Below is my recap of the Super Interview Saturday.
Overall, I felt the event was great. Prior to this, I had Ross below Kellogg and even with Duke. Now, I have Ross even with Kellogg and above Duke. This could all change, especially depending on acceptances, but that is where I am now.
Overall EventIt was definitely a hard sell. Soojin (the admissions director) told us that we were their "cream of the crop" and that they wanted to provide us with as much information as possible regarding life at Ross. The event was fairly well ran and organized with only a few minor complaints. The entire morning was basically a meet and greet session with prospectives as everyone completed their interviews over a 3 hour period. Afterwards we had a welcome from Soojin before we went to the new building for lunch. Lunch was casual as we were basically free to roam the new building. Following lunch, Dean Dolan spoke to us. He did a great job of finding out what we wanted to know from him (he even cold-called on a student to find out) and candidly answering everything to the best of his abilities. His big focus was how Ross combines the analytics and theory of a school like Chicago and the action/case-based learning of HBS. The next two sessions were panel's with current students. These were extremely helpful on getting a true sense of life at Ross. Finally, a bus took us to an art museum where we had cocktails and finger foods while socializing with current students. The night continued on afterwards, but I did not participate as my voice was completely gone by that time (see Nightmare Situation thread) and I had a very important football game to watch.
InterviewAll interviews were blind and conducted with 2nd year students. Since my interview was later in the morning, I received numerous reports throughout the day which all stated that the interview was very basic and casual. My interview was more casual than the adcom interview with Kellogg, but much less casual and conversational than my Duke interview. My interviewer was very nice, but she didn't show as much emotion as the "bubbly" interviewer I had at Duke. This interview also had a few more questions than any of my other interviews even though it was only 30 minutes long. It looked like she had a list of about 15-20 questions but I think some of them overlapped so she did not ask every single one. Below are the questions:
- Walk through resume
- Why MBA
- Why Ross
- Career goals
- How will you contribute to Ross
- Talk about a difficult time working with a group
- How would you motivate someone in your team that did not appear interested
- Leadership examples
- 3 adjectives to describe you
- Anything else I'd like to add
- Questions for her (5 minutes)
New BuildingI can see why they needed a new building. The old building definitely showed its age. The new building was outstanding. I visited Duke 2 weeks ago and Ross' new facilities made Duke's new facilities seem 10 years old. The building was very modern and open. All of the rooms had state of the art technology (and very comfy ergonomic chairs
). The workout facility was awesome as it looked like there was plenty of cardio equipment to satisfy everyone.
Prospective StudentsI think this was the most successful aspect of the event. Enough can not be said about the value of meeting and bonding with other prospective students. Not only do you get to see what some of your future classmates are like, you also develop friendships that could really help the transition into the MBA program. I was blown away by the diversity of backgrounds I encountered. Just to list a few:
- Professional basketball player (Europe)
- Professional folk singer
- NYC entertainment booking agency owner
- High school teacher
- Many non-profit backgrounds
Everyone was really down-to-earth as well and fun to hang out with. It was definitely a talented group that also had personality which I feel is extremely important.
Ann ArborYeah, the weather sucked, but outside of Duke, the weather sucks at all of the schools I'm looking at (Chicago, Boston, etc.) Also, if you're going to have bad weather, it's nice to know you have the nicest b-school facility in the country to hang out in! Ann Arbor seemed very cool. I felt it was nicer and more upscale than Durham and probably Evanston as well. (Difficult to tell as I my time in the town of Ann Arbor was brief.) I liked how the students mentioned that Ann Arbor was a true college town. People don't have Ross friends and Detroit friends like schools in larger metros. I checked out a few places to live online and rent was very cheap. Many students live in nearby apartments or houses that are within walking distance to the school so a car is not necessary, but would be nice.
Let me know if you have any questions about Ross or the event!
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08 Dec 2008, 18:06
