I have admission into the UIUC Giess business program, but I am still awaiting a decision for the Ross BBA program. Gies costs me roughly $37k in-state, and Ross is $67k out-of-state. I plan to study finance and hopefully enter the financial consulting field after college. Hypothetically, if I gain admission into Ross, which school should I attend? Is the yearly $30k cost difference worth it for Ross, or is Gies the way to go?
Depends on your financial situation. If money isn’t a concern go wherever comfortable. Ross is amazing and I have a son there right now but Giess is great and no reason to spend $120k more unless you really like Ross more for some reason. Take the money saved and invest it. Definitely don’t attend Ross if you have to take out large loans.
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I would not need to take out any loans for Ross. Thank you for your input!
If Ross is affordable without loans (thank your parents for your good luck and their generosity) and you want to work in consulting, Ross is the way to go.
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If you need to take out loans, then I agree and would not go to Ross. Gies is also known as a great business school. One thing also to look at is Ross has large classes. I am now sure if Gies does as well. Additionally, at Ross you cannot major in Finance, but at Illinois you can. The degree at Ross is only a BBA. At Illinois it will be a BS in Finance. So if you want a Finance degree you will want Gies if you want a degree in Business Administration and debt, then you go to Ross. Kind of seems like an easy decision based off that.
Also depending where you live at UIUC it will probably cost you more than what you think. But here is the COA for next year and Gies is at $38k. Tuition, Undergraduate Admissions, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
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Op says upthread his parents can pay either one without loans.
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Yes, saw that after I replied.
So, the big difference for OP is really the specialty degree or general degree, but also should look at class sizes, as well as who is teaching the classes. Are they taught by Professors primarily or TA’s, etc.
Can get a great job out of either school, it just depends what he/she is looking for.
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The entire freshman class size (average) of Ross BBA is 500 students. And according to Wiki, there are a total of 1,422 undergraduate students.
https://michiganross.umich.edu/undergraduate/bba/admissions/first-year-applicants
According to this article (2018), Gies has a total undergraduate population of 3,140 students.
https://www.chicagobusiness.com/custom-media-colleges-2018/gies-college-business
So, if I’m grabbing the correct numbers, then Gies has roughly 2x as many undergraduate students as Ross BBA.
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There’s a finance track at Gies; Ross is among the best recruited for consulting. So the trade off is a more general curriculum for better recruiting chances, or a curriculum that’s more focused on what you really want to study but won’t have the same prestige in the fields you want to work in… keeping in mind you don’t really know whether you do want to work in that field.
Have you been able to visit either one?
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Sorry, when I said class size, I didn’t mean undergraduates, I meant each class taken. My understanding is that each class at UM is large for Business. This was one of the reasons some of my daughter’s friends found to be a negative at Ross vs CBHP where each class only has 30 students. That’s what I was referring to. I don’t know how big they are at Illinois. Maybe they get smaller as you go up the pipeline or more into your major, but at Ross nonetheless there is no specialty like at UIUC.
Also, that is fascinating that the freshman class at UM for Ross has 500 students but the overall program has 1,422 so either Ross is growing significantly, or there is a lot of attrition. I would assume the former as it does seem that more students have been getting in over the past couple of years than normally would’ve gotten in. We used to have 0 or 1 each year get in. Last year we had a few, this year already 2 with 2 more rounds.
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I have visited both campuses and prefer UMich over UIUC. I highly value the Michigan culture and location. I asked this question to have more clarity as to whether the academic track for the Rosa BBA is superior to Finance at Gies to judge whether the extra $30k a year is worth it.
With roughly 500-600 freshman in a Ross BBA class, I can’t imagine average class sizes being that “big,” of course, depending on what one considers “big.”
According to the UMich CDS, undergraduate class size ranges for all classes across the entire University:
2-29 students 57%
20-49 students 25%
50-100+ students 17%
https://obp.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/pubdata/cds/cds_2020-2021_umaa.pdf
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wrt to more students getting in: that’s because Ross has switched from a model recruiting after Sophomore year with a few “pre-admits” to a model with a majority of “direct admits” with a handful of “sophomore admits”.
CBHP is very different from Gies, it’s closer to Business Honors (although CBHP is better).
If OP has Gies honors v. Ross it will impact the learning experience (ie., class size, contact with professors, registration, peers…)
4-year plans at Gies and Ross:
https://giesgroups.illinois.edu/get_file?eid=46557afa2d84fa1c1108d1fe460bdf94
I am not in the honors track for Gies, so it would be regular business admit at Gies vs. BBA at Ross.
@ishshah03 All other things being equal, I would choose Ross hands down. Better campus, better sports and Ross has a Starbucks inside. 
But $30K/year is a lot of money. And as for my perspective, my D18 could have spent her 4 years at a public school here in CA, but we decided to send her to Michigan.
D21 will almost certainly be attending a public here in CA this coming Fall.
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Yeah, I was more comparing Ross to CBHP as that is the two programs that people compare a lot because at UT the major there is CBHP but you can specialize in Accounting, Finance, etc by double majoring unlike at Ross and CBHP is also an Honors program which Ross is not, but when you compare straight McCombs to Ross they’re both near the top of the food chain irrespective of CBHP, which is much smaller than Ross.
I forgot about Ross changing to direct admit, but there are still a couple of years already in place with that model. I can’t remember if the juniors are the first year of that or the sophomores so the program stil seems to appear to have grown.
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I really appreciate all the insight everyone has shared. So to summarize, Ross would be the way to go if I want to go into financial consulting as long as I do not need to take out loans, correct? I feel like it has been established that the Ross BBA is the better program and UMich is the better school, but the only limiting factor is the higher cost.
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If the COA was equal, then Ross would be the clear choice in my view. But $120,000 over 4 years is a substantial amount of money that can help fund a future MBA degree.
Because Illinois Geis offers a finance major, this is a tough call. A finance degree is valuable–especially from such a well respected university as the University of Illinois–UC business school.
Before making any recommendation, I would need to examine the placement of recent Illinois Geis finance majors. $30,000 per year difference is significant–especially for one intending to go into consulting which expects an MBA after two or three years of post undergraduate consulting work.
P.S. Because you have not yet been accepted to Ross, I encourage you to research the strengths of the University of Illinois–UC business & finance offerings and internship placements. Get excited about this great opportunity at a very reasonable cost !
If you have an interest in double majoring in accounting & finance, then the University of Illinois is a great choice as its accounting program is very highly regarded.
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You will get jobs at either school. Many go OOS to get the culture and student body they want and pay that amount but it is a lot. What if your parents gave you a 1/4 of that to start your life? That would be an awesome trade off. You will get the job you want at either school. It comes down to you not the school. Kids at Ross get jobs in finance but yes UIUC has a direct program for that. Many kids at Michigan without Ross go into business and hired by the same companies as the Ross students. It what you make of your 4 years. Some Ross clubs are hard to get into… That part is not highly advertised but there are so many clubs /activities to get into at Michigan and I am sure UIUC has something similar.
If money is not issue the culture at the 2 schools is different. Use Facebook etc and talk with some students in the programs to get a feel.
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