Michigan Ross Application Essays for 2019-20
Short Answer questions: Select one prompt from each group. Respond to your selected prompts using 100 words or fewer (<100 words each; 300 words total).
Group 1
• I want people to know that I:
• I made a difference when I:
Group 2
• I am out of my comfort zone when:
• I was humbled when:
Group 3
• I was aware that I was different when:
• I was challenged when:
Essay 1: 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 the right choice for you? (300 words)
Optional Essay:
This section should only be used to convey information not addressed elsewhere in your application, for example, completion of supplemental coursework, employment gaps, academic issues, etc. Feel free to use bullet points where appropriate.
Michigan Ross Winning Sample Essays – 1
Ross Essay 1: Select one prompt from each group of the three groups below. Respond to each selected prompt in 100 words or less (<100 words each; 300 words total). Every word counts here – the tight word count is intentional to force you to focus.
Group 1
I made a difference when I: stood by and supported my friend after discovering that he is HIV+. Being HIV+ carries a huge social stigma in Indian society. I helped my friend broke the news to his family members and counselled them with the support of an NGO on how to live a healthy life.
In the process, I felt deeply touched by the plight of similar cases during my hospital visits. I pledged to do regular volunteering with the NGO and raised funds/campaign to create much-needed awareness about HIV. Through our efforts, we managed to set up 23 counselling centres with a free testing facility.
Group 2
I was humbled when: It was a typical winter project that I was volunteering to teach Maths & Science to the 8th-10th graders at an NGO when my colleague asked if I could help his autistic son Aman to prepare for the Matriculation examination. He mentioned that the kid wasn’t doing good academically and to top of it, none of the other private tutors were willing to help due to his medical condition.
I decided to give it a shot & befriended Aman to start with. After spending some exclusive time, and through experiential learning methods, I was able to generate genuine interest in academics. He scored 57% marks in the final exam and till date sends me regards on Teachers Day, which makes me one proud person.
Group 3
I was challenged when: In 2018, my manager decided to terminate my friend/colleague Ukpai’s contract, without a performance improvement period.
I strongly believe that to be a good leader you need to have empathy and give people a chance to improve. I negotiated with my immediate boss for 3 months of time under my mentorship to guide Ukpai.
I had a 1-1 meeting over lunch and he opened up about his father’s illness, which was making it hard for him to focus on work. For the next 3 months, I worked overtime with him and was able to turnaround his performance and save his job.
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)
Throughout my career so far, I have worked extensively in the technology sector and have acquired excellent client handling skills and manage people from diverse backgrounds. I have also taken multiple initiatives for clients on the projects/products I manage, which have fetched me numerous accolades and appreciations.
Now in the short term, Post-MBA, my goal is to transition to a Technology consultant role at a big tech firm (e.g., Accenture or IBM) where I could leverage my technical skills and work on more challenging and overarching business problems.
Even after nine years of experience, I have always felt challenged by the strategic and behavioural aspects of business and leadership, respectively. For instance, recently while working on a customer project who planned to implement the Agile framework, I had a hard time convincing the key stakeholders about Agile efficacy and eventually had to propose hiring an external consultant (Accenture) to convey and implement the same. I want to pursue an MBA to bridge this gap in my capabilities & refine my leadership skills to be an all-rounded business leader.
Also, my mentors/managers had encouraged me to widen my horizons and work on more challenging projects not only in the IT implementation domain but in the overall business growth domain to continue growing in my career. These experiences have motivated me to step up from project implementation to the strategy and consulting aspect of the technology sector.
But in order to do that, I have realized that I need to fulfil gaps in my academic knowledge and broaden my thought process outside of technical solutions. After extensive research & conversations with Alumni, I believe an MBA at this stage of my career will prepare me to achieve my professional objectives.
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Michigan Ross Winning Sample Essays – 2
Ross Essay 1: Select one prompt from each group of the three groups below. Respond to each selected prompt in 100 words or less (<100 words each; 300 words total). Every word counts here – the tight word count is intentional to force you to focus.
Group 1
I made a difference when I…
When I was stationed in Iraq, my platoon was under a series of strategic nightly attacks by Iraqi forces which were designed to deprive the US forces of sleep and to build stress, frustration, and loss of morale.
As we noticed some initial signs of trauma in my platoon, I started an initiative to lead daily martial-arts classes which could serve as an outlet for the frustration and mental stress. The number of members joining my class grew rapidly and for this initiative I was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal for my leadership.
Group 2
I was humbled when I…
I was able to make a positive impact in the life of a fellow Marine that was preparing to re-enter civilian life. A Marine reached out to seek guidance around post-military life. Having gone through this, I knew how challenging this phase could be.
Through genuine conversations around her aspirations, and after identifying her interests in forensics science, I aided her in the research and application submission process to various schools. Prior to her transition, I received a cheerful and thankful call with the news of her acceptance to Ohio State University which made me feel humbled.
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)
Post-MBA, my short-term career goal is to pivot my career from Software Engineering to Product Management within the technology sector.
Having worked in technology at Microsoft, I have seen firsthand the influence products supported by intelligent technology can have worldwide. While I am frequently part of the back-end processes associated with the product development and coding lifecycle, my aspiration is to do more than back-end support. I want to be at the front to influence and shape product ideas for our customers as well as for the betterment of the society.
I believe one of the most powerful acts of our generation is the ability to ideate a product and see that inception come to life in the hands of our customers through a few lines of code. Even in tough COVID times it was technology which facilitated remote work and kept people safe and employed.
This is the type of work and influence I seek to be a part of. I am confident that my experience paired with the knowledge I will obtain at the Ross School of Business will better prepare me to devote myself to a long and hopefully impactful career in product management.
Michigan Ross Winning Sample Essays – 3
Ross Essay 1: Select one prompt from each group of the three groups below. Respond to each selected prompt in 100 words or less (<100 words each; 300 words total). Every word counts here – the tight word count is intentional to force you to focus.
Group 1
I want people to know that I: Am great at solving Sudoku. I have been practicing it for 10+ years. I represented my undergrad school in a Sudoku competition at a national level and won the gold medal. I am so passionate about sudoku that whenever I am talking on the phone or watching something, I keep practising and do it for hours. Current world record for solving a Hard level 9X9 sudoku is 54.44 seconds (set at the World Sudoku & Puzzle Championship in 2018). My personal best time is 76 seconds which I hope to improve and take a shot at the world record someday.
Group 2
I was challenged when:
I had to teach a 200+ class during my grad school. I wanted to take this elective but because of a software glitch, I became its Teaching Assistant (TA). I was given a week to teach a topic, on which I had minimal knowledge. I invested 5 sleepless nights and it turned out to be the most satisfying day of my life. Later I told the Professor about the glitch and he was so impressed that he asked me to stay on as TA. He gave me a t-shirt that said “If you can survive this, you can survive anything”.
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)
I am a software professional with three years of experience in the finance industry and also a co-founder of a tech startup, EmailsApp. My short-term goal is to take lead as the CEO for my startup and scale it to be the next unicorn.
Finance industry is infamous for being the most stressful to work in and we analyze tons of data to make smart investing decisions but we do not use any data points to identify or invest in human capital. My Partner and I built an AI-powered analysis platform to analyse human behaviour based on Email, chat and other conversational data to identify stress levels and other mental wellness parameters for an individual or a team.
Our Idea was incubated at Y Combinator Startup school, where we developed an MVP, built a strong team of engineers and we are growing YoY. But after 2 years, I believe we lack the business management skills to properly grow and make a good business case for our startup. That is why, I want to step out from a technical role and develop myself into a business leader via an MBA so that I can lead my start-up to long term growth.
