UVA vs. Michigan for undergrad.
I've been accepted at both and am curious which has a better reputation/ recuirting on Wall Street. Although I realize my interests could definetely change, currently I'd like to work in finance after graduating. Right now I'm leaning towards UVA because over the past couple of years uva (McIntire) has done better in rankings of undergrad b-schools than Michigan (Ross) plus I really liked UVA when I visted. Basically I'm just curious hear people's opinion's on each school/
On a different note in highschool I got very good grades and test scores, but really wasn't on the ball early enough to get any really solid extra cirriculars done to put on my resume. Predictably, I got rejected from alot of the top schools (wharton, harvard, stanford, ect). Minimally I'm going to at least try to transfer to Wharton for my sohpmore year. Besides geting a 4.0 what else should I been doing between now and next spring to optimize my chances to be able to tranfer into a top target. This summer I am interning at a small regional investment bank. Next year I'm going to try and get involved in some sort of math/econ. research project and propably join my school's finance/business club and hopefully finangle my way into some sort of leadership position. Is there anything else I'm missing?
Michigan.
Better school environment. Higher undergrad b-school ranking. Better job ops, top IB/PE recruit here (Blackstone, GS, Lazard, etc.) Wolverines Football is way better
UVA might be strong in the Asset Managemetn area though.
Best, SoulSearching
Not saying the rankings mean a whole lot, but UVA has been ranked #2 behind Wharton the last 2 years.
I don't know why people put so much emphasis on rankings. Both are great schools, but like soulsearching said, UM offers the better college experience.
You're a senior in high school. Be a kid and enjoy yourself (but work hard in school).
Out of curiosity what makes the college experience better at Michigan. Obvisouly I'm really not that familiar with life at either of them.
I go to UVA but I've been a huge Michigan fan all my life (my dad went there). When applying to college I faced a similar decision and considered both schools equal, with the exception that with UVA I would be paying in-state tuition.
Now that I go there, I love UVA. I have absolutely no regrets about the decision. Not only is it a great college town but there always are tons of great parties and lots of hot chicks. The weather is also definitely better than Ann Arbor.
In terms of McIntire, I'm currently in it and its a great program. As a previous post mentioned, we've been ranked #2 behind Wharton for several years in a row. We have a brand new, state of the art Commerce School with outstanding professors. Our internship/job opportunities are fantastic as well - I have several friends interning at all of the top banks (GS, MS, JPM, BX, Laz, etc) this summer, so I wouldn't be worried about getting an internship.
You really shouldn't choose a college based on rankings though. Go with your gut and go to a place you can have fun.
Go to Ross, assuming you get the preferred admission. I doubt, however, that you got that as it's pretty competitive to obtain (5-10% rate). If you don't get pre-admit, it's a crapshoot. Personally, I would not take the risk of being forced to stay in LSA. I'd take Virginia CAS over LSA.
Depending on your b-school ranking, either can be better. USNews ranks Wharton as one, Sloan (MIT) as two, and Ross as three. Wharton is consensus number, considering that their student profile is far and wide much better than the other schools. Add to that the recruiting, alumni, and world-class staff in practically every area and you get the best undergrad business school in the world. After that, I think USNews ranks a better prestige ranking. I don't see Emory, Cornell, UVA, or ND business programs to be better than Sloan, Ross, Haas, or Stern.
Rankings aside, I highly doubt McIntire is better than Ross in any significant area, as soulsearching said. Maybe you should PM him. Personally, I feel that Mich has a generally better reputation. The recruiting is top-notch. It's hard to beat Blackstone, although I doubt they recruit much.
If the rankings are what concerns you, I would not take the business week rankings very seriously. You have to consider that they have only been out for 2/3years, not very consistent, and as previously mentioned there is no way their rankings of schools such as sloan below Notre Dame/Emory etc.. are accurate.The US news have been out much longer and are a lot more consistent and seem more accurate than busweek if that is what you are into. Just a thought.
