The MBADiversity Organization::Blog

This year I had the opportunity to co-chair UpClose, the annual diversity weekend at Ross. I was excited to co-chair UpClose since I had once attended as a prospective student and had made my decision to attend Ross following the event. I felt that chairing the event would allow me to have a similar impact on prospective students.

In planning the event I worked with my co-chair, Geraldine Pérez from the Hispanic and Latino Business Students Association and the office of Admissions. The purpose of UpClose is to allow prospective students the opportunity to discover Ross “UpClose” and to experience life as a Ross MBA student. Therefore, we designed various classroom visits, workshops, and student panels around this purpose. We had several keys speakers such as Dean Robert Dolan, Soojin Kwon Koh, Director of Admissions, and alumni from companies such as Intel and American Express.

A total of 65 prospective students attended UpClose. The attendees represented diverse experiences and backgrounds such as a local radio talk show host and the first runner-up in the 2008 Miss Black Georgia scholarship pageant. I was impressed with the attendees from the start. They all displayed a lot of passion about going to business school and enthusiasm for Ross.

The event turned out to be a success. It was evident throughout the event that the attendees had a great time. Afterwards, I received many compliments from the attendees about how impressed they were with Ross. The most memorable comment that I received was “UpClose was a great way for me to see Ross. I was amazed by the student’s passion for the school and also the collaborative nature of Ross.”

I am thankful to have chaired this important event for Ross. From this experience I look forward to continuing to work on the increasing the number of minority candidates that enter into business school.