One of the things we get the most questions about from prospective students (besides, “What are my chances of getting into Ross?”) is our admissions portfolio and the artifact we ask prospective students to submit.
I understand why. It’s weird that we call it an “artifact”. That’s not a word that gets thrown around a lot in the college application process.
What Is An Artifact?
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The artifact is an additional aspect of the application unique to Michigan Ross where we ask you to submit anything of importance that shines a light on who you are as a person, what you’re proud of and passionate about, and how you’d fit in with the Ross community.
When choosing an artifact, try to find the “missing piece” in your application. What don’t we know about you? Consider sharing something that you are proud of and that is unique to your identity or your personal story.
Artifact examples can include a high school project or paper, a community newspaper article highlighting an important achievement, a personal website, a piece on a school or community program or event that you were instrumental in creating or implementing, a certificate of a high school or community award, or something we haven’t listed here. It should be something that shows your passion and a unique aspect of yourself. It does not need to be business related.
When you break it down, “artifact” really is the best name for what is, essentially, anything at all.
Remember that the artifact is not something we want you to create for the purposes of your application to Michigan Ross. This is something that already exists that you’re sharing with us.
When you look back on your four years of high school, what are you most proud of? That is your artifact.
To help inspire you when thinking about what you might want to submit with your application, I thought I’d share a few examples of our favorite artifacts submitted recently.
JOHANNE’S MOCK TRIAL
Artifact:
Video of a mock trial practice
Why we liked it:
Johanne submitted a video of a practice session, instead of a polished, final performance. It showed us that she puts in the time necessary to get better at the things she’s passionate about.
In her words:
I asked Johanne to share a little bit about her artifact and why she chose it
PRIYANKA’S PERSONAL BLOG
Artifact:
A screenshot of the comments section of her personal blog
Why we liked it:
We often see high school students who work toward classes to get a grade, but we want students who take that a bit further. Priyanka’s blog did that. She wrote posts related to her learning and went the extra mile to explore how her school work connected to other topics she was interested in.
In her words:
I asked Priyanka to share a little bit about her artifact and why she chose it
SVEN’S THANK YOU LETTER
Artifact:
A picture of a speaker series he started, along with a thank-you letter he sent to one of the speakers.
Why we liked it:
Sven’s artifact represented an incredible thing he did for his small-town community. He created an event series that brought educational speakers to town to share their insights on topics that the community hadn’t necessarily been exposed to previously. Sven’s artifact showed us something that he was proud of and something that wasn’t just about him, but about his overall contribution and impact in his community.
These successful artifact submissions have a few things in common:
They show an important part of the applicants’ lives we wouldn’t necessarily have seen in other parts of the application.
They highlight the applicants’ desire to continuously improve, to search for knowledge, and to make an impact in the community — all values shared by the Ross community as a whole.
They are not business related.
If I had to offer one tip, I would repeat what I said earlier in this blog, use your artifact to answer this question:
When you look back on your four years of high school, what are you most proud of?
Find a way to show us the answer to that question, and you’ll be well on your way to having a solid artifact submission.
