After Darden & Tepper , this was my third visit to a business school. Needless to say it was a fascination experience. These schools make it a point to impress you , ofcourse it is their duty/ business/ dharma. However , the interesting aspect of my trip to Ross was the candid nature of the adcom members, the Career ceter and the students. No one tried to hide the fact that it has been a difficult year for internationals and it is more challenging in terms of job search. The buzzword was collaboration and culture. Over the entire day I heard it like a thousand times.
The day started with John Fuller, associate director of admissions giving us two sample applications ( apparently real ones with some critical information changed). We were asked to analyze the two applications and were given critical insights into how a prospective application should look like. This was followed by a pannel that comprised of students from different backgrounds and interests. This was an insightful session providing an overview of the various aspects of the school - its culture, its ties with the industry, their internship and job search experiences and the strength of the michigan alumni network. After the pannel discussion we went for a lunch with some of the current students and Rodrigo, an International student from Brazil accompanied us. His conversation was insightful and offered an international students perspective. Collaborative culture is not just a buzz word at Ross , but the students live it. If you are a person who is ready to help your competitor win the competition, you definitely fit in Ross (nice sentence :-) ...
Next was a brief session by the career center which answered my questions about the placements for international students. The career center people were candid in their response, but I felt confident that they are there to help me attain a job that I want. We met the various centers at Ross after the career discussion. This turned out to be one of the best sessions of the day. Tauber and WDI are two of the important reasons I chose Ross and my decision / faith was vindicated. Speaking to Prof. Danielle from Tauber I learnt that I have opportunities to consult for clients like Ford and UPS. An interesting project she described was optimizing the gas usage for UPS. These are the kind of projects that I would like to work on. After Tauber, I met Colm Fay, class of 2011 who is closely associated with the WDI institute for emerging markets. The BOP is one of Ross's success stories and I learnt how ross puts it into action from Colm. He worked in Indonesia , trying to sell a small tablet that can help people cleanse drinking water. The BOP concept and learning the various variables that are crucial to working in emerging markets would be critical learnings for me , with my long term India centric goals. Finally, I had a chance to get perspectives of Justin Fishman, one of the Ross ambassadors about the application process, his opinion on the interviews and what is the personality of Ross.
Later in the night , I met one of my old friends who enrolled in the engineering program here. I went around the Ann arbor area and found the place to be really nice and close knit. Students can be seen everywhere. I couldn't help draw comparisons with my under grad institute - BITS-Pilani which was a small city and was equally entertaining. I went around the foot ball stadium, spoke to current michigan students and found the kind of passion football invokes here at Mich. A slew of restaurants of various cusines appeals to a foodie like me .... coming from Pittsburgh with equal passion for football (may be a little more than mich :P ) , I can certainly see myself living here for another 2years.... hopefully things will be good ...
