Hello, guys. I recently received these two offers from Umich Econ and USC Marshall Bus. I am a transfer student and an junior. Also, I am an international student from China. After college, I really want to do business, especially investment banking. I was told by lots of my friends that Umich has better academic strength while USC has lower reputation around the nation. I think it may be the truth but I was rejected by Ross, so if I go to Umich, then I will graduate as an econ student.
UMich is a stronger target for Investment Banking, but the problem is they recruit heavily from Ross. So it will be very difficult for you to convince them to hire you over a Ross student with similar GPA, especially since you’re a junior already. Unless you have work experience in that area (even smaller boutique banks are fine), it will be extremely difficult for you to stay after graduation working in investment banking. Considering this, I think you might be better off attending USC’s Marshall Business School which may allow you to get an investment banking position in Hong Kong, Singapore etc. USC has a lot of Chinese students so you might find more USC graduates in banks in China. Just my 2 cents from reading around.
You need to ask people in your own country about the reputation of these two programs. As a business or economics major, you will be able to work in the US for only 12 months after graduating. When that OPT visa extension runs out, you will need to leave. It will be all but impossible for you to find an employer here who will be able to get an H1B (work) visa for you. There are too many US applicants for those jobs.
You can contact the departments and the career centers at each of these universities and ask them about job and internship placement for international students. You want to have the best possible experience in your OPT, so that you have something to offer your employers when you leave the US.
I don’t know enough about these schools (especially UMich econ) to give you an outright informed decision but here are a few points for USC you should consider (because I know at least a bit about USC): apparently USC has a pretty nice network that you can access (while I’m not sure it would be the same as a non-Ross student at UMich). USC is also a very international-forward campus, as in they really push connecting and sending students internationally to study or whatever, more so than other schools I’ve seen. Also, it’s in southern California - where there are only two seasons of summer and slightly colder summer.
Really think about what you want to study. There is a huge difference in the coursework you will take as an econ major and in a business school program. As an econ major you will be a liberal arts student and in a b-school you will take a business core curriculum (with classes such as accounting, finance, business law etc.) and major in a business discipline. I’m not saying one is better than the other but there are differences. I suggest you spend time and go online to each school and see what course you will take with the two different scenarios (liberal arts at UM and b-school at USC). If one course of study is more interesting to you then that should play a role in your decision.
@blu5959 Thank you for you response. From you ID, I guess you go to Umich? I heard from couple of my friends, they said there are investment banks from China go to Umich to recruit, but not USC? I thought USC should have more connection to Asia, but if my friends are right, it seems Umich has more connection to Hong Kong banks. What do you say?
@happymomof1 Thank you. I guess that there are still a fair amount of companies are willing to help us to get H1B, although it is hard. I will definitely ask career center in both school. Thank you !!
@shk909 I did my internship in SF this summer. I think SF is a very nice city to live and work. Do USC graduates have good job market in SF? Compared to Berkeley?
@happy1 Thank you. Yes. I need to do more research about it. Lots of my American friends told me Umich is better than USC, because USC has too many D-bag? I don’t whether that is true or not. People from my country think umich is better in academic and academic environment.
After I checked the classes, I think I will do the business. I think those courses are more practical. I love things which can be used immediately after graduation.
@slzSLZ I’m not a UMich student but I’m interested in investment banking like you, so I’ve been doing some research online. Don’t take everything I’ve said as a fact because it’s not from my personal experience, but from experience of other people online. In response to your questions, I think UMich is definitely better than USC in terms of academic experience, but USC is famous for having lots of students from Asia (UMich has students from Asia of course, but not as much). So if you have a lot of graduates from USC, there should be more alumni in the banks in Asia. However, for the American banks like Goldman Sachs who all have strong presences in Hong Kong, UMich is the stronger target compared to USC (but again, that’s for Ross). UC Berkeley’s Haas school of business definitely beats USC in terms of recruiting for LA and SF offices. You need to determine which school is more prestigious in China.
“I guess that there are still a fair amount of companies are willing to help us to get H1B, although it is hard.”
No, you are wrong about that. Only a limited number of H1B visas are issued each year, and the competition between companies to get those visas is fierce. When a company applies for an H1B visa for a potential employee, that company has to demonstrate to the US government that there are no US candidates for the job. The only people I have known who were able to get an H1B have advanced degrees in a technical field and multiple years of work experience or have completed medical studies in their home countries. Here at CC I have read of rare cases of students with only an undergrad degree in engineering or computer science who found employers who were able to arrange an H1B because in the year that those students were hired there weren’t enough US students who graduated in those fields of study. Lots of US students study business and economics so please do not waste your energy hoping to find an employer who can get you an H1B. That will truly be almost impossible.
To be perfectly honest, if you want to stay here and work after graduation, you should use part of your free time as a student to find a US citizen to marry. That will get you green card status almost immediately and then you can work wherever you want to in the US.
@happymomof1 Well. It may be very hard to find an employer to give international students H1B, but many of my friends who study acco and finance got H1B already.
Yeah. Finding a US citizen to marry is the best way, but this kind of thing is very random and we cannot plan to marry a US citizen.
@blue5959 Hello. I just checked my Transfer Credits Report from USC. It seems like it will take me two and half, even three years to graduate. I also bought a premium membership on Linkedin. I saw Umich does have lots of graduates in IBs. AND I read there profiles. Some of them study Business when they were undergraduate, but many of them took some relevant major like pychology, history, and after MBA, they got into IBs.
Should I just go to Umich and finish econ in 2 years, and take an MBA?
@PurpleTitan So Umich Econ and USC Marshall which can offer better chance to reach out good work experience. Let’s say I work same hard in both school.
I’d say they’re about the same. What you bring to the table as an individual will matter more than which of these 2 you choose. Go with fit and the subject that you want to study.
Why are you still undecided? Is it kind of late? Fall 2015 is starting soon. My daughter’s roommate got interview with Goldman Sachs and got job offer there with an industry engineering, very similar to business. But she had a near perfect 4.0 GPA.
