EssaySnark

2020 MBA Essay Questions: Michigan Ross

 

Wow, Ross is showing themselves to be more selective now than they had been in the past. It’s a school on the upswing!

Looking to apply? Our Ross app strategy guide can help!

 

EssaySnark's Strategies for the 2019 Michigan Ross MBA Application


 

Ross Round 2 was January 4. They have a Round 3 on March 29.

There is also a Round 4 thereafter, which we don’t really recommend anyone try for.


Like some other schools, Ross has expanded its list of standardized tests that can be submitted in support of an MBA app, including LSAT and MCAT, along with PCAT and DAT too. They do not accept the Executive Assessment for their full-time MBA program, and they’re not allowing old SAT scores to be used. If you’re trying for Ross and you have not tested yet, it’s fine to go for the GRE if you find it easier to do well on that one. The GMAT still is a “better” test in some respects but the most important part for you is to assess where you will perform, and focus there. High scores matter but they’re not the be-all/end-all at Ross. They truly look at the whole package.

For the Class of 2023 MBA application, Ross has stripped its requirements down to only two short-answer questions, which unfortunately EssaySnark doesn’t think is such a good thing!! Two 100-word answers, for 200 words total, are all you get, plus another 200 words (down from 300) for the career goals.

And these questions are hard! However, the prompts themselves are unchanged, which signals that the school is getting interesting, useful responses from applicants who are required to jump through these hurdles. Writing succinctly is certainly a skill! And the format of the Ross mini-essays means that you have to think long and hard about exactly what story to select in each case. Our Ross MBA Application Guide will help you navigate through to a solid set of answers that presents who you are authentically, with detail and resonance.
 

How do you answer them?

They offer multiple options for each of your short-answer writing requirements, plus there’s a standard career goals essay — and notably, they say, “The tight word count is intentional to force you to focus” — yup, that’s what you will have to do here!

Be direct and concise in stating your short-term goal:

  • Michigan Ross is a place where people from all backgrounds with different career goals can thrive. What is your short-term career goal and why? (200 words)

This is truly an exercise in brevity — and specificity! Being really clear on a particularly post-MBA position will help you convey your “why MBA” most easily. The “why” part of this question may be more important than what you answer. That’s especially true if you’re hoping to go into consulting (which many folks are right now). Give it some thought! See if you can tie your background into your future in some way — again, briefly! It’s hard to understand why Ross has cut the length of this from 300 words down to 200 words but whatever, that’s what they’re requiring. It’s still possible to say something meaningful in that amount of space but the truism is so true: Every word counts!!

If you’re struggling to articulate your goals clearly and succinctly: EssaySnark’s Career Goals App Accelerator will help!

Potentially more interesting — and more challenging, if you haven’t yet begun to appreciate the importance of being authentic in your MBA essays — are the short-answer questions. You get choices here! You’ll be choosing one from each group of two prompts:

  • Group 1
    • I want people to know that I:
    • I was aware that I was different when:
    • I made a difference when I:
  • Group 2
    • I am out of my comfort zone when:
    • I was humbled when:
    • I was challenged when:

These questions will require extensive BRAINSTORMING and even more STRATEGY – and we lay out the dos and don’ts in our Michigan Ross MBA guide, including how dated your stories can be, what topics maybe won’t serve you so well in these individual prompts, and other tips based on what we’ve seen from others who tackled these questions before you.

Ross’ Admissions Director Soojin Kwon has a great blog which you should be following. To get you started, Her post from many years back explained the rationale behind their innovative short-answer prompts, and this one from 2018 explains some of those simplifications.

Ross has an optional essay too (though they encourage you to use bullets if you can!).

Ross also went from three rounds originally in 2019-2020, which they modified to four rounds when coronavirus happened — to formalizing on four rounds in 2020-2021. This won’t matter for most of you who will be focusing on a Round 1 or Round 2 application. It really is to allow them flexibility in the Spring, because who knows how the 2021 entry will go or what will be happening in the world at that time. Presumably a new President will be inaugurated in January 2021 which means that it’s possible that new policies will be enacted in the U.S. for immigration or possibly even student debt (unlikely the latter will happen on an accelerated schedule, but you never know). These are obviously wild prognostications on the ‘Snark’s part (written in June 2020) however it appears that Ross benefited from having two shorter rounds in the Spring of 2020 and they want to keep that flexibility available to them, and to future applicants, going forward in this fast-changing time.

