The MBA landscape is rapidly changing. As schools look for new ways to invigorate the traditional business degree, newer, flexible programs are becoming a provincial point of focus. Some of the world’s more lauded institutions, like the University of Michigan Stephen M. Ross School of Business—ranked as the 10th best business school in the country by U.S. News & World Report—have been more proactive about the sea change, recently introducing its first official Online MBA program offering.
The Michigan Ross Online MBA offers potential students one of the most personable options among the world’s elite business schools. Unlike many online programs, Ross Online MBAs have the choice to attend elective courses at the school’s official Ann Arbor, Michigan campus. In addition, the time to complete the degree is also flexible, with students finishing the program between two and three-and-a-half years.
A total of 72 students entered the first official Michigan Ross Online MBA class. Among those who enrolled, the average age of the cohort was 30-years old, with 26 percent female students. The average work experience of the class was around 7.6 years, while the GPA was 3.4. Unlike many traditional full-time offerings, a significant amount of enrolled students earned an advanced degrees prior to joining the program, at a current rate of 36 percent.
Even beyond the less-than-traditional experiences, Online MBA students at Ross aren’t too typical when it comes to undergraduate studies. The majority of the cohort studied humanities and social sciences as undergraduates, at a rate of 31 percent. Following closely at 29 percent was engineering. In fact, only about 13 percent of the most recent class earned an undergraduate degree in business or finance; a figure usually much larger in full-time or Executive MBA cohorts.
Earlier this year, we highlighting the school’s exceptional part-time MBA class, talking with students from across the world drawn in by Michigan Ross. This time around, we spoke with another eclectic mash of students, including an U.S. Armed Services language analyst, a political science and French language double-major, and Seattle student currently finding their way through the start up world, among others. Read on to see their stories and what the future may hold for life after an MBA.
Evie Tzelios, Michigan Ross Online MBA
Age: 25
Hometown: Edgemont, New York
Undergraduate Institution & Major: University of Pennsylvania, double major in Communication and Economics
Pre-MBA Work Experience: I spent three years at Nielsen working in television and digital measurement. As I began my MBA, I switched into ad tech; I now work in data partnerships at The Trade Desk.
Why business school? Why now? I didn’t attend business school as an undergrad, and in the first few years of my full-time career, I realized there were certain quantitative and qualitative skillsets I wanted to build to help accelerate my career and grow my capacity to be a leader. I am also someone who has always genuinely enjoyed school and formal learning environments, so I was excited to pursue an MBA.
Why the Michigan Ross Online MBA program? What factors figured most prominently into your decision of where to attend? My initial MBA research was only for full-time programs, and Ross was one of the schools whose educational philosophy I immediately connected to. At the same time, I loved my job, and my career was growing pretty quickly, so I didn’t want to pause it for two years. The Ross Online MBA program is one of the few opportunities I had to continue to work while getting a top-quality education.
What do you think is your most valuable or differentiating contribution to your MBA class? There are not many people in my class who have worked/currently work in media and entertainment or in ad tech, so I’m excited to bring that perspective to the class.
Fun fact that didn’t get included on your application? I grew up with pet rabbits, birds, fish, frogs, and a hedgehog named Jasper.
Post-MBA career interests? I hope to find my place somewhere at the intersection of media and entertainment and ad tech, and being part of this program and hearing others’ experiences is helping me figure out where that is. Whatever I do, I hope to be at the cutting edge of research and data, and Ross can help me get there!
Advice to Prospective MBA Applicants:
One thing you would absolutely do again as part of your application process? I did many, many informational interviews with students who were attending/had recently graduated from lots of different types of MBA programs: full-time, part-time, online, international, even with someone who took a year off in between two years of a program. Everyone is so willing to share their time to talk about their programs, even with people they’re connected to through a friend-of-a-friend! Hearing about why they chose the program they did and if that program was what they expected was extremely helpful.
One thing you would change or do differently? I started my process very focused on full-time MBAs, and I felt like my only options were to go full-time and pause work or not get an MBA at all. I wish I had started my search with a more open mind to all kinds of programs. There are many different ways to get your education; you just need to find the one that is the best fit for you.
Part you would have skipped if you could—and what helped you get through it? I realized I didn’t love going to large MBA career fairs with dozens of schools represented. Even when I arrived early, the tables for the schools I was most interested in were often already swamped, and it’s hard to have a meaningful conversation with someone when it’s so loud! I learned I enjoyed school-specific events or events for just a few schools much more, where I felt I actually learned a lot about the school(s) and made connections.
