Hi everyone,
Just finished my interview on campus so here is a recap:
Flew into DTW last night and rented a car to drive to campus. I stayed at the Marriott on the south side of campus and it's about a 10 minute drive to the Ross building (very easy drive on one street). I attended the happy hour last night at Scorekeepers and it was practically full of MBA students. My good friend is a second year and he introduced me to a ton of people. Everyone I met was very friendly and happy to speak with me. I kept it very social (no crazy Ross questions) and plenty of people offered me advice on my interview ("Oh, it's really easy, just know Why MBA, Why Ross, etc..). Ann Arbor is definitely a college town, but unlike other schools located in a big city which I am considering (Kellogg, Booth), the MBA school almost seemed like a family as everyone hangs out together because Ann Arbor is basically just the college town. Ann Arbor itself it pretty nice and everyone was really positive about it. Lots of great restaurants and fun bars (not to mention Michigan football which people are FANATICAL about!). All in all, a very social group and I had a blast hanging out with them. I was having such a good time and I wish I could have stayed out later, but I had an interview in the morning, hah!
Got to the Ross building at about 9:30 this morning after spending the morning rehearsing questions in my hotel room. Ross was packed with people as there were many things going on....some energy business plan competition, lots of first years interviewing for internships, and Friday is usually a busy day at the Ross building even though there are no classes, the students use the day to meet with groups. The Winter garden area was full of people. The building itself is amazing...I was very impressed. I am comparing it to Booth's new building as they are very similar in style and function and I would say they are fairly equal. Plenty of space in the Winter garden, the auditorium was amazing, all the classrooms had video for taping lectures (which you can watch later online if you cannot attend - cool!), projectors, very comfortable seating, etc. Lots of side meeting rooms with plasma TVs for group study which can be reserved in advance. Most of them were being taken by the business plan competition. Huge plus for Ross was the workout facility located in the building. Again, very nice and convenient and not too crowded. Plenty of cardio machines and weights and they have trainers/nutritionists available as well. Full wall of plasma TVs to watch while running as well. I believe the cost is $100 a semester...not too bad I guess. You always have access to the other campus gyms as well. Sorry, kinda rambling and regurgitating information so let me know if there are any specific questions about the building
I did the student panel from 9:45 to 10:30 and it was two first year students casually asking questions. It was just me and another applicant so it was extremely casual. The two women were very nice and I highly recommend this prior to your interview because I was able to use a lot of the information in the interview later. We talked in detail about the core curriculum, MAP experience (they both just got their placement - one was going to Rwanda to work on a new medicine distribution system for 5 weeks - awesome!), Ross life, and their true thoughts on Ross (stuff you want to ask students, but not in a formal interview setting). This part definitely loosened me up for the interview as I was able to highlight things I was planning on mentioning in the interview.
From 10:30 - 11:00, I did a student led tour. Again, let me know if you have any specific questions. The guy was a first year, but didn't seem knowledgeable about anything outside of his major (he was a marketing focus) so he really couldn't answer some of my questions about the Zell Laurie Institute. I did get to see the Ross trading room floor which was pretty cool.
11:00 - 11:45 - I found an open room and practiced my questions out loud. People were definitely staring at me through the window as I was talking to myself, very loudly
11:45 - Interview. Went to the admissions office and my interviewer promptly got me. She was a second year student and good friends with my friend (SCORE! :
). It was a very casual interview. We chitchatted for a bit on the walk to the room and she was actually at the happy hour last night, though I didn't meet her, so we definitely connected immediately. Her first formal question was "Walk me through your resume and Why you need an MBA" I started with Undergrad education (what I studied and why, which was very relevant to my job after school), then progressed through my jobs and what factor they played in Why MBA and my future goals). This naturally progressed to my future goals (short/long term). I would stress that you practice this progression so that it is clear to the person how your past experiences played an important role in why you need an MBA. She was very impressed with the detail that I gave for my short term and long term goals and she definitely understood my plan. BTW, this was very hard for me to get to a clear message since you are compressing a TON of information into a few minutes of speech. I wrote out the answers to all my questions for practice (PM if you want my list of compiled Ross questions). We then talked a bit more about my goals and she then transitioned into Why Ross? I had a long list of things here which she definitely agreed with. She then asked me what I did outside of work, which was fairly easy as we had some ECs in common (non-profit work, loved to ski). She left me about 5 minutes to ask questions and it was pretty funny because I think I stumped her on my "What is one thing you would change about Ross?" question because she initially said the location, but then she started talking about all the cool things she loves about Ann Arbor and said "Wait, that can't be my final answer....hmm...." Haha, tables are turned now! We laughed and she then said that they needed to improve the Marketing core classes because apparently there were some issues on the material (Ross is currently updating their Marketing curriculum because of the vocal feedback by the students - very cool!)
That was pretty much it. We joked a lot through the interview and I felt it was super casual because I was able to make an immediate connection with her. I thanked her, left and hung out in the Winter Garden for a bit with my friend as I post this!
I think Ross is an excellent fit for me personally and for my professional goals....this is going to be a tough decision!
Again, sorry for the rambling, trying to decompress so let me know if you have any specific questions.
29 Jan 2010, 11:19