We cover essential interviewing info for Michigan Ross below.

How competitive is it?

EssaySnark is predicting that interest in the MBA will go through the roof for the 2020-2021 application season, and Ross has already been seeing more interest than they had in the past. The dynamics are certainly changing though and it’s impossible to say for sure — but we’re betting that it will remain selective at Michigan.

A lot of the increasing interest in Ross had been coming from the international candidate pool, and all bets are off if that will hold up in the 2020-2021 admissions season. As of this writing at the very beginning of the season, when there is still much uncertainty about whether school will even open up for the Fall, we are still hearing of tremendous demand from overseas — but no, it’s not like it had been a few years back.

Whether you’re a U.S. candidate or trying from China or India or Europe or South America or anywhere else: Ross will want to get an application from you! They are reapplicant-friendly, so if you tried in the Flextended Round 3 process in March/April and didn’t make it in, you should totally keep Ross on your list if you’re considering applying this coming season.

Learn how to construct a strong app to this school with our Michigan Ross Essay Guide! Soon to be refreshed in light of the modifications for the Ross Class of 2023 requirements.
 




See past essays and other discussion below.



Full-Time MBA 2020 App Deadlines for Michigan Ross

Michigan Ross MBA Application Deadlines

  • Round 1: September 14, 2020
    This will be smack dab in the middle of your essay-writing craziness for many many other schools. Don’t forget to prioritize Ross!

    The trend for Ross in recent seasons is for interview invites to be issued towards the end of October on a single day, which we expect to happen in mid-October this year. If you’re not invited, then there is still a possibility of being offered a spot on the waitlist when final decisions come out in December. Most recently, Ross has not been releasing anybody midcycle in Round 1, as happens at other schools.

    You’ll hear back on your Round 1 final decision super early! Ross releases decisions the first week of December, which is often the earliest of any major school (except those that do rolling admits like Columbia).

  • Round 2: January 4, 2021 This is one of the earliest Round 2 deadlines which is really unfortunate. We’ve tried to advocate for BSers about this before since Ross seems not to care about this challenge it places on candidates. This sucks, Ross. 🙁

    Round 2 interviews are likely to go out in a two-batch sequence, something like January 15 and January 20 — Ross don’t waste no time! If you do not get the interview invitation in the second wave, you’re either going to be waitlisted or denied one or two months later (two hits for that: around February 18, or one month later about March 18); they hang onto everyone while they make it through the first phase of evaluations, then try to release early-ish if they know it’s a “no.”

    The only possible silver lining on the very early submit requirement for Round 2 is that you’ll get your final decision from Ross much, much earlier than many other Round 2 schools. However, that’s not that much of an advantage for Round 2, because most people aren’t planning for Round 3 thereafter.

  • Round 3: March 29, 2021 This could possibly be viable — maybe. There’s also a Round 4 which we don’t suggest anyone really plan for. Round 3? Dunno, it’s already been a really tight season, and Ross put ALL of their not-accepted Round 1 candidates onto the waitlist in December. They have quite a few candidates hanging around still, waiting and hoping and praying to get in.

As of 2020-2021, Ross has formalized a fourth round. We’re skeptical that they’ll have that much room available by the time Spring rolls around. Still, they would not be making it available if they did not plan to admit some folks. Most likely they’re trying to incorporate advance flexibility because of the fast-moving pace of world events in our time. They want to be responsive to the unknowns that have yet to occur. We do believe that a Round 1 or Round 2 application to Ross would be hugely better in terms of maximizing your chances (and reducing your anxiety!!), but it’s still going to be possible to get in to this school even at the end of the season this year.

See the useful decision tree they posted on their blog in February 2015 to better understand how the admissions cycle works.

Michigan Ross MBA Recommendations

Ross uses standardized recommender questions.

