Ross Admissions Director Blog

The Bane of Admissions Officers

2012-01-25T14:00:53-08:00

I wanted to pass on a link that one of my staff happened upon. It's an essay service that offers to review your essays for $19.95 or edit them for an additional $20. They provide sample responses for many b-school's essays, including our own. http://mbaessayguru.com/sample-essays/michigan-ross-essay-1 I hope you haven't used this site to model your own essays after, or worse, paid for their services. I've shared this link with our small team of readers so their antennae are up for similar essays. We purposely maintain a small cadre of readers so that readers can better calibrate their evaluations across a...

Interview updates and happenings around the school

2012-01-18T14:42:42-08:00

As promised, Wave 1 interview invitations went out yesterday. The next two waves of interview invitations will go out by end of day on Friday, February 3 and Friday, February 10. The first wave of Consortium interview invites will go out by end of day tomorrow, and the next set will go out with the second wave on February 3. In case you missed one of my earlier posts explaining the wave process, here's the deal: the wave in which you are invited to interview has no correlation to: (a) when you submitted your application; (b) the strength of your...

Notification update

2012-01-09T13:40:18-08:00

Happy new year! It's sunny, 41 degrees, and snow-free in Ann Arbor as I write. MBA students have returned from their winter breaks and the school is buzzing once again. Of course, the Admissions Office was buzzing even without students around last week as we wrapped up Round 1 decisions and began processing Round 2 apps for the Committee's review. Judging from the visits to my blog today, I'm guessing that many of you are anxious to hear about notification dates for Round 1 decisions and Round 2 interview invitations. Here's the scoop. All Round 1 decisions will be released...

Review process in full swing

2011-12-15T08:04:30-08:00

Here's where we are with Round 1: the team has reviewed all the files from their regions and made preliminary recommendations. Now I get to do the fun part of building the class. This will take a few days as I review individual files and interview reports, and keep on top of the impact each decision will have on the composition of the class. After I'm done with my review, I'll submit the recommendations to the Associate Dean for her review over the holidays. (Please keep in mind that we'll be closed from the afternoon of Dec. 23 until Jan....

Touching Base on Round 1

2011-12-09T06:52:19-08:00

We will be wrapping up Round 1 interviews this week. As a reminder, if you didn't get an invitation to interview in this round, it is possible that you may be invited to interview in Round 2. Following completion of the interviews, AdCom members will be reviewing files in concert with interview reports and making preliminary decisions. Each region will be reviewed by the region manager to make decisions on candidates from their region. At this stage, class composition isn't the focus, but rather, identifying the best candidates from every part of the world. Next, I will review all of...

Round 1 Update

2011-11-22T13:46:48-08:00

As I stated in an earlier blog post, we extend our interview invitations in two batches. The first batch went out on October 24 and the second batch went out on November 14. If you have not received an interview invitation (be sure to double-check your spam folders!), you should not automatically assume that you will be “rejected” at the end of this round; you may be waitlisted and invited to interview at a later date. All Round 1 admissions decisions will be posted on January 13th. You will receive an email from our office about a week prior to...

Early Reviews from our Readers

2011-11-08T10:00:15-08:00

Early last week I touched base with our application evaluation team to get their sense of the quality of the Round 1 apps. There was consensus that this year's apps are better than last year's (don't tell last year's Round 1 admits). They said the essays really came to life and left them eager to meet the applicants they were getting to know through their apps. I'll have a chance to "meet" applicants a little later in the process. Last Friday, I welcomed a group of prospective students to another on-campus Preview Day. One of the things I shared with...

Demystifying the Interview Invitation Process

2011-11-01T12:18:57-07:00

In case you didn't read the comments to my last blog post, a reader ("Ross Hopeful") decried our interview process because of the 3-week wait between invitations going out. S/he commented that this wait "take(s) a toll not only on our psyche, but also on our work and to some extent our family." I completely understand that feeling. I've been through many an application process myself, and that was back in the day when applicants were given no clue as to when an interview invitation would come, if at all. And the only other communication applicants received from the school...

Tips for the interview (and essays)

2011-10-13T10:35:53-07:00

For those of you who submitted your apps this past week, you're probably thinking ahead to the next part in the process - the interview. I've just finished updating our interviewer training materials (which I do each year based on learnings from the prior year). Our on-campus interviewers (MBA2s) will undergo training today and tomorrow. Here are the key things I will tell them: Ask the "why" question, and not just the "what." We want to understand what matters to you, how you think, what your key drivers are - stuff that is better gleaned through a conversation than a...

36 Hours in Ann Arbor, Mich.

2011-10-07T11:53:15-07:00

I love to travel. I love to experience new cultures, new people, new food (anyone who knows me knows that I run so that I can eat!). Fortunately, my work provides me with opportunities to travel around the United States and the world to meet with Ross alumni and prospective students AND to have many new experiences. That said, I’m always happy to come home to what is familiar, especially because of where home is – Ann Arbor. The New York Times Travel section has a “36 Hours” column where they highlight things to do in a city over a...