Michigan

Michigan came across as a very friendly school. I am grateful to Deepika, an Indian MBA, who reached out to us. She just graduated and landed a job with McKinsey in Chicago. She took us in for a couple of nights, so we could have a great opportunity to see how a Michigan MBA lived. She showed us around the campus. There is really a great deal of places for hanging around. When you are walking on the street, you have a feeling that it is a town of the university. Ann Arbor is a small town 100 miles west of Detroit, and some 200 miles east of Chicago.

Lately, Michigan considerably improved its image in finance. They said that they recommended some 7 grads for private equity last year. One of Michigan's principles is learning through action, so they are proud of their MAP project. MAP is a several month field project at the end of the first year, after which goes internship, perhaps, in another company. I talked with a Russian Michigan MBA who was currently doing his internship in NY and he admitted that he had a hard time interviewing for internship. For one thing, in January of the first year, non-native speakers sometimes are not fluent enough for that time. For another, it is worth knowing rules of the interview game, for which foreigners are often poorly prepared. It makes MBA prep very important.

Unfortunately, the school's building is quite modern, rather than that medieval kind of building suggesting castles. And, the school just got some donation enough for doing some reconstruction, and apparently in coming two years MBA students will have to manage with rooms free from reconstruction.