UMich EA vs RD Choice

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Michigan
1

Hey everyone,

I’m a HS senior who was planning on early actioning to University of Michigan. I realized just now that I also have to complete the Ross Admissions Portfolio prior to the deadline for preferred admission to Ross through LSA. I would be able to submit by the Nov 15 deadline but of course it would not be top quality and this would compromise my UC and UT Austin applications. I am now considering applying RD to UMich but am unsure if this will significantly hurt my chances. I’d love some input on what I should do in this situation. I’ve included some info about my profile to help you with your input.

Major: Business Administration

Ethnicity: Indian Male

Applying from out of state.

My GPA: 4.0 unweighted, 4.63 weighted academic

AP Scores: 5 on Euro, 5 on Chem, 5 on APUSH, 5 on Calc BC, 5 on Lang

Current APs: Comp Sci A, Lit, Gov/Econ

SAT Score: 790/800/19, 1590 overall (1 attempt)

LORs: Great one from business academy/FBLA advisor who knew me throughout my high school years and saw me grow. One from Euro teacher and one from Chem teacher (those were my best classes in sophomore and junior yr, respectively).

Essays: Spent a good amount of time editing and revising my personal statement: wrote about my lifelong passion for cars and how this lead to me starting my own car brokering business. In supplemental wrote about my experience as General Manager of school student-run campus store.

ECs:

FBLA Leadership Roles
Local Chapter (School)
VP of Membership
President

Regional (900 member region)
Leadership Associate
President

State
Vice President (representing my region)

FBLA Awards (biggest ones only)
National: 7th place in Entrepreneurship competitive event (sophomore yr)
State: 3rd place in Entrepreneurship, 10th place in Intro to Business Communication (sophomore)
Regional: 1st place Entrepreneurship, 1st place Management Decision Making, 2nd place Intro to Business, 3rd in Intro to Biz Communication.

Parliamentary Debate (Sophomore to current)
Competed in regional tournaments year round, quarter finalist at regional tournament, qualified for state tournament twice (sophomore and junior)

Tennis
2 years JV (doubles starter, captain, coach’s excellence award)
2 yr Varsity
No major out of school achievement

Campus student store
Led student store as General Manager. Taught students in 4 departments the following.
Product design: taught margins, breakevens, customer surveys, etc.
Marketing: consistent social media brand image (color palette, etc.), patterning with student gov and basketball and football programs.
Finance: standardized accounting procedures, inventory management, balance sheet, P&Ls.

Other:
National Merit Semifinalist
Moved to the US from Africa 6 years ago. This is a part of my why UMich essay.

Community Service:
Volunteer judging at middle school debate tournaments, newsletter design at my school in Africa when I went to visit.

Thank you!

1 Like
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My memory may be off, but if I recall when my daughter applied EA to UM, your portfolio is due after your application. Like a while after, because Ross admissions is much later. UM extended their EA date to Nov 15. Also, UT preferred date was Nov 1 so hopefully you got that in. My other daughter attends UT for Business and chose that over UM for Engineering. Loves it!! She didn’t like Ross’ program in that you could not major in a specialty which is why she did UM Engineering. I think many people in her program actually chose it over Ross. Good luck! Feel free to PM with questions if you’re applying to McCombs/BHP

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If you missed the Nov 1 UTA deadline, I would prioritize your UM app and meet the Nov 15 EA deadline, including having all the Ross requirements ready to go. It’s not clear how long you will have to submit the Ross requirements once you submit your app…it’s certainly appropriate to reach out to your UMich AO and ask.
https://michiganross.umich.edu/undergraduate/bba/admissions/first-year-applicants

What is your home state?

4

The RD app deadline is 2/1. Ross decisions are released on or about 2/1, 3/1, 4/1 and mid-April. The bulk of the Ross decisions are released in the first wave on 2/1. Fewer Ross acceptances on 3/1 and even fewer on 4/1. And so on.

You must be accepted into your home school before Ross will evaluate your application. If you submit your UMich application RD, then the earliest possible Ross acceptance would be 3/1.

I’d recommend submitting your UMich Ross app EA. I’d rather try to be in that first wave of Ross decisions on 2/1.

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Home state is CA.

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I’ve emailed my AO about the deadline for Ross materials (portfolio). If that’s a few weeks to a month later I’ll certain EA to UMich then get my Ross materials in shortly after.

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The priority deadline for Ross is Nov 15th, same as the EA deadline. After Nov 16, all Ross applications are then read in the order that they are received (AFTER all the priority are read) and the final Ross deadline is Feb 1, I believe. However, if you submit Ross in like January, they’re probably going to have already made a bunch of decisions about who will be accepted, putting you at a definite disadvantage

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https://michiganross.umich.edu/undergraduate/bba/admissions/faqs

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Just confirmed that with my AO. Portfolio is the Ross component so its not looked at till after students get accepted to their home school (LSA or CoE) via which they apply to Ross. Submitting portfolio by Nov 15th gets you in that first pool of applicants they review. I’m aiming for the Nov 15th deadline now.