UMich

Assuming I don't get accepted into Ross how is the recuriting for jobs and internships? Can LSA students interview on campus with Ross kids?

Everybody talks about UMich being a target school for ibanking recuriting, but they are mostly speaking about Ross right? Is the LSA recuriting comprable or better than the business school at a lower ranked university like ASU or U of A?

 

I have a few friends that went to Umich (Ross and Econ. in LSA). Ross kids have much better shot at recruiting for internships. However, econ degree in LSA will carry much more weight than ASU or U of A. I know that UBS, CS, Jefferies (my gf works there), and JPM all recruit kids in LSA. However, you still better have a gpa > 3.5.

 

I go to UMich and am in LSA. I recently transferred from SUNY Stony Brook's B-School as a Junior, and couldn't spend 3 years at the B-School.

Michigan is a fantastic school in every sense of the word. Aside from US News Rankings, take a look at the different Academic Departments Rankings and you'll see we're in the top 5 or top 10 for every program.

With that said, the Ross kids are a bit spoonfed in terms of recruiting. Through a program called IMPACT, you are able to access Ross Recruiting. You can attend presentations by different banks on campus. Network, work on your resume, and keep your grades up and you shouldn't have a problem.

A few friends of mine run a consultancy to help LSA kids with recruiting, look up Starting Line Consulting. They will work on your resume, interviewing skills, and will provide a network to get you started.

 

if you're not in the bschool, you just need to maintain a gpa > 3.5. All the BBs recruit there. If you want to obtain a non BB IB job... ie consulting, PE, or Boutique, you can try to get your Bschool friends to hook you up with contact info and you can interview with those companies right in the bschool.

UBS, Citi, and JPM are the major IB recruiters at umich as a whole.

 

I decided against business school my 2nd year and have no regrets about doing so. The B-school course material is not hard at all. Econ 401, the Econ "weeder" requirement, is exponentially harder (average final exam score has been historically 46-51%) than any of the Excel or Accounting B-school classes. However, the strict grading policy makes it incredibly competitive. Everyone isn't trying to beat the exam but the people seated to the left and right.

Recruiting isn't a problem. You have to do a little more work as an LSA student, but your opportunities are not limited by the college you subscribe to. Compared to UA or ASU, Michigan LSA is far better--hands down.

-- Hail to the Victors

Hail to the Victors
 

i finally realized after graduation and the interview process is that the key to getting an interview is the school name.

it doesn't matter that you go to the bschool there.

banking/finance is one big frat.

poli sci major at georgetown will have a much greater chance of landing interviews than a business major at ASU.

 

if your gpa is above a 3.5 and in econ or business or engin, i don't see a problem. if MM or boutique is what you are after, you have to go pursue them. ie find the contact info, send letters, follow up calls, perfect your resume and cover letter (don't be generic and akward).

i'm currently not in banking but I am currently in trading. banking was something I was seriously considering but decided it was not for me.

 

I don't think it's necessarily that LSA is looked down in comparison to UMich Ross, but only that it's much more difficult to break into banking coming out of LSA, given that don't have access to the same career services as Ross kids do. There definitely are some kids that are able to get from LSA (Econ, like yourself) into banking, though. For example, there's a second-year at Moelis from the Econ program.

If you're in LSA, though, you have to make sure that your GPA is high, or you're totally fucked. The general perception at Ross is that if you're recruiting for banking/consulting and not in Ross, you were probably too stupid to get in, as the smarter kids pursue dual degrees, and there have been instances of kids getting kicked out of Ross's pre-admit program due to too low of a GPA. If you have a low GPA, the interviewer is always going to think -- is this kid in Econ because he was too stupid to get into RSB?

 

I got some good news for you, kid. LSA is only marginally worse off than Ross. We at Ross get a lot of interviews, sure, but the percentage of kids who actually get internships or jobs out of OCR is like 50-60%. The others either go down in flames or find things through off-campus recruiting.

LSA has its own OCR, which has a lot more shady/scam companies posting, but really I have many friends majoring in shit like economics or political science who got just as many or even more interviews than my Ross friends. Off-campus recruiting literally is about meeting people and networking effectively, which is easy to do at a university with over 26,000 undergrads - but you still need to get off your ass and do it.

Ross loves to inflate its statistics, which are not to be trusted especially for the incoming high school student. Also, the kids in Ross are NOT BRIGHT (although there is arguably a higher percentage of bright kids, I'd pin it to 10-15% of the class instead of 5-10% for LSA). What differentiates them is their work ethic.

 
Sonic:
I got some good news for you, kid. LSA is only marginally worse off than Ross. We at Ross get a lot of interviews, sure, but the percentage of kids who actually get internships or jobs out of OCR is like 50-60%. The others either go down in flames or find things through off-campus recruiting.

LSA has its own OCR, which has a lot more shady/scam companies posting, but really I have many friends majoring in shit like economics or political science who got just as many or even more interviews than my Ross friends. Off-campus recruiting literally is about meeting people and networking effectively, which is easy to do at a university with over 26,000 undergrads - but you still need to get off your ass and do it.

Ross loves to inflate its statistics, which are not to be trusted especially for the incoming high school student. Also, the kids in Ross are NOT BRIGHT (although there is arguably a higher percentage of bright kids, I'd pin it to 10-15% of the class instead of 5-10% for LSA). What differentiates them is their work ethic.

