Ross MBA 2026-2027: What the essay changes reveal

Michigan Ross confirmed its MBA application for the 2026-2027 admissions cycle with both essay prompts revised. Part 1 no longer asks how Ross’ philosophy in Action-Based Learning supports your short-term goal. It now asks how you plan to leverage the Ross MBA and its program offerings in your first role after graduation. Part 2 has been renamed from Making an Impact to Impact and Growth, and its four prompt options have been replaced with three built around setbacks, sustained effort, and outcomes rather than identity and passion.

This session breaks down what the Ross MBA 2026-2027 application changes reveal about how the admissions committee is evaluating candidates this cycle.

Ross is still asking two separate questions of every applicant: what you are building toward professionally, and who you are underneath the résumé. Both essays kept their word counts, their two-part structure, and their basic role in the application. What moved is subtler than the word count would suggest, and it shows up in the distance between what each prompt appears to be asking and what a prepared answer actually needs to prove.

This session is designed for candidates who are serious about Michigan Ross and want to understand not only what the application requires, but what the admissions committee is now trying to learn through these two essays, and whether their candidacy is built to answer that.

During the session, we will discuss:

• The new language in Part 1, replacing Ross’ Action-Based Learning framing with a question about program offerings, and what level of specificity that shift now demands.
• Making an Impact becoming Impact and Growth is not a cosmetic rename. It signals a shift in what Part 2 is testing, and a strong personal story alone no longer meets that bar.
• Unplanned setbacks and sustained effort now anchor Part 2’s options, and answering them well requires a different kind of self-awareness than the prompts they replaced.

Susan Berishaj, founder of Sia Admissions, will walk through what Ross’ application changes reveal about the school’s evaluation priorities this cycle. She will explain how Part 1 and Part 2 are read together, built on both the trajectory argument and the contribution argument, and what separates candidates who answer the new prompts literally from candidates who use them to reinforce the same case the rest of their application is making.

Register to submit your questions in advance, attend live on Thursday, August 13 at 10:00 a.m. ET, and receive the replay directly in your inbox.

To get support on your Michigan Ross application and other top-ranked programs, book a strategy consultation with Sia Admissions’ team. Learn more about the Sia Method. Request a written profile evaluation.