Putting a Face to the Name

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Summer Camp

July 2013. I was spending long hot days in the Quince Orchard High School basketball gym, coaching (more like babysitting) 10 years at basketball camp. That was my summer job all throughout high school. I loved basketball, my coach ran the camp, and all my friends were also working it. So it was a no brainer way to make some extra cash with little effort on my end.

At the same time, I had one more year of high school and was starting to consider what my next chapter looked like. Thanks to attending a Michigan vs Ohio State football game at the Big House when I was 8 years old, I had dreams of going to the University of Michigan.

The Michigan Visit

As most high school seniors, I had a bunch of generic campus tours lined up and it was no different for my visit to Michigan. However, my friends and I were no dummies. We strategically chose our campus visit to Michigan that weekend in September when the football team happened to be playing a night game against Notre Dame. Luckily, my friend Johnny had an older sister at Michigan so our sleeping accommodations and game day plans were set (sleeping at the Tri Delt sorority house and a full day of tailgating? Sign me up!)

So we show up in Ann Arbor early on Friday and take the standard campus tour at the Admissions department. We walked through the famous Diag, into the Undergrad Library (UgLi) and past the Student Union. The student tour guide recited all the scripted facts about the founding of the University and the admissions statistics. I had completed the check the box exercise to get my name in the system that I was interested in attending U of M.

Then, Johnny’s sister took us out for dinner and showed us the inside scoop of campus from a student’s perspective. Dinner at Mani pizzeria on Liberty St, followed by a fraternity house party? I could get used to this life.

GAMEDAY Weekend

If you’ve ever been to Ann Arbor on game day, then you can fill in the gaps for what Saturday was like for a few high school seniors experiencing it for the first time. Lets just say the Pit was the Pit back then. There were kegs. Slap the bag was in play. A little Quickie Burger for lunch.

And if you haven’t been to a game at the Big House…you need to go ASAP.

It was a hell of a weekend and by Sunday afternoon (after my headache went away), no questions asked, this was where I wanted to go to school. I didn’t need anymore convincing. In general, I felt good about my grades, test scores, and extra curriculars meeting the standard to get in. It was definitely not a given, but I thought I had a really good shot.

However, I had one more thing I needed to do while I was in Ann Arbor. It was a meeting that I was dreading, that I didn’t want to attend, that I was nervous just thinking about.

Ross School of Business

The Ross School of Business is top 5 undergrad BBA program. Its extremely competitive. Back in 2014, most students would apply after freshman year with only ~20% of applicants being accepted and an even smaller subset getting admitted directly from high school. They had recently just renovated the building and had plans to expand into an entire business campus. The iconic large glass windows open up into the “Winter Garden” where students were everywhere meeting in teams, studying, and socializing. State of the art technology in all of the classrooms, meeting rooms, and massive auditorium. The place was top notch and only continues to get better today.

I wanted to follow in the footsteps of my dad, my uncle, and others in my family that pursed a career in business. For all of my life up to that point, I was fortunate that school came pretty easy to me. I never stressed out about tests and homework assignments. I just went with the flow. I did my work, I got good grades, I participated in extra curriculars to put on my resume, and I played basketball. It was fun and it was easy. So when it came to applying to college, I had a similar mentality. I’ll just go through the process and see what happens.

My mom knew this was different. I was no longer in my high school bubble and I needed to be intentional if I was really going to get accepted to Michigan and eventually to the business school. I remember her telling me before going on my visit to Michigan, “You need to take advantage of your time there. Meet with as many people as you can.”

She researched that Ross had its own opportunity for prospective students to tour the business school. She sent it to me and said “You should book an appointment and reach out to the advisor. Go check it out and get your name out there”.

My initial instinct was why do I need to do this? I’m already doing the regular tour that includes the business school. I wouldn’t even be able to apply until after my freshman year. I’m going to be busy, you know, watching the football game and all. But she pushed me to give it a try. “You might as well do it while you are there. You never know what you will learn”.

I took my mom’s advice and booked an appointment with the Admissions Department at Ross. Then, I sent the first official networking email that I can remember ever sending to Peter D’Angelo, Assistant Director of Ross Undergrad Admissions.

Look at me! So formal. Anyways, we exchanged a few emails and the appointment was confirmed. I was going to stay an extra day in Ann Arbor to attend this meeting then fly back home Monday night.