Greatest highlight so far at the Michigan Ross? As cheesy as it sounds, I love the community that has already formed in my class in just two months. We are always in contact with one another, helping each other with program questions, sharing our career paths, or just chatting about non-school topics.
One thing about the Michigan Ross that you didn’t expect before arriving? I thought it would take me longer to adjust to an online classroom, but I quickly realized that attending class online is really no different than conducting a work meeting online. There was almost no adjustment period for me. The way the class is run is very similar to other classes I’ve been in; we’re just not sitting in the same room.
Thing you were most anxious about in your first year? I was definitely very anxious about balancing school, a new job, and my personal life, but, so far, so good! I think the courses are constructed in a way that makes it easy to learn a large amount of material in a more compact timespan.
Thing you were most excited about in your first year? I live in NYC, so I’ve been able to meet a few of my classmates already, but I am very excited for our leadership residency on-campus, when I will meet the entirety of my class and the Ross staff we’ve been working with!
Nathan Piechocki, Michigan Ross Online MBA
Age: 36
Hometown: Born: Grand Rapids, MI; Current: Baltimore, MD
Undergraduate Institution & Major: University of Maryland Baltimore County, Applied Linguistics
Pre-MBA Work Experience: My career started in 2003 in the US Army as a cryptologic language analyst. I transitioned back into civilian life in 2009 and now work for the Department of Defense, splitting time between analysis and product management.
Why business school? Why now? I vacillated for a long time between deepening my technical expertise in an area such as computational linguistics or data science and broadening my organizational impact and career flexibility. At around the time that I began to seriously consider pursuing an MBA as a career decision, Michigan Ross advertised it was taking applications for its inaugural online program. The coincidence seemed auspicious.
Why the Michigan Ross Online MBA program? What factors figured most prominently into your decision of where to attend? Michigan Ross is consistently rated among the top business schools in the country, and its alumni network is far-reaching and impactful. A life-long goal to earn a Michigan degree was also at odds with living in the DC-Baltimore metro, and the Online MBA program provided me a rare chance to have my cake and eat it, too.
What do you think is your most valuable or differentiating contribution to your MBA class? I haven’t been a traditional student at any point in my educational career, since before enlisting in the Army, so I have juggled a full-time career, a family, and school before. But what I hope constitutes my most valuable contribution is my ability to bring public sector insight into problems whose outcomes aren’t financially motivated.
Fun fact that didn’t get included on your application? My wife and I took a Saturday-afternoon course on all-grain beer homebrewing several years ago, and we’ve been hooked ever since! We brew every style under the sun and create our own recipes. We recently moved to a small exurb that doesn’t have its own brewery, and have talked about starting one ourselves.
Post-MBA career interests? In working in the natural language processing domain and human language technology development and acquisition, I’ve become interested in influencing or architecting the larger strategic business cases into which these activities fit.
Advice to Prospective MBA Applicants:
One thing you would absolutely do again as part of your application process? Apply! Becoming a Wolverine and MBA student at Ross has already been an enormously rewarding experience. The knowledge and experience of the faculty and other students has been humbling, but extremely enriching.
One thing you would change or do differently? I would have built in some more opportunities in my first year to get onto campus and attend some of the many events and clubs being offered to MBA students. As mentioned elsewhere, online students are treated as extensions of the Ann Arbor campus, and there are so many attractive lectures, discussions, meet-and-greets, and competitions that are advertised that you almost forget that you’re an 8-hour drive away.
Part you would have skipped if you could—and what helped you get through it? Also, consequential to being “functionally on-campus,” are the campus training requirements ancillary to the coursework.
Greatest highlight so far at the Michigan Ross? I’m still in my first term, so my experiences are limited, but I did have an opportunity as a student veteran to hold the flag on the field before the Army-Michigan football game in Ann Arbor. It was a really incredible way to feel like I was a genuine part of the university and campus despite being an online student, and that was important to me.
One thing about the Michigan Ross that you didn’t expect before arriving? Unlike many other top business schools, your cohort at Michigan Ross is a team. You may hear accounts from other programs of high internal competitiveness. While students push each other to succeed here, it’s collaborative. There’s definitely a sense that it’s “Michigan Ross vs. the World” and everyone wants to help you be the most you can possibly be.
