The Pre-Professional Culture at Michigan

Michigan is really good at preparing students for the corporate world. Like, amazingly good. Most students I have interacted with are so professionally developed – they’re outgoing, can verbalize their thoughts well, and have a sway about them that puts the conversation at ease. I think parts of it stem from the strong Ross influence, where students must learn how to present themselves and network well to get a seat at one of the coveted IB or consulting opportunities. This culture has definitely permeated to other majors, too, and you can kind of see engineering heading towards this direction of being less about what you know but who you know.

This has obviously worked well for recruiting. Check any list, and Michigan is usually near the top when it comes to placing students in top banks, consulting firms, big tech, etc. This is the culture that Michigan has established, and one that students applying to the school strive for. But I can’t help but feel something is missing.

I was talking to one of my high school friends about his first day of class at Berkeley, and how some EECS kid approached him with a startup idea and asked my friend if he wanted to drop out to pursue it together. This is on the extreme end, but I think Michigan could benefit from cultivating a few more personalities like that – ones who dare to dream big and are willing to pursue them.

The talent density for tech at Michigan is extraordinarily high. I have met some of the brightest and most motivated students on campus who, in my mind, will go on to do amazing things. Yet most of them wouldn’t think they could go on to found the next unicorn or change the world, simply because so few Michigan students have done that, and many more comparatively have found success in big tech and working at established companies.

I’m certainly not saying that working at an established company is not good by any means – I myself am going to a big tech company this summer and believe that it is where you can learn so much about how to build a successful business yourself – but students are limiting themselves by not dreaming bigger.

I don’t think this is a normal occurrence at schools like Berkeley or Stanford because of how vocal the entrepreneurial alumni network there is. Students there are far more captivated by stories of founders like Jensen Huang coming in to speak at the school, so that became their standard for success.

I think in that sense, Michigan students are much more content and happy with their lives compared to the average Stanford student since our measure for success often involves securing a role at a reputable company, which, as stated before, the school has prepared us very well to do. But maybe we could set our bar higher.

We are capable of dreaming much bigger, even if that inevitably leads to more disappointment and uncertainty, because ultimately, we are able to generate much more impact on the world. Especially at this age, we can fail – a luxury much less afforded once you are older. This also doesn't discredit the pre-professional culture. In fact, I think both cultures complement each other quite well--the realists and dreamers, both crucial for success

Even as I write this, I am uncertain if I have the capabilities to dream that big, but you won’t know unless you try. And for once, I want to try by taking that leap to dream.