The Meeting

I put on my button down dress shirt and slacks, grab my notebook and begin the short 5 minute walk from the Tri Delt Pink and Purple Annex House on corner of Tappan and Oakland to the business school. Palms sweating and I’m questioning why I am still in Ann Arbor and need to be doing this. I much rather be exploring more of the campus, grabbing lunch, or pretty much anything else besides meeting with a business school admissions department all alone. But I already stayed the extra day, this guy Peter is expecting me, I might as well show up and ask a few questions. How bad could it be?

As you can tell from the email exchange above, the meeting went great. Peter was a great guy and easy to talk to. I then got a private tour of the business school by a current student where I was able to ask more informal questions and get a feel for what it was like to be a student there. All the anxiety and build up of the seriousness of the meeting was just in my head. I didn’t ask for anything while I was there. Just shared my story, expressed my interest and curiosity in the school, and stayed true to myself.

Fast forward 7 months and not only did I get accepted to Michigan, but I was accepted as a direct admit to the business school. I was ecstatic! I was going to Michigan either way but now I got into the business school too?! I couldn’t wait to get to Ann Arbor in the fall.

4th Floor Douglass - Bursley Hall

We were a few months into school and I was sitting in my dorm playing NBA 2k14 with this kid Mitchell, who 10 years later is my best friend and I was just the best man at his wedding. It was still early days of our friendship, and we were just getting to know each other. He started talking about all the things he was doing to try and build his resume to get into the business school: join a consulting club, help a friend with a startup, host a charity fundraiser for his hockey league.

I was like damn you really need to do all that? I’m lucky and already got accepted directly into the business school. Surprised, he goes “How did you make that happen? Barely anybody gets accepted to the business school right out of high school”.

We then started comparing track records:

ACT scores? 35 for Mitch, 30 for me

GPA? Mitch > Andrew

High school distinctions? Mitch was a national finalist in DECA. I was the school newspaper editor in chief

Essays? I’d say we were probably pretty even on this one given our privileged upper middle class upbringing and well rounded high school resume

Michigan Difference? Both his parents went to Michigan. Neither of mine did

So how the hell did I get accepted to Ross with a <10% acceptance rate when I was going up against all these incredible people like Mitch?

I thought back to that email. That meeting with Peter D’Angelo. That one hour of awkwardness sitting down with the director of admissions and telling him how excited I was for Michigan and my interest in business. The 30 minute tour I got from one of the current students. And the follow up email I sent Peter thanking him for his time.

I bet 95% of those kids that applied beat me “on paper” with their accomplishments, GPA, and test scores. But I had something they didn’t. A face to face connection. A face to my name. A story behind the application.

So what?

I have used what I learned from that experience over and over again ever since that realization in Mitch’s dorm room.

People throw around the term “networking” and it gets a negative connotation. It sounds stuffy and awkward and intimidating. And these are all very real feelings that I still feel from time to time. But unfortunately, those feelings prevent a lot of people from putting themselves out there. From sending the cold emails, attending the networking events, or meeting that person for coffee.

I have learned to push through these nerves and take action because 1) its really not that bad 2) the opportunities from meeting new people and putting yourself out there are endless.

Here are a few examples of cool opportunities I had from my “networking” over the years:

• A cold LinkedIn message and phone call led to a summer internship at Booz Allen Hamilton in Troy, MI after my sophomore year of college

• Attending a business school clubs fair led to me joining the engineering focused Michigan Solar Car team as their Business Development lead

• Reaching out to the International Cultural Exchange Network leader at the EY Chicago Office led to the opportunity to host a March Madness fundraiser event that raised money for a local charity

• Joining an entrepreneurship mastermind and sharing my story on a group zoom call led to an introduction to my future boss that allowed me to quit my corporate job

Now, as I am in this transitionary period pursuing my next venture, I continue to send those dozens of emails, have those awkward phone conversations, and try to meet with people in person as much as possible. I have faith that I am one conversation away from finding a part time gig to cover my baseline expenses, a job working for a global travel company that includes free trips around the world, or some other opportunity that I don’t even know exists but would excite me if I heard about it.

Because you never know when that person on the other end of the phone or other side of the table could be your ticket to that next great opportunity. Thank you Mom for encouraging me to attend that meeting, send those emails, and put myself out there. It continues to pay dividends today.

Cheers,

Andrew