Michigan Ross 2008 MBA Essays, Deadlines, Tips
Michigan Ross 2008 MBA Deadline and Notification Dates.
Round Submission Deadline Notification Date Decision I: November 1, 2007 January 15, 2008
Decision II: January 3, 2008 March 15, 2008
Decision III: March 1, 2008 May 15, 2008
International students are encouraged to apply in decision Period I or II.
Ross has substantially changed its application from last year, and it is going against the grain. While many programs have made their applications slightly shorter and more directed, Ross has added a short question and made the questions seemingly more generic. Don't be fooled. Ross does not want generic answers. Your answers need to connect to Ross' multi-disciplinary action projects and commitment to action-based learning. You need to show the admissions readers why you belong at Ross, not at Top B-School.
My comments are in red.
Michigan Ross 2008 MBA Essays
Provide response to the following four essay questions, each on a separate page. At the top of each page, please include your full name and a complete statement of the question being answered.
Use at least 11 point font and 1.5 line spacing.
Required questions
You must answer the following four questions:
Long Answers: (500 word max)
1) Briefly describe your short-term and long-term career goals. Why is an MBA the best choice at this point in your career? What and/or who influenced your decision to apply to Ross?
2) Describe your most significant professional accomplishment. Elaborate on the leadership skills you displayed, the actions you took and the impact you had on your organization.
This is a pretty straight-forward question. Clearly your most significant professional accomplishment should reveal leadership and have had impact on your company. If you can, quantify the impact.
Short Answers: (300 word max)
3) If you were not pursuing the career goals you described in Question 1, what profession would you pursue instead? (for example, teacher, musician, athlete, architect, etc.) How will this alternate interest contribute to your effectiveness in solving multi-disciplinary problems?
Maybe you are someone who struggled with your career choices. You had a close second before you chose your current professional goal. Then you should have a relatively easy time answering this question.
If you always seemed pretty directed and haven't wavered since you decided against being a firefighter in first grade, then you may have a little more difficulty with this question. In the latter case, use the question to reveal another side of you. Perhaps you would be a professional basketball player and your team skills would be relevant at Ross. Or you would work as a serial entrepreneur and bring your entrepreneurial pizzazz to Ross.
4. Describe your experience during a challenging time in your life. Explain how you grew personally, either despite this challenge or because of it.
Challenge comes in so many shapes and sizes that it is very difficult to give general advice on this one. You have to be on the other side of the challenge to know how you grew as a result. You may have conquered the challenge. You may not have entirely overcome it, but you will be changed and usually strengthened by having faced it. Describe the challenge, how you handled it, and how you grew as a result.
For most applicants, this will be a non-professional essay.
Optional Question:
Is there anything else you think the Admissions Committee should know about you to evaluate your candidacy?
Do not use this essay like a storage room, my son's bedroom closet, or even a large salad: a place to put everything. Focus on one facet of your life or experience that is important to you, reveals the human being you are, and isn't described in other parts of the application. Write about it here.
You can of course also use this essay to "explain" a weakness, but I hate to end your application on that note if it can be avoided. So weigh your options. If you have something to explain, do so. If you can tuck the explanation somewhere else in the application, more power to you. If the best place for the explanation is this last essay, so be it.
If you would like help with your Michigan Ross MBA application, please consider Accepted.com's MBA essay editing and admissions consulting or a Michigan Ross Comprehensive Package, a package of editing and consulting specific to Ross.
Linda Abraham
Guest: Soojin Kwon Koh, Dir. of MBA Admissions
Date: Wed. Nov. 7, 2007
Time: 10:00 AM PT/1:00 PM ET/6:00 PM GMT
Place: Chat Room
Linda Abraham
in MBA Admissions, Michigan Ross
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27 Comments
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Reader Comments (27)
This is regarding the 3rd question. I always wanted to be a stage artist and pursued my interests by means of participation in intra-school and inter-school drama competitions. I even have some directorial experience at the same level.
Could this be highlighted as one of the alternate professions I could have taken, instead of moving to IT? Could you please elaborate upon the notion of "contribution to your effectiveness in solving multi-disciplinary problems"?
Regards,
Tarun Kumar Vatwani
The answer to the second part of the question partially depends on you. I can imagine that acting has improved your presentation and communications skills. Directing obviously forced you to think about not just one character, but multiple characters and sub-plots in a play. That sounds multi-disciplinary to me. You can bring out that challenge and point to it as an example of how you will approach a multi-faceted problem.
