Senior at Stern reporting live—systemically, everything is the same here. The clubs, seniority, curve, etc. Just commenting to empathize.
Some argue that clubs are essential, but I've gone rogue without them and had no trouble professionally. I can't stand the culture. Some upperclassmen frame unnecessarily brutal hazing and feeding egos as 'giving back.' However, I may be too cynical and anti-establishment.
Luckily, we have formal concentrations (finance, DS, marketing, etc.), so there are fewer useless classes. Consequentially, some complain that school seems too much like work.
As an undergraduate “business” student at a different school, I have to agree with the points you make. I do wonder, to your point about specializations, if Ross does not offer area depths or concentrations so people can design their major within the business school. Just curious because while I do have to take some boring core classes ( cough marketing cough), my area depths are finance and information systems, so I get to choose my electives within those fields. Is this similar to the structure at Ross?
hi lola! great question - Ross does actually have a great selection of electives for specialized interests outside of the core curriculum, but the main problem imo is students specialize way too late, so there's not a ton of room for electives in their schedule.
there also technically are "concentrations" but they're not formalized - people usually just pick 1-2 that are relevant to their job of interest and put it on their resume lol, regardless of whether they actually took relevant classes or not
As a 2020 michigan grad (econ not ross), I would only encourage other readers to maybe be more open to their non-major courses. You kind of tell on yourself by calling your electives 'impractical.'
Being in the real word for 4 years now, it is really helpful to
a) have a baseline understanding of how different functions in your org operate, and
b) have interests and skills that aren't devoted purely to making money. Because you are inevitably going to have to work with people that don't give a shit about any of this and just want to talk about their favorite books/shows.
So take those LSA electives! Get that minor in russian lit!
Stuart! Thanks for sharing thoughts. Great points - some of my favorite class were outside of Ross (Critical Reasoning, Writing Sketch Comedy, etc). I haven’t *fully* been in the real world yet, but I can assume that knowing about different areas is still important (especially if your role is cross-functional)
As a 2024 Ross grad, I think a lot of your points do a good job of pointing out the frustrations of a lot of us Rossholes. I want to share my perspective as someone who wasn’t in any Ross clubs or business frats.
I was able to find my niche and do very well for myself and there are a lot of others in my boat too.
I didn’t want to go into IB or consulting, but you are on point that the students in the clubs have a massive advantage in recruiting those areas. My biggest issue with these clubs is not the leg up that you get in recruiting. My issue is that most freshmen don’t know what they want to do for a career but are immediately faced with a choice their first semester on campus: Do I want to do investment banking, consulting, or neither?
If you decide neither, the main route to becoming a top candidate for those fields is through joining a finance or consulting club, which you can only really do as a freshman, so you are effectively closing the door on those careers already. Those that decide on one (and get into a club) will spend so much time learning and preparing for recruiting these careers and also have so much social pressure from their peers in their club to go into IB or consulting that they most likely will go that route instead of maybe exploring another interest that they find.
I think my biggest disagreement I have is about group projects at Ross. You are right that being stuck in a bad group is the worst, and often 1-3 people carry while the others are freeloaders. This is not unique to Ross, or to business schools, or to any college class ever, so I don’t think this is a fair criticism of Ross. I’ve had some great experiences with group projects that have lead to thoughtful learnings, friendships outside of class, and have prepared me for working with others in corporate America.
Senior at Stern reporting live—systemically, everything is the same here. The clubs, seniority, curve, etc. Just commenting to empathize.
Some argue that clubs are essential, but I've gone rogue without them and had no trouble professionally. I can't stand the culture. Some upperclassmen frame unnecessarily brutal hazing and feeding egos as 'giving back.' However, I may be too cynical and anti-establishment.
Luckily, we have formal concentrations (finance, DS, marketing, etc.), so there are fewer useless classes. Consequentially, some complain that school seems too much like work.
You're right - the same patterns are everywhere!
As an undergraduate “business” student at a different school, I have to agree with the points you make. I do wonder, to your point about specializations, if Ross does not offer area depths or concentrations so people can design their major within the business school. Just curious because while I do have to take some boring core classes ( cough marketing cough), my area depths are finance and information systems, so I get to choose my electives within those fields. Is this similar to the structure at Ross?
hi lola! great question - Ross does actually have a great selection of electives for specialized interests outside of the core curriculum, but the main problem imo is students specialize way too late, so there's not a ton of room for electives in their schedule.
there also technically are "concentrations" but they're not formalized - people usually just pick 1-2 that are relevant to their job of interest and put it on their resume lol, regardless of whether they actually took relevant classes or not
Great Read!
As a 2020 michigan grad (econ not ross), I would only encourage other readers to maybe be more open to their non-major courses. You kind of tell on yourself by calling your electives 'impractical.'
Being in the real word for 4 years now, it is really helpful to
a) have a baseline understanding of how different functions in your org operate, and
b) have interests and skills that aren't devoted purely to making money. Because you are inevitably going to have to work with people that don't give a shit about any of this and just want to talk about their favorite books/shows.
So take those LSA electives! Get that minor in russian lit!
Stuart! Thanks for sharing thoughts. Great points - some of my favorite class were outside of Ross (Critical Reasoning, Writing Sketch Comedy, etc). I haven’t *fully* been in the real world yet, but I can assume that knowing about different areas is still important (especially if your role is cross-functional)
Amazing read
Thanks goat
As a 2024 Ross grad, I think a lot of your points do a good job of pointing out the frustrations of a lot of us Rossholes. I want to share my perspective as someone who wasn’t in any Ross clubs or business frats.
I was able to find my niche and do very well for myself and there are a lot of others in my boat too.
I didn’t want to go into IB or consulting, but you are on point that the students in the clubs have a massive advantage in recruiting those areas. My biggest issue with these clubs is not the leg up that you get in recruiting. My issue is that most freshmen don’t know what they want to do for a career but are immediately faced with a choice their first semester on campus: Do I want to do investment banking, consulting, or neither?
If you decide neither, the main route to becoming a top candidate for those fields is through joining a finance or consulting club, which you can only really do as a freshman, so you are effectively closing the door on those careers already. Those that decide on one (and get into a club) will spend so much time learning and preparing for recruiting these careers and also have so much social pressure from their peers in their club to go into IB or consulting that they most likely will go that route instead of maybe exploring another interest that they find.
I think my biggest disagreement I have is about group projects at Ross. You are right that being stuck in a bad group is the worst, and often 1-3 people carry while the others are freeloaders. This is not unique to Ross, or to business schools, or to any college class ever, so I don’t think this is a fair criticism of Ross. I’ve had some great experiences with group projects that have lead to thoughtful learnings, friendships outside of class, and have prepared me for working with others in corporate America.