<p>I was accepted into LSA at UMich and got rejected by Preferred Admission to Ross, meaning I have to reapply at the end of my Freshman year to transfer in as a sophomore. The thing is, my concentration/major in LSA is going to be Economics anyways and I was wondering if there's actually going to be a big difference in terms of my successes for careers as an econ major, versus being a Ross graduate.</p>
<p>Is the reputation at Ross (as an undergraduate) really that special? Or is sticking to an Economics major in LSA good enough?</p>
<p>I mean, you’ll have an easier time getting a job because Ross has better career office. However, if you’re resourceful and get good grades it shouldn’t be too much of a problem. In terms of content, the BBA isn’t going to offer too much. Just take some accounting classes at Ross, and some one or two other technical business classes and you’re good to go.</p>
<p>I don’t think after your first job, anyone is going to care whether you have a business degree. Just focus on getting a good first job and you’re set. </p>
<p>If you really want to go to Ross, just try again your second year. It will make things easier for you.</p>
<p>Infinit is correct in that content wise, BBA vs Econ isn’t too much of a difference. Also Ross does allow non-Ross students to take up to 12 credits in the business school, so you could take basic-level accounting and finance classes.</p>
<p>That being said, Ross’ strength is its upper level electives, which if you are really interested in finance, corporate strategy, or any of the other areas, are really good classes to take. In addition, these classes prepare you really well for banking and trading (Ross definitely pushes its students to take the finance route). As a non-Ross student, you may not be able to take them because they require some prereqs.</p>
<p>I’m not too sure how much an econ degree would setback an applicant when competing with BBAs for internships and full-time offers, but do keep in mind that a Ross BBA is highly regarded and its career office is much stronger than LSA.</p>
<p>You’re still a frosh, so work hard this year academically and apply to Ross, and hopefully you’ll have two options to choose from at this time next year.</p>
<p>Ross does not have a better reputation than LSA or Engineering. Michigan’s CoE is always ranked among the top 10 nationally. Many even rate it among the top 5. </p>
<p>Michigan’s school of LSA is generally regarded as one of the top 10 or top 15 in the nation for the Liberal Arts. </p>
<p>All Ross does is provide students access to an amazing career office, something that LSA lacks and the the CoE provides, but not to the same degree as Ross. </p>
<p>However, once your foot is in the door at a company, your degree will no longer matter. What determines career success is on-the-job performance.</p>
<p>I think your decision should be more based on you interest in the academic field. If you are interested in just Economics, then be an econ major, if you want a more diverse business background where you will have to take Accounting, marketing, finance, etc. then you should be a business major. It doesn’t hurt to apply to the bschool during your freshmen year since thats how 80% of the class is admitted, once you start your sophomore year in the bschool it doesn’t matter if you’re a preadmit or not.</p>
<p>Looking farther into the future. The bschool focuses a lot on recruiting and career development, so its “easier” for students to get internships and jobs, since some companies only recruit at specific schools- aka just Ross or Ross and Engineering, and are not open to LSA students, which is the bschool’s advantage. If you’re looking at an off-campus job search, econ may be a bit of an advantage since its easier to maintain a higher GPA, since the curve is no where near as bad as the bschools. </p>
<p>One other note in the difference of the requirements are the gen-ed requirements. In the bschool because of the amount of core classes the requirements for outside bschool classes is really easy, and a language is not required. Where as an econ major you must complete LSA’s general requirements, like and Upper Level Writing requirement, multi-cultural requirement and completion of the first four semesters of a language.</p>