Good luck!
I believe a reapplicant to Michigan Ross needs to submit a cover letter explaining the experiences during the last one year along with an updated resume, one new letter of recommendation and application fee. They are also encouraged to write one or more essay questions. I have following questions:
1. How long this cover letter should be?
2. Since the essay of the previous year has already conveyed my goals, career progress and Why Ross part, should I rewrite this essay as well or should I concentrate on the other essays?
Thanks
1) 1-2 pages, unless you hear otherwise from Michigan.
2) I'm assuming that you will cover career progress in the cover letter. But if your goals or reasons for wanting to attend Ross have changed and you did not discuss them in the cover letter, then you should definitely re-write #1. You should also rewrite it, if you feel that last year's essay did not do a good job.
If you feel that your goals and reasons for attending Ross haven't changed and the essay was a good one, then focus on the essays.
Good luck!
I am a reapplicant to Ross and was waitlisted till the end the previous year. I used one essay last year under "transforming ideas into action". category which is one of the best professional accomplishment I have in my career.
Should I write about the same incident from scratch for this year as well or do I need to find something new to talk about in this accomplishment essay?
Pls advise.
I think it would be better to talk about another and more recent time when you transformed an idea into action. There may be exceptions and without consulting with you, I can't say if you wouldn't be an exception, but you want to show the committee that you are even better now than you were last year when they waitlisted you. A more recent, strong example will help make that case...even if it isn't quite as spectacular as the first example you gave.
Good luck!
What specific information should a resume contain? Is it advisable to include a sample list of publications at conferences,published thesis, presentations, etc.? I am concerned that this info will be a tad too "technical" to be included in an MBA application packet.
Also with regards to Q1 (long term goals),what is the cue to sound realistic about one's goals without coming across as too pompous?
Thanks
If the goals are feasible and realistic they won't sound pompous. If you say you want to be CEO of a Fortune 500 company in 5 years, that would sound pompousj, because it is unrealistic. If you say that your long-term goal is join senior management of a Fortune 500 company, that is realistic.
this withrespect to the question on alternate profession. Currently I am in sourcing profile and would likt to enter supply chain.I would like to say my alternate profession about fitness instructuor where u need to lead by example, cater customized help for different personalities, motivating people. But, I dont have a strong track record except for me ensuring that I exercise since the last 4 years. Does it form a strong case
This is regarding essay 3.
I am focusing on a hedge fund / P.E career to lead me onto Entrepreneurship. Can I say that I may right away enter Entrepreneurship though at a much smaller scale and skill to achieve my goals?
Is it necessary that the alternative career should lead to a different goal?
Kindly clarify.
Thanks.
This is one of those times when I would really need to see the essay. Sorry I can't be more definitive.
Linda
I don't think the second career MUST go in a different direction, but it does give you the opportunity to show a different side of you. I am not sure this would be the most effective use of that question.
Good luck!
Linda
I am struggling a bit with the alternate profession qn. I know what I would like to do. But I am not sure whether to elaborate on why and how I began to like that profession or what I would do in that capacity. The problem is due to the word limit of 300 words.
Also can you help me understand multidisciplinary a little better. I would like to become an yoga instructor. How can I articulate it as mutli disclipinary?
Thanks in advance,
Priya
Good luck!
I would like to ask you some thing about the third question. I am in the IT profession and have studied computer science in undergrad. As an alternate career I think about bieng a mathematician but I do not understand how to explain this interest in solving multi diciplinary problems. Any suggestions are wellcome.
Regards,
Sher Dill
Now if you can compare math to a game or puzzle or some other activity and discuss how it requires examining a challenge from multiple perspectives,and how it is better completed when you have different people also contemplating the challenge but from multiple perspectives and with diverse strengths and talents, you may have an answer that Michigan could appreciate. Just please don't use this example, or you will sound like every other reader of this blog using this example facing similar issues!
I hope this helps.
Linda
Thanks in advance,
Charles
I did not hire Accepted's services as such, but I owe a lot to Accepted and would like to express my appreciation through this post.
a. Your responses to queries on BW forums have been extremely useful (And at least in my case, helped me bounce back from R1 rejections)
b. Your Ross essay tips were invaluable (I was clueless about essay 3 before I read your tips).
c. Interview tips on Accepted!
Thank you.