So happy to hear it! I remember you posting when you had a good but not great ACT score, and you loved SC then. When you made that big improvement, it opened up some other options, but it also made you a great candidate for SC Honors College.
Michigan is a great school, but it seemed like your heart was in SC right from the start. Go and enjoy, especially for those months when it’s freezing at home but relatively balmy in Columbia.
I just wish you also posted your remarks in the Michigan forum instead of just here and in the SC one. Best of luck to you.
Yes! I thought about it a lot over the last month, visited Umich since it is so close and talked to a lot of people. The only thing drawing me to Michigan was the ranking and name. I live 20 minutes away, grew up a Michigan fan, both parents went there, and I have two sisters there now. I really really wanted to do my own thing and try something new. All of that being said, I really wanted to go out of state. I found South Carolina, loved the campus and overall vibe I got from visiting. They offered generous scholarships which made going out of state affordable, and actually a bit cheaper than Michigan. On top of all of that, they have a terrific business school (and international business program) and honors college which intrigued me. When I thought a lot about it, I realized that I could see myself being much happier at SC. It offered a good price, great school spirit, and great academics in what interested me (maybe not as high as Michigan, but I just liked it better). My family definitely pushed Michigan, but everyone else I talked to said they had never seen anyone love as school as much as I seemed to like SC! @MYOS1634
I also thought about where I would possibly get a job after college. I know Michigan would open more opportunities all over the country, but I wouldn’t mind living in the southeast in places like Charlotte or @MYOS1634
@rjkofnovi I could have posted in Michigan, but living 20 minutes away, having so much family and friends there, and knowing people in Ross, I felt as though I knew enough about Michigan. I was looking more for perspectives of people from the SC side and neutral.
Congratulations to you… Agonizing for sure. But by the end of the day its where you wanted to be and that makes it the right choice. I was one of the earliest posters and keep in mind all the good things I said
“The University of South Carolina Darla Moore International School of Business is rated number one by all accounts. It is NOT an easy school to get into. Having said that, my best friend son graduated from this school last year. He did an internship at Google in Ann Arbor (yes Google is in Ann Arbor) and was offered employment once he graduated. He was super driven and he did a few abroad studies in Spain, Denmark, and I believe even in Brazil. The school IB department is fabulous and competitive. Having said that, his only REGRET was that he did not go to a higher ranked or overall better named school . The overall Business School is good but not like the IB department and not as selective. At the time he was applying to colleges,USC was the most affordable option and that is where he ended up going. He knows that the fact that he graduated for USC did NOT affect internship or job opportunities. He has done quite well for a 23 year old.”
@1917souci Thanks! I am very excited and happy with my choice.
I see you have decided, but I do have a comment. I grew up 30 minutes from Ann Arbor, was a 3rd generation Wolverine, and went to Michigan & Ross. It felt like a different world, honestly. I spent time with bright (some brilliant) students and profs from all over the country, and in some cases all over the world. I was immersed in coursework and opportunities that were nothing like my HS life. Ann Arbor is a great town to live in the middle of. My parents tried to give me space, never dropped in unannounced. I saw HS friends sometimes on campus, but wasn’t obligated to spend time with them if I didn’t want to.
Once I was out of college, the Michigan name opened doors for me, too. I am in a business where my resume gets reviewed a lot, and I often get, “Michigan —that’s a good school” comments when they get to that part of my resume.
You can move elsewhere after undergrad. And a Michigan degree makes that easier.
I didn’t love everything about my experience there, but that is more that I might have thrived most at a smaller school. But I would pick Michigan over South Carolina every single time. It is silly to pay OOS tuition in this case. Don’t be put off by it being close to home — it is a whole different thing to be a student on campus than to live nearby.
@intparent I am not actually paying out of state tuition, and it is about $8,000 cheaper per year at South Carolina due to a scholarship.
Helpful — but I’d still pick Ross if you got in. UMichigan is a world class university, and Ross is a tremendous BBA program. It is not smart to turn it down just because it is in your back yard.
@intparent Again, that is not the only reason why. I like the campus, honors college, and overall vibe that I get when at USC.
