Soojin Kwon, who leads admissions at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business, confirmed in a post to the school’s Admissions Blog that all Round 1 interview invitations will go out today, Monday, October 30th. She also provided some guidance on the Team Exercise and its latest twist.
Those awaiting word from Ross today are likely familiar with the Team Exercise—it’s an optional group activity designed to give applicants an opportunity to demonstrate their interpersonal and communication skills. All applicants who are invited to interview will also be invited to take part in the team exercise, held on campus. As part of the Team Exercise, groups of applicants work together to develop a business challenge and solution using random words that the team selects. The team then presents the case to an evaluator.
As part of what Kwon coined “Team Exercise 2.0,” the evaluator this year will also pose a follow-up question to each team based on the solution it presents. “The goal is to assess how you problem-solve as a team in real-time,” explains Kwon.
Kwon and her team receive many questions about whether the Team Exercise is truly optional—i.e. will a candidate be judged adversely if he or she opts not to take part. “The Team Exercise is 100 percent optional,” Kwon stresses in a video. “Not participating won’t hurt you in the admissions process.”
That said, there are plenty of ways candidates stand to benefit from participating. “Our on-campus interview days are more than just a one-on-one interview, they provide an additional opportunity to demonstrate your potential fit with Ross,” she wrote in her most recent blog post. In addition to the interview and the team exercise, on-campus interview days also afford candidates a chance to get to know Ross’s many centers and institutes, meet with faculty members, learn about student life from current students, and meet other candidates—who could become future classmates. “Some students even find their future roommates and start-up partners at our interview days,” Kwon notes.
If you do receive an interview invitation from Ross today, why not warm up by turning the tables on Kwon and interviewing her? Ross’s student-run Business Beyond Usual podcast will feature a special November Q&A with Kwon, in which host Ramu Annamalai will pose questions submitted by prospective students. If you have a question for Kwon—whether about the application, essays, life at Ross, her favorite restaurants in Ann Arbor, or anything else—you can submit them directly via email at [email protected].
In closing, Kwon reminded candidates that there are still plenty of opportunities to meet Ross on the road. Upcoming events—featuring members of the admissions staff and Ross alums—are slated in November in New York, DC, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, and three cities in India. For a full schedule, click here.
Good luck, everyone!!! Don’t forget to tune into LiveWire to see invites as they roll out in real time. And if you do get an invite, remember Clear Admit’s Ross Interview Guide and the Clear Admit Interview Archive can also serve as valuable resources as you prepare.
