University of Michigan - Ross school of business

A couple of questions mate ... this is more future driven than immediate but I thought I might as well try;

1. Do you feel that the Ross brand resonates strongly in India? Although I am from India, I have not lived in India for many years now, and hence I am unsure of the recognition a school like Ross gets in India. Your thoughts on this would be appreciated.
2. What opportunities are your students from India seeing in the Indian marketplace immediately after completing their MBA?

Your screenname seems to indicate that you are from neck of the woods so this might be highly apropos.

sm, Ross definitely has a good brand name in India. The brand value within a region is usually driven by the amount of alumni present in that region. Ross has a reasonable number of alumni living in India, but that number is significantly less than the number of people from IIMs, and to a lesser extent ISB. If you are strongly focused on a career in India, the IIMs are better value for money than almost any other foreign B-school.

But, taking the Indian schools out of the equation, Ross does have big footprint in India relative to other elite schools. Apart from the alumni community, there are a couple of factors that contribute to this.

MAP : MAP, as you probably know by now, is the cornerstone of the Ross MBA education. It is a mini-internship of sorts done by student teams just before their summer internships at the end of 1st year. Many of Ross's MAP partners are India's most recognizable brand names; both domestic and foreign. Some names that come to mind immediately are TVS Motors, Infosys, Microsoft India, Johnson & Johnson, Lehman Brothers - Investment Banking, Sundaram Group, Arvind Eye Care, and HLL. As you can see, this list cuts across a broad spectrum of industries. During the MAP project, students work with senior management in all these companies and ultimately make recommendations that are then implemented by the company. For instance, 1 of my contacts at Ross worked on developing a market entry strategy for Infosys in the Asia Pacific. The MAP projects are generally very successful and as a result senior management/HR in these companies know that Ross MBAs are some of the brightest in the world. So, if you knock on their door, assuming you also do the ground work, I am pretty sure you will be given a chance to atleast interview.

Professors - Ross has an amazing strategy department. More importantly, many of the leading professors there are from India. People like CK Prahlad, Gautam Ahuja and the rest are sought after by India's leading companies for consulting purposes. So, if you studied strategy at Ross, companies in India will know that you were taught by some of the best faculty in that field. This again provides another hook for you when you network.

So, I would say that Ross MBA does provide you enough leverage to land the best jobs in India. Whether you can do it or not will totally be upto you. The opportunities will definitely be there.



This is a toughie. For any school, the farther you go away from the region in which it is based, the lesser the impact of the school's career management group. So, it means you as a student will need to do more on your own. As I said before, MAP is a fantastic opportunity. If your target company is on the MAP list, you can bid heavily on it and land that project. Once you land the project, network like crazy while in India and try to land an internship. If you land the internship, then it is just a matter of winning people over by demonstrating that you will be a valuable addition to the company.

In summary, if you want to work in India and you know that is what you want to do, go to the IIMs. Even ISB is a newer brand and doesnt have as many alumni in senior management positions as the IIMs do. But, if you want to go to a school that provides a strong brand value all over the world including India, Ross is better than most of its peer schools in the US. You can't go wrong by deciding to come to Ross.

NCP - thanks for your thoughtful reply. I appreciate the time you took in crafting it. I think you raise some valid points which are very reassuring to a prospective applicant.

I think the fundamental question I will have to answer sooner rather than later is 'which company, which geography, and when?' These questions will help clarify the potential options.

I do have ISB as a wildcard choice ... if the other options dont work out although I reckon it is already a highly competitive program.

Just to add to ncp's reply- I believe the University of Michigan has a good number of alumni in India- so you can tap into that netwrok as well. The really cool thing about Ross is that it is part of a much broader university wide that has very highly regarded Graduate programs.

Myself and a couple of other few admits met Al Controne (Director of Career Development) and some alums from my area for dinner/drinks last night. He emphasized that we could tap into the BBA alums as well as alums from other graduate schools in our job search. An interesting anecdote from one of the alums who works for P & G- apparently the MAP team that worked at P & G did a PHENOMENAL job and a head of adivision questioned the recruiting team why these MAP members were not offered an internship. Apparently, there is a very strong chance that these folks might be getting an internship just based on their MAP- which is pretty cool.

yeah UMICH does have an extensive network given its gargantuan size. So makes for another potential choice for me. Good to see that the linkages with India are getting deeper.

thanks for your input guys ... I am sure I will be asking you for more info as time passes

Are season football tickets available for PT students?

