Ross Workload/Social Life

<p>Hi guys,</p>

<p>I plan to apply to Ross preferred admit (I'm a junior) and I've heard from some of my senior friends that Ross's competitiveness and killer curves ruin your GPA, which, consequently, hurts your chances of getting a job/getting admitted to a great grad school. </p>

<p>Basically, I would really appreciate it if current or former Ross students could describe thier life at Ross for me. Are you guys completely loaded with homework to the point where you can barely have a social life? Are curves insanely hard (I've had it described where only one or two people in a class can get an A)?</p>

<p>Thanks so much for your time!</p>

<p>lol ross is a joke...took a supposed to be "hard" class there... accounting 271, which is similar to IOE 201 (basically an accounting class and money value in IOE). accounting 271 is easier by a mile, while I dont understand how the whole class struggles. It's like when those business majors see numbers they stop functioning. Got an A in that class without much effort. Just my personal experience.</p>

<p>Charles</a> Klemstine - University of Michigan - RateMyProfessors.com</p>

<p>LOL how he end up getting a 2.0 difficulty rating is beyond me lol... it's one of the easiest classes i have taken at U of M...not counting LSA classes</p>

<p>to be honest i had a much easier time maintaining an A in that class than maintaining a B- in IOE 265 (probablity stats for engineers) with gary herrin.</p>

<p>"It's like when those business majors see numbers they stop functioning."
Haha, maybe you were just a numbers person?</p>

<p>Since you're enrolled in both LSA and Ross, do you have to fulfill both LSA's and Ross's graduation requirements or only Ross's?</p>

<p>If you apply to the honors college then move onto Ross your soph. year can you just take honors classes at LSA while still focusing on Ross, or does that place too many graduation requirements on you?</p>

<p>The workload at Ross isn't too bad. You'll have plenty of time to go out and have a social life. However, some of the group projects and assignments can be very time consuming. (e.g. OMS 301 and 311)</p>

<p>The curve usually works out to a B+ for core classes (except 200-level ACC classes, which is a B-) and an A- for elective classes. While it's really hard to get an A in a core class, it's also hard to get below a B-. Additionally, a B+ is considered a 3.4 (and A+ is 4.4) in the Ross GPA calculation.</p>

<p>In reference to bearcats' comment, I think Accounting 271 is curved separately between B-school students and non B-school students. A lot of Ross students have financial math / actuarial math minors and dual degrees, so you can't really say they're afraid of numbers. Plus, when did you see any math more complicated than basic multiplication or division in ACC 271?</p>

<p>Thanks for both your advice.</p>

<p>rtbenson - How common is it to get an A+ anyway? It would definitly make for the B+'s but if Ross has such a challenging curriculum, are A+'s feasible?</p>

<p>Do Ross students usually live together or are they spread out over campus?</p>

<p>It's very rare to get an A+ in a Ross class. I'd guess it's fewer than 5 for a class of 350. The biggest advantage for the 4.4 / 4.0 scale is that Ross students can get an A+ in an LSA class and have that boost their GPA.</p>

<p>In some Ross classes, the A+ students work as tutors the following semester.</p>

<p>Also, I don't think bearcats is enrolled in Ross. It sounds like he's doing IOE through Engineering, but he took ACC 271 anyway (which you can do).</p>

<p>Oh, and yes, some Ross students live together and others live all over. It really depends on who you talk to.</p>

<p>Elective classes curved to an A-? Don't tell that to an engineer, you might end up dead.</p>

<p>there's no seperate curve. The misconception exist because ACCT 471 and ACCT 271 are equivalent but ACCT 471 is supposed to be for non-major, but i went ahead and got an override for 271 anyway. I am enrolled in Engineering.
"so you can't really say they're afraid of numbers. Plus, when did you see any math more complicated than basic multiplication or division in ACC 271?"
no..what i mean is..numbers dont make sense to them. I think everything just makes perfect sense and falls right into place for 271.. and i learned about the same amount of stuff i learned in acct 271 as my ioe 201 class (except ioe 201 was half term, so we went almost twice the pace)</p>

<p>Also, B+ is considered 3.4 and is curved as the average of the class with electives being A-? GIVE ME A BREAK
My 265 class was curved to a C+, most of my other engineering classes are curved to a B-. How are we supposed to compete for jobs?</p>

<p>bearcats - So you believe that the College of Engineering has more challenging curves than Ross? That's quite interesting. </p>

<p>I know Ross is a great school but I wanted to strike a balance between work and play and some of the things I have heard about Ross made it seem like it would be all work and no play. </p>

<p>What are some of the disadvantages of Ross?</p>

<p>B+/A- curves are ridiculous...I'm an LSA biology major and the vast majority of my science/math classes have been curved to a B- (as it should be).</p>

