<p>My son received 15,000$ from O State and 0 from Mich.</p>
<p>He wants to attend UM but 55k compares to 21k/year is a huge sum of money.
$132,000 difference over 4 years. (@ 4% interest with a 20 year loan the monthly fee is $800!!!! )</p>
<p>He wanted to get into Ross but did not. 35-40% for sophmore year entry is his next bet, but he was accepted into Fisher. Any thoughts or ideas to help me help him decide? </p>
<p>Is the education worth the difference? If he doesnt get into Ross he will be an Economics major. Thanks</p>
<ol>
<li>Is that $130k going to be sorely missed, or can the family easily absorb it?</li>
<li>What are his career ambitions? Does he want to join a major corporation as a “high-potential fast tracker” or perhaps work for a McKinsey or a Goldman Sachs, or does he intend to stay close to home and work for a regional office?</li>
</ol>
<p>If the cost of attending Michigan is prohibitive, regardless of his career plans, that $130k is simply not worth it. No university is worth driving a family into financial difficulty.</p>
<p>If the cost of attending Michigan is easily covered and that $130k will not be missed, attending Michigan is worth it, particularly if your son is a go-getter who is going to make the most of his Michigan experience.</p>
<p>If the cost of attending Michigan is manageable (neither with great difficulty or with great ease), I would say that the investment is only worth it if your son is very committed to getting into Ross and will work his hardest to get in. In such a case, and assuming he has lofty career ambitions that would be significantly enhanced by a Ross degree, Michigan is worth it. Otherwise, I do not think spending an extra $130 on any university is worth it.</p>
<p>The $130k will be tough to take, but doable with some duress as I have another going to college in two years.</p>
<p>As far as his ambitions, I would say that he has moderate drive, most likely for a corporation like environment, as he is non entrepreneurial but hopefully he will gain that in college.</p>
<p>The only concern is that I can not find any UM real estate curriculum within Ross.</p>
<p>Ohio State Fisher College of Business is consistently rated as the Top-15 undergraduate business school in the nation via USNWR. If OP’s son is dead set on going into the IB industry, all he has to do is trying to get into “Fisher Futures IB Program,” which offers individual mentorship, coupled with internship opportunities at many of the top companies including Goldman Sachs for those ambitious business school students. </p>
<p>Finally, not only does Fisher College of Business offer numerous Real Estate related courses, the “Center for Real Estate” at Ohio State also offers students ample resources in education, research and internship opportunities. </p>
<p>Center for Real Estate Education and Research</p>
<p>Kidding aside, is he willing to take on the $130k burden? As a parent myself I have x budgeted to help with college (essentially the instate cost to go to Michigan). If my kids want to spend beyond that they will pick up the difference. I think if he sees the future burden it will help him make the decision.</p>
<p>I am a Ross graduate and would hate to see anyone attend the cesspool that is O$U, but the economics make sense.</p>
<p>Here goes: my oldest D will be graduating from Ohio State in 3 weeks. Her sister will be a freshman at Michigan this fall (a true house divided!). Per oldest D, Fisher graduates do very well for themselves. Many of her Fisher friends find themselves with jobs prior to graduation. There is no doubt that Ross is a stellar business school. However, if the COA at Michigan is too much, I don’t think that Fisher is a bad second choice. Your S also has to ask himself if he will be happy at Ohio State vs. Michigan. If you have any questions about OSU feel free to PM me.</p>
<p>I see there is a business school ranking of Ross as #3. I believe OSU is in late 20’s or low 30’s)</p>
<p>Now this is probably a silly question but is there that much of a difference in the final degree from Ross and Fisher (OSU)?</p>
<p>Will it make that much of a difference to the graduate for each degree?
Is the Ross degree worth $800 debt/month for 20 years??? That would be his debt burden…</p>
<p>Again, I think it depends on what he wants to do professionally. If your son wants to go into IB or something along those lines than yes because he could be making 80k+ right out of the gate… If he is unsure he wants to go into something like that, than maybe not</p>
<p>“Will it make that much of a difference to the graduate for each degree?
Is the Ross degree worth $800 debt/month for 20 years??? That would be his debt burden…”</p>
<p>There is no guarantee that he will get into Ross. IMHO if you cannot easily afford the differences in cost, it’s not worth it.</p>
<p>i really don’t think $800 per month is a burden, if you do well coming out of Ross that is. </p>
<p>I didn’t go to Ross, but I am working in a position that pays similar to what top Ross grads 2 years out of school would get. </p>
<p>I will preface this by saying that I live in a low cost of living city with no state tax. After my 1.5k in rent, 0.5k in utilities, 1k for food (company caters breakfast and lunch), 1.5k in miscellaneous/entertainment/travel, I am still left with 4k+ in after tax income, which means even at this early point of my career, I could either
easily afford the $800 per month payment
pay off the loan in 2 years with the leftover income
pay off the loan in less than a year if I live more frugally</p>
<p>As long as your son gets into Ross (which really isn’t that hard if he’s reasonably intelligent and actually cares), do well in Ross (also isn’t hard as Ross classes are insanely easy with serious grade inflation), and hustle for internship early on (extremely important), he’ll end up just fine. </p>
<p>4% interest rate is also really low. Assuming it’s a fixed rate loan it’s a no brainer.
