Michigan Ross or Swarthmore Econ?

Colleges & Universities University of Michigan
21

intparent, I was referring purely to BBAs. Roughly 20% of Ross BBA graduates go into investment banking. Here are last year’s most active Bulge Bracket IBanks on campus:

JP Morgan 15
Citibank 14
Goldman Sachs 10
Morgan Stanley 8
Deutsche 7
BOA ML 6
Barclays Capital 5

http://michiganross.umich.edu/sites/default/files/uploads/Community/pdfs/15_recruiters_guide.pdf (pages 11 and 31)

socal321, I do not underrate Swarthmore. It is an exceptional college, certainly on par with the best colleges and universities in the nation. It has a very passionate and qualified faculty, a huge endowment (considering its size), a talented student body and an exceptional curriculum. But it does not come close to Ross when it comes to Investment Banking. In terms of pure academics and graduate school placement, Swarthmore is amazing, but like any institution of higher learning, it too has limitations. Claiming that Swarthmore can match Ross’s career placement would be like claiming that Michigan can match Swarthmore’s intimate classroom experience. That is not to say that Swarthmore does not place students well in IBanks, or that Michigan cannot accommodate intimate classroom experiences, but those are not their defining traits or strong suits.

22

@alexandre Can’t argue the point - Ross has the numbers. 15% - 20% of Swarthmore Econ majors go into IB. Although it includes top firms like Goldman, JP Morgan etc, it is obviously a much smaller number than Ross.

Just wondering if you have any data on Michigan Econ majors. Do they fare well in IB or are they pushed out by the presence of Ross?

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socal321, there is no data on LSA/Econ majors. That being said, the presence of a top ranked BBA program will usually draw most IBanking recruitment away from Arts and Sciences, and Michigan is no exception. There will be some Econ majors who will be placed in IBanks, naturally, but more Econ majors end up working at Fortune 500 companies or consulting firms.

24

Ross is better for east Coast and Chicago Finance. Hass is better for silicon valley or LA finance.

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Confused by all this talk of Berkeley etc. The question was Michigan Ross or Swarthmore. To my mind the obvious differences are size, location and a pre-professional vs liberal arts orientation. Swarthmore is small and intellectual. Michigan is large and Michigan Ross is full of professionally focused students. I’d go for Michigan simply because it is larger and more diverse. I found Swarthmore, like Bowdoin, to be too small.