What We're Doing With Your Application Right Now

As an admissions professional, when I think of Thanksgiving, I think of the image I often hear from colleagues of how we enjoy the holiday by feasting on a turkey leg in one hand and using the other to review applications. And to some extent, this is quite true! So let’s talk about where we are in the application review process, and I’ll even throw in a tip for Turkey Day, too. 

What are we doing right now? 

Our Michigan Ross Undergraduate Admissions application readers are currently reviewing Ross Admission Portfolios for applicants that submitted their materials by our priority deadline of Nov. 1. As I detailed in a blog post last November, the University of Michigan Office of Undergraduate Admissions (OUA) is currently reviewing your application for admission to the university. We, at Ross, are the second review once a student is admitted to U-M. So, just a reminder, that means you will hear from Ross admissions after you get admitted to the U-M.

To get ahead of the volume, we are currently beginning our Ross review process with a focus on the Ross Admissions Portfolio. This process helps us understand the applicant pool and provides a calibration period for our application readers. When we return to campus from winter break in January, our full review process for students admitted to the university will begin. 

Who are the readers?

Our readers are amazing! (See the photo from our last reader meeting where we held an Unconscious Bias Training.) The readers make up a wide range of educational and professional experiences. We have readers with advanced degrees (in a variety of academic disciplines), educators from higher education and the K-12 space, a former engineer, a fiscal budget analyst, and former admissions professionals--just to name a few. We believe that it is important to create a reading team that brings diverse perspectives and a wide range of experiences.

Additionally, when administering a fair and equitable admissions process, it is important that not one single person makes the call to offer admission or not. While I am the director of admissions, and I lead the process, the final decision is made by a lot of people. And our readers are integral to this process. 

Your application will be independently reviewed by two application readers and then forwarded to our Admission Review Committee for the final decision-making process. We run variance reports weekly (have I mentioned that my dissertation was on inter-rater reliability in holistic admission review?), and if variance occurs, we do place your application in another reader queue for an additional read. To put it simply, your application is reviewed multiple times, by multiple people, that are highly trained and educated to make an admission decision that we know is very important to our applicants and has a huge impact on the future of our school, too. And regardless of the holiday on the calendar, we are full-steam ahead on reviewing your applications! 

And my Turkey Day tip...

The great debate in my family: To french cut those fresh green beans or to buy canned green beans for the Green Bean Casserole? Well, if I am assigned the Green Bean Casserole (and my sister is still working this list out), it's a store-bought can all the way! Didn’t I mention that I am busy reviewing applications?