Congratulations to all of you who submitted your application on our Round 1 deadline last week. You can have your evenings and weekends back; no more essays to polish up or recommenders to hound.
We received applications from candidates from over 40 countries and were pleased to see an increase in applications from every region of the world. At this point, it's hard to know where total applications will end up. Regardless of the volume, we're looking to build an incoming class of about 490 students.
In terms of process, we will be extending Round 1 interview invitations in two batches. The first group of invites will go out on Monday, October 25. Invited applicants will have three weeks to complete their interview. The second batch of invites will go out on November 12. The interviews are an opportunity to tell us more about yourself - your unique experiences, goals, interests, motivators - and for you to learn more about us.
For those of you applying in Round 2, I suppose many of your evenings and weekends have been blocked off for completing your applications. In case you weren't able to make it out to campus for an application workshop, there's another opportunity coming up at a Preview Day on Friday, November 12. I will be walking through how the Admissions Committee looks at an application and engage the group in a discussion of an essay or two. There's still time toregister (and fall is a great time of year to visit Ann Arbor! The leaves outside my window are glorious shades of orange, yellow and red.)
If you are unable to join us for Preview Day, you may want to listen to a Forte webinar I moderated that features application advice from several admissions directors. We discussed such topics as how to "tell your story," how to showcase your leadership ability, and how to prepare for the interview.
Good luck to all of you, wherever you may be in the process! We look forward to getting to know you over the coming months.