Give the PT some love!

Ross has released their deadlines for the class of 2011:

https://www.bus.umich.edu/Admissions/ApplyNow.htm

Hey guys,

I am visiting Ross on the 18th of this month. I signed up for the "Summer Visit Ross Programs" which includes Coffee Chat with someone from the Admissions office, Tour of Business School and Q&A with Admissions Committee Representative.

I really wanted to meet some students but all the Fall events start pretty late. Is there any remote chance that I could speak to / meet someone on campus.....

Thanks!

Hi prospect

Are you visiting Ross on July 18th? That is extremely early because the required part of our program does not start until August 21st, so I doubt any gmatclubber will be in AA as early as July 18th. I am arriving on July 24th, so if you can postpone your visit by 1 week I would be able to meet you, but keep in mind that I am an incomming student so I probably won't be of much help, I can only advise on the application process.
And, if you have any questions regarding the application process you can send me a message here on gmatclub also.

Cheers!

Thanks Darden for your reply. I am trying to visit all the schools early this time so I can start focusing on my apps. I will be in touch throughout the application process , thank you for offering your assistance!

[quote="Ramsraj"]Hi,

I plan to apply for Michigan Univ, this year, i will have 4 years of work ex by next June. I work as a Software Engg,I have a GMAT score of 690.

I am also involved into Investing into Stock Markets, and i have a great Interest for Investing,i do blogging,even where i have written some articles on Investing and Financial Markets, although they are at a beginner's level.

Do u think i can go ahead and apply for Ross for MBA? Do i stand a chance?

Thanks,
Ram

hello, I am an undergraduate alum from michigan. I went to LSA and graduated in 2006. I am applying this year for school but my gpa is on the lower end of the spectrum. I have heard that they like accepting alums, how true is that?

I have met a pretty significant number of Michigan undergrad alums thus far, so it certainly appears to be true.

My GPA is also below the average. To combat that I made sure that my GMAT score was significantly better than average. I emphasized the steep increase in my grades over the last couple of years of undergrad.

I am guessing that you are indian based on your name. Unfortunately, the pool of indian IT workers (including software development) is very competitive. Your GMAT score is probably on the low range for your demographic. Not that you can't make it (like if you have outstanding work experience, a unique and impressive history or some very impressive ECs), but you would probably be much better off if you can improve your score into the 720 range.

Hi Buddy,

Must be a great feeling once u graduate. To brief about me, i am a chartered accountant from India (equivalent to CPA in US). Of late i have been doing a lot of research on US Bschools. i m more inclined towards PE post MBA. my hunch is Ross is strongly focussed towards finance and equity research. Just want to know whether my assessment is coorect. May i know what percentage of your batch got into PE post MBA and whther it was through internship there or some other way and what is the typical profile of a person who gets into PE. Thanks

Hi,

At Ross, like at almost every other B-school, PE recruiting is unstructured and exclusively off-campus. People who get those jobs, get them via intense and extensive networking, not through the career services office.

-nc

To those who are/have matriculated,

I was hoping you could provide a little background about sustainability at Ross, and specifically the culture around the MS/MBA with the Erb institute. I have some interest in sustainability, not necessarily from an environmental crusader POV (don't really want to be a hypocrite about that), but moreso from it being a sound business strategy in the 21st century and a potential for adding value to clients.

I looked at the website, but couldn't get a good handle on the overall theme of the program. If there is someone else to whom I could direct my questions, I would very much appreciate his or her contact information. Thanks.

Hi,

I'm planning a visit to Ross this June. Does the school prefer students to visit the admissions office? I know that some schools don't track visits, but some do and weigh them in your application. Would appreciate any insights, thanks.

Regards,
Aboo

I dont think the school has a specific preference. Obviously, the goal of the visit is for you to get good insights into the MBA program at Ross. During June, there will not be many(if any) MBA students on-campus since current MBA2s wold have graduated and current MBA1s would be interning. So, you really dont gain any student perspectives that can help strengthen your decision to apply. My recommendation is that you start making email contacts from now until August and use those contacts to get the most of your visit later in the fall.