Sorry I’m late guys I was running around doing a lot of last minute things before spring break today.
Anyways, heard back from Ross @ exactly 4:00 pm CST
Accepted In State LSA 3/1
Accepted In State Ross 3/29
ACT - 28
Really Good Rec (In my opinion)
Good Essays
Good EC’s 4 year 2 varsity sport athlete
So glad to finally hear back from my dream school. And best of luck to all those waiting.
Congratulations to everyone who was accepted the other day! And for those of you who have yet to hear back, there is still one release date left. Best of luck!
waitlisted 4/19
and rejected today. 5/20
This has sort of been addressed already in this thread, but I am looking for some guidance from those of you that have knowledge/an opinion of Ross Admissions.
Now that most of the students are admitted as freshman (80% according to admissions, I called yesterday), do you think an applicant’s best shot is truly as a freshman? Or, if they think they might only make the cut for LSA, are they better off just applying to LSA and trying to transfer in. Seems like they will have no chance applying to transfer if they already applied as a prospective freshman and were denied. So are they better off starting in LSA and strengthening their application once there (great grades, join some business clubs, etc.), even though less kids are accepted that way?
I am asking for a NJ female applicant who will not have a super strong application, but might be strong enough to get into LSA (but not Ross).
@collegemomjam Based on the extremely limited info provided, I would suggest this route. As you know, once you’re denied to Ross, you cannot apply again. For the Class of 2022, Ross enrolled a class of 447 students from who knows how many applications of the 66,000 total that applied in 2018. However, Ross enrolls about 100 internal transfers from obviously a much smaller pool of internal applicants.
We were told that 75-85% of LSA students change their major at least once, so purely speculative on my part, but I assume that once students get to UMich LSA and other schools within UMich, their interests will change. And thus, the internal Ross accepted-to-internal applicant pool will give your D a better chance for admission. And the year or two in LSA will give her time to prove herself to Ross admissions.
As a CA parent, if my OOS kid didn’t have a UWGPA of 3.9+ and roughly a 34-36 ACT or 1500+ SAT, then I would likely go the internal Ross transfer route.
My advice is this: If the student ONLY wants to study in an undergraduate business school, do not go to LSA with the intention or trying to transfer into Ross. First of all, her entire freshman year, instead of feeling like she’s “arrived” where she wants to be, she’ll be stressed about getting into Ross. That’s not a good state of mind to be in. Second, why take the chance? If she wants undergrad business school, go to one where she is a direct admit. The internal transfers LSA to Ross are intended for students for whom business first came on their radar freshman year in college.
Thanks @sushiritto and @brantly
I agree with a lot of what you both said.
Do you think that applying to Ross straight out of high school can hurt your chances of being admitted to LSA since they might not think you will want to go there if you don’t get into Ross? Or will they respect that you took the time to complete the Ross portfolio (a lot of work) and be more likely to give you the OK for LSA because they know you really took the time to apply to Michigan?
@collegemomjam I would say it’s the latter.
Thanks @YoopOfM that’s what I was thinking too but I have heard mixed things. I guess there is no way of knowing for sure.
@collegemomjam wrote:
No, there were students denied Ross Preferred admission, but accepted to LSA. LSA was their “home school.” Every prospective Ross Admission chooses a “home school.” LSA is your kid’s “home school.”
The decision is whether you apply for LSA only or Ross Preferred Admission with LSA as your “home school.” A student must be first admitted to their “home school,” before a decision is made on their Ross Admission. Once denied at Ross, then you cannot apply again. If you apply for LSA only, then you can apply for a transfer to Ross. If you believe her Ross Preferred app isn’t strong, then I wouldn’t apply to freshman Ross Preferred Admission route. I’d have my kid apply for LSA only and then try the internet transfer route to Ross. That’s my $0.02.
If that were the case, Ross would have ZERO students. You have to be admitted to LSA (or engineering) FIRST before Ross even considers your application. If LSA denied every student who applied to Ross, how would Ross get any students? You are over-thinking this. She should apply to LSA/Ross because she wants to go to undergrad business school. If she doesn’t get in to Ross, she’ll go to another business school where she was admitted.
Thanks for all of the input everyone…It’s greatly appreciated.
I’m not sure I am being clear in my question…
As a strategy for getting into Michigan at all, in any capacity, I have heard conflicting things about applying to just LSA vs. applying to Ross while completely understanding that you must be admitted to LSA first to even be considered for Ross.
The student I am trying to help wants to go to Michigan either way…with or without Ross. Ideally, she would be in Ross…but she would also be perfectly fine being Econ in LSA…she wants to go to Michigan.
So she has heard that she should only apply to LSA then since it’s so much harder to get Ross and why risk them thinking she might not want to go there if she doesn’t get Ross…(so this might make her less desirable than a similar candidate that doesn’t want Ross at all because they won’t worry that that person will be upset if they don’t get Ross and therefore not go there).
