The
University of Michigan's
Stephen M. Ross School of Business is one of only a handful of b-schools that
consistently place in the top 10 positions of the BusinessWeek and Wall Street
Journal
rankings. Educators and professionals routinely include its general management program
on their lists of the best MBA programs in the country.
The Ross School of Business is
located on the University of Michigan's main campus in Ann Arbor, a lively college town
of about 114,000. Ann Arbor offers numerous educational, cultural,
and recreational amenities, and is noted for its extensive green space,
including many public parks. The town is about a 30 minute drive from the
Detroit Metropolitan Airport.
In 2006, Ross began construction of a new building. The
270,000-square-foot structure will be a state-of-the-art facility especially designed to accommodate the interactive activities that are highlighted in the
Ross curriculum. The building is scheduled to open in Fall 2008.
The extraordinary range of classes and options that Ross offers allows
students to pursue a highly-customized management education. The most impressive aspect
of Ross, however, is how well the school differentiates itself from other
business schools.
The school's unique approach to MBA education highlights action-based learning and interdisciplinary,
team-oriented situations. This approach develops leaders with ideas and insights that
truly change the way
business is conducted.
Below is the four-page transcript of our
August 2006 interview with
Ross Director of Admissions Soojin Kwon Koh.
What do you think differentiates Ross from other top business schools?
It's really our approach to management education. It's an action-based learning approach –
we call it 'ABL.' It's the depth and breath of opportunities to learn hands-on and apply what is
learned in the classroom to real-world business situations. It's not just the theory and the case
study; it's going out to companies and doing real projects.
The centerpiece of our action-based learning approach is called MAP, which is our Multi-Disciplinary Action Project.
MAP is part of the first-year core curriculum for all MBAs. It's an opportunity to experience problem-solving in a
real situation as opposed to a simulation or a case study situation. For a full seven weeks, it's their full-time
coursework load. They are basically working on a consulting project for an organization. It might be a nonprofit, a corporation,
or a start-up. It might be international; it might be domestic. It runs the gamut.
We have hundreds of corporations who seek to sponsor the projects that our students work on.
For students, it's like getting an extra seven weeks of an internship.
Students have worked on projects such as working on a biotech incubator in Israel and developing business plans for nonprofits such as the Clinton HIV/AIDS initiative in Rwanda. It could also be a corporate project, like a marketing strategy assessment for a high-tech firm in Asia.
Students work closely on teams with other students and with managers and
executives in the organization. They get to apply finance, marketing,
corporate strategy and other core business skills while managing teamwork
and communications issues, which are critical success factors in their
future careers. Problem-solving in that kind of environment is key to
developing leadership skills.
In addition to selecting their MAP project, how do the students at Ross co-create their MBA experience?
There are a variety of opportunities. We've got a number of dual degree options with other top ranked schools at the University of Michigan
such as the Law School, the Medical School, and in engineering, natural resources, public policy, and public health. We had about 70 students last year who
took advantage of the dual degree options.
We also have a lot of students who take electives at other graduate programs within the University of
Michigan at the schools that I mentioned. Since their second year is largely elective based, many students take advantage of taking courses at
other schools across the university.
We also have a number of institutes that specialize in areas like entrepreneurship, sustainability, manufacturing, and emerging markets.
For example, the Zell Lurie Institute, which focuses on entrepreneurship, sponsors a venture capital fund that students can participate in
and select which start-up to invest in. The venture fund had its first IPO a couple of years ago.
We also have the Dare to Dream grant program which provides seed money up to $10,000 for students to start their own businesses while they are
in business school. So we have a lot of different, exciting opportunities where students can pursue their specific areas of interest.
Page
1
2
3
4