I don't really care about the ranking of the school, its just that someone said Ross is ranked higher, and I pointed out that that isn't always the. I view both school as roughly equal. Is the general concensus that Ross has better recuirting and a better rep?
i go to ross but i think both are rather equal in terms of recruiting both have good business schools with small class sizes and there will be plenty of jobs to go around given that you are a good student ive been to uva campus before and i liked the place also. i dont think you can go wrong with your choice. you shouldnt care about rankings either, though i do agree that us news has a better ranking system. and also, just to let gnomeofzurich know, preadmit doesnt really mean much - i am one and its not anything special. if you a good student and interested in business at LSA you will get in to ross.
one thing ive noticed about ross is that the sophomore classes has been picking up strength lately and some firms that previously did not recruit as much have now begun recruiting more heavily, merill is the only one that doesnt visit campus.. we have under 350 sophs and there are a number who are getting BB experience this summer
i agree as a bunch of posters have said that the schools are somewhat equal, id argue however that UVA is more prestigious and a better education. It is much tougher to get into out of state at UVA than michigan and (for what its worth) is ranked slightly higher on US news rankings.
at the end of the day, both are great schools with great recruting (even if you arent in mcintire/ross although it def helps). similar atmospheres in my opinion with big time sports and a "rah-rah" culture. you have to decide what is a better fit (michigan has 25,000 students vs 13,000 at UVA, warmer weather at uva, athletics are bigger at mich). visit both schools and go with your gut, you really cant go wrong either way here.
also, work hard keep ur gpa above 3.5 and you should be able to get into mcintire/ross. i urge you to reconsider transfering, normally i advocate transfering from a nontarget to a target, but personally i dont see why would ever transfer from uva/mich to wharton. yes, wharton is higher ranked with better recruiting but i dont think its any easier to get a job from wharton. there is so much more competition and every kid there wants to work on wall st, one can argue it is tougher. uva/mich will be ten times more fun than h/y/p/w/s, girls are 10,000x hotter, and at the end of the day you will still be where you want to be if you work hard.
feel free to pm me to discuss further if you wish.
"uva/mich will be ten times more fun than h/y/p/w/s"
I never understand these posts. Says who? My friends at those schools had an incredibly time. I went to a top ten school that is routinely referred to being "oh won't be as fun...". I had incredible amounts of fun and so did the people around me. What's with the perception that people at elite schools are miserable? They aren't.
What's funny is that within my circle of friends, the state school kids all wished the went to an ivy for better recruiting and feel like they got robbed of an education, whereas the majority of my ivy friends, wish they went to a top state because they feel like they got robbed of the college experience. I fall somewhere in the middle - I attend a non-target, feel like my schooling is a joke, but I have free time to read/learn/whatever on my own, I get to party whenever I want, and I still got the internship I wanted (market permitting).
As for why we say the top targets aren't as fun, I'll give you a perfect example (I have stayed with friends at a few of the ivies, but we'll pick on Columbia specifically just for the hell of it): when I was on Columbia's campus for a little over a week, I was absolutely blown away by the ZERO socializing during the week. No one did anything until the weekend. Whereas at my school, there are functions everyday of the week, and enormous parties aren't just reserved for Friday and Saturday (in fact, my fraternity just threw a party with a well-known band last Tuesday - 500+ people were in my fraternity house). When I told these type of stories to the people I hung out with at Columbia they couldn't believe it, they couldn't fathom partying that much - consistently - during the week because it's just not sustainable with their workload. Also, I have fraternity brothers who literally get slammed at least 5 nights a week and they get B's. You get hammered 5 nights a week at UChiago and you're done after a semester. Examples like the aforementioned is why people say a lot of the top targets aren't that fun.
Furthermore, the "we had tons of fun" vs. "I'm miserable" really comes down to personalities. I was really into partying towards the end of high school and beginning of college so there's no way I could have enjoyed life at a Columbia or UChicago type environment early on. But now as I'm getting older, I don't really care about the insane partying nearly as much as I care about quenching my thirst for knowledge, which I feel like can't truly be done at my university (it's easy to become complacent when you're consistently the smartest person in the room). So I currently feel like I would thrive at a truly academic oriented university - I wish I was at a UChicago or a Columbia.
From my experience, Penn and Dartmouth give you the most enjoyable college experience out of the ivies (but I obviously haven't chilled at all of them).
Also, in this post I use ivy to reference any top school, not necessarily the athletic conference. And I'm sure there are easier majors or ways to make your workload not as bad at these schools, but to my knowledge, none of my friends are pursuing some fluff major so their lives sucks Monday through Thursday.
My two cents.