  • As in recent years, just one recommendation (which as we said in 2014 we don’t think is the best thing for applicants, but they’re sticking with it). This rec must be from current direct supervisor, or you need to explain why not in the optional essay.
  • Three main questions for your recommender to answer

Lots of resources for choosing your recommender available here on the blahg; if you want more help, our Letters of Recommendation App Accelerator walks through the specifics and lets you submit your recommenders’ strategy for feedback from EssaySnark.

Also:
 

Michigan Ross Interviews and Team Based Exercise

A quick note on the confusing nature of the Ross Application Requirements on its website : It seems like they’re saying that everyone gets interviewed, and everyone has the option of doing the Team Based Exercise. That’s not at all how it works. 🙁 Interviews are by invitation only, and you must interview if you’re to get an offer. Everyone invited to interview also has the opportunity to participate in their Team Based Exercise if they choose to (and can pull off the travel to one of the locations where it’s held).

So what is the Team Based Exercise?

Ross has been using this innovative interview experience since the 2012 admissions season, and you’ll actually find it’s quite fun! (probably) There is (almost) no way to prepare for this; it’s very impromptu, by design. If you’re a decent person with some manners who treats others well, not too shy and not too pushy, you should do just fine.

Here’s the Ross Admissions Director explaining this in September 2018 — she is very transparent about exactly what to expect, including a full description of the exercise itself:

It’s still important to go through the standard interview prep process, of course, so that you’re fluid and comfortable in talking about your interest in the MBA and career goals. You need to be prepared to discuss those.

You can see more information about the Team Exercise on Soojin Kwon’s blog post from September 2018 , and be sure to also check out this one from January 2015 that emphasizes the importance of this opportunity .

 

Michigan Ross General Info

official school pages

EssaySnark stuff

We live-tweeted a Ross admissions webinar on in 2014 which still has some useful nuggets to offer:


Some blahg posts about Ross

EssaySnark's Strategies for the 2019 Michigan Ross MBA Application This guide covers this year’s short-answer groups of questions and the short-term goal essay!

For reference: Past Season Ross Essays

The reason we include these past-year questions is so you get a better sense of the school. Studying what they’ve asked before helps you understand more of what they value. When they keep questions consistent, then you know they’re important; when they make changes, the deltas can give you additional perspective.
Click to view 2019 questions



2019 MBA Essays for Ross

Ross retained its prompts almost unchanged this admissions season, which tells you that they think they are eliciting good responses! Our Ross MBA Application Guide will help you navigate through to a solid set of answers that presents who you are authentically, with detail and resonance. Here’s the Admissions Director’s 2019 announcement of questions which doesn’t actually share much of significance but is included for the sake of completeness).
 

How do you answer them?

Several short-answer questions with multiple options each, plus a standard career goals essay — and notably, they say, “The tight word count is intentional to force you to focus” — yup, that’s what you will have to do here!

Your main pitch is in the formal goals essay:

  • Michigan Ross is a place where people from all backgrounds with different career goals can thrive. Please share your short-term career goal. Why is this career goal right for you? (300 words)

If you’re struggling to articulate your goals clearly and succinctly: EssaySnark’s Career Goals App Accelerator will help!

The potentially more interesting — and more challenging, if you haven’t yet begun to appreciate the importance of being authentic in your MBA essays — are the short-answer questions. You get choices here! You’ll be choosing one from each group of two prompts:

  • Group 1
    • I want people to know that I:
    • I made a difference when I:
  • Group 2
    • I was humbled when:
    • I am out of my comfort zone when:
  • Group 3
    • I was aware that I was different when:
    • I was challenged when:

How competitive is it?

Even though application volumes have gone done, they’re still at high levels compared to where Ross historically was, and that means the admissions team can afford to be selective. The average GMAT score for the Ross Class of 2020 went up again and now is at ***720*** (up from 712, which was up from 708 the prior year) though they’re also accepting a much larger number of applicants with GRE scores too (24% of students), which can skew the GMAT average higher. This is because only those who do well on the GMAT submit a GMAT score, so the set of scores that make up that class average is comprised of higher GMAT scores than it used to be, when the set was larger (does that make any sense??).