Thing you were most anxious about in your first year? I was anxious that I was going to be out of my element and surrounded by a cohort of peers who came from a wide array of very impressive backgrounds and career fields. It was intimidating, and I hoped that I had something valuable to contribute!
Thing you were most excited about in your first year? I was absolutely out of my element and surrounded by a cohort of peers who came from a wide array of very impressive backgrounds and career fields! After my first informal meeting with the local part-time and online students, as well as Michigan Ross alumni in the area, I was not disabused of that sense at all. I was, however, confident that they were all as invested in me getting as much out of my MBA as I was.
Monique Malone, Michigan Ross Online MBA
Age: 28
Hometown: Flower Mound, Texas
Undergraduate Institution & Major: The Ohio State University, Political Science & French Language.
Pre-MBA Work Experience: Five years with Unilever in the Consumer Packaged Goods Industry.
Why business school? Why now? Business school appealed to me at this stage in my life as I felt I had the bandwidth to support part-time studies and my career. When I first started at Unilever, it was important to me that my main focus be on getting settled in the organization and best setting myself up for success. I started my career in a rotational program called Unilever Future Leaders. As part of the program, I was often moving and quickly jumping into new capacities. The constant changes in location and roles were not ideal for graduate studies, but post completion I felt this would be the best time for me to explore my MBA.
Why the Michigan Ross Online MBA program? What factors figured most prominently into your decision of where to attend? I was so fortunate that the Ross Online program became available at that exact time I began exploring MBA program options. I considered remote weekend programs but quickly ruled them out due to the extensive amount of travel. I was honestly shocked to see how few online programs are available across top business schools. Due to this, I was thrilled to have the opportunity to apply to Ross despite not being in the Ann Arbor area. This program presented the perfect opportunity to receive a top tier education while still maintaining my current role in Minneapolis, MN.
What do you think is your most valuable or differentiating contribution to your MBA class? Many of my classmates have extensive backgrounds in Finance and Engineering. I think my background in consumer goods and retail provides a unique and valuable perspective that might not otherwise be represented. I believe these differences in work experience as well as location will add to the rich dialogue throughout our coursework.
Fun fact that didn’t get included on your application? While studying abroad in Paris in undergrad, I visited the Louvre nine times and saw every room! My favorite part was the apartments of Napoleon III.
Post-MBA career interests? I am really privileged to love my current job. I work on our Target business in developing how Target can best support natural and sustainable products. For me it’s rewarding to know how much we are improving sustainability and waste reduction by growing these green businesses. My short-term goal from a Ross MBA is rooted in developing a more robust skillset for problem solving, data analytics and leading cross-functional teams to drive sustainability in my current job. Long term, I aspire to lead a purpose-driven company to positively impact people’s lives and our planet. The UN has warned that we have under 12 years to enact serious environmental changes before climate change is irreversible. My current role, coupled with my passion for waste reduction, has prompted me to ask myself what I can know more of and do better now, and in this stage of my career, to drive our sustainability strategy faster.
Advice to Prospective MBA Applicants:
One thing you would absolutely do again as part of your application process? I would absolutely do the interview portion of the application again. That was the first time I had the pleasure of meeting the program director (Patti Russo) and I was so excited to see her energy and passion for this new program. It was also immediately clear how invested she is in student’s success and ensuring this new process was as smooth as possible. One of the reasons I was so eager to join Ross was due to knowing how invested and the supportive staff are with every facet of student’s needs.
One thing you would change or do differently? I’m not sure there is something I would change, but I would say that I was encouraged to truly be myself throughout the essays and short answer samples. Instead of trying to fit my responses into what I thought the admissions committee might want to hear, I was open and authentic about my passions and what was motivating me to apply to Ross at this time in my life. This advice is something I would pass on to other prospective students who might be considering applying.
Part you would have skipped if you could—and what helped you get through it? It probably comes as no surprise that I would have happily skipped the standardized test. I opted to take the GRE and there is no way around the prep and studying necessary to do well on the exam. Thankfully, I found a great prep course that made studying more enjoyable and was instrumental in supporting me through the process.
Greatest highlight so far at the Michigan Ross? We have an informal Slack channel for our class and it has been very cool to connect with other classmates across the country, hear how they’re doing and support one another when coursework is challenging. Despite being virtual, the biggest highlight for me so far has been the sense of community and connectedness.
One thing about the Michigan Ross that you didn’t expect before arriving? I don’t think I expected how excited I would be to be back in the classroom again. There’s something about structured learning within a class format that I had missed. It has been wonderful to flex this learning muscle again with people who are equally motivated and passionate.