That's my college experience in a nut shell. It simply isn't competitive at all, so I'm free to be lazy, skip classes for weeks on end, and get fucked up pretty much whenever. And I try to educate myself outside of class, but I can't do that since I'm getting fucked up...
UVA is best of both worlds...
ive visited tons of schools and went to a "ucla/cal/uva/mich/texas/unc/duke" type of school. im not saying ivy schools arent fun (have always had fun at penn for example) but i dont think they can match the atmosphere of big greek life, big time collge sports, and the girls do not compare.
plus there are more "nerdy non partying" types at the ivies as opposed to the other types of schools. there are tons of kids who turn down the ivies every year for many of these reasons/arguments.
I've heard Michigan's strength was Supply Chain Management and corporate finance
lol that would be michigan state
they do supply chain management
I too have looked at UVA/Michigan extensively before ultimately going to UPenn. I definitely liked UVA better. Much better weather, smaller and more intimate atmosphere as opposed the massiveness of Michigan. You really can't go wrong with either choice. Both have excellent recruiting from all the BBs. I just personally think UVA would be much more fun from the vibe I got from the people I met there.
Although I agree with you bateman about what you said about Ivies, if you are a decently social person, you just find your niche with the right people and you have an amazing time. The girls may not be Arizona State-like, but if you find the right people at any school, it can be awesome. For example my friend at MIT is living the high life because hes not an awkward nerd and he ended up finding people just like him to party with and get girls. Everything is relative.
freeks i certainly agree with you, i just think all else equal the experience at an ivy doesnt compare in terms of the college experience with that of a uva/michigan.
hustler i think you are in a great position with two fantastic choices and cant go wrong either way. visit both schools, talk to as many students as possible, go out to bars/frats, and choose from your gut. i guarantee you will be happy either way.
Hopefully McIntire accepts my transfer app., but I've always been somewhat of a ne'ER do well.
Season opener is against USC next year, that should be fun.
keyser...exactly thats why uva/umich/unc/duke/berk offer the best of both worlds
I completely agree. When I'm older and have kids these are the schools I'll suggest my kids go to.
I'm an undergrad at Ross...I have little experience with UVA, but can tell you (I guess I'm biased) that Ross began a $150 million renovation last year that is scheduled for completion in January. If you looked at rankings, part of the reason Ross slipped was facilities, which makes sense considering our bschool was partially torn down and will now be almost triple the size. Plus it will have a state of the art gym which could be a deciding factor in itself...
Michigan has namebrand outside of finance. Not sure about UVA, but I'd think that it doesn't.
do you guys think Northwestern is in the same league as uva/umich/unc/duke/berk?
I'd put Northwestern same yes. Honestly, I consider UVA/Umich/Berkeley/NW, etc. to all really be effectively the same. It's up to the individual person to do well there. They're all excellent schools, and if I'd been deciding between just them, I would base it entirely on the financial aid package they were giving me.
Definitely Michigan over UVA. I'm pretty sure UVA is number 2 in business weekly rankings (which really don't mean shit) but somewhere top ten in USNews - which I think are more legit than BWeekly. Ross has a sick rep on Wall st and yes, they did receive the largest grant in state school history - all toward Ross.
as for Northwestern, since its liberal arts, the best thing you could do is double major in Econ and Mathematical methods. I've heard your GPA will take a beating, compared to the other schools mentioned, but apparently the kids that come out of NW are absolutely adored by recruiters - they are so polished during interviews that it makes up for any lower GPA/liberal arts education disparity between other undergrad b-schools - such as wharton/sloan.
school is awesome.
Michigan - great experience, diverse set of people - really smart bschool kids, hot sorority girls, great bars, sports all better than UVA.
UVA vs Michigan Ross for undergrad (Originally Posted: 03/31/2015)
I have been accepted at both UVA and Michigan as a Ross pre-admit. Viewing other posts, I believe that Michigan has better recruiting, but besides wall street recruiting, I like UVA better for factors like weather and girls. I would really appreciate your opinions if you currently work on wall street.
I'm not on Wall Street at the moment. I am, however, a student at Ross and I mean it when I say it's awesome here.
opps will be the same from either school, pick the one you like better.
I agree with this.
Yes, they are both very high quality. Go to whichever is cheaper.
One thing to consider is that you still have to apply to get into McIntire while you are pretty much secured a position in Ross as a pre-admit (provided that you don't get too crazy).
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