Should I transfer to University of Michigan from MSU?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Michigan State University
1

I asked this question to the Umich forum, and I thought it was only appropriate to also ask it to the MSU forum to get a two sided story.

I recently started school at Michigan State University as a Freshman. I was wait listed than denied from University of Michigan, however I was offered free Sophomore year transfer without having to apply as long as I hold a 3.0 gpa at my university (which I can do easily).

University of Michigan is a near dream school for me, but I’m incredibly conflicted as to whether I should go through with the transfer, mainly because I’m interested in a Business undergrad. At University of Michigan, I would like to graduate from Ross Business school, however, transferring sophomore year would not allow me to apply until Junior year. Since Ross is a three year college, this would make it so that I would have to take 5 years to get my undergraduate degree. Another option I would have at University of Michigan could be to just get an LSA general business degree (in which case I could graduate in four years), or possibly an Economics degree from the LSA college.

If I DON’T transfer, I would likely just graduate from Michigan State’s Broad College of Business in four years in a major such as Finance, economics, accounting, or something of the sort (I’m currently undecided business).

So, my main question is should I transfer to the University of Michigan next year, and why?

Ross is one of the best undergraduate business schools (around rank 3 for undergraduates), while Broad’s business school, while not bad, is not quite up to the prestige of Ross (typically ranked anywhere from 20-40 for undergraduates). Also note that I’m almost definitely going to continue schooling after my bachelor’s degree, and hopeful to get an MBA at a top graduate school. Is Ross worth the extra year of schooling? Or is a LSA general business degree or an LSA Economics degree possibly more prestigious than a Broad College Degree?

As far as fandom, I’m pretty impartial right now. I still feel like I’m a bit more of a Michigan fan than an MSU fan (although that’ll probably change as the year goes on), but I could switch back easily. I have many friends from high school going to both schools, however probably more at University of Michigan than MSU (not that this is a huge influence; would like to meet new people as well). So far I think Michigan State is a lot fun and has almost anything you can imagine to offer, but I still feel like it could always be a bit more spectacular.

If you have any questions I’ll be sure to answer them. Please try not to be too biased in your answers, but I will appreciate any feedback. Thank you!

2

Just my two cents. If you are planning to get an MBA, where you went to college won’t matter. I have a BS from MSU and an MBA from Micihgan. It will really help your chances getting into a good MBA program if you work a couple of years before applying and future employers like to see work experience even for graduates of the top MBA programs. If you get out of school a year earlier then you can start work a year earlier.

3

Ah, your response was actually quite helpful.
Do you have any opinion as to which agree would get you the best job out of college? My feeling is that it would likely go Ross > Broad > LSA econ, but that’s a complete guess based on no information really.
But I’m not sure if the Ross degree could be worth an extra year of lost time that could be put towards work experience.

This decision is just too difficult…

4

@FromTheVille I got my MBA in 1989 and I don’t live in Michigan so I can’t add anything meaningful about current job prospects. Your ranking seems sensible. The extra year of work experience would also put money in your pocket and give you more time to study for the GMAT. Also, some employers might help pay for your MBA, particularly after you’ve been there a while. I worked days and went to Ross (wasn’t called that back then) evenings. Evening students had first priority on evening classes, but day students could and did enroll. My finance classes were mostly day students. My degree just says “University of Michigan, Masters in Business Administration.”

I have a younger friend who went to BYU for college and then got his MBA from Stanford. BYU is a good school, but no one even notices; it’s wow, you went to Stanford! It’s the same deal for law school and medical school. No one cares where their doctor went to college. My ear, nose, and throat doctor went to Arizona and then was president of his class at Yale Medical School. That’s the big diploma on the wall! The big law firms only recruit the top 25 law schools; they pay zero attention to where an applicant went to college.

FWIW, I was accepted by both UM and MSU undergraduate and picked MSU. I never regretted my decision.

5

First of all, I would not assume anything when it comes to getting into Broad. They have just moved to a new admissions process for freshmen this year, and it is getting very competitive to get in especially if you want to major in SCM or accounting. You need a 3.4+ to get into Broad these days and that is not guaranteed.

It is hard to give you advice without knowing what your goals are. You say you want “business” but you don’t say what you want to do. If you think you want to go into investment banking or something of that nature I would tell you to give Ross a shot, but even then it is so competitive that you will be very behind the curve as a transfer student there.

Unless it has changed recently, to my knowledge LSA does not offer a general business degree. I personally think your job prospects will be better coming out of Broad (with dedicated career services) than with an econ degree coming out of LSA (where LSA econ majors feed off the scraps of the Ross kids and have lackluster career services).

Just my $0.02.

6

I had the same question about a general business degree, don’t think that option exists. I am a Ross grad, and think you should not transfer if you don’t know if you would get into Ross and would have to take a 5th year.

7

I’m pretty confident I’ll be able to get into Broad without too much trouble. I don’t have too much distraction and can’t see too much reasons for my grades to slip. I know overconfidence is bad, so I’ll try not to get too confident about getting in.

And yeah you’re right, my bad. For some reason I thought that LSA had a general business degree but it appears they do not.

I think a possible large part in me deciding to transfer is how well my GPA is this first semester. If I really do get a 4.0 I’ll be more confident I’ll be able to make it into Ross if I do transfer. I’m still so conflicted though.

8

Not sure where you are in your foreign language studies but LSA at Michigan is going to require 2 years of a foreign language so that might put you behind the 8 ball even more.

9

Broad has gotten a lot more competitive, so if you were not initially admitted to Ross (preferred admit), don’t assume that you will get into Broad. If you plan to pursue an MBA eventually, it’s not worth spending the extra year undergrad. Look into the FMI Program (Financial Markets Institute) through Broad. It is for the best of the best. You might not get in after your first year (only one student did last year), but you may be deferred and be able to join the following December.