Wednesday, March 18, 2015 // The Statement
4B
Wednesday, March 18, 2015 // The Statement 
5B

By Zach Shaw, Daily Sports Writer

Rethinking Ross

The unglamorous realities of a business school education

K

endall Cortez was immediately sold on 
what he was getting into. 

The sophomore was just getting set-

tled in at orientation as a new member of the 
Ross School of Business, and was being intro-
duced to his orientation group’s assignment. 
The idea was to use a competition to bring the 
section together while introducing principles 
of business to the newly admitted students. The 
goal: create a Kickstarter for a business that 
wanted to supply computers to underprivileged 
youth in Detroit.

Cortez, who grew up in a lower-income 

Detroit family, applied to the Business School 
for social change and effective community 
action just like this. He was a business student 
for less than a day, and he was already living his 
dream.

But almost as quickly as he was sold on the 

project, he realized that the dream was going 
to have to wait. There were roughly 85 other 
students in his group, and he got a taste of what 
happens when that many high-minded and 
motivated individuals are asked to collaborate 
and compete.

“As we start working and separating our-

selves into teams, you can see the alpha dog-
ness in a lot of people,” Cortez said. “I like to be 
around a pretty diverse group, people who are 
knowledgeable and socially conscious, so I’m 
used to kind of stepping back, give your idea, 
and come to some consensus. But a lot of people 
came in feeling like they had the idea, they had 
to take charge.

“Everybody is trying to take over and rule 

this room. That’s really not how to get things 
done, so I just immediately was sensing trouble. 
At first, I just tried to kind of bring the group 
together and even try to take a leadership role 
until I realized that no one was listening, every-
one has their own opinion, nobody is willing to 
listen to anybody else’s thoughts.”

Cortez could tell right away that it was trou-

ble. Just a few rooms over, fellow Business soph-
omore Emily Yerington was struggling through 
a very similar experience.

“I really didn’t know what to expect, so I was 

trying to be open-minded about it going in,” 
she said. “What ended up happening was that 
it became a shouting contest and it was actually 
very much male-dominated. That was the only 
experience I’ve ever had where I felt like I was 
at a disadvantage for being a girl.”

“The only people that were getting their voic-

es heard were these guys and most of them were 
bigger and almost scary.”

It’s no secret that the Ross School of Business 

is an elite institution. It regularly ranks among 
the top five undergraduate business schools in 
the world, and 92 percent of its students have a 
job offer within six months of graduation. Last 
year, 1,139 freshman — 19 percent of the Uni-
versity’s class of 2017 — applied to the Business 
School, a number that has continued to grow 
year after year. About 400 students were admit-
ted at the end of their freshman year — accom-
panying about 100 pre-admitted students — to 
make up the entering sophomore class.

But if the Business School is so popular and 

successful, why do students want to leave? Both 
Yerington and Cortez left the Business School 
after their first semester, and roughly 3 percent 
of students drop the program each semester.

Though the magnitude of the dissatisfaction 

will vary, stories of herd mentality, arrogance 
and a lack of a voice inside the Business School 
leave many dismayed and even upset with their 
collegiate path.

“There is a lot of ‘Oh my god, I hate this place. 

I’m just here because I know I’m going to get a 
job,’ “ Cortez said. “When I decided to drop, I 
heard a lot of ‘Kendall, that takes so much cour-
age, I wish I had dropped.’ There’s definitely a 
sense within the Business School that people 
who are in it love to hate it.”

Always at the forefront of academic pres-

tige and success, the school now finds itself at 
the forefront of a much less desirable position. 
The negative internal and external perceptions 
of the Business School are mounting, and the 
school must find a way to respond.

***

For whatever reason, many students love to 

hate the Business School.

Some people dislike the Business School 

for the building, already critiqued as overly 
extravagant with expansions on the way. Others 
dislike the seemingly endless supply of funds 
for students, artwork, and — of course — mov-
ing trees. Others still disapprove of the exclu-
sionary culture, one in which students try to 

separate themselves from the remainder of the 
student body, with exclusive classes, recruiting 
opportunities, and even a separate name.

For Lynn Wooten, the associate dean for 

undergraduate programs, however, it’s the 
internal dissatisfaction that’s most problematic. 
A longtime researcher in strategy, management, 
and organizational behavior, Wooten knows the 
dangers of these competition-filled communi-
ties.

“We try to reach out to every student and to 

practice what we preach with this notion of self-
authorship and finding your passion,” she said. 
“But no matter how much we say it, research 
says that students are going to follow their 
peers. You can come in wanting to use business 
for social change, but then you see everyone is 
doing finance. I’ve heard some students say they 
feel marginalized, and then they ultimately 
went into finance because they felt a big push to 
do so.”

In total, around 40 percent of the Business 

School students go into finance, making it far 
and away the most popular component of busi-
ness, though Wooten said there was similar peer 
pressure felt to go into accounting and consult-
ing as well.

Both Cortez and Yerington applied to the 

Business School with ambitions surrounding 
social change, but both felt that it wasn’t the 
peers that did the funneling into finance — it was 
the coursework structure. Beginning a business 
curriculum with quantitative and foreign con-
cepts of accounting and business analytics only 
furthered the bitter taste, Yerington said.

