What Happens if you don't get into Ross?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Michigan
41

@jen2016 I hear what you are saying about Ross. However, you feel this way only because you personally value Ross. It is not objectively the case that psychology, economics, communication, political science, organizational and international studies are “pretend business majors.” Not everyone feels that a business major is the top of the heap. YOU think that. But believe it or not, there are students genuinely interested in studying psychology, economics, communication—and even archeology, anthropology, classics, and English literature—for what they are, for the educational value.

YOU are the one who perceives LSA majors as “little people,” but it is not objectively so. Believe it or not, many students and adults believe that business majors lack imagination and are wasting their education on a vocational track. It is completely unnecessary to have a business degree in order to have a “business” career. You think McKinsey doesn’t hire smart archeology or English majors? Of course they do. Do you think most “business” leaders have business degrees? No, they do not. Indeed, most did not even go to top colleges. Look around on LinkedIn or Wikipedia and check it out for yourself.

As far as lost wage opportunities . . . you are really not seeing the forest for the trees. Your life will not always go the way you want it. You’ll get laid off from a job. You could get cancer and have to take a long leave of absence. Your spouse could die and you have to take a less demanding job because you have children at home and nobody to share family responsibilities with. Or your marriage could fail and you have to spend hundreds of thousands on a high-conflict divorce. Or your kid gets a rare cancer and you have to quit work to travel the world chasing the best treatments and clinical trials.

Life has so many “lost wage opportunities” and unexpected expenses and loss of income. You didn’t get acceptd to Ross. That’s the first of many setbacks of your life. A successful business leader would brush it off, take a different tack, and move forward.

42

“Do you have a source for this info? Or is it your guess from personal observation?”

This is purely a guestimate brantly, based on what I have seen over the last 5 years. I have kept in touch with a dozen students who applied to Ross in that time, and their placement into Ross was 100%, but they all had 3.7+ GPAs. This is predominantly a GPA-driven decision, mixed in slightly with community involvement. Considering the number of Michigan students admitted into Ross, they don’t have to resort to many subjective variables. A student who is interested in Ross just needs to meet with her/his advisor first thing Freshman year to discuss a strategy that makes sense given their high school accomplishments (AP subjects and ECs), and from there, decide on the best courses to take. In addition, taking joining one club or organization. If that student maintains a 3.7+ GPA, and dedicates some time and effort to the club/organization, the chances of admission into Ross are excellent, if not guaranteed.

43

Interesting. Thanks @Alexandre .

44
  1. Economics - I actually don't recommend this, since a recruiter looking at undergrad Michigan Econ == automatic Ross reject. Regardless of whether that student applied or not.
  2. Organizational Studies - this also screams Ross reject.
  3. School of Information (Social Computing) - this is new
  4. transfer to COE for Industrial Engineering - more math
  5. transfer to School of Kinesiology for Sport Management
  6. some other LSA major but minor in Entrepreneurship (16 credits)

Statistics/Financial Math/IOE. If you’re going to do a soft major, at least minor in something technical like CS. I have friends that got screwed pretty badly for picking Econ.

45

Thank you for your comments and please do not patronize me.

What is the GPA for in-state vs. out of state? This is a big secret–isn’t it!

Also, I know 3-4 kids who were admitted and parents just happen to give $1,000,000 to Ross and just happened to give it right before their child applied to Ross. I am sure they were qualified.

Ross chooses to limit admission to 580 while other schools like Wharton have proportionately more spots. Because of the “holistic approach” there is much speculation on the fairness of the process.

In terms of the certificate program at Northwestern, when employers come to NW, there are only 50 certificate holders and not having one doesn’t probably make a huge difference. So, non certificate holders are still desirable. At Michigan, 580 BBA holders to choose from for jobs. At Michigan, non Ross majors for investment banking or consulting are lucky to get interviews let alone a job in this field. If you think this is not true, clearly you have not been to recruiting events at Michigan–recruiters are seeking out the Ross kids.

And most importantly, are the career services at Ross. I have a few Ross kids in one of my classes and they have three legs up on my just walking in the door because of the resources available to them. I couldn’t believe the resources they have. And FYI…business minor kids do not get to use the career services!!!

And finally, since 1750 kids who get rejected who have to pick up majors and most select psychology, communication, political science and understand the value of the business education because they are not stupid. They scramble to find something that would be viewed as respectable by recruiters. So, to say “pretend” business majors may not be fair but instead I should have said “desperate choices” to at least hope that that your resume will not be thrown in the trash before it makes it to recruiter’s inbox. Ross should preselect all business students like Engineering does. At least you could factor that into your choice of coming to Michigan. Maybe Ross should talk to kids who are rejected and I am sure the LSA advisors could give you an earful.

Ross keeps making the school nicer and more perks without expanding the size. Yes, I was in the 50/50 range GPA so I guess I was in the loosing percentage. I cannot afford to apply again since I am on financial aid and barely can afford Michigan for four years.

So, please do not patronize me.

46

The majority of econ graduate students and those who publish subsequent to graduation come from 3 power programs. Michigan is one of those programs. I would guess that some of those graduate students came from Michigan’s undergraduate population. Life is too short to fixate on Ross. There are a HUGE number of very high quality undergraduate and graduate programs at Michigan. Graduate from one of those programs and crank out a good GPA and you’ll be on a track to an elite program in any number of fields. When NOT normalized for size of undergraduate body (i.e., in absolute rather than relative terms) Michigan is a top 5 feeder to elite graduate programs in business, law, medicine and engineering. Don’t get mesmerized by the droids and quasi-trolls…a degree from Michigan will serve you well. All this parsing and hair-splitting appears to be slanted to somehow talk down the school via a focus on a tissue of suppositions and unsupported assertions rather than focusing on the manifest excellence of many of the programs.

