<p>This discussion is definitely not about ranking of Michigan. OP had a specific question; how to resolve the conflict between incurring a loan burden of $180 K to attend Yale versus attending Ross, Michigan’s UG business school, at ½ the cost and not incur any loans.</p>
<p>Furthermore OP stated that his/her friend is interested in pursuing business as a career. The following questions are in order.</p>
<ol>
<li>Which of the two has better business curriculum, business faculty, and grooms its students for business?
Curriculum: Ross, in addition to requiring academic breadth (liberal arts), provides the depth needed in various areas of business.
<a href=“Core Course Requirements - BBA - Academics at the Michigan Ross School of Business”>Core Course Requirements - BBA - Academics at the Michigan Ross School of Business;
</ol>
<p>Yale, on the other hand, offers just one course in accounting, ACCT 170a, Financial accounting versus numerous courses offered by Michigan.
In marketing, or business strategy, Yale’s curriculum does not list any courses in these areas. Of course, one may argue that game theory is strategy, but not quite, simply because business eco system is far more complex; game theory is one important aspect of numerous business strategy considerations.
<a href=“Subjects of Instruction < Yale University”>http://catalog.yale.edu/ycps/subjects-of-instruction/</a></p>
<p>Michigan is well known in the areas of marketing management and strategy among people in the know. Yale, does have a great economics program, and offers a plethora of courses in finance, game theory etc.
<a href=“Economics < Yale University”>Economics < Yale University; </p>
<p>Faculty/Thought leadership: Ross’s business faculty has produced a prodigious volume of work in advancing the concepts of economics, finance, operations research, etc, in ares that are applicable to many strategic & operational aspects of business.
<a href=“Michigan Ross | Faculty & Research”>http://www.bus.umich.edu/FacultyResearch/</a></p>
<p>Yale’s faculty is well known for fundamental research & innovating in many areas.
<a href=“http://innovators.yale.edu/faculty.asp”>http://innovators.yale.edu/faculty.asp</a>
In keeping with Yale’s tradition based on “liberating or freeing the mind to its fullest potential. The essence of such an education is not what you study but the result – gaining the ability to think critically and independently and to write, reason, and communicate clearly – the foundation for all professions”, Yale does have an edge over Ross in the area of liberal arts education. However, when it comes to business specific SKILLS, Ross provides the skills needed by the business. This is reflected by the sentiment of business leaders when they recruit at campuses look for specific skills & subject area mastery, and not where the student attended college.
<a href=“Business Leaders Say Knowledge Trumps College Pedigree”>Business Leaders Say Knowledge Trumps College Pedigree; - Well-Being (link repeated for convenience)</p>
<ol>
<li><p>What about business related career resources?
Michigan devotes career resources exclusively for its business students, and it differentiates its business career resources from engineering (ECRC) and liberal arts. This writer is not aware if Yale has a similar career focus wherein its career resources are dedicated in addressing the needs of students who want to get into business related careers (such as operations management, or marketing etc)… Roughly 43% of Ross students find full time employment in finance &15 % in marketing. Yale does not provide this information, but can be inferred to be a smaller percentage of its graduates that go into finance or marketing.
<a href=“Bachelor of Business Administration | Michigan Ross”>http://www.bus.umich.edu/admissions/UndergraduatePrograms/PDF/BBA_Viewbook_lo.pdf</a></p></li>
<li><p>What about starting salary, will I be able to recoup the cost of education?
Ross’ graduates garner a $15K premium over Yale’s graduates. The median salary of Ross graduates in 2012 was $65K (+ with a median bonus of $7.500), while the median salary for Yale graduates for year 2013 was round $50K.
<a href=“Bachelor of Business Administration | Michigan Ross”>http://www.bus.umich.edu/Admissions/UndergraduatePrograms/careers.htm</a></p></li>
</ol>
<p><a href=“http://ucs.yalecollege.yale.edu/sites/default/files/Yale_College_First_Destination_Report_Class_2013.pdf”>http://ucs.yalecollege.yale.edu/sites/default/files/Yale_College_First_Destination_Report_Class_2013.pdf</a> (Page 5, “Starting Salary range”)</p>
<p>For a student who is contemplating the pursuit of only an undergraduate degree either from Yale or Ross, in general, ROI for Ross is expected to be higher. </p>
<p>In summary, for OP’s friend, considering specific financial constraints, Michigan Ross is a better option than Yale. However, if OP’s friend is open to other career paths, can convincingly appeal his/her financial package offered by Yale, and if Yale ups its offer to make it financially viable, s/he will have to review the decision. </p>