Michigan Ross Myths Debunked

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We’re just coming off of an energizing diversity weekend (Women in Leadership Conference and UpClose). More than 160 prospective students visited Ross from all over the world recently to learn more about the Ross experience and community from our students, alumni, faculty, and staff. It's always so great to get people here on campus and really show them what we mean when we talk about the "Ross Difference.”

We talked with visitors before and after the event and we noticed a few had some misconceptions about Michigan Ross — misconceptions that you might have as well. Here are the top myths that we heard, along with some thoughts from me about why they are myths:
 

Myth #1: If you go to Ross, you’ll be “stuck” in the Midwest.

Um, no. Last year, about half of our grads went to one of the coasts: 30%+ to the West Coast (Seattle, SF and LA), nearly 20% to the East Coast (NY, Boston, DC). An additional 20% landed in Chicago and 8% took international opportunities. The remaining 20-ish% is a mix of South/Southwest and Midwest.

“Go Blue, Go Anywhere” isn’t just something we say. It’s real.
 

Myth #2: Top companies don’t recruit at Ross.

Not only do recruiters from McKinsey, Amazon, BCG, PepsiCo, JP Morgan, and more of the most desirable companies come to Ann Arbor throughout the fall, but the CEOs and other executive leaders from these companies visit often as well — just last week more than a dozen top executives were on campus meeting with, networking with, and learning from our students.

They travel here because the quality of our students is top-notch (see our incoming class profile). And, our alumni recruiters can't wait for a trip back to Ann Arbor. Talk to an alum and you'll see I'm not exaggerating when I say that.

Check out our employment profile for a list of companies that hired Rossers.
 

Myth #3: Ross isn’t strong in any concentrations.

Reverse that and you get the truth: Ross is strong in many concentrations.

In fact, Ross is second only to Stanford in terms of the number of academic specialties ranked in the top 10. Of the concentrations ranked by U.S.News, Ross placed in the top 10 in nine of them. Our strength across disciplines led Poets & Quants to call Ross “that unexpected gem that turns convention on its head.”
 

Myth #4: All business schools have experiential learning; Ross is no different.

I get really excited when I hear this one, because it couldn’t be further from the truth! Ross offers students the most expansive suite of hands-on learning experiences across MBA programs.

Want to invest real money while at Ross? Easy - join one of our seven student-run investment funds. Together they have more than $10MM in real money to invest, and students are making the decisions.

Want to start a business while at Ross? Consider it done - the Zell Lurie Institute offers students an array of support (both financial and educational) to help them launch and manage their own businesses while at Ross, The Dare To Dream Grant program and the Michigan Business Challenge, combined with the Tech-Arb Incubator, the Desai Family Accelerator, and the Zell Lurie Commercialization fund are just a few of the resources that have helped Ross rank among the top schools for entrepreneurship.

Want to lead a real business while at Ross? No problem - this fall at Ross we launched the next evolution of action-based learning that has students running actual business units inside real businesses. The Living Business Leadership Experience gives students responsibilities for leading the implementation of various projects for several businesses (like Shinola, Ford, and real estate developer, NRP Group). The experience is still developing, but you can read about one student’s time spent work for Shinola in this recent Student Voices blog.

Want to advise an organization facing a real business challenge? Get ready to do just that in your first year at Ross. Ross’ MAP program is the only one that engages the entire MBA1 class on 7-week, full-time consulting projects, which students get to select. Last year, we sourced 83 projects in 25 countries that ranged from advising Fortune 100 companies to nonprofits to startups all over the world. This breadth and depth is unparallelled.


Coming Up Next

The team is busy reviewing apps while connecting with prospective students visiting campus and staying connected with those they’ve met this summer. Round 1 interview invitations will go out at the end of this month. And, the team will be on the road in the coming weeks hosting women’s brunches coast to coast and Michael will be traveling to India in November. We look forward to meeting you!