Your opportunities at Michigan will be nearly unlimited. Most students will reach their own limits long before they exhaust the opportunities offered in Ann Arbor.

47

Jen, you have to move on. You take this as patronizing, but that’s only because you fail to get out of your own head. A good business person is agile and flexible and has to change strategy on a dime. Be that person.

And just to be helpful, here are some LinkedIn profiles of a few Michigan LSA graduates who are working in the financial services industry. None of them has a graduate degree. It took me five minutes to find them. I’m sure I can find 100 more if I really spent time on it.

Global Head of Program Trading at Barclays Capital
Economics major
http://■■■■■■■.com/jeechds

Principal, Head of Equities Research, TABB Group
English major! It didn’t say so on her LinkedIn, but a quick search uncovered her bio on the company website, which says, “Mostowfi received a B.A. in English from the University of Michigan.”
http://■■■■■■■.com/gqm3gyy

VP, Operational Excellence and Business Transformation at American Express
Economics and History major
http://■■■■■■■.com/jkpeb9j

Head of Client Development at AlphaSense, Inc.
Sociology major
http://■■■■■■■.com/hrlmwuw

48

@brantly That is great, but having a Ross degree increases chances by A LOT for desirable positions in financial services.

49

Yes, it does. But she did not get into Ross. So she has to take a different tack now. Wallowing about how much better Ross grads have it is not helpful.

50

I completely agree with everything jen16 says. I was extremely qualified, a lot more qualified and a better person than some of the people I know in Ross, and after applying twice. I was rejected. I was so confident that I was going to get in!! So there I was… stuck. So i picked Economics because of it being safe in going into finance. Economics has no preparation and honestly I feel like I have a lack of knowledge for interviews, stock pitches… etc compared to the Ross Students because THEY HAVE A GREAT CAREER CENTER. It honestly pisses me off and really frustrates me. A lot of my fellow econ majors end up working at a company that has nothing to do with finance when the whole time a lot of them that I know, wanted to go into finance.

51

Clearly I have no choice to move on and I will. You are missing the point of this. There are plenty of people who are successful, who did not go to Ross, but as mentioned by other comments, it gives you a leg up. Even a family friend who runs a huge food company and majored in Econ had his 2 kids apply to Ross.

The point of this is…that be careful when you select Michigan over other choices. There is not a good plan B for 1750 kids each year who want to study business but get rejected from Ross. Of course you can get a Masters of Management for an additional $50,000–maybe it should be free for U of Michigan students? Ross makes the rejection even harder because it keeps building up the Ross facilities vs. adding spots. I think Michigan forgets it is a public university. I know a few people who start out making $120,000 (includes bonuses) in investment banking…I wonder if any LSA students even start to touch this amount?

The students at Michigan are all bright! But based on what I see here and how all students are treated, there is a reason Penn and Wharton has the #1 undergraduate business school.

52

My friend for psych did a sample survey with a group of 100 students and 79 percent of the agreed that ross should make their classes larger or allow other students who want to go into finance to use their career center.

53

I hope it’s not true that students whose parents donated large sums of money got into Ross over students with better stats.

54

Well, Cornell only takes 107 a year. It’s all relative. Think of it as a HIGHLY impacted major.

I do agree with Jen that they should take kids into Ross, or not, with the acceptance. I agree the situation is far from ideal and can end with a lot of regrets if a kid does not get in.

55

How about putting resources and energy put towards improving LSA Career Services?

56

I will say this: It is appalling that a public university provides unequal resources based on undergrad program. Ross students should not have their own private gym. Michigan should not accept a donation that has that kind of condition. That sort of preferential treatment is what makes the Ross students believe that they are “better” or more deserving. And it seeds a sense of entitlement for the future business leaders.

57

Seems cheaper to expand Ross. LSA career services does a good job but only has 9 professionals to service 20,000 and Ross has 4 to service 2000 (plus maybe maybe master’s students too). So, to say that the 9 professionals can be experts in any one area is challenging. They are helping people go to medical school, get PhD’s, etc. They are actually a pretty impressive group at Career services and offer lots of services, but can’t be focused like Ross can.

Also, Ross kids can apply for any job at Career services. Non-Ross kids cannot apply to Ross jobs–so what is even worse is the Ross kids not only get their own center, they can use the U of M career center too.

Yep, sounds fair to me.

58

"I will say this: It is appalling that a public university provides unequal resources based on undergrad program.:

What do you think costs more - the cost to educate someone in Ross or Engineering?

59

I think it is ok to tie donations to a purpose. But, you can then allow more fluidity in the use of the Ross facilities and resources within the rest of UM. It needn’t be that stratified.

Does anyone know if by adding on, they plan to expand Ross enrollment?

60

Not sure. But it is more lucrative to expand the Master’s of Management program. I can’t find the number of students in that program anywhere? $50,000 for 10 months vs. a shared among other U of M departments of $12,500-$25,000 (out of state) in tuition per year for undergrads, where would you put your growth…this is the business school you know.

Engineers are pre-admitted. Yes, because of the equipment needed, it should be more expensive to educate engineers. I am not sure what equipment other than computers, some subscriptions, AV equipment, speakers and a trading center is needed for Ross kids. Huge difference.