UNDERGRAD: UMich vs. Northwestern

I went to Umich, so this is biased - but it wins hands down.

Same banks come to the same schools, and placement is roughly equal. Northwestern might be ahead in some of the rankings you see, but Umich places just as well, if not better.

I guess the only updside Northwestern has over UofM is the fact that's so close to Chicago, and Ann Arbor is... well - 45 minutes from Detroit (aka a garbage dump). But if you can get past that - Umich has the alumni network, the party scene, the sports, and much better looking girls (although on the whole they are still hit) than NW.

The only problem i have with UMich is that its really big and i feel that come interview time for consulting/ibanking i will be competing with hordes of people.

Are you kidding? UMich, hands down.

You won't be competing with thousands of people. You are competing with just Ross b-school students. Don't worry about it, just come.

Welcome to Michigan.

Best, SoulSearching

hey id take UofM cuz i was gona go there into LSA honors but instead chose Wharton lol; otherwise id have done the UofM business school(Ross!!!)

hands down. you will see why when you look at all the instate kids at UMich who are getting degrees from your school.

So, does that mean that UMICH LSA AND ENGR is shitty? Do any of the investments firms recruit at Umich-LSA or Umich-ENGR?

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i can tell you that only a few umich lsa kids get into wall street but the ross kids place very very well

some engin and lsa kids get into consulting. but in terms of finance jobs, its mostly ross

btw openoutcry... BB's get 300 resumes from mich ususally not 600 as you've stated northwestern gets

75% of the 350 ross students will apply for BB's every year

you dont see many applicants from other students, and alot of firms only recruit at the business school

Uhh, Michigan, hands down. Assuming you're a heterosexual male, you'll appreciate Michigan sports far more than Northwestern's. I know, I know--at this juncture, you probably don't care about college sports. Trust me, you will, especially if you go to Michigan. You'll be the laughing stalk of college sports if you go to Northwestern.

If you want the total college experience + good job placement UMich is it. Its nice to have the combination of a great party scene and sports with quality academics and recruiting. Northwestern is obviously a good school, but yeah their football team sucks ass and I've heard that place is pretty boring.

So everyone is saying that recruiting is the same for UMich and Northwestern for finance jobs but what about consulting gigs (field i want to go into).

bling- thanks for the statistic. I wasn't aware that only 300 kids usually applied from UMich. To be honest though, I feel that your number must be a lowball estimate at best. Assuming that about 250 kids from the business school apply, I find it hard to believe that only 50 kids apply from UMich LSA, given that LSA is about 17000 kids. With a graduating class of about 4000 people, I doubt on average only 50 apply each cycle. I could be mistaken, again, I'm not too familiar with UMich, but given that banking/consulting is the latest craze, I would expect the number to be in the hundreds in the least.

Also, the financial certificate through Kellogg at Northwestern is a mere 4 quarters of class. Aren't undergraduate business programs more rigorous?

outcry - yes your assumptions are mostly correct. LSA has about 10000 kids not 17000. but overall, there are about 300-400 applications for each of the BBs per year. 75% of ross kids do apply to BB's but they might now apply to every bank or consulting firm. i would say for any given BB, half applicants from ross and half from the other mich students. but overall 300-400 is the number. if the BB's recruited actively throughout mich they would probably get even more appliations, but alot of the firms only come to ross to recruit. that may be a reason why the numbers are limited.

ive also noticed the consulitng vs. finance recruiting to be different. the banks seem to get 90% of their hires from ross.. as least foe IBD & ST. the consulting firms seem hire in a more even manner throughout the different mich colleges.

If I were you I would go to Northwestern without even a second thought about it. And No I dont go to NU.

kingbling89, do you know which firms or banks recruit at various umich colleges other than ross?

-You will be competing only with Ross students. -In fact, banks have separate recruiting programs for those kids from Engineering and LS&A. -Blackstone, Goldman, Morgan, JPM, Merrill, Lehman, and a handful of other ibanks all recruit at Ross. -McK, BCG, Bain, etc all come here -many kids at LS&A and Eng usually don't know and don't care about ibanks -our new b-school building kicks ass

plus, Ann Arbor is a beautiful city. Yes, Detroit is a shithole, but seriously, the ghetto is strictly contained

Best, SoulSearching

soulsearching, do any of the firms which you mentioned by any chance recruit at LS&A and/or Engin?

There is one and only one necessary kickass reason to go to Umich over NW:

Bubble Island....that place has the best fucking strawberry smoothies with tapioca bubbles made by man. The shit they have here in Chinatown and at Bubble House in Philly got nothing on Bubble Island. Don't order the food though, the food blows...unless they've changed it in the past three years.

