Authentic Student Work in College Admissions: Lessons from the Ross School of Business

Admission professionals have come to recognize the potential of widening the admission criteria beyond standard academic measures-- such as high school transcripts, grade point average, and summative scores on college entrance exams--to understand student contexts, mindsets, and "college-ready" competencies, such as higher-order thinking skills, effective communication, productive collaboration, and intellectual curiosity. To develop holistic review processes, admission professionals are changing the ways they structure applications for undergraduate admissions. This study examines how the Stephen M. Ross School of Business (Ross School) at the University of Michigan requests, collects, and reviews portfolios of student work along with traditional application materials. The first section presents the rationale for the new holistic review process, the second shares insights it provides the Ross School, and the third details how admission professionals at the Ross School built it. The case illuminates the use of student-generated portfolios as one possible model for other higher education systems seeking to evolve their holistic admission processes.