, managing virtual portfolios, and a few others - are related to the available curricula within the school. Strategically, applying for preferred admission seems to be a strong option, as even if I don't get in to Ross, I'll have submitted a very solid "Why Michigan" essay that will, hopefully, help me get accepted to LSA.</p>

<p>The one issue is that I'm not as interested in getting a BBA as I am in studying the theories behind linguistics, economics, or neuroscience, all of which seem to be available through UMich's LSA college. (Note: I'm hoping to go into law or higher education.) If I apply as a preadmit and am accepted to Ross, will it be difficult for me to take classes about and major in a subject that only a different UMich school offers?</p>

<p>If you wanted to study study linguistics, economics, or neuroscience, why didn’t you apply to LSA? You will take some economics classes at Ross, but there isn’t a strong emphasis, if any at all, on linguistics or neuroscience. Ross = BBA, and if you don’t want that, why would you apply there?</p>

<p>Ross only requires 45 credits of Ross classes. And if you want to use those 45 on something else, you can always forgo your preadmittance and just stay in LSA.</p>

<p>superexcited: I should probably clarify that. A bit of an almost Machiavellian desire to game the system led me to consider Ross. After drafting then discarding six or seven essays responding to the “Why Michigan?” topic, I decided that it would be easier to write about an experience pertinent to business or finance than it would to extol the entire University of Michigan, so part of me sees Ross as a back door into the school.</p>

<p>Still, I am very interested in studying business, especially finance and economics, and studying at Ross is an experience that I can easily see myself enjoying. It’s just that the second thoughts come when I look at the job prospects. This is all anecdotal, but few of the BBAs I know actually live a lifestyle I’d be comfortable with. Some are unemployed, others aren’t very happy with their careers, and many just don’t make as much money as they want or need. Compared to the people I know who specialized in medicine, for example, they seem downright miserable. I know there’s a risk with any area of study, but I’d want to mitigate as much of the risk that comes with a BBA as possible by studying something technical and off the beaten path in addition to business, which nearly every university offers to the general student body.</p>

<p>Vladenschlutte answered the underlying question that I think I was trying to ask in my original post. If I apply for preferred admission, I’d like to make sure that I’m not locking myself into a program that allows little flexibility. Are any current students or recent graduates on this board who have applied to Ross as preadmits willing to comment on the options available?</p>

<p>There are many arguments for not getting a Ross BBA. But money and employment prospects are not one of them. Just take a look at the Ross career development page. Business unlike Medicine is more about where you go. I would argue that it’s not merely the content taught at Ross that makes it so great but also the fact that it has a sick career center. For example if you want to work in Finance or Consulting it really does not matter what you studied in college. </p>

<p>Everything you need to know you will learn on the job. The reason why so many people interested in finance or consulting go to Ross is because all the large firms recruit from Ross. This is not say that you HAVE to go to Ross to work in those industries, but it certainly helps. The BBA is good for getting a job immediately after college and then perhaps returning for an MBA but it is terrible for a pre-law or pre-med student. I believe those graduate schools prefer that you get a liberal arts degree (science, social science, arts), engineering being the only exception.</p>

<p>EDIT: If you are afraid of employment prospects, then perhaps studying law is now in your best interest. There are plenty of JDs who are unemployed or work in an industry other than law because of too much supply and diminishing demand for lawyers in the US. Of course if you go to a top law school you will encounter less problems concerning employment.</p>

<p>Second EDIT: Lol at you saying you are going to use Ross as back door to Michigan. That’s like saying you are going to use Wharton as a back door to Upenn.</p>

<p>Double majoring from LSA and Ross is not that difficult. Business and Linguistics or Business and Neuroscience or Business and Economics is certainly manageable. One can even have room to double major and explore yet another field within LSA.</p>

<p>Yea I am not sure of you focusing on the Ross pre-admit program and saying that it attracts you to the university as Infinit said.</p>

<p>Also how exactly will Ross pre-admit hinder you? First year you are absolutely no different from any other LSA student. You have an extra advisor and a few mandatory seminars to attend, but that’s about it. You choose after your freshman year if you want to go to Ross or you want to opt out of the pre-admit program.</p>

<p>Infinit: I realize that Ross has great career programs. It’s just that some of the people I know/know of who are nervous or jobless come from Ross, Wharton, Goizueta, and so on, and it seems as though the recession doesn’t discriminate based on your undergraduate school. I guess you could chalk my doubts up to an availability heuristic, but business doesn’t necessarily feel like the best career option for me, even though Ross’s undergraduate learning experience is appealing. In essence, I’d like to learn about business in some way, even though I wouldn’t necessarily want a career on some of the field’s front lines.</p>

<p>I frequently read blogs like [Above</a> the Law: A Legal Tabloid - News, Gossip, and Colorful Commentary on Law Firms and the Legal Profession](<a href=“http://abovethelaw.com/]Above”>http://abovethelaw.com/), and I’d have to say based on their posts that you’re right about law as well. Hopefully I won’t end up with $150+ thousand in student loans and no job, but I think I’d rather have the opportunity to make myself as unique and marketable as possible to top law/graduate schools than go through four years of Ross without broadening my education beyond business. It seems as though I’d have plenty of flexibility if I were to apply as a preadmit candidate, though, so I think that should be taken care of.</p>

<p>The only reason I call it a back door is the fact that I’ve been reading and writing about business for over four years. UMich: maybe four weeks. It all boils down to that essay question, and relative to the University of Michigan itself, with which I’m not all that familiar, business is a topic which allows me to sound a whole lot more erudite and personal.</p>

<p>Alexandre and nikeboy3004: Thanks for clarifying those details.</p>

<p>Sorry if I sound defensive. This thread is becoming very informative, but I’m pretty busy today so I’m not editing my posts for style or tone. Either way, thank you all for the help and ideas.</p>

<p>If you’re an avid business blogger/informant, you should realize that the labor market in business related fields will recuperate significantly by 2015, the time of your expected graduation assuming you actually get into the program. By which time, of course, having attended Ross would act as a feather in your cap.</p>

<p>-2014 preadmit</p>

<p>Ismailcc: You’re right there is a lot more risk in a career in business than say a career in medicine, but it’s the price paid for being closer to the boom,: you have to be closer to the bust.</p>

<p>Regardless of whatever profession you choose to go into, I don’t think unemployment should be a major concern of yours, at least not immediately after college. Most people in their 20s don’t have a mortgage to pay off or dependents to take care of, so being unemployed isn’t particularly a big deal. Of course the equation changes when you factor in large amounts of student debt.</p>

<p>Edit: Just read the part about the 150k in student loans. If graduate school is primary goal then I guess it is in your best interest to try to “game” the system like you said and get the pre-admit to Ross and then leave it after the first year.</p>

<p>But I think we are putting too much of a value on the essays. Yes, I realize the essays are important, but I think that if you have the stats to get into Ross pre-admit then you have the stats to get into LSA with a crappy essay.</p>