REVIEWER IDENTITY VERIFIED ****@umich.edu [?]
I was initially not considering Ross - I didn't know much about the program, I don't really care about Michigan, I pictured Ann Arbor as a small sleepy town, and I don't like snow (born and raised and returning to the South post-MBA). After several very strong endorsements from friends/acquaintances who were currently in the program or recent alumni, I looked into the program. I ended up accelerating my timeline by a year and only applying to Ross that year. If I didn't end up getting in, I would consider other programs the following year. I took the GMAT once and cleared 700 and figured it was worth throwing my hat in the ring for R2. Luckily it worked out and now I'm really passionate about helping other people find the right fit for their business school experience but especially in getting the word out to regions outside the midwest about how great Ross has been for me.
Ross hits all the standard marks for what you should expect from a top 20 MBA program: great recruiting opportunities (I'm going to what I consider to be the #1 consulting company post-Ross), iconic and accomplished professors, student-led culture with many leadership opportunities, and an extremely strong and varied alumni network. I wanted to learn more about entrepreneurship and social impact and Ross was surprisingly strong in both of these areas (research Zell Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies - tons of resources for student startups, the Center for Social Impact, the Center for Positive Organizations, Social Venture Fund, TechArb Student Venture Accelerator, and Detroit Revitalization & Business Club). I've been limited only by my own time, there have been way more opportunities to work on my own ideas and explore other opportunities, contribute to projects in Detroit (in both meaningful and less meaningful ways - important reflection and experiences), and learn about new career paths than I could have expected.
Ann Arbor surpassed all expectations: it's a great college town that shuts down for football games and also has incredible, international thought leaders coming to speak on campus regularly. A lot of local food options, very safe, and beautiful. But I've been blown away by Detroit. It's incredibly complex and I think a lot of the beautiful and not-so-beautiful things happening in the city are going to be increasingly relevant to the rest of American cities. Understanding the friction of "revitalization" and getting a front row seat to the burgeoning entrepreneurship and VC scene has been invaluable.
This is probably also something that a lot of top schools do well but I think I have benefitted tremendously from the amount of diversity (in every sense of the word) in my class. Something like 30% international, 40% women, a lot of military veterans, many students of color (although it could probably be higher) -- it leads to a lot of powerful conversations and messy interactions that I think are preparing us to be more effective managers in an globalized world post-MBA. I would much rather be educated about business in Asia from classmates who have done business there than just reading articles about it, travel with classmates from Latin America to their home countries and see it from their perspective, talk about ongoing racial tension in America with the students from communities most effected than assuming I know mostly what I need to know, and learn about the city of Detroit from students who have lived most of their lives there rather than fellow hipsters who moved in and bought a duplex last year and now feel like they're a critical part to the city's "comeback." Wherever you go to school, you should be using your MBA to learn as much as you can about different cultures. It's an unparalleled opportunity.
For future applicants -- figure out what you're really interested in and find a school that will help you explore those passions. These could be directly or indirectly related to your career. You being able to talk passionately about the school's programs/clubs/diversity/events/location etc. will stand out in your application and interview and help you come across much more authentically than your peers who are going to use the same language as everyone else that they got from the website. Visit a wide range of schools BEFORE you apply (I can't stress this enough - it helps you figure out which schools you actually want to apply to vs. just reading these forums or hearing info secondhand) and genuinely talk to current students to understand why they chose that school vs. others and what they would change about their current program/process so you can learn from mistakes.
Non-grade disclosure is awesome but standard at most schools. I would not have liked attending a program where grade disclosure was the norm - my GPA is still 3.6+ but I took harder classes that were more interesting to me because I wasn't try to game the GPA game for employers. There are some iconic professors at Ross that I would follow anywhere, but I'm sure it's like that at other schools as well. What I think helps Ross stand out is how many other top-ranked colleges/programs there are at the University of Michigan - I've taken class with School of Education and School of Information (for UX/UI design work) and they're both top ranked programs. Law School, Med School, and Engineering School are all also extremely strong which creates this ecosystem where you're taking cross-disciplinary courses and teaming with smart people from a lot of different backgrounds across programs. A big focus of mine is entrepreneurship and I've directly benefitted from learning from the start-ups coming out of these other schools + using the talented students as consultants for my own idea.
Ross has a branding problem because it's really good at a lot of different areas. There's an incredible amount of diversity in career aspirations across the class and that creates less competition for spots at top companies, especially those outside of consulting (a lot of people still want to do consulting). All of the same large companies that recruit at other top-ranked schools come to Ross and our starting salaries are very competitive, but I would argue for certain companies your chances are higher at getting a spot coming from Ross than another school where everyone is trying to do X industry and going up for the same companies.
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