UMICH: LSA Econ vs Ross

I will take a stab at this. As someone familiar with the Ross recruiting cycle, I never felt as if Ross students had a giant advantage over LSA or Engineering in terms of interviews, networking, etc. That being said, Ross students certainly do get more perks over the rest of the university, but coming from a non-Ross background may actually differentiate you. Remember, recruiters often see 300+ Ross resumes and only 40-60 LSA ones.

Everyone, yes everyone, from the whole university is welcome to go to networking sessions. While the majority of UM students who go into banking/PE are from Ross, that is simply due to it being the business school. Most LSA students are not interested in finance, which is why only a small number actually recruit for banking. I personally know plenty of non-Ross students that received offers at places such as GS, MS, HL, Moelis, Centerview, JPM, etc. for IB and S&T.

In terms of disadvantages, you will not have access to the Ross alumni database, which can be helpful at times during networking. While there are some connections to be made this way, LinkedIn is still far more effective for finding contacts. Further, there are certain Ross-specific online platforms that are run by the career center for when interviews come around. I believe both LSA and Engineering have their own online platforms that essentially do the same thing, but am not 100% sure.

Next, you will have to prove that you are genuinely interested in finance. There are ways to do this by taking Ross courses (yes, non-Ross students can do this). The 2 most important ones to take in this case are Intro to Financial Accounting and Intro to Finance. I believe you can take both as a non-Ross sophomore. Something to keep in mind: Ross GPAs can be a bit inflated as an A+ in a class warrants a 4.4/4.0 grade, so I would recommend striving to get a very high LSA GPA (3.9+) if you wish to be successful in the process as a junior. Banks know that LSA GPAs are not inflated, but it can be hard to compare a Ross kid with a 3.95 and an LSA kid with a 3.6. I am sure you know who will get the interview... That being said, networking can overcome even the worst of GPAs if you make the right connections early on.

Addressing the last point about re-applying, I am not sure how the new acceptance policy works. When I was going through the process, there were ~100 pre-admits and everyone else was accepted as freshmen. I know the school recently changed that, but I am not sure if that bars rejected pre-admit applicants from applying again. I suggest reaching out to the school for this.

Finally, there are two last thing to keep in mind. First, you can do a Ross minor which gives you most of access that a Ross major would for the online platforms and resources I mentioned earlier. The application process for the minor is still very competitive. And you should apply BEFORE your sophomore year, giving you more clout when you start networking with banks before your junior year. Second, I know Ross has better connections to Wall St. and alumni are a lot more active than LSA alumni. That being said, IF you put in enough work, talk to Ross friends about networking sessions that are coming up, and keep ties with recruiters (they understand you do not have access to the Ross online materials), you should not have a problem. While it is harder to recruit from than Ross, being an LSA student in a hard major with a high GPA is certainly something that tons of banks and PE shops appreciate.