<p>I was accepted to the University of Michigan and as a pre admit to the Ross School of Business with no financial aid or scholarships. I would be an out of state student paying the full $200-210k cost. My simple question is if it's worth it?</p>
<p>I would have enormous debt, and my parents may help pay for half over the time I am in school and a couple years following graduation. My other top choices are Bentley University with a full scholarship and University of Maryland with 12k scholarship. I plan on going into investment banking. Is Michigan really that much better and justify such a high cost?</p>
<p>Just by your words - enormous debt - its not worth it. Michigan is much better than the two you mentioned but I don’t think that matters. Go to Bentley, maybe basically for free, do very well, then go for an MBA. Maybe you can get into IB that way and save lots of money.</p>
<p>Bentley won’t be competitive for most IB jobs but it is a good solid undergrad business school (good for accounting - Big 4 job for example)</p>
<p>Ross is an amazing business school, but going to Bentley for near-free might be a better choice. I’d agree with above poster that saving on undergraduate in favor of an MBA at a big name can be a smart plan.</p>
<p>UM is indeed costly. But if you spread the 200k cost over your lifetime. 200k is really not that much money. UM will provide you not only a great education but opportunities and connections that you can’t find in the smaller private university. And even among the best public colleges, UM really stands out. For example, unlike UC Berkeley (which in my humble opinion is at par or perhaps even a bit better than UM as far as academics are concerned - please hold off your eggs, wolverines), UM’s alumni has incredible loyalty to their school and fellow students.<br>
UM’s 2011 endowment was at $7.7 billion while the comparable UCB was $3.2 billion. That basically means that current students has twice the resource at UM then that of UC Berkeley. Frankly, Bentley and Maryland simply are not at par with UM.</p>
<p>I strongly recommend UM over your other choices. And in 10 to 20 years when you become a millionaire, you will have find me and thank me.</p>
<p>“UM really stands out. For example, unlike UC Berkeley (which in my humble opinion is at par or perhaps even a bit better than UM as far as academics are concerned - please hold off your eggs, wolverines…”</p>
<p>I don’t want this poster to think that Michigan partisans don’t realize there are other schools out there that are indeed as good, if not better than Michigan academically. Berkeley is certainly among them. Personally, I only take umbrage with folks who look at USNWR rankings and just assume that since school A (any top 30 school) is ranked higher than school B (Michigan) they are automatically a better school academically.</p>
<p>I would go for Bentley. Your odds of landing a job at a major IBanks will not be as good, but you won’t have an enormous debt when you graduate either.</p>
<p>I would go to UMCP; its a much better school than Bentley and you would be getting a more complete college experience. I’m sure the Smith School of Business places a few kids each year into IBD as well.</p>
<p>It depends. If you are really serious about IB then go to Michigan. IB is the most lucrative career there is and $200K over a career as an Investment Banker would be chump change. And most of the recruiting for IB is only done at the most selective schools (which does include Ross.) The problem is, that the career most HS seniors are interested in, is not the career that they enter upon graduation. (If it were, America would be graduating about 1 million doctors every year. ) And other than IB, $200K is NEVER chump change. So, if your 100% sure that you won’t possibly change your mind on your chosen career, go to Michigan. But if there is the slightest chance, I think you would be better off at Maryland (for the reasons Goldenboy stated)</p>
<p>According to there websites, Michigan is about $53/yr including room and board and other personalized expenses, and UMaryland is about $42/yr, but I did receive a scholarship. As for Bentley, the tuition is paid for, the other costs will be slim to none and my family and I could handle. </p>
<p>When you were making your choices about where to apply, what assumptions did you have? Did you think you could afford Michigan, or were you just hoping Michigan would give you a lot of aid? Were you expecting a full ride from Bentley? What amount of money had you previously factored in as what you and your family could handle?</p>
<p>25 years from today, you will look back to your career and wonder if you made the right decision. If your choice is Bentley, you will always wonder what UM could have done for you. If your choice is UM, the only reason you will regret that decision would be that you didn’t do your best at UM.
BTW, UM has so much more work-study programs and so many other summer intern/job opportunities that you just can’t find at Bentley.<br>
Yes, it is a tough decision. But if you can’t bite down and make these type of difficult decisions, why should anyone trust you an investment banker with millions of dollars to invest???<br>
Your future is at your hands - do your very best and you can’t go wrong.</p>
<p>Honestly, if you decide to go for an mba, employers will care more about where you got that then where you went for undergrad. If your plan is to go for your mba, i would save your money and go to bentley hands down and then try to apply to a prestigious (and expensive) place like u of m for graduate school. If youre not looking for an mba, umdcp is a solid option without paying 53k a yr at u of m.</p>
<p>^^^^I disagree. If you cannot afford Michigan, there is no sense going into debt for UCMB in the area of investment banking. Either go for the freebie at Bentley, or cough up the full pay for Ross.</p>
<p>Well, I for one would not want to be making college undergraduate degree payments at age 60. Not to mention the interest over that period of time would be ridiculous.</p>
<p>^ That and you’d put off doing things like getting a car, house, starting a family, etc. </p>
<p>Honestly, this is probably a moot point anyway. Unless your parents are going to cosign up to 200k in loans for you (and assuming they’ll even qualify), you’re not going to Michigan anyway. That is a LOT of debt. Run some calculators and look and what you’d be paying right out of school. No, it’s not worth it. Especially given the fact that you might change your major. It’s a terrible risk.</p>
<p>Also remember that tuition is going up quite a bit every year. Yes, you can get a job but it’s not going to cover much more than board, and that’s if you’re lucky and find a well-paying job/internship.</p>
<p>Jamie Dimon, went to Tufts (psychology/economics) and then Harvard Business School. As you may know, he runs the Banking World today as CEO of JP Morgan Chase. Is Tufts better than Ross Undergraduate? Is Mr Dimon regretful for not going to a top Undergraduate Business School, you will have to ask him, but he’s quite well!! </p>
<p>Nuff said, go to Bentley!! Work for two years in banking, and head directly to Harvard, UPenn or Columbia.</p>
) And other than IB, $200K is NEVER chump change. So, if your 100% sure that you won’t possibly change your mind on your chosen career, go to Michigan. But if there is the slightest chance, I think you would be better off at Maryland (for the reasons Goldenboy stated)</p>