Thing you were most anxious about in your first year? I was most anxious about managing the course load in conjunction with my current job this first year. We are only through half a semester, but I am hopeful that the balancing act will get easier with time. Until then, it has definitely required some getting used to! I now need to be very intentional with scheduling and goal setting both during and outside of work. Thankfully, I have amazingly supportive family and friends who continue to encourage me along the way.
Thing you were most excited about in your first year? I am most excited about our first in-person residency. The program requires we complete three residencies in total over the course of the program and I am very excited for this first one in February. I’m looking forward to meeting my classmates in a non-virtual setting and getting to know them better. The residencies also include Full-Time, Weekend, and Evening MBAs so it will be a great opportunity to see some new faces and perspectives on the program.
Sritheja Gulukota, Michigan Ross Online MBA
Age: 27
Hometown: Westborough, MA
Undergraduate Institution & Major: University of Connecticut, Economics
Pre-MBA Work Experience: I was in management consulting for five years, focusing primarily on improving healthcare operations for some of the largest provider networks and health plans in the country. Around the same time that I started my MBA at Ross, I pivoted to a health startup in Brooklyn dedicated to providing preventative care to high-risk Medicaid recipients.
Why business school? Why now? Many careers, including consulting, have a tendency to pigeon-hole employees into a specific role-type, industry, or specialty. An MBA offers an opportunity to break the routine and offer new career paths by instilling versatile skill sets and new, practical experiences.
Why the Michigan Ross Online MBA program? What factors figured most prominently into your decision of where to attend? I decided on part-time programs early in my search because I wanted to continue working while living in NYC. The online program intrinsically offers the flexibility to fit the curriculum around my schedule that even weekend or evening programs cannot. It was also important to me to have an integrated network, which is very difficult to establish in part-time programs. To this point, I considered several schools and none had the infectious spirit and dedication to community that Michigan Ross did. I am excited to receive a world-class education designed to augment my career while letting me continue it.
What do you think is your most valuable or differentiating contribution to your MBA class? What differentiates me are my experiences working at one of the world’s largest consulting firms as well as a young start-up primed for hyper-growth. I’ve bridged business and technical disciplines for my entire career and look forward to sharing my insights with my classmates.
Fun fact that didn’t get included on your application? I’ve traveled to 25 countries, mostly in Asia.
Post-MBA career interests? I would like to continue working with technology with more emphasis on strategy to help organizations scale and improve.
Advice to Prospective MBA Applicants:
One thing you would absolutely do again as part of your application process? It was incredibly helpful for me to speak with current students in the part-time program. After sharing their work and school experiences, they also advised me on navigating the application process and establishing a work-school-life balance. They were so helpful that I signed up to be a student ambassador to pass it forward!
One thing you would change or do differently? The second time I approached the GMAT, I believe I would have benefitted from taking a class instead of continuing to self-study. Most folks will improve on their second attempt as they become more comfortable with the test format, but they must make sure to switch up their approach in order to better highlight and address weak points.
Part you would have skipped if you could—and what helped you get through it? Easily the GMAT. It’s daunting exam that requires absorbing a vast amount of material and lots of repetition. My advice: book the test date when you start studying and work backwards as to not draw out the process.
Greatest highlight so far at the Michigan Ross? My greatest highlight was completing the first class while balancing a brand new job and moving to a new city at the same time. It wasn’t easy, but definitely gave me a sense of accomplishment and growth in several areas of my life.
One thing about the Michigan Ross that you didn’t expect before arriving? I was surprised by the level of interaction in the synchronous sessions despite being virtual! The professors conduct lectures from what seems like a TNT halftime studio with an open space and all of our webcam feeds on the TV behind them. This, combined with the breakout sessions, is really helpful to bring collaboration and active participation despite not being there in person.
Thing you were most anxious about in your first year? I was definitely anxious about keeping up with a challenging curriculum while working full-time. Luckily, I felt supported by Ross, my job, and my family/friends as I made the adjustment. Over the course of the first class, I learned how to be more effective with my time and set myself up for success.
Thing you were most excited about in your first year? I am really excited about the first immersive weekend so that I can visit campus, meet the rest of my cohort and professors, and fully dive into the Michigan community. Go Blue!
