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"Be unique. Be yourself."
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.
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.
Here’s what I said about the artifact in a previous blog:
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
Video of a mock trial practice
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.
I asked Johanne to share a little bit about her artifact and why she chose it
PRIYANKA’S PERSONAL BLOG
A screenshot of the comments section of her personal blog
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.
I asked Priyanka to share a little bit about her artifact and why she chose it
SVEN’S THANK YOU LETTER
A picture of a speaker series he started, along with a thank-you letter he sent to one of the speakers.
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:
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.