Three Michigan Ross One-Year Master’s Alumni Featured in Poets&Quants’ Specialized Masters Student Features
As part of a new specialized master’s program series, three alumni of the Ross School of Business — Thomas Kidd, MM ’19; Sydney Samson, MAcc ’19; and Kyle Meagher, MCSM ’19 — were featured by Poets&Quants.
For a series on students in specialized master’s programs, P&Q spoke with 13 recent grads from top business schools about their experiences in a variety of master’s programs. Kidd, Samson, and Meagher were chosen to represent Michigan Ross, respectively, for the Master of Management, Master of Accounting, and Master of Supply Chain Management programs.
Meet these Michigan Ross grads and find out what earned them a spot in this year’s series.
Thomas Kidd, MM ’19
A self-described “UX designer turned sales rep eager to understand people and bring meaningful projects to life,” Kidd came to Ross straight from undergrad at the University of Michigan, where he majored in user experience design. He is now a senior sales development representative at Virtru.
Kidd said he chose to pursue a MM degree instead of a MBA because the length of the MM program fit his desired timeline and would help him gain skills in business without having to commit to two more full years in school.
Kidd told P&Q he specifically chose Michigan Ross for the diversity of students in the MM program.
“Since everyone comes from a non-business background, you get to hear from and work with a lot of unique perspectives,” he explained. “Before I applied, I reached out to current master’s students at Ross as well as some from other business schools. The Ross students described really memorable class projects and group discussions due to all the different undergrad majors being in the same room. For example, you might have an art student, an English major, and an engineer in your group project, and that was really attractive to me.”
Kidd said his proudest achievement as a graduate student was being elected president of the student association for his Michigan Ross MM class. “As an introvert, putting my name in the hat was already outside of my comfort zone, but the opportunity to take an active leadership role for the cohort and work with so many of my peers was unforgettable and something that I’m proud of,” he said
Sydney Samson, MAcc ’19
After attending Michigan Ross for her undergraduate business education, Samson wanted to return for a number of factors.
“For one, the professors are incredibly knowledgeable about their respective fields and have impressive achievements outside the classroom as well,” she explained. “I also liked that the Ross curriculum is focused on hands-on learning, real-world application, and collaboration. Lastly, Ross has a large network of alumni who are always willing to connect and assist students with their career goals.”
She described the Michigan Ross MAcc curriculum as “very focused on collaboration and teamwork.”
“Most courses had group projects, which allowed me to work closely with my classmates on a daily basis,” she told P&Q. “This helped to enrich my learning experience both inside and outside the classroom. There was a great sense of community and support amongst everyone in the program and I truly looked forward to being in class with my peers every day.”
Her favorite course from the MAcc curriculum was ACC 555: Corporate Financial Research and Reporting, where she had the opportunity to work on a team to research complex accounting issues. The class taught her that accounting is not always straightforward and that there are a lot of gray areas that require complex judgement.
In her current role on assurance staff at EY, she consistently uses the critical thinking skills and research methodology that she learned in this class.
Kyle Meagher, MSCM ‘19
As an environmental science major from the University of Minnesota, Meagher wanted to find a master’s program that would provide her with the opportunity to strengthen her analytical skills and that aligned with her interest in sustainability.
Meagher said she chose a MSCM over an MBA for the specificity and the length of the program. She was eager to be in a full-time, in-person program. However, the key factor that led her to choose Ross was the Supply Chain Consulting Studio portion of the program.
“I wanted to get the most out of my yearlong graduate experience and the Supply Chain Consulting Studio was an opportunity to dive headfirst into solving a real world supply chain problem,” she said.
Sampson shared that her best memory from the MSCM program was during her team’s final presentation for the Supply Chain Consulting Studio to corporate leadership.
The opportunity to confidently present and discuss our findings with professionals who have had decades of experience was so rewarding after working so hard on the project. It really solidified my excitement to start my career in supply chain management.
In addition, Meagher said her greatest accomplishment from her time at Ross was being accepted to be a part of the Ross Leaders Academy through the Sanger Leadership Center.
“The Leaders Academy was an intensive program that brought students across the university together to challenge and build our leadership skills. The activities, discussions, and reflections I experienced throughout the program were deeply impactful,” she said.
