International Student Spotlight: Luying and Yu

Welcome back, future accounting superstars! This week’s post will feature two guest stars, Yu and Luying. They are both MAcc students from China who did undergraduate degrees in the US and have been kind enough to share their insights with prospective students.

What were your biggest concerns about attending a MAcc program?

Luying (right) is from x province of China

Luying: I didn’t know much about the recruiting process. Most international students have work experience, but have not recruited with the Big Four before. I was surprised that most international students got 2-3 first round interviews with the Big Four. I had KPMG and Deloitte first round interviews and made it to second round for both.

I went to San Francisco for my second round interview with KPMG and stayed for the weekend. It started Thursday afternoon with one manager interview, a coffee chat with associates, and an interview with a director. Then there was a scavenger hunt and dinner at night. The next day, there was a firm presentation, lunch with associates, and we were done early afternoon. My Deloitte interview is next Friday, and it is also in San Francisco.

Overall, Ross prepares you really well for recruiting. Rebecca is a career coach and emailed us over the summer to help us revise our resumes before the MAcc program started. She also did webinars during the summer. I had mock interviews with a peer coach who interned with PwC and a MBA student who worked for Big Four tax as a manager.

Yu is from the Jiang Su province of China

Yu: Language was the biggest barrier. During recruiting events, I was worried about knowing how to network with professionals. I did my undergrad in the US and most of the international students in the Ross MAcc program did as well. Ross Career Services helped us during orientation with networking and prepared us for the recruiting process. Kaci (MAcc Program Director) and Rebecca (Career Services Associate Director) were always happy to answer any questions.

 Has Anything Surprised You About the Ross MAcc Program?

Yu: When Cheryl interviewed me, it was a very pleasant experience. She tried to discover my personality and learn about what type of person I am. She asked about what I enjoy doing during my free time and my volunteer activities.

I'm part of an action group that Career Services created for international students still looking for job opportunities The MAcc program is also pairing international students looking for jobs with students who have secured jobs so they can form a mentoring relationship and more easily secure offers.

Luying: People at Ross are more inclusive and open to other cultures. Some of the people in undergrad had never left the US and were not accepting of other cultures. Most MAcc students are from different parts of the US and have traveled. They have also interned at different places where they have worked with international teams.

The Accounting Club did a scavenger hunt with the Big Four on campus. There were clues that led us around campus and helped us network with professionals. It actually prepared me well for the scavenger hunt I had at my KPMG second round interview. The Big Four hold networking hours in the Winter Garden. Dominick’s had a happy hour with all the firms. There is a lot of networking and it’s nice because I had met my Deloitte interviewers at these events so the interview was easier.

I was worried about the difficulty of courses. There is a lot of group work, not too much reading, and I’m feeling better about it now. The classes were still manageable, even with recruiting season. Recruiting took up 50% of the time in September and 40% in October. Recruiting finished at the end of Fall A (halfway through the semester).

Dumpling night was a success!

Yu: I am the Macc Student Association (MSA) e-board International Student Relations Chair. I organize events designed to teach classmates about cultural differences. We recently had a dumpling making night where almost half of the MAcc program came. I was surprised that many of the domestic students liked making dumplings and were very interested in learning how. They did a really good job--better than me! We are planning to celebrate Chinese New Year and have an international holiday forum.

I minored in French during undergrad. At Michigan, I’m now in a club called Le Comite Francophone. We meet every Monday night at a cafe downtown and speak only in French. The club is great because the people are all different majors.

Do you have advice for students applying?

Yu: If you apply to MAcc early, you have a better chance of getting a scholarship. There are also more spaces available in the program earlier. I applied in January and interviewed in March. I wanted to apply because the website is well organized and I liked the EY public policy symposium in DC.

If you apply early, you can also apply for Munger housing. My friend lives in Munger and it has really spacious study spaces. The students are all different majors living together, so it’s good for getting to know people from different academic backgrounds.