A lot of the increasing interest in Ross has come from the international candidate pool, which we understand to be softening somewhat recently. Whether you’re a U.S. candidate or trying from a more congested pool like China or India, Ross will want to get an application from you! They are reapplicant-friendly and are looking for ways to make their process more transparent and less stressful, while also letting you share more of who you are through the requirements that they present. They remain more flexible on GRE vs GMAT and on accepting a range of scores.



[end discussion of 2019 questions.]


Click to view 2018 questions


2018 MBA Essays for Ross

The Class of 2020 Profile for the full-time Ross MBA is really quite strong. It looks similar to what Columbia’s did only a few years ago. Yes, Ross is on the upswing! Has been for awhile. It’s also notable that they accepted nearly a quarter of their class on GRE scores. And, as would be expected, those GRE averages are much lower than what we’re seeing at places like Harvard and Wharton.
 

As a first step in considering your approach for Ross, you may want to check out the Class of 2020 Profile for the full-time Ross MBA , which is really quite strong. It looks similar to what Columbia’s did only a few years ago. Yes, Ross is on the upswing! Has been for awhile. It’s also notable that they accepted a full 25% of their class with GRE scores. Their GRE averages are much lower than what we’re seeing at places like Harvard and Wharton. We’ll see if that holds again this year.

The Ross Class of 2021 essays will make you THINK!! Our 2018 Ross MBA App Guide will help you out with all these challenges.
 

How do you answer them?

Several short-answer questions with multiple options each, plus a standard career goals essay:

Your main pitch is in the formal goals essay:

  • Michigan Ross is a place where people from all backgrounds with different career goals can thrive. Please share your short-term career goal. Why is this career goal the right choice for you? (300 words)

Thankfully they’ve tightened the focus now: Short-term goal only!!! Singular! Simple! (Last year they wanted applicants to also discuss a long-term goal.) Only 300 words is still tight, but it’s doable since you have this more limited scope.

If you’re struggling to articulate your goals clearly and succinctly: EssaySnark’s Career Goals App Accelerator will help!

The potentially more interesting — and more challenging, if you haven’t yet grasped the importance of being authentic in your MBA essays — are the short-answer questions. You get choices here! You’ll be choosing one from each group of two prompts:

  • Group 1
    • I want people to know that I:
    • I made a difference when I:
  • Group 2
    • I was humbled when:
    • I am out of my comfort zone when:
  • Group 3
    • I was aware that I was different when:
    • I find it challenging when people:

 



[end discussion of 2018 questions.]


Click to view 2017 questions


2017 MBA Essays for Ross

The Ross Class of 2020 essays were innovative and great — and the average GMAT score for the Ross Class of 2019 was ***716*** (up from 708). They’re also accepting a large number of applicants with GRE scores too (20% of students), which may skew the GMAT average higher.
 
 
 
Ross has seen year-over-year growth that’s more than perhaps any other program over the past three cycles. We’re talking 30% more apps one year, and successive record-setting volumes in back-to-back rounds. A lot of this interest is coming from the international candidate pool; Ross has traditionally been international-friendly and they are also somewhat more flexible on GMAT scores (somewhat). Learn how to construct a strong app to this school with our Michigan Ross Essay Guide!
 

Ross’ Admissions Director Soojin Kwon announced the new essays on her blog recently and here’s what you’ll be working with if you’re applying to Michigan (which BTW is one of our favorite schools!):

Several short-answer questions with multiple options each, plus a standard career goals essay:

Your main pitch is in the formal goals essay:

  • Please share your short-term and long-term career goals. What skills/strengths do you have that will be relevant to your career goals? How will Ross prepare you for your goals? (300 words)

Hmmm… EssaySnark likes the clarity they’ve given here, with the separate questions — but covering FOUR SPECIFIC ANSWERS in only 300 words???? That’s a tall order. We wish they’d been more permissive on the essay length on this one.

Anyway, a solid answer to all aspects of this question is EXACTLY what you’ll end up with if you do EssaySnark’s Career Goals App Accelerator!