Ann Arbor is a very nice place though, pretty girls, and Umich does have a good party scene. If there weren't the minor detail that I lived there since I was born, I would've more seriously considered staying.

Blackstone, Lehman Brothers, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, UBS, Macquarie, RBS, SIG, William Blair and etc. all recruit at LS&A as well.

Consulting firms love Engineering school students though.

Ann Arbor downtown is very cozy and beautiful, though the restaurants there are quite expensive $30-%50+/person.

Best, SoulSearching

Lazard, Evercore, and other top MM/boutiques recruit here as well.

sample Michigan graduates: Gerald Ford, Bruce Wasserstein, Larry Page, Charlie Munger, Sam Zell, Ross and etc. are all UMich graduates.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_School_of_Business#Notable_alumni

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_University_of_Michigan_people

Best, SoulSearching

If you are a New England Patriots fan...Tom Brady is a Michigan alum as well.

Best, SoulSearching

I come from the East coast and I certainly feel that Michigan girls are classy and down-to-earth.

You will not regret coming to Michigan. You will have a great time being here. If you are an upscale person, hit the down town - there are plenty of upscale restaurants (very good) that are $50+ per person. If you are a beer pong person, you will come to love Michigan immediately. "It's a public school and it's too large...and I won't be remembered by my professors." BULLSHIT. professors definitely get to know you well, and we have an outstanding pool of faculty members here who take their initiatives to help you succeed.

Come to Michigan, you will never regret.

Best, SoulSearching

im biased because i went there but umich all the way, great experience.

the greek life is huge and going to football games at the big house is an unforgettable experience.

i'm from nyc and work on a trading desk here now but i miss ann arbor a ton, great town.

------

"its the running joke now, we now have fair trade with china so they send us poisoned sea food and we send them fraudulent securities."

ST2008,

all the BB's and most if not all the top boutiques recruit at Ross. a bunch of the BB's also recruit at LSA/Engin but non of the top boutiques do

DB recruits at LSA/Engin for S&T only GS recruits across michigan CS recruits across michigan JPM recruits across michigan LEH recruits across michigan UBS recruits across michigan McK, Bain, BCG also recruit across michigan MS does not recruit LSA/Engin MER does not either C does not either

but the word "recruits" should be differentiated between ross and LSA/Engin. the statistics are obviously disparate. For example, all of GS s&t and ibd hires this year came from ross despite the fact that they interview LSA/Engin also. LEH and DB had one financial math person go to S&T from LSA respectively, but the rest of the hires were from Ross. MS, LAZ, JPM, UBS had ross hires. CS had hires from both.

the consulting firms are 50/50. they take a bunch from LSA/Engin and a bunch from Ross. Though some firms like Huron/Mercer/Oliver/AT recruit mostly from ross.

mich is probably one of the only schools where the business degree beats out the math,econ,engin degrees in terms of finance recruitment for some reason.

but regarding soulsearching's professor comment...

i actually dont think you get to know professors very well. you might get to know them a lil better in ross classes simply because they are smaller but in lsa classes.. this is almost never the case. i only know this because i major in econ/polsci as well and there is very little good professor exposure in my opinion

even at ross classes.. the basic ones are gsi taught. the electives are supposedly better but you dont get to take them till late junior/senior year and by then you dont give a shit about school anyways.

I would probably pick Umich as well considering they have a good work-life balance. If I were to choose an undergraduate business school to attend to, I'd pick either Wharton, Berkeley, Michigan, Virginia or Texas (Austin).

Hows ross do for S&T recruiting, considering the courses don't seem to be too quantitative?

Hser1,

Most of us go into either ibanking or consulting, but there are kids that go into S&T as well.

Ross is "less quantitative" is bullshit. Yes, Calculus I is the only math requirement... yet most of us have taken beyond Calc I precisely because Ross is very competitive to get in. There are students who double major in BBA and EECS (or Econ which requires at least Calc II).

Best, SoulSearching

S&T recruiting is top notch. If you know your stuff - you will land an internship and an offer. Ross has some great derivatives and general trading classes. They also have a fully functioning trading room which is ridiculous. I don't know how many undergraduate programs can say that.

Also, I love Ann Arbor and Umich, but am I missing something or does Merrill now come to recruit for IBD? When I was there they had the distinction of being the only major bank to not come to recruit at Ross (they came for S&T and Asset Management).

buck2210,

your memory serves you well. merill still does little recruiting at umich except for Asset Management. i dont even think they did S&T this past year.

Merrill didn't recruit this year.

Best, SoulSearching