<p>I don't post much, but I promise I lurk a lot, and I have a dilemma. </p>
<p>I was admitted into both OSU and UMich, and I am having a hard time deciding between them. I know people on this forum are very knowledgeable and can help me with this decision.</p>
<p>So about me,
Majoring in business or pre-law. Money is not an issue (upper middle class), but it is the main reason for my problem is whether UMich is worth the money. I live on the east coast, so I am out of state for both schools, but I received about 12k worth in scholarships per year at Ohio State, and nothing at Mich, making it exactly half as expensive (23k a year vs 46k a year with all expenses included). I know UMich is ranked better in business, about 20 spots on average (6 vs 26) if you average all of the prominent rankings. Is this alone worth the extra $90,000 that I would have to pay? Is there anything I could do at Michigan that could not be done at Ohio State? Which would be the best for my situation? I've been to both campuses and loved them both, so I am under an increasingly hard decision.</p>
<p>I know that people on this forum will tend to be a bit biased toward UMich, so I would appreciate if you could put that aside in your responses.</p>
<p>If you’re gonna do Pre-Law, I think Mich is something like 4th for Poli Sci, which is what many pre-law students major in.</p>
<p>If money is “no concern” as you put it, then I’d think Michigan would be worth it. Ann Arbor is constantly regarded as one of the best college towns in the country, and Mich and Ohio St. are in two different tiers of academics.</p>
<p>I haven’t gotten into Ross yet, I’d have to apply 1st year. Yes I’m looking at a Poly Sci/Business double major then possibly going into law school. </p>
<p>Thanks for the opinions guys, I appreciate it. </p>
<p>I am looking to end up in New York in one way or another, does UMich just overall have a better reputation in the job market? Our do you guys think I could do that at OSU as well?</p>
<p>Also when I say money is not an issue, that doesn’t mean that saving my parents almost $100k isn’t meaningful lol</p>
<p>Fisher College of Business is a very good college at OSU and UM is not on a different tier.
My husband who went to UM says that no way is an undergraduate degree from UM is worth twice as much money as UM. He has had business ties to OSU Fisher College and says its a good place to be.</p>
<p>For Business and pre-law, Michigan is definitely worth the extra cost, assuming you can afford it. In fact, those are probably the only two fields where Michigan can claim a significant advantage over OSU. Ross is one of the top hunting grounds for Wall Street firms, Michigan alums are among the most well represented and affluent in NYC and Michigan placement into top Law schools is amazing.</p>
<p>kdos, it really depends on what you want to do with your business degree. If one intends to work for a large industrial/manufacturing company in the Midwest, I agree that Ross is probably not worth the extra cost. But if one wishes to work on the East or West Coast, Ross provides a clear advantage. Of course, all of this is relative. If the OP’s family has the means to comfortably absorb the difference in cost, Michigan is the better option given his interests. If it does not have the means, then tOSU is a better option.</p>
<p>If you’re pre-law, it will make little to no difference whether you go to UMich or OSU. Law school admissions is a numbers game so just focus on finding the school with the best academic environment for you so you can maintain a high GPA and study hard for the LSAT when the time comes.</p>
<p>As far as pre-business goes, its Ross hands down no questions asked unless you want to specifically do accounting or commercial banking in Ohio.</p>
<p>I am not planning on working in Ohio or anywhere in the midwest for that matter, but the schools in Boston I was accepted to are not worth the money and I can absolutely not tolerate my in-state option (UVa) as it’s not what I’m looking for atmosphere wise. I saw that statistically there is a big difference in where the jobs are exported location wise (45% east coast at UM vs 15% at OSU). Ross’ reputation in addition is incredible but Fisher is gaining major traction. </p>
<p>Has anyone else had to undergo a similiar choice and ended up at Mich? If so can you tell me why? </p>
<p>"Fisher College of Business is a very good college at OSU and UM is not on a different tier.</p>
<p>Sorry, but it is. Too many posters here on CC think all flagship public schools are comparable, and one is just as good as another. Michigan overall academically is just plain better than OSU. If you live on the coasts and are looking for prestige and alumni support, among other variables, Michigan is just held at a higher overall level than Ohio State. This is particularly true in the world of business.</p>
<p>This should be taken with a grain of salt since 75% of Fisher graduates take jobs in the Midwest while over 40% of Ross graduates take jobs on the East Coast and 10% on the West Coast. </p>
<p>GRADUATING CLASS:
Ross: 360
Fisher: 1,300</p>
<p>The Bad:
Of Fisher’s 1,300 graduates, only 70% answered the survey and of those, only 55% had found employment while 25% were still looking. Since 30% did not even respond to the survey, it is possible that far more than 25% were still unemployed upon graduation. Either way, that is not good. At Ross, 85% responded to the survey (leaving much less room for imagination). 70% of the class of 2010 had confirmed offers of employment by the time they graduated while only 10% were still seeking employment.</p>
<p>The Good:
26 Fisher students landed jobs with JP Morgan, 20 with GE, a bunch with companies such as Unilever and Nestle and a handful with Coca Cola, P&G, UBS, Merrill and Goldman Sachs. This tells me that Fisher’s top students have great options when they graduate. However, those types of placements are the norm for most Ross students. </p>
<p>Like I said above, if your folks can easily afford Michigan, I would recommend you go there. However, if money is a concern, OSU/Fisher is a very good alternative.</p>
<p>“Fisher College of Business is a very good college at OSU and UM is not on a different tier.