“I was never mainstream business, which is 

a vast majority of what Ross is.” Yerington said. 
“As much as they pretend that they aren’t about 
that, that’s exactly what they are. (The adminis-
trators and faculty) act as if they want to make 
us all individuals who are going to go out and 
change the world, but they make it so all of our 
resumes look exactly the same, our interviews 
are trained to be exactly the same way, and basi-
cally they just funnel you into paths and you’re 
going to be a little clone with everyone else.”

Added Cortez: “They need to do a better job 

of letting kids know that there’s more to busi-
ness than three fields … Yes, these are the most 
popular, but there’s a slew of other things that 
you can do and be happy doing with a business 
degree.”

This narrow focus goes with what Wooten 

describes as a herd mentality — a process of 
assimilation and conformity that the dean sees 
as the school’s greatest flaw. There are a number 

of factors that go into this practice, but Wooten 
believes the dynamic is already in place before 
the students enter the Business School.

With this year’s introduction of a more flexi-

ble curriculum that will, for the first time, allow 
students to study abroad during the academic 
year beginning next year, along with enhanced 
programs to ensure a thriving culture and posi-
tive influences, Wooten said she feels that the 
next two years will be a major step for the Busi-
ness School to increase student happiness.

However, admittance and core classes begin 

in sophomore year, which means most students 
may already be a part of communities on cam-
pus. This may narrow students’ focus both aca-
demically and socially, hindering the influence 
of added programs.

“The question becomes, how do we get peo-

ple to find where they can thrive and fit into the 
culture, and how do we change the perception 
of the culture to make everyone feel welcome?” 
Wooten said. “That involves trying to get people 
to know each other better through teamwork 
and group projects.

The focus on technical skills and quantitative 

specialization is a growing trend among most 
business schools, but, according to a 2012 report 
by The Wall Street Journal, employers don’t 
agree with this trend.

Employers need “flexible thinkers with 

innovative ideas and a broad knowledge base 
derived from exposure to multiple disciplines,” 
but don’t find it in the business world because 
“the undergraduate degrees focus too much on 
the nuts and bolts of finance and accounting 
and don’t develop enough critical thinking and 
problem-solving skills through long essays, in-
class debates and other hallmarks of liberal-arts 
courses,” the article read.

Around the same time that the report came 

out, Wooten and fellow Business School admin-
istrators were beginning to finalize plans to join 
a growing number of business programs with 
redesigned curriculums. The changes are only 
beginning to take place, but it was clear from the 
start what the goals were.

Through revised curriculum, supplemen-

tal programs and an enhanced support staff, 
Wooten and the rest of the administrators are 
looking toward customization and a sense of 
purpose for all 500 students in each grade level.

“What keeps me up at night is thinking about 

how I can make sure Ross is the best business 
school and transformational experience for 
everyone,” Wooten said. “If I think about the 
changes I want to make, I want to have engaged 

learning experiences inside and outside of the 
classroom.”

The new design increased the number of 

business classes — something Wooten said had 
to be done to keep up with other schools — but 
also increased flexibility. For the first time, 
business undergrads are able to study abroad 
and now have the opportunity to schedule core 
classes to their choosing.

But Wooten’s ultimate goal is to increase stu-

dent happiness while continuing the same prac-
tices that make the Business School one of the 
world’s premier business programs each year.

***

Cortez watched in dismay as his fellow stu-

dents took over the project at orientation. He 
didn’t mind taking a backseat, but couldn’t quite 
grasp just how misguided the self-appointed 
drivers were. With the task of providing com-
puters to Detroit youth, Cortez knew right away 
that this was a far cry from the environment of 
his roots.

“A lot of people weren’t sensitive to Detroi-

ters, Detroit kids,” Cortez said. “A lot of words 
or ideas that were problematic to me. ‘We have 
to save them, they’re not advanced enough,’ and 
as a native Detroiter, I’m just thinking ‘Really?’ 
There was just a lot of problematic stuff that I 
took issue with right away, and I could already 
tell that the environment was going to be dif-
ferent.”

There are plenty of opportunities for the 

Business School to grow, but perhaps none are 
as measurable as the lack in diversity in the 
program. In the most recent cohort of accepted 
students, just 4 percent of the Business School 
bachelor’s degree program identified as an 
underrepresented minority. More remarkable 
is that that number is actually an improvement 
from each of the last two years.

For Cortez, who is Black, this is far from 

ideal.

“There’s definitely some added pressure,” 

he said. “Especially when I was first thinking 
about leaving Ross. I remember thinking, am I 
letting everyone down by leaving? What mes-
sage does that send to everyone that helped get 
me there or might be trying to follow me? Is 
that a slap in the face?”

Katrina Vegter, the school’s academic advis-

ing director, and Business School adviser Mat-
thew Turner said this is a problem that goes 
beyond numbers and takes time and flexibility 
to solve.