@pbmcdoug , Sounds like you made a great choice, based on finances , the honors college, and the vibe and location you’re looking for. Hope you have a wonderful time at the University of South Carolina!
@pmcdoug Congrats on your Decison! It takes courage at your young age to stand by your conviction and decline acceptance to Ross when overwhelmingly everyone in your life advises you to go to Michigan Ross. While it’s important to get input from close family and trusted friends, even advice from college gurus here on CC, at the end of the day you have to do your own research and trust your own instincts and make these type of executive decisions for yourself because this is your life! Some of the most successful people in life have made decisions that went against the grain of common opinion and defied expectation. As many other folks on CC have stated before me, your success in life will be determined by you, not the undergrad school you attend. There are millions of successful businessmen and women in the USA who did not attend Michigan and Michigan Ross. And I’m hoping one of those people will someday include my son who attends Ohio State Fisher. While the Michigan name on your resume may garner some “aha” moments from folks, such moments last for the first few seconds of an introduction and then don’t matter. What matters is your competence and intelligence, your knowledge and experience, your initiative/efforts, your enthusiasm and determination. Best of luck!
“While the Michigan name on your resume may garner some “aha” moments from folks, such moments last for the first few seconds of an introduction and then don’t matter.”
Of course you have to get the interviews from the most desirable firms first trackmbe3. That’s the real “aha” moment.
Congrats @pcmbdoug! My S is in similar quandry with UMD and “USC”, accepted in honors college and in the engineering…he hasn’t visited yet but will in the next couple of weeks.
It appears @pbmcdoug carefully weighed his options and made a thoughtful decision. I’m sure he’ll be successful regardless of the school he attends. @intparent There’s more to life than work, money and the ranking and prestige of your alma mater and success isn’t measured by the size of your paycheck or who your work for. Quality of life matters and a college needs to be a good fit in addition to offering a high quality education.
There’s also a study by a Princeton economist found that the earnings of students from Ivies and students who were accepte at elite schools but chose to attend elsewhere were essentially the same.
"In 1999, economists from Princeton and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation looked at some of the same data Professor Eide and his colleagues had used, but crunched them in a different way: they compared students at more selective colleges to others of “seemingly comparable ability,” based on their SAT scores and class rank, who had attended less selective schools, either by choice or because a top college rejected them.
The earnings of graduates in the two groups were about the same — perhaps shifting the ledger in favor of the less expensive, less prestigious route. (The one exception was that children from “disadvantaged family backgrounds” appeared to earn more over time if they attended more selective colleges. The authors, Stacy Berg Dale and Alan B. Krueger, do not speculate why, but conclude, “These students appear to benefit most from attending a more elite college.”)"
Congrats @pbmcdoug on making your decision. Now you can enjoy the remainder of your senior year!
I’ve certainly recommended that students not always attend the highest ranked schools they get into. In fact, both of my kids attended schools for fit that weren’t the highest ranked schools they got into. But Ross is a pretty exceptional school for a BBA, with particularly good opportunities who want to study business. In this case, I think you WOULD find that Ross graduates earn more if that is the criteria you want to use. Also, I think the OP has honestly been looking for reasons to not stay close to home – and I think in this case, they are making a mistake. But obviously they are free to make their own choice, and give that Ross spot up to someone else.
T
go to Michigan. The Big House awaits.
Just be honest with yourself. If you want to choose a school because of campus, honors college, and overall vibe, that’s great.
Just remember that when it comes to recruiting opportunities, recruiters won’t give two figs about the campus or vibe and Ross (or other elite majors like CS at UIUC) will be seen as equivalent or superior to many honors colleges.
But yes, you don’t have to choose a school to maximum ROI or recruiting opportunities (though that is a uncommon tack for a b-school major, but I digress).
BTW, I’m speaking as a neutral.
What the findings of the study really say is that its the students that make the school, not the other way around. They have it in them to succeed which is why the elite schools accept them in the first place. This kid has what it takes and there’s more than one path to a successful business career. While rankings are useful they aren’t the be all end all. Far too many “highly ranked” colleges game the rankings to attract more and more applicants which in turn makes them more selective.
^^^Exactly.