Calling all Michigan (Ross) Fall 2009 Applicants!

Speaking of which, I emailed the adcom on Friday and asked if all the invites had gone out. I got the following cookie-cutter reply.

"We will continue to invite applicants to interview through the first week of December. There is no further action required of you at this time."

I should have emailed back "There's 9 hours left in the first week of December, just tell me it's over!"

RF

I called them, they said they tried to finish all interviews on the 1st week, but they [the receptionists] won't know the workload [of the adcoms]?? and perhaps still have email early of the following week. Well but i don't think it is so, just polite answer. Out of the Ross race, good luck for those went for interviews. For the rest, good luck for other R1 choice and your R2.

Refurb, it was an alumni interview... Have been to Ann Arbor already, so didn't go this time. All the best to you.. My interview slot was up to 12th December, so I still think you shouldn't give up on Ross.

I just finished my alumni interview as well...

The alumni was SUPER NICE, very attentive, inquisitive, and at the same time shows tremendous professionalism throughout the interview.

The questions were the usual:

-resume walkthrough
-asked about my start-up experience (we talked about my entrepreneurial experiences a lot)
-why mba, why ross
-weaknesses
-a time where I had to motivate a reluctant group or individual
-hobbies
-anything I wanted to say (so I told a story about myself)

nothing surprising, due to the atmosphere of the interview I felt really comfortable and was able to convey ideas in a pretty well developed manner.

Good luck to everyone else!

Does anyone remember from last year when people started hearing back with admissions/waitlists/dings from Ross? Was it on the decision date or did they start rolling in earlier? If earlier, how much earlier?

New Ross Pics

Terp,

Great pics! Looks nice! The gym looks... expansive!

Am I wrong to recognize those as iPhone pics? Good, but not perfect. = ) Mine is the same way.

Thanks for the updates!

~Sam

ha yep, iphone pics

yea the gym was closed off, so I think it probably is bigger than that. The locker rooms were pretty nice as well

I was also at the super saturday interview thing, and I must say I left very impressed by Michigan. The weather and Michigan location isn't great; but academically, socially, and career placement wise I think Michigan is a very solid choice.

New building is very nice. All of the admission staff was very professional and friendly. In fact the dean of the school actually came around during lunch and introduced himself to all of the prospectives...

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 Event
It 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.

Interview
All 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 Building
I 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 Students
I 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 Arbor
Yeah, 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!

Wow! Nice recap! Thanks!

I looked up your profile and it's amazing. Ross considers you the "cream of the crop", which I can easily see you've got a really strong profile in every area, but then you get dinged without even an interview at Wharton?

Ross might not be in the H/S/W group, but it's dam close and a great school. Apparently they aren't looking for the same thing in their students?

I've had a few b-school grads tell me that applying to schools is a real crap shoot and I'm starting to see how true that really is.

For what it's worth, I would assume you're a shoe-in at Ross.

RF

Thanks! It's odd as I was invited to interview at HBS (25% of apps) and invited to Ross's Super Interview Saturday (approx 80 people), but dinged at Wharton with no interview. I actually felt that my Wharton application was my strongest as well (the essays were very similar to Ross). I hope I'm a shoe-in at Ross! I would not be disappointed at all if I had to spend the next 2 years there!

I'm thinking, unless you took your pants off or something during the interview, you're pretty much in.

You didn't take your pants off did you?

RF

cpgmba,

Thanks for the excellent recap. I would be on Cloud No 9 if I was called "cream of the crop". What makes you think that there is a possibility that you are not in ? I think you certainly are. When I went for my interview, the new facility was not ready and I could not enter it. I can see how impressive it is now. I was slightly surprised by seeing that 80 people were invited for the Super Sat. I had thought it might me an affair of 20-25 people. Does it mean that others like me who already interviewed, chances are slim for us ? .

P.S - I have been quiet for a long time on this forum and trying to involve myself in other activities. But today, I guess, I could not resist bringing some paranoia back in to action

GMAT Club's got 3.75% of "The Cream"! Glad to hear you guys had a good time at Super Saturday. The new building looks so awesome! Did the 3 of you manage to meet up?

I think the only question for you guys is not whether you'll get in, but what size scholarship you'll receive!

Congrats to the "cream of the crop"... But I have a question. If my application was reviewed after all the invites to Super Saturday went out, I would not get the Super Saturday invite... So, I should not feel bad about not being called "the cream of the crop", right...

Anything to console myself... I really love Ross.. Would feel sad if I don't get in..

I hear you. I love Ross too, but I had a really bad interview experience.
I'm used to more conversational interviews. Not a 30 minute race to answer 15 minutes questions.
I can't feel a little jipped about the interview.
It felt more like a stress interview- not something I would expect from the Ross brand.
Honestly I didn't think my interviewer was even the slightest bit engaged in what I had to say..!!!
I'm glad i got invited to interview....but not hopeful and positive about the end result.

After finding out about the super saturday....which they invited almost 80 people do I can't help but feel slightly....ugh.....worse about the whole process. Really Ross....must you rub in that you don't think I'm cream of the crop?

It just doesn't feel right. God I hate this application process..!