The potentially more interesting — and more challenging, if you haven’t yet grasped the importance of being authentic in your MBA essays — are the short-answer questions. You get choices here! You’ll be choosing one from each group of prompts:

  • Group 1
    • I want people to know that I:
    • I turned an idea into action when I:
    • I made a difference when I:
  • Group 2
    • I showed my resilience when I:
    • I was humbled when:
    • I am out of my comfort zone when:
  • Group 3
    • I was aware that I am different when:
    • I find it challenging when people:
    • A valuable thing I have taught someone:

These questions will require extensive BRAINSTORMING and even more STRATEGY – and we lay out some dos and don’ts in our Michigan Ross MBA guide for 2017, including which pairs of questions should not be answered together, how dated your stories can be, and what other topics maybe won’t serve you so well in these individual prompts, based on what we’ve seen from others before you.

Ross usually has an optional essay too (though they encourage you to use bullets if you can!).


[end discussion of 2017 questions.]


Click to view 2016 questions


2016 MBA Essays for Ross
They’ve clarified what they’re looking for with these individual questions. Thank you, Ross!

Two questions plus an optional essay:

  1. What are you most proud of outside of your professional life? How does it shape who you are today? 400 words (emphasis added)
  2. What is your desired career path and why? 400 250 words (ouch!)

The first essay question is near-identical to what they had last year except that they’re being specific: They don’t want professional stuff here! That bolded text is new.

The second question is identical – except, dang, only 250 words now? That means you’re going to answer the question succinctly, right? Right!

The career goals should be a natural outgrowth of what you’ve done to date. That doesn’t mean that your goals must be only a continuation of your current career. You can certainly pursue something very new and different through the advantage of the Ross MBA. But it should be fairly obvious how you’re qualified and capable to go do this new thing, based on your background – and Essay 2 is where to make the case for that. Your short-term goal in particular shouldn’t be such a radical departure from everything you’ve ever done before that your reader becomes skeptical in seeing how you’ll pull it off. The way you tie these pieces together will be important. (Wanna know how to do that? We go into lots and lots of details in the Ross app guide!)

This July 2016 post from Ross explains these changes .

Plus, here’s the May 2015 announcement from the Ross adcom on these questions – again that’s from last year – with perhaps the best essay-writing advice we’ve ever heard from an adcom: “You can even start with, “I am most proud of….'” (hint: one of the worst and also most common mistakes is not answering the question – yes it happens all the time). Starting your essay with a direct statement like that, that incorporates the question in it, is a wise move indeed.

Ross got 30% more apps in two years’ ago Round 2 and we heard that 2016’s Round 2 was also high for them – as was this past Round 1 in Fall 2016. For Round 2 2017, the admissions team will be traveling around to conduct interviews and the Team Exercise in Delhi, Shanghai, and Tokyo – and you can do it in Ann Arbor too, of course, or you have the option of interviewing locally with an alum, pretty much anywhere you are in the world. However, we suggest that you plan to attend one of these four locations so that you can participate in the Team Exercise (HIGHLY recommended) . Expect Round 2 interviews to go out in two waves in January with the interviews / team exercise happening in February (if you do not get the interview invitation in the second wave, you’re either going to be waitlisted or denied; this year in Round 2 they are officially releasing all no-go candidates on February 17th, though there’s still a chance that you get an offer then to stick around on the waitlist even if they’re not asking you to interview yet).


[end discussion of 2016 questions.]


Click to view 2015 questions


2015 MBA Essays for Ross
Guess what?

After we sent them that today (8/28/15), Ross updated their website Essay section to reflect the same version of their question as they have in the app, as noted below. Honestly, the “why” should be pretty obvious through the way you answer the question, so our advice is to consider the prompt unchanged!

Two questions plus an optional essay:

  1. What are you most proud of and why? How does it shape who you are today? (400 words)
  2. What is your desired career path and why? (400 words)

Woo-hoo! A school resurrects a career goals question after having ditched it in past years!

This makes EssaySnark very happy – particularly when Ross had to communicate to candidates last year, after they had no essay asking about goals, that they really do care about goals after all and to please be prepared to discuss them in your interview. That was a little confusing.