Heck if I could get capital at 4% I would probably just borrow 100k, buy dividend stocks hedged with short SPY (or similar position to unequitize), lever that package up and collect the spread borrowing cost…</p>
<p>You might ask, what if one of these things don’t pan out? Well if you don’t take any calculated risks in life you are doomed to mediocrity.</p>
<p>lol and the fisher futures program doesn’t even compare to jobs top Ross grads get. The IB placements are concentrated at regional IBs like Keybanc, Baird, Piper Jaffray, Lincoln International etc, with no more than a few actually making into bulge brackets or elite boutiques a year.
Ross easily sends over 30 grads to bulge brackets and elite boutiques like Lazard, BX, Moelis, Evercore, Greenhill per year, add probably another 10 to elite PE firms and hedge funds, and another 10 to top strat consulting firms (M/B/B)</p>
<p>Look at these “success stories”, there is only one BB on the list and that’s JPM, where the two “success stories” are both in ops and program office, both not highly desirable analytical roles. The list of companies here, especially the positions taken, are internships bottom of the class Ross kids would take, unhappily.</p>
<p>Long story short, when it comes to trying to enter a prestige wh0ring industry, you pretty much get what you pay for when it comes to the available opportunities - ON AVERAGE. Doesn’t mean there are no outliers.</p>
<p>“Ross easily sends over 30 grads to bulge brackets and elite boutiques like Lazard, BX, Moelis, Evercore, Greenhill per year, add probably another 10 to elite PE firms and hedge funds, and another 10 to top strat consulting firms (M/B/B)”</p>
<p>Actually Bearcats, Ross usually places over 50 in bulge bracket firms most years. Last year (and 2009 I believe) were exceptions due to major shakeups in the financial industry. Only Wharton and Harvard seem to be immune from such tremors. If you look at the number of placements in the top 10 IBanks (BOA, Barclays, Citi, Credit Suisse, Deutsche, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley and UBS) since 2005, you will see that most years, Ross placed at least 50 Ross graduates in those BB firms:</p>
<p>2005: At least 57 Ross graduates joined Bulge Bracket Investment Banks
2006: At least 74 Ross graduates joined Bulge Bracket Investment Banks
2007: At least 59 Ross graduates joined Bulge Bracket Investment Banks
2008: At least 72 Ross graduates joined Bulge Bracket Investment Banks
2009: At least 31 Ross graduates joined Bulge Bracket Investment Banks
2010: At least 52 Ross graduates joined Bulge Bracket Investment Banks
2011: At least 52 Ross graduates joined Bulge Bracket Investment Banks
2012: At least 31 Ross graduates joined Bulge Bracket Investment Banks</p>
<p>That does not include a couple of BB Ibanks who recruit a couple of Ross students, and boutique-style financial institutions such as Blackstone and Lazard who also recruit a couple of Ross students annually. </p>
<p>Michigan also places 10+ or so students at McKinsey, Bain, BCG and Booz annually. It also places an additional in other top consulting firms such as Deloitte, PwC, Accenture, Kearney, Mercer, Oliver Wyman etc…</p>
<p>Make no mistake. When it comes to Investment Banking and Management Consulting, Michigan is extremely potent. Only a handful of BBA programs and a handful of other undergraduate institutions can match Michigan. OSU would not come close. </p>
I’m a bit is a selective school snob … but I’d never vote for taking on big debt to attend a “better” school … IMO NO SCHOOL is worth that much debt.</p>
<p>To me it all depends on how doable the $130k is for your family.</p>
<p>I agree 3togo. And given the OP’s description of his son (does not seem to be interested in IBanking or Management Consulting), Fisher makes better sense given the difference in cost.</p>
<p>What do a Michigan grad and an OSU grad have in common?</p>
<p>They both got into OSU</p>
<p>I got into OSU and I’m from Ohio. It seems like my entire high school went there or just transferred there in a year or two. But as soon as I got into Michigan I knew I didn’t even have a choice to make. I’m lucky though my family had the money saved up to support me.</p>
<p>So in your opinion, if the major at Ross is not Investment banking or Management consulting the difference in cost is not worth the investment for another major at Ross?</p>
<p>I was thinking that if he doesn’t get into Ross his sophomore year he can always transfer to another school. He is fixated with Ross #3 business school and thinks he can get in if he works hard.</p>
<p>teg4rvn, there is no major at Ross. All students get a BBA in Management. Students can take more electives in a specific subfield, but they do not major in Finance or General Management. However, unless your son is aiming for a career in IBanking or Management Consulting, I do not think Ross is $130k better than Fisher, especially if the financial burden on the family will be felt.</p>