Business vs. Economics + Math

(There are threads already out there on this subject, but I'm making this one to get more personalized responses about my situation)

EDIT: I've changed the title to make the discussion less limiting.

I know it's probably to early to be worrying about this stuff, but I just looked through the Ross BBA curriculum, and I see a lot of similarities with MBA programs. From what I hear it's a pretty well respected program and gets pretty good recruitment, but I don't want to waste my undergrad years learning something that I'll probably learn again. I know that LSA (the Science and Arts school at Michigan) has pretty bad recruitment when it comes to FO jobs at BBs, but would I still have a solid chance if I can maintain a good GPA (3.7+) and network like crazy? I'm going to try to get some sort of finance internship freshman year to make up for the fact I'm not in the undergrad business school (I know IB is a stretch but I'll settle for anything).

Will banks look down on me and think me not being in Ross shows a lack in interest? Ross still lets non-BBA students take some Ross classes like accounting and intro-to-finance, so I'll do that. I'm probably going to major in Econ and maybe minor in math to get some quant cred.

I mean I figure I might as well learn something useful while I have the chance. To be honest, a lot of the BBA classes seem like a joke. I know some of you guys are going to tell me not to worry about this stuff until later and that I should enjoy my life now. I get where you guys are coming, and it's totally respectable advice, but I'm just trying to get as much information possible to make sure I'm not making a mistake by not going to Ross.

BTW here is the employment profile for Ross BBA by function: http://www.bus.umich.edu/EmploymentProfile/ByFunc…

And here is the core curriculum: http://www.bus.umich.edu/Academics/Curriculum/Cor…
Are those classes worth taking?

I don't know the LSA recruitment numbers but I'm sure it's not that great.

 

I was in the same position, didn't even apply to Ross because i thought BBA's were a joke. You're not supposed to study finance in your ug career, take the opportunity to study something challenging that interest you. I've networked hard and talked to a lot of people, they all said they schedule LSA interviews either between ross interviews or on lunch/coffee break. You'll be fine outside of ross, i've got better sophomore placement than 90% of the Ross kids just network you're ass of from now and make sure you're GPA is really high. You have to remember that Ross inflates their GPA's and a few of them have 4.2/4.3 GPAs. I will say though that sometimes I wish I would have gone to ross just because the classes are easier and they help you out a lot with recruitment, but I chose LSA to better prepare me for my long term goals

 

I was planning on doing architecture as a freshman, and by the time I decided on doing something business/finance related the Ross app deadline had passed. To be honest I don't think I would have done it anyway, like you said the classes are a joke, and with enough networking you could pull IB off. I haven't networked at all (some minor contact from information sessions notwithstanding), have a 3.9 in Econ, and haven't gotten any call backs (as a sophomore), so let that be a warning to you to network the hell out of every alumnus and contact you can find.

 
Best Response

It's not an easy decision and I'm glad you're thinking about it early. From one perspective you're totally correct that it seems a waste of time to study finance/accounting all the time in UG when you should be learning languages, classics, history and other much cooler shit that will make you into an educated, worldly, respectable renaissance man. From another perspective, the recruiting is superior at Ross, Stern, Wharton (or whatever other UG biz school) and the things you'll learn studying there (accounting) are actually much more useful when you start work.

I'll tell you personally that i made the decision not to do the business school and just to take a few key classes in accounting/finance to supplement my liberal arts work (History and IR majors, lots of Chinese language classes)... Looking back on it, I'm not sure I'd do it the same way. Luckily I ended up in a good job, but my life was complicated by being on an abnormal track. I also wasn't prepared well for interviews, etc, (which was my fault, of course), and I would have been prepared had I been in a business major.

 

being at the business school gives you a huge advantage. there are so many more opportunities to network and work your way into whatever job you want to get. also, they have real recruiting and get way more interviews than lsa students do.

 

I would agree to go with Ross. Anytime you are at a school that has a great undergrad business school there is a stigma that you just couldn't get in. Also, majoring in business is going to help a lot when it comes to both landing interviews and performing in interviews (I am sure many people will argue the opposite, but having the background will help a lot when you get a technical that catches you off guard).

Especially if Ross classes are easier as you claim, an employer is going to pick a business student who knows the basics of accounting/finance/Excel with a 3.8 GPA compared to a 3.7 economics major who probably doesnt know too much about any of those.

 

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