The first essay question is near-identical to what they had last year except that they’re just asking it once (last year they had the same question twice, once asknig for a professional thing, and one asking for a personal thing). (ETA: Thanks to a sharp-eyed BSer for pointing out that the second question of Essay #1 is actually worded differently this year. Last year the subquestion was, “What did you learn from that experience?” which is similar to, but different from, this year’s version. It’s now been corrected!)

Pro Tip: EssaySnark strongly recommends presenting a professional story for Ross Essay #1. Obviously it will have to be an important professional experience if you’re going to be able to offer a compelling answer to the second part of the question. [For 2016 obviously this is not the case!! -ES]

Here’s the announcement from the Ross adcom on these new questions , from May 2015 – with perhaps the best essay-writing advice we’ve ever heard from an adcom: “You can even start with, “I am most proud of….'” (hint: one of the worst and also most common mistakes is not answering the question – yes it happens all the time). Starting your essay with a direct statement like that, that incorporates the question in it, is a wise move indeed.

This “5 Things to Know Before You Submit” post from Soojin Kwon in late September 2015 is also helpful – except for that darned inconsistency on what’s important with Essay 1.

We’ve updated the Ross SnarkStrategies Guide – and these essays questions are perfect to tackle as your first MBA application writing project.



[end discussion of 2015 questions.]



Click to view 2014 questions


2014 MBA Essays for Ross
Two questions plus an optional essay:

  1. What are you most proud of professionally and why? What did you learn from that experience? (400 words)
  2. What are you most proud of personally and why? How does it shape who you are today? (400 words)

They’ve gone in a different direction this year! Two simple, straightforward questions, designed to force you to reflect on what’s important and who you are, and communicate that concisely. A total of 800 words for what will essentially be two stories. Great stuff.

[end discussion of 2014 questions.]



Click to view 2013 questions
2013 MBA Essays for Ross
Not much changed in 2013 from previous year. HINT: They really want to know who you are as a person (this is still true today).

  1. Introduce yourself to your future Ross classmates in 100 words or less.
  2. Multi-part question:
    • What about your professional experiences has led you to determine that business school is the right next step? (150 words)
    • As you have research MBA programs, what actions have you taken to learn more about Ross and what has led you to believe that Ross is the right MBA program for you? (150 words)
    • What career do you plan to pursue after business school and why? (150 words)
  3. Describe a time in your career when you were frustrated or disappointed. What advice would you give a colleague who was dealing with a similar situation? (400 word maximum)

[end discussion of 2013 questions.]



Click to view 2012 questions
2012 MBA Essays for Ross
Here’s the full set of questions from 2012, in case you want to see where they were coming from before. Note: These questions were not easy! Especially #3.

  1. Introduce yourself to your future Ross classmates in 100 words or less.
  2. Describe your career goals. How will an MBA from Ross help you to achieve those goals?
  3. Describe a time in your career when you were frustrated or disappointed. What advice would you give to a colleague who was dealing with a similar situation?
  4. What are you most passionate about and why? How will this passion positively impact Ross?

[end discussion of 2012 questions.]




 

The essays are very important at Michigan.

EssaySnark has reviewed a fair number of Ross essays over the years. Here’s a couple from past seasons for you to check out along with Ross-specific essay commentary.

Ross is very open about their use of plagiarism detection software. We know you’d never be tempted to stoop to such low levels, but consider yourself warned: don’t copy essays, for here or for elsewhere.

We found a BSer’s 2013 school visit report that’s worth sharing:

  • Go Blue! from Boots to Suits applicant blog April 2013

The 2019 Ross guide will help you figure out the best topics to cover, including some tips to keep in mind for a holistic strategy across essays and short-answer questions, resume, and the single recommendation. We cover the group interview format that Ross adopted several years ago too, and advice on whether or not to use the optional essay for this school.

 

Success Stories!

There’s actually A LOT of former Brave Supplicants wandering the halls in Ann Arbor every year. We are always careful to protect confidentiality, but one great guy outed himself in his guest post on the blahg. If you end up at Ross, we can tell you for sure that you’ll be surrounded by some truly amazing students.

And just to end things on a note of cuteness:

Red Pandas

[Index of essay questions by business school]