Ross Announces Changes to Admissions Process for Fall 2025

Applicants beginning in fall 2025 will have the option to select the Ross School of Business as their first-year admissions unit on the common application form, the school’s admissions team announced over the summer. This differs from previous years, when first-year applicants to the Business School had to apply to another University of Michigan college or school and select the Business School through preferential admissions.

While applications to the Business School are increasing, the number of first-year students enrolled in the BBA program will remain at 500 students.

Blaire Moody Rideout, director of undergraduate admissions at the Business School, said she believes the change will better promote the opportunity to study business as a first-year student.

“I think the biggest change is that students can find us,” Rideout said. “It’s more accessible. It’s simplified, so students can apply directly to us. It’s very similar to other business schools, the process is a little bit simplified to match other business programs across the country.”

However, because students will be applying directly to the Business School, they will not have the opportunity to be admitted to LSA if they are denied by Ross — a departure from the previous admissions process. Lucy McLean, a sophomore business major, told The Michigan Daily she doesn’t think the admissions change will benefit prospective students.

“If someone is not admitted to Ross, they will not have the opportunity to choose another major at the university,” McLean said. “With the preferred admissions pathway, I would have ended up at the university regardless of my admission to Ross, but now students rejected by Ross will not have that option,” McLean said.

Sophia Rich, a sophomore business major, told The Daily she thought the admissions change could be helpful, even though the preferred admissions option worked well for her.

“When I applied, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to study yet and I applied to Ross out of curiosity and general interest,” Rich said. “If I had been admitted solely to LSA, I would have still gone to Michigan. So, for me, not having the direct admission option worked out really well. I can see how it could benefit those who are passionate about business and who may not choose Michigan if they don’t get admitted to Ross. It will also likely improve Michigan’s rate of return, given that some students who aren’t admitted to Ross but are admitted to LSA have gone elsewhere in the past.”

Another change to the admissions process is that prospective business school students will receive decisions sooner. In the past, students received decisions from the business school two to three weeks after early admission decisions were released, around mid-February. Now, applicants in the early admissions group will hear back in late January and those in the regular decision group will hear back in early April, according to Rideout.

“A lot of times when they’re informed earlier, they feel like they can make a decision earlier,” Rideout said. “So I think that’s really helpful for students.”

Although the mechanisms for submitting applications are different, Rideout stressed that the application itself and the decision process remain the same.

“We still require a portfolio, we still review the entire Common Application, so not much has changed in terms of review and decisions,” Rideout said.

Daily Staff Reporters Sachi Gosal and Violet Boyd can be contacted at: [email protected] And [email protected].

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