I hope that these insights from my classmates helped answer some of your questions! Good luck as you prepare your applications and GO BLUE!

Keeping It Classy

Welcome back, future accounting superstars! I’m keeping it classy this week and talking about courses.

The Ross MAcc degree has core curriculum, core elective(s), and electives. You are automatically scheduled into your core classes, which compose 17.25 of your 30 required units to graduate.

I just finished my first core class, ACC 555 Corporate Financial Research and Reporting. Despite the somewhat intimidating name, this was an incredibly interesting and engaging course. Each class consisted of discussing a case study that we had previously worked on with a group. The problems involved researching the proper way to account for something using the FASB Accounting Standards Codification. As our professor Cathy Shakespeare said, this was the first time for many of us that an accounting problem did not have a definitively right answer. I felt that this class really prepared me for the "real world", because we were put in ambiguous situations and forced to make decisions without perfect information. ACC 555 helped develop my professional judgment skills more than any class I've ever taken.

Two core classes, federal taxation and information systems design, are eligible to be waived if you completed an equivalent course in undergrad. I did both of these classes while earning my bachelor’s degree, so I get to take an extra core elective and one more elective. I’ll be taking Cost Systems/Advanced Management Accounting, Financial Statement Analysis I, and Ethics and Negotiations for Accountants as core electives.

One of the things that drew me to Ross for my MAcc was the flexibility the program offers. Almost half of the degree is customizable with electives, and we MAcc students have access to the incredible classes of the Ross MBA program.

I am taking a wide range of MBA courses as electives. This semester, I have classes in management communication, excel, finance, and business law.

MAcc students are allowed to have a maximum of 6 units from non-Ross graduate programs. I’m in a Master of Public Policy class at the Ford School. The course title is Thinking About Crime: Drugs and Terrorism and is taught by a former United States Ambassador and member of the International Narcotics Control Board. I have found the class to be a nice complement to my study of accounting. Terrorism and drug crimes share common issues of money laundering. Next week, I am presenting a proposal to combat Taliban financing in Afghanistan.

Although Michigan as a university is on semesters, most of the MBA and MAcc classes are half a semester long. This means that some classes switch every 7 weeks! This may sound intense, but it’s actually an advantage. Because the MAcc program is one year, you’ll get to take a greater variety of classes! It also prevents procrastination because there isn’t enough time to fall behind.

Good luck as you prepare your applications and GO BLUE!

Michigan Football

Welcome back, future accounting superstars! Today I promise not to talk about accounting and will instead focus on the next best part of attending Michigan--FOOTBALL!

The Big House seats over 111,000 people!

I came from a school where sports were not a big deal, so Michigan was a pretty big change. People go CRAZY for Michigan Football and gameday is a social experience that goes beyond the playing field. Students get a generous discount on season tickets and I highly recommend getting those, even if you don’t particularly like football or think you can attend every game (reselling tickets can net quite the profit--there’s our weekly dose of accounting!).

Having fun at a MAcc tailgate!

Our MAcc program made a ticket group, so we sit together in the stadium. The MSA (MAcc Student Association) also organizes tailgates before home games. We got lucky because James, one of our classmates, lives only a few blocks from the stadium and graciously hosts our tailgates.

Being in the football stadium is an incredible experience. Known as The Big House, it’s the largest stadium in the United States and the second largest stadium in the world. It seats over 111,000 people and every game is sold out. The energy from that many people is exhilarating and helps propel our football team to victory.

Besides football, Michigan has many award-winning sports teams! Hockey, basketball, baseball, and soccer are also popular to watch. Even if you’re not the biggest sports fan, attending a school like Michigan can be great because people have a lot of school pride and good camaraderie is built by going to the tailgates and games with your MAcc classmates.

Our class decided to buy tickets in the same section!

Good luck as you prepare your applications and GO BLUE!