<p>I'm definitely not "loaded" with work. Yeah some of the group stuff can be time consuming, but it's not that bad. I wouldn't really call the classes hard, but it can be tough to pull off an A in quantitative classes like ACC/FIN and then do the same at the other end of the spectrum with MKT/MO when they only give A's to the top 10-15%. It's not easy for the typical student to get a 3.8+ but you don't need that to get a good job coming from Ross.</p>

<p>someone needs to teach these business professors what hyper(grade) inflation is and how it affects lives, like currently in zimbabwe</p>

<p>and sometimes, instead of curving to a low grade, this is what an Ahole professor would do.
My "straightscale" for 373</p>

<p>Grading
Grading will be done based on the gradebook percentages in CTools, according to the following scale:
97 and up: A
93 to 96.9: A-
89 to 92.9: B+
86 to 88.9: B
83 to 85.9: B-
76 to 82.9: C+
70 to 75.9: C
66 to 69.9: C-
62 to 65.9: D+
58 to 61.9: D
54 to 57.9: D-
Below 54: E</p>

<p>Engineering grade deflation is just ridiculous. I think most employers are aware of it though.</p>

<p>@nv2010: The biggest disadvantage of Ross, in my opinion, is the competition. It can get very intense, and often discouraging at times. But then again, the business world is competitive itself. Get used to it. :)</p>

<p>And to Mr. or Ms. bearcats, yes, there is grade inflation in the B-school to make us more attractive to recruiters. However, from my own experience, getting an "A" in a "hard" engineering class (like EECS 281) is a lot easier than an "A" in ACC 271, just because of competition, not because of the difficulty of the material. ACC 271 has easier material, but if you mess up something small then you're screwed. Good for you if you did well in ACC, but please don't make claims that "numbers dont make sense to [business students]."</p>

<p>Same applies for LSA comparisons. Classes curved to a B- in LSA are easier to pull A's in than Ross classes curved to a B+.</p>

<p>Bearcats, did you happen to take ACC271 in the winter semester?</p>

<p>I took it Fall 2008, concurrent with IOE 201</p>

<p>does it make sense that if you and I were both in say OMS 300 or something, and we both get a B+, somehow your B+ is worth 3.4 and my B+ is worth 3.3? Or does it make sense if we both get an A+ in EECS 280 (btw 281 is the easier one), and somehow your A+ is worth 4.4 and my A+ is worth 4.0? it's blatantly unfair when we compete for the same job. We could have identical grades in identical classes and your gpa could be as much as .4 more than mine, and dont give me the B-school's more competitive excuse, everything is evened out when most of the engineering professors have the out to get you mentality to curve most classes to a B-/C+ and give like 2 As in a class (my 373 professor said B to A- is for superior performance and A is for people who cured cancer)</p>

<p>btw How did you manage take 281 (it has strictly enforced prereqs of Engin 100, 101, EECS 203, 280, that's 16 credits in the COE before you can take it, how is it possible to fit a total of 20 credits of Engin/EECS classes in B school curriculum? [not questioning you, but just curious, since they dont grant override in EECS])</p>

<p>and jnpn , you did not just compare LSA classes with Ross, I did not show up for econ 401 lecture once and got an A, and most econ majors consider that a hard class, go figure... there's a reason why many engineers use LSA classes (and ross classes to some extent when we get overides) to pad our gpa </p>

<p>but yea i just thought it's unfair that we could get the same grade in the same class and your grade point could worth .4 more than mine, with the already inflated curve... and we might compete for the same consulting and IB (quant type) jobs...sometimes i think i should not have given up my preadmit status (i dont know what i was thinking i somehow thought that being an engineering would make it easier to get into a quant finance field)</p>

<p>
[quote]
and jnpn , you did not just compare LSA classes with Ross, I did not show up for econ 401 lecture once and got an A, and most econ majors consider that a hard class, go figure... there's a reason why many engineers use LSA classes (and ross classes to some extent when we get overides) to pad our gpa

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Same (.4% off from A+, boo). Not sure what you are arguing against though.</p>

<p>
[quote]
but yea i just thought it's unfair that we could get the same grade in the same class and your grade point could worth .4 more than mine, with the already inflated curve... and we might compete for the same consulting and IB (quant type) jobs...sometimes i think i should not have given up my preadmit status (i dont know what i was thinking i somehow thought that being an engineering would make it easier to get into a quant finance field)

[/quote]
</p>

<p>The top consulting firms and IBs are all aware of the grade deflation in engineering schools (it extends beyond Mich) and don't judge their GPA's on the same scale. Besides, most Ross students aren't competing against you for quant roles anyways.</p>

<p>Also, I don't see why you are complaining when you've got an internship with D.E. Shaw as an underclassmen.</p>

<p>Can someone please answer an earlier question of mine?</p>

<p>If I enroll in the Honors College at LSA my freshman year and then move to Ross, since I was in the Honors College before would I still be able to take classes there? Would the Honors grad requirements be forced on me on top of Ross, or are Ross's requirements the only thing that matter?</p>

<p>Also, would it even be advisable to take Honors courses on top of an already challenging Ross curriculum?</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>