What I learned from reviewing my Ross admissions file (admitted class of 2027)

Hey Guys, I am a current Ross '27 BBA and reviewed my FERPA admissions file to see how I got in. Here’s what I learned.

1: UMich seems to rank applicant categories on a scale of 1-5 (5 being the best). There are 6 categories; Extra curricular activities/leadership, Common app essay, Community essay, Why Ross essay, business case essay, and the artifact/essay.
2: Each category is ranked 1-5, and then you are rated as the mean score of all categories.
3: From what I could tell, I had 2 admissions officers that reviewed my application, one of which scored me as a 3.7 and one of which scored me a 4.1. I was admitted early action to Ross after initially being accepted to LSA.
4: I was referred to as an great candidate from the “instate pool”. This makes me wonder if instate students are judged differently than out of state, which makes sense.
5: My business case essay was too broad. I has tried to take on a massive industry’s problem (starting the idea in my hometown), but both admissions officers docked me points due to it being broad and lacking creativity.
6: My Why Ross essay was too generic; the examples I used were labeled ‘typical’, and my business knowledge was ‘developing’
7: My application had a ‘genuine thread’. Many would call this the ‘hook’ of your application, and it was clear that the admissions officers not only noticed it but realized it was genuine.
8: My weighted GPA was not taken into consideration, only unweighted (which they recalculated).
9: I had a lot of extra curriculars but they would have liked to have seen what they described as ‘sustained involvement’. Maybe more than 4 years of certain things?
10: A lot is luck. One of my officers scored my common app essay the lowest out of all the categories (they gave it a 3.5), whereas the other officer gave it the highest out of all the categories (a 4.7). Who knows!?!

I hope this is helpful!!

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The question is how that average of those 6 “holistic” categories then weighed against the “measured” recalculated GPA?

But foremost, THANK YOU for making the effort, obtaining your files, and digging through it in detail. This was VERY informative!

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Thanks for sharing this. Do you know what % of Ross admits are in-state v/s out of state. My S24 has applied EA and Ross is one of his top 4 choices, the others are Haas, Marshall and Penn !