She has also heard that applying to Ross shows her dedication because the application is tedious…
So I guess to rephrase the question, if the end goal is getting into Michigan in either school is she better off applying to Ross also as a prospective freshman??? The goal is getting LSA, even if she can’t get Ross. She would love Ross, but it is NOT a deal breaker for her. And we don’t want Michigan to think that either.
So @brantly it’s not that she will go to another business school if she doesn’t get Ross…Michigan itself is more desirable to her than Ross…she can have a career in business either way.
I would apply to whatever is her driving force. I wouldn’t think it of one or the other. If she’s qualified for lsa the year she applies then they will accept her. If that statement is true, then she has a shot at Ross… Just like everyone else But… Ross has different requirements on their application. Take a look or follow threads, she might not have what they want.
Once accepted to LSA she can try to transfer into Ross the next year but it’s extremely hard I think there are like only 100 or so transfers accepted.
But… You do not need Ross to go into business at Michigan. Many do extremely well without Ross.
So applying to both doesn’t hurt her chances to get into Michigan. If that is your end game. I personally like her approach since many students its Ross or nothing.
As I tell my kids sometimes you need to bet on yourself.
I reread your last post. Do not worry that if she gets accepted LSA but doesn’t go to Ross, this would be a bad thing for her application. Ross is one of the demand schools at Michigan. If she gets in and doesn’t go there will be plenty of students available to take that spot just as qualified.
Think of this as she is entering a pile of LSA. She gets accepted (congrats ?). Then that application is handed over to the Ross pile of applications. So at that point she can pull her Ross application or let it fly. If she gets accepted (congrats again ?), then she can accept or not.
Does this make sense?
I think what’s confusing you is the rumors or noise your hearing. Don’t listen to it.
Without knowing her stats, if her stats aren’t outstanding, then I’m on the record as saying just apply to LSA. Do not apply to Ross as a prospective freshman. If she can distiguish herself in her year or two at UMich LSA, assuming she gets accepted as a freshman, then I’d take my chances and apply for an internal transfer.
Ross enrolled 447 freshman students for the Class of 2022. As mentioned above, Ross enrolls 100 internal transfers each year. IMO, if her stats aren’t good enough for Ross as a propesctive freshman, then I wouldn’t blow my chance at Ross by applying as a prospective freshman. I have no factual evidence to back my theory, so I’m just speculating, but without a high GPA (3.9+) and a high SAT/ACT (1,500+, 34-36), then the internal transfer route will give her a year or two to get those great grades, while she’s at UMich.
Thanks everyone. This has been very helpful. I love the “sometimes you have to bet on yourself” comment. Very inspiring. I’m going to use that.
@collegemomjam. It’s how I and my wife have lived our lives. We come from nothing and built a business and life with that moto. Love proving others wrong when they say we can’t do x… Ha…
If you don’t believe in yourself then who will?
But like @sushiritto said you first gotta have the goods. If she has that then don’t give them a reason to say no. The essays are key and should be personal, unique and interesting. Interesting is key.
BTW - both my kids one at Michigan and one st Beloit college have both “bet on themselves” and like always proves out to opportunities that they would not otherwise have… Take initiative then go for it.
This is just nothing. It’s just not a thing. I can barely even follow this thinking. I had to read it a few times.
Your daughter should apply where she wants to apply. I personally am not a fan of having a goal to apply for an internal transfer because it creates a very unsettled feeling freshman year. It a student discovers his/her interest in business during freshman year, that’s a whole different ball of wax. But intentionally forfeiting the chance to apply to Ross from HS to gather more credentials freshman year I think is a bad idea.
@Knowsstuff that’s great that your family has had such success and your points are all well taken. Congrats to your family!
@brantly I tend to agree. I almost feel like having the possibility of getting in to Ross as a transfer as a major distraction freshman year and she would probably be better off just knowing from the beginning which school would be her home.
I realize what you are saying and the advice I have received does sound convoluted, but we have heard that from multiple people including a college counselor who claims to know what he is talking about (but this is a fairly new policy at Ross so no one can claim to have any real experience with this situation).
The girl is actually not my daughter but a good friend’s daughter. My advice to them has been to apply for Ross NOW and that it won’t hurt her chances of getting LSA (like I said before, I think they will at least appreciate the effort made to apply to Ross, if nothing else). I’m just not sure they will listen to me. (As a matter of fact, I think the girl’s guidance counselor has also advised she not apply to Ross now…and this is a top school in the state.). With that said, not sure if I mentioned, I actually know of two twins that both applied to Michigan two years ago (after the new Ross policy had taken effect). One applied to Ross and the other didn’t. They had nearly identical stats (gpa, scores) and one got in EA to LSA (the one that applied to Ross) and the other one did not apply to Ross and was deferred and then rejected. And the one that applied to Ross and got in LSA during EA was ultimately NOT admitted to Ross. He ended up not going because he truly wanted to be in a business school. Had this been my current student I am talking about, she would definitely have gone to LSA and not looked back.
Thanks again for all of the advice.