Interview pattern at ROSS

Why ROSS

Ross offers a broad management education with emphasis on leadership. The Ross difference is action-based learning. Ross claims to be committed to an approach to business education that goes beyond studying cases.

Action-Based Learning

Action-based learning is an approach to business education that requires Ross to continuously create relevant, challenging ways to connect our students with the world of practice.It informs how the faculty teach, the way our students interact with one another, and how Ross thinks about leadership. Ross's Multidisciplinary Action Projects (MAP) is the most distinctive of the action-based learning programs. It's an approach to education that looks beyond problem solving to opportunity sensing. It asks you to apply both analytical rigor and your imagination. It asks you to take a leadership role in customizing your own Ross experience.

Ross Leadership Initiative (RLI)

Leadership in business requires the ability to process information quickly, articulate a compelling vision, make effective decisions, and mobilize an organization to act in the face of challenges presented by an ever-changing global business landscape. But that's just the start. Ross's goal is to prepare you to lead globally diverse teams, consider the role of business in society, and build organizational cultures that foster innovation. Throughout the 20-month MBA program, Ross Leadership Initiative supplements classroom learning by providing a set of experiences and explorations that will help you understand your own strengths and develop into an effective leader.

Ross Interview generally lasts about 30-45 mins. Some common interview questions:

•  Why MBA? Why now?
•  Why Ross
•  Walk thru the resume
•  Describe your leadership experience at your work place?
•  Describe a situation where you had to make a tough decision?
•  Describe a situation where some one in your group was against the decision you made? How did you solve this difficult situation? And what did  you learn?
•  What do you do outside of work?
•  How do you plan to contribute to the student body at Ross?

  Actual narration from an off campus alumnus interview questions:

•  He told me about his background and asked about mine...
•  My short term and long term career goals and why was I pursuing an MBA...
•  My role at IBM... and my experience of leading a team on my current project...
•  How do I handle the communications with the clients and going about customer satisfaction.....? Then we talked more about my role and  whether I was involved on the business side of things... (For those who don't know... I have a technical background...) he discussed about his  role as a consultant and shared his experiences...
•  How I had managed a situation when a team member or my peer was not performing well...
•  A time when I had faced a setback in my workplace or my under graduation...
•  We talked about Why Ross... and what appealed to me about Ross...
•  What would I add to Ross...?
•  What extra-curricular... Communities I would like to get involved at Ross...

Telephonic Interview for Ross:

This was a phone interview usually requires candidate to email his resume first. You will have to call up the number provided and the interviewer might answer the phone directly. It might start with a light talk like some small talk about the weather and then diving right in. The standard tell-me-your-story question might be one of the first ones. You will have to talk through your background, professional history and career change. Then, why MBA/why now type questions can come up. Next question could be why do you think Ross will fit into your plans? You might want to talk about the MAP program and their focus on collaborative learning. One of the hardest questions can be "So it seems like you've been effective at leading a number of organizations throughout your career. What do you think has made you such an effective leader?" You might want to prepare for these kinds of questions. At the end you will have the opportunity to ask a few Ross questions: Why your interviewer picked Ross (fit, teamwork), what he liked best about the school, what he thought could improve (Career Services for smaller companies), and what he thought about the transitional period until the new building (ok since they are in the EMBA building). Overall it would be a pleasant interview and little preparation can make it a very satisfying experience. People who find phone interview to be awkward have the option to do an on-campus interview. The total time can be again 30-45 minutes.