“We look at and meet every student individu-

ally,” Turner said. “We don’t group students 
together, so no one’s a minority when they meet 
with us. So we meet with students and let them 
know, ‘No, this is where you should be, there’s a 
place for you to be here.’ ”

Added Vegter: “I’ve had female students 

come in and say that all the male members of 
their group expected her to be the secretary and 
take notes. So what are you going to say to them 
if that comes up again, what steps need to be 
taken? Because some of these problems aren’t 
going to leave once you get out in the workforce 
either. I think we play that role of helping stu-
dents effect change, but those are tough issues 

to overcome, as we’re seeing nationwide.”

Programs enforcing awareness and inclusiv-

ity are put into place each year, but Cortez feels 
that having a dominant majority is a problem 
that can’t necessarily be solved, only improved 
upon.

“I don’t know if there’s anything the school 

itself can do about that. How do you go about 
making sure that everybody (accepted to) Ross 
has the right motives? All you can do is read two 
(application) essays.”

***

Just as the Business School’s heavy emphasis 

on group projects makes a cohesive culture ben-
eficial for students, the school’s notorious curve 
can often turn students against each other.

With participation, homework, assignments, 

projects, and exams all held to a curve or set 
standard, students are constantly competing 
with one another, making buy-in on programs 
to develop cohesion a tough sell.

“There are a lot of resources there already 

that students might not really come to,” Veg-
ter said. “One of the challenges we face is teas-
ing out what the student’s needs and finding 
out what is going to be the right combination 
of clubs and programs and classes to get the 
results. But we find things to get drowned out 
by the competition of it all.”

Even though core business classes are 

curved to a B+ average, among the highest such 
curves at the University, Yerington felt that the 
lack of control over your own destiny can take 
a toll, especially when grades can vary wildly 
and not be made known until the very end of 
the semester.

“I feel like if a teacher is doing their job, it 

should be possible for everybody to succeed,” 
Yerington said. “Even though they curve it 
high, it’s just a bad mentality when you’re not 
worried about how much you’re learning, 
you’re worried about how you’re doing com-
pared to everyone else.”

Added Turner: “The curve is a blessing and a 

curse. In the quantitative classes, most students 
find it awesome, but in qualitative classes, the 
scores become very tight. But again, it’s one of 
those things that out in the world, it’s some-
thing as simple as a small typo that can be the 
difference in who gets the job, so they’re kind of 
life lessons.”

The real-world application is what Turner 

believes is the school’s greatest strength, but 
with students barely into adulthood with no 
idea of what they want to do for the rest of their 
life, is there a limit?

Cortez felt that there was. An explorative 

learner who’s now majoring in history and ecol-
ogy, Cortez felt the core classes — which include 
accounting and business analytics in the first 
semester — weren’t conducive to finding one’s 
passion in business. Cortez could tell it was a 
problem in the classes, where the majority of 
students appeared bored, confused or annoyed 
at the material.

When weighing the idea of dropping, how-

ever, Cortez suddenly found himself standing 
out with his beliefs.

“I remember when I was thinking about 

leaving, people came up to me and said ‘You are 
crazy. I don’t really like it either, but you have to 
stay. This is great, this is how you’re going to get 
a job.’ ” he said. “I’m thinking about how that’s 
great, but I’m not going to like myself.”

“If your motives aren’t right, like mine 

weren’t — I saw dollar signs when I saw Ross, 
not a real institution that can help me change 
things — it’s going to add up quickly,” he added.

Though Cortez and Yerington are among a 

small minority of students who leave the pro-
gram, the school’s staff notice. They also notice 
that, despite the favorable job and compensa-
tion prospects, business majors are regularly 
reported as among the least happy in school 
and the workplace nationwide. They notice the 
complaints from current students too, and con-
stantly look to keep up with the increasingly 
aware and strong-willed student voice.

“I think the student population is by its 

nature a group that’s really tough on us, con-
stantly asking the hard questions,” Vegter said. 
“Why are we doing things this way? Why are 
we doing this? Has it always been this way? Can 
we do something differently? Students push us 
to think critically and keep up and strive to cre-
ate new things and ideas.”

With the help of the Ross Undergraduate 

Student Advisory Board, a council of students 
who report feedback from students on curricu-
lum, programs and more, the Business School 
has undergone a series of changes, with more 
on the way.

The new curriculum, which was piloted by 

this year’s sophomores, includes a sophomore 
seminar, increased flexibility in what classes 
to take and when and supplemental programs 
to ensure a sense of purpose throughout their 
three years.

Next year’s incoming class can anticipate 

smaller class and orientation sizes, additional 
programs on diversity in the workplace, and an 
increased solicitation of feedback to ensure sat-
isfaction for years to come.

“We try to get students to think about busi-

ness as not a job, but as a profession, a societal 
entity that has the potential to make a positive 
difference,” Wooten said. “People are happy 
when they find jobs that play to their strengths 
and also like who they’re working for and what 
they’re doing.”

“Let’s create this roadmap, create this pas-

sion, let’s combine this business degree with 
other education and find a way to fulfill that 
passion in the short term and the long term 
and get them to see that potential that you have 
with that business degree.”

For whatever reason, 
many students love 
to hate the Business 

School.

“I saw dollar signs ... 
not a real institution 

that can help me 
change things.”