Applying Early and Preview Day (MAcc Open House)

Welcome back, future accounting superstars! There’s a saying that “the early bird gets the worm” and that holds true for graduate school admissions too.

I applied early and I’m so glad I did! I submitted my application around the end of October. Since the Ross MAcc program has rolling admissions, I received an offer within a few weeks that included a Graduate Student Instructor (GSI)/Graduate Student Staff Assistant (GSSA) position. As a GSSA, I work about 7 hours a week in exchange for a partial tuition waiver and monthly stipend. I highly recommend applying by December 1, 2016 to receive priority scholarship consideration!

Another perk of applying early is the chance to attend Preview Day as an admitted student. Preview Day is open to all non U-M undergraduates applying for 2017 admission, which includes students who have applied and are awaiting their admissions decision, students who are in the process of applying, and students who have already been admitted. Applicants get the chance to meet with current MAcc students, staff, and faculty, and tour Ross, the University of Michigan campus, the Big House, and the Munger Graduate Residences. You can register for Preview Day here; spots are limited, so register soon!

I attended Preview Day last year and it was the largest factor in convincing me to attend the Ross MAcc program. I already liked the program on paper, since it had a flexible curriculum with lots of electives (including MBA classes!), was very reputable, and had a focus on building leaders. However, I was hesitant to come to Ross because I had never lived outside of California, and I had a great experience getting my bachelor’s degree. My previous university also had a master’s program in accounting, and it was tempting to stay in an environment where I knew I was comfortable and would not have to rebuild my life.

I ultimately decided to attend Ross because I wanted to challenge myself to grow. By being in a new environment, I would be learning from people with different perspectives and cultures. I had never been to the Midwest before Preview Day, and my last school was not as ethnically diverse as Michigan is. I also have the benefit of belonging to two alumni networks now, which will help create camaraderie and opportunity for the rest of my career.

Apply as early as you’re ready! A lot of people aren’t confident in their GMAT/GRE score or essays and put off their applications. The MAcc program’s admissions team is a group of amazing people who are happy to give advice on your test scores! They also look at applicants wholistically, so make sure your personality and passions shine through. I had a lot of fun crafting my essays and writing them can be a great break from GMAT studying.

Good luck as your prepare your applications and GO BLUE!

MAccing An Impact

Welcome back, future accounting superstars! The second day of MAcc orientation was just as fun as the first, but much more impactful (pun intended).

The Sanger Leadership Center Impact Challenge is an all-day event that builds leadership skills through a philanthropic project benefiting Detroit. We met with students and teachers from Cornerstone Schools, a K-12 school focused on making students college-ready.

Reggie giving us feedback. Such a well-spoken middle schooler!

Our task was to create a year-long plan and a one day event to encourage students to explore different business careers, engage in professional development, and make a college readiness program. The MAcc program was broken into two groups, one half targeting high school students and the other half focusing on middle schoolers.

My group was tasked with convincing middle schoolers to think about these adult concepts, which we embraced as a challenge. We developed a curriculum where we’d teach a different career skill every month, with topics such as professional dress, elevator pitches, and conflict resolution.

Accountants being creative!

Our one day event involved activities such as college preparation jeopardy, MLB (Money Literacy Baseball), and a simulation game where students picked different education levels to see what type of lifestyle - houses, cars, clothing - they could afford. This game would emphasize the positive impact of a college degree on lifetime earnings.

All groups made posters demonstrating their plans and presented them to a panel of judges which included Ross MAcc faculty, Sanger Leadership Center faculty, and teachers and students from Cornerstone Schools. We MAcc students also voted for our favorite groups.

One winning team was crowned from the high school and middle school categories. My group actually won the middle school competition! The MAcc Student Association’s Philanthropy subcommittee will take these ideas and implement them over the year by visiting the school regularly. I joined this committee and am excited to help put our ideas into action to help create a brighter future for the kids at Cornerstone Schools.

GO BLUE!