This is untrue. The LSA "OCR" probably has like 5 investment banking positions on the entire thing. Not much opportunity to get ib interviews, whereas with Ross you can get a ton as long as you've got good experience/gpa, and since apparently only 10-15% of Ross is even smart, should not be that hard then

Mike, what year are you? You can definitely still get a boutique at this point, keep trying.

 

LSA will make things significantly harder due to the fact you will not get any benefits of OCR recruiting that Ross enjoys. However, it's definitely possible to make it into IB from LSA, but you will need to create your own network and pound the pavement hard. Also, some firms are willing to let LSA kids interview during the Ross interview schedule (i.e. during lunch break/before/after regular interview hours). PM me if you have specific questions

 

As a Ross student, I can tell you that IB recruiting is definitely possible, but a lot harder than if you were in Ross. A majority of my friends in LSA doing econ are having a difficult time recruiting for banking/s&t positions (really hard to land an interview since you do not get to resume drop). You can overcome this through networking, but you really have to make an effort to connect, because the same top 20% of kids at Ross network hard. Even with networking its difficult, I did not make it to the superday of 2 BBs despite having multiple alums pulling for me at both firms.

 

The short answer to your question is yes, you can absolutely get into some boutiques. I am a Umich Econ major and I just accepted my SA offer from a pretty reputable firm in NYC this past Monday. I had about 9 first round interviews. I didn't get any of them from LSA OCR, cause it is complete garbage. I networked a ton and had a decent resume. With that said, you will definitely be fighting an uphill battle in interviews, most banks immediately question why you aren't in Ross. It took a lot interviews to finally land a couple offers. If you have any more specific questions, PM me.

 

Congrats on the acceptance. That's a great program and so long as you work hard, get the grades, and network you'll have a good shot at some great opportunities. Just don't forget to have a social life, run through slam pieces, and join a frat.

"They are all former investment bankers that were laid off in the economic collapse that Nancy Pelosi caused. They have no marketable skills, but by God they work hard."
 

Good job getting accepted. I'll probably receive my UMich decision this weekend. Hope I meet the same fate. If accepted, I am definitely attending. Completely love the idea of attending UMich. No chance in hell of getting pre-admitted to Ross though.

 

I just joined this forum and will be working an internship in ER and wanted to say thanks to WSO for their interview guidance! I am excited to start in the summer and if there are any questions you guys have let me know! Don't know much yet but WSO has been a great resource so I wanted to make an account. Thanks!

 

Try some local IB boutiques, that would probably be your best bet. Coming from UMich i would imagine you could get a position at a Big 4, although it probably won't help you in your quest for an IBD job..

I didn't say it was your fault, I said I was blaming you.
 

This site has technical guides for the interviews... I'm actually a campus rep for Michigan and am looking to talk to the career center and various clubs to try to sell the licenses to. If you're in a club that could benefit from having these guides, you should let them or me know and we could try to work something out. They're really informative and there's even a guide that summarizes most of the high finance jobs and the lifestyle of the authors who are a part of that industry.

I don't know the answers to your other questions though... sorry.

If your dreams don't scare you, then they are not big enough. "There are two types of people in this world: People who say they pee in the shower, and dirty fucking liars."-Louis C.K.
 
Best Response

Summer internships at the Big4 are almost all for audit. The tax internships are Jan - May. Since you aren't a declared Accounting major, and you aren't even admitted to Ross, they are unlikely to waste an intern spot on you because they try to hire full timers from the intern pool. No Accounting degree = no CPA exam = no CPA license = no Big4 job for you.

As for not being qualified to interview with banks having an Econ degree from UMich, that's on you my friend. Plenty of people with Econ undergraduate degrees land the most prestigious IB gigs out there, then go on to get MBA's from the top finance schools, and head back to banking. If you aren't qualified to answer some of the sample stuff your friends threw at you, maybe you should reevaluate your goals.

I went to Michigan btw, so I am in a position to say that you had an opportunity to be successfully prepared for banking interviews. It's not on LS&A, it's not the fact that you chose Econ as a major, it's that you aren't as prepared as your peers. If you networked the right way, and knew your shit, the doors would be open. Since you're here posting this, you didn't and you don't. And there's no fixing a 3.3 in your junior year anyway. Banks want much better than that.

 

thanks for your advice djfiii First off, I am not lying what i am going to do is, Im going to apply for MACC program that is designed for students who want to become CPA. So I will be qualified to sit for the CPA exam. Also, I wrote this thread because my lack of knowledge and asked for help from you guys. Even if you think im not qualified i dont care, Ill just work my ass off to catch up.

 

Fair enough.

A MAcc will position you to sit for the exam. And a 3.3 is fine for Big4, just not for Banks (generally).

If you really want to get into banking (which I don't recommend, but it's your life), if you can bring your gpa to a 3.6 or better before you graduate, you can try to position yourself for an MBA application to the top schools.

 

i don't want to sound like a dick, but if this is how you normally write (in school or work), you might want to work on your writing skills. your post is incoherent and although I usually don't mind grammar errors, you make them way too frequently. hopefully you pay more attention on your resume/cover letter

to answer your question, you just need basic understanding of financial statements in order to interview for a summer internship (assuming it's for accounting and not consulting). best way to get interviews would be through OCR.

 

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