<p>I'm in a big quandary here. I found out I got into Ross today. Since high school it was my dream to come here. And finally I achieved it albeit a year later than I had desired. I'll be a junior next year if I stay in LSA and pursue a degree in Economics (my GPA right now is a 3.6). If I decide to enroll in Ross I will have to spend an extra year and pay the hefty 46K OOS tuition. Finances aren't a big concern for me just now - my parents can afford to pay 1.5 or 2 years of tuition at most. This means I'll be 50 or 60K in debt when I graduate. </p>
<p>I would appreciate it if anyone could help me make a decision (especially Alexandre, but other's input is welcome). I'm pretty confident that I can maintain a 3.5+ GPA if I stay in LSA and major in Economics, but on the other hand would keeping a similar GPA at Ross provide me better job opportunities? What would you do in this situation? </p>
<p>My instincts would say that it would be better to just finish with economics, and concentrate on getting into a good MBA program (even Ross) if that's your thing. I think with a good internship or two, and a competitive resume, your job outlooks would be just as good.</p>
<p>hmm...i would agree with gamefreak. Taking one more year to finishing college vs. taking one year of internships is a fairly easy decision. Take the internship. It will most likely benefit your resume and also give you a great experience. Though Ross is known as a great business school and what not, the economics program at Michigan is not bad. Also, the people that go into business as a career come out of all types of studies (history, economics, business) and its hard to actually tell if one is "good at business" (or worthy of taking MBA programs) until they join an internship and show they can succeed. So I would say study economics.</p>
<p>Thanks for your replies. Before I got the decision I was 80-20 in favor of staying in LSA. After hearing that I got in I've been super excited and started thinking about it again. At this moment I'm still in favor of staying in LSA as I only have 3 semesters of school left, verses 5 or 6 if I go to Ross.</p>
<p>Is there anyone who thinks Ross is a better option?</p>
<p>MightyNick, imo, i think that really depends on your future plans. Are you planning to pursue an MBA degree later in your life? If not, and studying business is what you've desired for a long time, why should you turn down Ross? Weren't you a PSU finance major in the first place before transferring to ann arbor? Afterall, we all would agree that econ students don't get the attention that Ross students get when it comes to recruiting, wouldn't we?</p>
<p>If you indeed have future MBA plans, I think that you should finish your economics degree while maintaining a 3.5 GPA as you said. I believe that you can't go wrong with Michigan Economics, considering that you will still get exposures to internship and full-time opportunities in i-banking, consulting, manufacturing, law, public, and many other sectors. You can then pursue your MBA afterwards hehe..</p>
<p>I myself turned down a few top b-schools to attend Michigan Economics =))</p>
<p>Yes I do plan on getting an MBA as I feel that to get to the top in business an MBA degree is necessary, especially in Finance. I do know for sure that I want to do something in Finance - something with investment, money/asset management. From what I've seen so far, the LSA career center SUCKS. They don't give you much advice other than what you already know. They basically tell you to look for job postings on the career center website and or look at job websites such as vault, monster, etc. In nutshell, they weren't really helpful and getting an internship/job is entirely up to you. I don't know how the OCD works and/or how much more effort it makes compared to the LSA career center. </p>
<p>Another question though - if I continue with Economics, I'll be getting a BA degree rather than a BS. To get a BS degree I would need to take extra math classes, which would take me an extra semester or two. I also want to know if graduates with a BA degree in Economics have a tougher time in the job market compared to those with a BS degree or those with a BBA? I'm tying to take as many quantitative courses as possible (Econ 405 - Stats, Econometrics, Financial Econ, Intermediate Macro etc) but they won't be enough to give me a BS degree within two years.</p>
<p>Yes I agree with you, unlike LSA career center, I think Ross OCD gives more individualized attentions to its students.
Regarding your second question, I concede that a BS will give you a slight upper hand and a plus in the finance sector since those finance recruiters will usually look for people with distinguished analytical & quantitative skills. And those skills are often partly portrayed through one's degree (B.S) and grades for sure. But again, i do believe that it's the grades that matter most, not the type of your degree.</p>
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I concede that a BS will give you a slight upper hand and a plus in the finance sector since those finance recruiters will usually look for people with distinguished analytical & quantitative skills. And those skills are often partly portrayed through one's degree (B.S) and grades for sure.
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<p>I agree with that too. </p>
<p>I know that work experience is probably the most important part of your MBA school application, but from what I've heard the work experience must be meaningful. A job at a top/prestigious company will look better on your application than a job that is just 9-5 at a small/medium company if you're aiming for the top MBA schools (I wish to stay on the east coast and go to either Wharton, Columbia, Harvard). I also feel that by pursuing a BA in Economics it will be hard for me to distinguish myself from BS Econ majors, Ross students, and as well as Engineering majors, especially if I want Finance jobs which require quantitative analysis and strong math skills.</p>
<p>MightyNick, companies recruit more aggressively at Ross than at the college of LSA. So finding a good job for Ross students is easier than it is for LSA students. But LSA students are also in high demand. </p>
<p>The question to answer would be, is it worth spending an additional $50k for Ross? It really depends on your career objectives. Personally, I don't think it is worth it. There is nothing you cannot accomplish at the college of LSA. Maintain a high GPA, go for as many Math classes as you can, take an aggressive, proactive approach to job searches effective immediately, submit your resume online for internship positions (and later for full time jobs) to every company you are interested in, attend any on-campus recruitment event you can etc... and good things will happen.</p>