Andrew Green, Michigan Ross Online MBA
Age: 29
Hometown: Seattle, WA
Undergraduate Institution & Major: University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, BA in Communications; Northwestern University, MS in Data Science & Artificial Intelligence
Pre-MBA Work Experience: I have spent my career in the analytics space, primarily focusing on the transportation industry. I am currently a Data Scientist at a technology startup based in Seattle.
Why business school? Why now? Prior to Ross, I was primarily focused on building my analytics skill set. It has helped me grow my career, but the narrow focus will also soon become a hindrance to continued success. I chose to get my MBA because it will facilitate better contextual understanding as I continue through my analytics career.
Why the Michigan Ross Online MBA program? What factors figured most prominently into your decision of where to attend? I’m using my MBA to gain a broad skillset, so it was important for me to find a program that didn’t specialize in one particular area but was very strong in many. Ross is Top 10 in eight of the 10 specializations that U.S. News evaluates, which, at least at the time I researched, was the most of any program in the country. Once they announced that they were releasing the Online MBA (my MBA search began before this announcement), Ross immediately shot to the top of my list.
What do you think is your most valuable or differentiating contribution to your MBA class? My master’s degree through Northwestern was also an online program, and I truly believe that one of my biggest strengths is having already gone through an online degree once. Our program is new, and for most people, this is their first soiree into online education. With my background, I have some experience building networks of online students despite their geographic distances, and I’ve been doing everything I can to help with that challenge as we go through our coursework.
Fun fact that didn’t get included on your application? The fact that I am a 4th generation Wolverine did get noted on my application (Ross asks for family ties to the university), but what didn’t is how much that means to me. It is a really big achievement to be able to attend the same prestigious university as my dad, grandfather, and great-grandfather. Plus, with the in-person residencies that Ross requires, I now have additional excuses to go visit my family.
Post-MBA career interests? My career path is pretty straightforward: individual contributor to management and beyond in my current domain. The bet I’m making with my MBA is that simply having analytic abilities will not be enough in the future, and that getting a formalized business education will put me ahead of my peers as I move further up the organization.
Advice to Prospective MBA Applicants:
One thing you would absolutely do again as part of your application process? Apply. Apply. Apply. I know a lot of people who only apply to one or two programs, but when you look at the time and money it takes to fill out an application compared to the time and money you will put in once you start school, there is no excuse to not apply to a school. I applied to every school I would have considered, and I would encourage anyone considering an MBA to do the same. It only takes one stretch of school to change your trajectory.
One thing you would change or do differently? Being a numbers guy, I spent a lot of time looking at the rankings. While these provide useful information, I would recommend aligning priorities earlier in the process than I did. When I was applying, I had a list of things that were important in my decision, but hadn’t thoroughly vetted how I felt about the tradeoffs (no school has everything). While I came to the correct decision, I believe that I would have saved more than a few headaches by truly defining what I wanted out of my program early rather than solely trusting the blanket ratings.
Part you would have skipped if you could—and what helped you get through it? I didn’t find the process too strenuous to be honest. Part of that, admittedly, is that I applied to my other degree two years earlier, and much of my essay content was therefore already written. My biggest advice would be to keep your eye on the long-term prize. The application process can bring stress, but if you remember why you’re doing it, it becomes much less so.
Greatest highlight so far at the Michigan Ross? Not failing my first course! Well, that and seeing how structured and organized the program is. I assumed there would be a lot of issues as they worked on building the OMBA, but Ross has done a great job of translating their weekend and part-time MBA content and making it online. Things like their communication competency course showed me how much Ross is invested in our futures.
One thing about the Michigan Ross that you didn’t expect before arriving? I was surprised just how much investment Ross was putting into the OMBA from the get-go. Whether it be the studio they use for synchronous content or the high-quality of the asynchronous content, the investment Ross is putting in us has exceeded my expectations.
Thing you were most anxious about in your first year? I think like most people, I was most anxious about my ability to complete the coursework, particularly in domains that I am less knowledgeable. Being exposed to topics like accounting and marketing create a daunting new task for me. However, I constantly remind myself that I am not alone in this feeling and that all of my classmates are likely similar. If we knew the content, we wouldn’t need the degree.
Thing you were most excited about in your first year? Ross leadership made it apparent very early on that they would welcome feedback as they build the new OMBA. This made the opportunity very intriguing because if things weren’t working, they were more than willing to listen. Since starting, they have practiced what they preached, and I have since joined the OMBA advisory council to help continue to build the program into the premier OMBA available.