Ross MBA Admissions: All You Need to Know for Acceptance [Episode 576]

Admissions Straight Talk

Show SummaryIn this episode of Admissions Straight Talk, Linda Abraham interviews Andrea McHale, the Director of Admissions for the Michigan Ross MBA program. They discuss the unique elements of the Ross MBA program, such as its action-based learning principles and emphasis on impact. Andrea also provides advice for MBA applicants, including the importance of showcasing impact in the application, preparing for interviews, and addressing weaknesses or gaps in the application. Show NotesWelcome to the 576th episode of Admissions Straight Talk. Thanks for listening. You've seen the stats that most people have a great return on their MBA investment, but what about you? Are you going to see that return? How much will it be? We've created a tool that will help you assess whether the MBA is likely to be a good investment for you individually. Just go to accepted.com/mbaroicalc, complete the brief questionnaire and you'll not only get an assessment, but the opportunity to calculate different scenarios and it's all free. It gives me great pleasure to have on Admissions Straight Talk for the first time, Andrea McHale, Director of the Michigan Ross Full-time MBA and Global MBA Admissions. Andrea has 10 years of industry experience in marketing, sales and supply chain management within the healthcare and automotive industries. In 2013, she transitioned to education administration. Before joining the Ross MBA team, she worked as the Director of Admissions for Michigan State University's Broad MBA program. She has a BA and MBA from Michigan State, an MS from the University of Michigan and is currently pursuing her doctorate of business administration from the University of Florida. Pretty impressive.Andrea, welcome to Admissions Straight Talk. [2:14]Thank you for the super generous welcome. Yes, I'm also a student, so anyone who chats with me, we can talk about the pros and cons of going back to school as someone that's been in the workforce for a while, but I definitely have a bias towards a full-time MBA and higher education in general.Let's start with a few general questions about Ross and then we'll get more specific and focused on admissions. Can you give us an overview of Ross' full-time MBA program for listeners who may not be that familiar with it, focusing on its more distinctive elements? [2:51]Yes. Absolutely. The Ross School of Business is located within the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. We are 2024 national champions. However, back to the Ross MBA program, our key differentiators are our action-based learning principles. So really, many people have heard about MAP. MAP stands for multidisciplinary action projects. This is a quintessential end-of-your-first-year MBA experience where you are consultants with real-world impact. Fortune 500, NGOs, you name it, and you're doing a seven-week project on site and back at Ross with them with real deliverables. It's that pre-internship before the internship.Sometimes you'll also hear of “Midwest nice,” but that really does define our culture. We're a highly collaborative, very inclusive culture, and we want everyone to be highly successful while they're here at Ross, and we do that through very intentional pedagogy within the curriculum as well as within your experiential learning through student clubs, different organizations. We have a number of centers and institutes to support your learning even outside of your classroom experience. And I think the last thing about Ross and our curriculum particularly is the flexibility of it. We have over 110 top-ranked graduate programs at the University of Michigan. And you have the opportunity not only to dual degree and choose your path in those dual degrees, but also take up to 10 of your elective credits outside of Ross. So really thinking about what is most important and unique to you and what your goals are and your experience for your education,