My husband who went to UM says that no way is an undergraduate degree from UM is worth twice as much money as UM. He has had business ties to OSU Fisher College and says its a good place to be.” </p>
<p>Most of the people on this board knows I don’t drink the Michigan reputation koolaid, and I have been ridiculed a lot on here for that reason. However, there is no doubt in my often considered anti-Michigan mind that they are in different tiers, especially for the elite jobs. With that being said, it depends on the type of jobs OP is looking for. If he is looking for a mediocre F100 operations/manufacturing/supply chain job, it would be stupid to pay twice the tuition. However, if OP is looking for a front office job at an investment bank/top strategy consultancy, the cost is definitely worth it. Ross is a target school for these elite firms while OSU is not even on the radar. IBs and M/B/Bs are snobbish like that. They hire 80% of their class (which has been trending down in the recent years) from the select few target schools, 10% of their class from relationship hires (MD’s kids, clients’ kids) and maybe 10% from non-target. For that reason, Ross would be worth the cost.
I have interned at two bulge bracket investment banks over the past two summers, and the only interns from OSU/Fisher are in backoffice (operations/product control/accounting) positions. The front office classes are essentially made up of a lot of Harvard and Wharton kids, a good number of kids from Princeton, Columbia, Dartmouth, Cornell, Penn regular, Duke, a smaller number from Michigan (mostly Ross), NYU (mostly Stern) Notre Dame, Northwestern, an even smaller number from LACs like Williams. The rest are odd 1s from random non-targets. OSU/Fisher would fall under the last category.</p>
<p>Bearcats, did you got to UM? Your post was very interesting, I never knew that IBs were that competitive. Thank you for your input, I think I’m starting to lean more towards UM now, I was lucky to get in in the first place (I’m below the middle 50%), and I think it may be an opportunity wasted if I were to not take advantage of it. If anyone else has input it would be greatly appreciated, I’m so glad a community such as this exists on CC, it has been a huge help :D</p>
<p>If you are interested in law or business and are interested in ending up in New York or the east coast a Michigan degree will open up more doors than Ohio State. Michigan is a big name in the New York area and a large number of Michigan students and alumni come from there. Ohio State is a better school than its academic reputation. Its reputation suffers because it takes a large number of students who wouldn’t have a chance of getting into Michigan or other selective schools.</p>
<p>“The front office classes are essentially made up of a lot of Harvard and Wharton kids, a good number of kids from Princeton, Columbia, Dartmouth, Cornell, Penn regular, Duke, a smaller number from Michigan (mostly Ross), NYU (mostly Stern) Notre Dame, Northwestern, an even smaller number from LACs like Williams.”</p>
<p>This is a satirical take on one Banker’s opinion of Brown graduates:</p>
<p>“At Brown, grades and GPAs are optional. At Banks, Brown graduates are not only “optional” but “highly discouraged.” I did meet someone from Brown once, and he told me how their classes were “Satisfactory/No Credit”- based. I thereby assigned him and everyone else from Brown “No Credit” for life.”</p>
<p>Don’t worry about it though, Brown grads are definitely respected. Sure it might be tougher compared to some of other schools listed above that are bigger targets, but you can definitely pool it off. I think it’s more self-selection. I’ve always thought Brown students were “more intellectually curious”. And let’s face it, FO IB is anything but intellectually stimulating.</p>
<p>EDIT: What’s up with Investment Banking coming up in every discussion that compares colleges? It’s not like Front Office recruitment makes or breaks a school. Most people (even though they don’t know it yet) would rather not work in the industry. The hours are terrible and the work is mind-numbing (analyst and associate level work at least). The pay, after the crash, isn’t that great once you account for taxes and the cost of living in NYC. Don’t even try to calculate earnings on a per-hour basis, you’ll just get depressed.</p>
<p>Though if you actually understand the work and the sacrifices it entails, IB experience is respected across many industries, and it would make a solid stepping stone toward other ventures.</p>
<p>If you want real “prestige” in business, become an entrepreneur.</p>
<p>Bearcats, my HR buddies at Goldman Sachs, McKinsey and JP Morgan have officially run reports for me in recent days. The totals have been added and the verdict is out. Over the last 5 years, Michigan undergrads have been the fifth most heavily recruited out of college. Harvard, Penn and Priceton and Columbia were 1-4. Cornell, Yale, Stanford, Dartmouth and Duke were 6-10 in that order. There was a large drop from #2 to #3. 3-10 were all very close, with Princeton, Columbia and Michigan placing between 135-150 each and the other 5 placing between 110 and 130 in the same period. That’s amazing considering that 2009 was a disastrous year for recruiting.</p>
<p>They also confirmed that over 90% of the Michigan students (not just Ross) were placed in front-office jobs.</p>
<p>I also know highly placed HR pleople at Morgan Stanley and Bain, but both of them told me that their systems do not allow for accurate data mining.</p>
<p>On a side not, although Ross students made up a significant percentage of the total for Michigan, LSA and Engineering held their own, each accounting for roughly 10% of the hires.</p>
<p>I think if a similar report were run on the top 10 IBanks and on MBB, Michigan would probably still come out among the top 5.</p>