University of Michigan SCM: Applying to and Studying at UMich Ross

Updated 2026/10/16

Today’s guest is Lori, a graduate of National Taiwan University’s Department of Bio-Industry Communication and Development. With a high GPA (3.79/4.0), a strong language score (TOEFL 109) and plenty of internship and club experience, she was admitted to several top US business schools, including Columbia, UW and UC Irvine. In the end she chose the University of Michigan’s Master of Supply Chain Management at the Ross School of Business.

University of Michigan Master of Supply Chain Management (SCM)

The wide range of subjects in Supply Chain Management (SCM) has made it a popular field in recent years. The University of Michigan’s Master of Supply Chain Management (MSCM) was ranked third for supply chain management in the 2023 QS subject rankings. It’s a 10-month STEM program with courses in business fundamentals, information technology and data analytics that prepare students for many career paths. Graduates have good job prospects in manufacturing, logistics, consulting, tech, healthcare, FMCG and more. The average salary after graduation is $110,000 a year, and 97% are employed within six months.

With offers from 7 top business schools, why did she pick SCM and this school?

Lori had interned in a supply chain role and had worked with business analytics in college projects, so she applied half to business analytics (BA) programs and half to supply chain management (SCM) programs. She received SCM offers from Maryland, UW, ASU, USC and UMich, and a BA offer from Columbia.

The longer Lori interned in supply chain management, the more she enjoyed it, and the job exposed her to a lot of product marketing work. After talking to alumni, she learned that the previous UMich SCM class went into consulting, tech, the electric vehicle industry, logistics and other fields. SCM is getting more attention, it’s closely tied to current events, and it offers long-term security. That confirmed her interest in SCM and her goals in the field. UMich also offered her a scholarship, so she decided on the UMich SCM program.

How did the application process differ between schools?

Interview: every school required one. UMich’s was a 20-minute Zoom call, and the questions usually don’t vary much. To prepare, Lori found 4 alumni of the program online to learn more, and she even reached out to alumni from the school’s MBA (they’re great at coaching self-introductions).

Other schools did it differently. USC had a recorded video interview, and UW used a system-based interview (a bit like the TOEFL).

How would you prioritize the criteria for studying abroad? (GPA, language scores, GRE/GMAT, essays, summer school/exchange, internships, etc.)

They’re all pretty important! Lori spent the summer before senior year preparing for the GMAT (June to July) and interning (July to August), then took a TOEFL course after school started (September to October).

Club leadership experience in your first two years also matters. Lori’s advice is to focus on one thing at a time at most. In your first and second years you can join clubs. Even if they aren’t related to your goals, they build leadership skills. Make half of them for fun and half career-oriented.

Look for internships in your second and third years. Lori joined 4 different clubs and did 3 internships, and that’s how she found out what she was interested in.

Lori’s undergraduate major was Bio-Industry Communication and Development, and her coursework focused mainly on communication and marketing, which isn’t closely related to BA or business. But she took programming classes at the College of Management and worked as a teaching assistant for a business programming course. You don’t have to come from the field to apply, though relevant coursework or a related major does help.

Sometimes a school’s website lists the courses applicants need to have taken. It may require programming, and some programs don’t even accept Python.

You were already active on LinkedIn in college. How did it help with your applications?

LinkedIn came in handy when Lori applied to UMich. She used it to find alumni to talk to, which helped her understand the school and the program, and she came to love how helpful Ross alumni were.

Alumni were extremely useful during the application. It’s part of the program’s culture, and it also helped Lori in her interview.

When looking for alumni, Lori suggests starting with Taiwanese alumni, ideally people you have a connection with. She went through mutual friends and contacts from NTU’s management consulting club and found an MBA alum who polished her essay for free!

Which experiences made you stand out from other applicants?

Lori thinks 4 strengths helped her stand out, and she made a point of highlighting them in her interviews:

• HPE intern: she had more connections and relevant experience than other applicants, and her recommendation letter was written by a Senior Director.
• Data analytics: she had done several projects and could bring that value to the program.
• A consulting project with the management consulting club: many SCM students apply to consulting, so this was a plus.
• A lot of club experience: clubs let you meet people from different majors. In her second year she performed with the dance club, and in her third year she joined the management consulting club, which had projects in teams of 6 (in partnership with IBM, where she helped implement a software solution) and classes (case interview prep). She was asked about these experiences in both internship and school applications during her senior year. She suggests everyone give things a try first, because if you never try, you definitely won’t get the chance.

What is school like so far? How did you prepare before the program started?

The Career Development Office runs sessions every week, covering career coaching, resume and LinkedIn reviews, how to reach out to alumni and more. You can also book extra one-on-one coaching and mock interviews with them. Most students want to stay and work in the US, so they practice case interviews together.

The coursework is intense. Once there was a 4-day holiday, and they assigned 7 days’ worth of homework! For housing, Lori lives off campus and didn’t specifically look for Taiwanese roommates. She went out to explore and meet more people from different backgrounds.

On the job search, Lori is applying to consulting roles. Classes started in mid-June, which actually gave her a bit more time to prepare, since consulting recruiting starts early. SCM roles are open in many industries, such as tech and FMCG.

Lori only decided to study abroad in the first semester of her senior year, and she was torn between accepting a return offer from her internship and going abroad first. She chose to go because she got into her dream program. A one-year program also gives more flexibility, and she’d have more options after graduating. The later you go abroad, the higher the opportunity cost, so she thought it better to go now and build her skills.

What hard skills and soft skills have you learned while studying abroad?

Hard skills: Python; Excel; Lean Six Sigma; VBA; Tableau

Soft skills: Negotiation, communication

The program has only 40 students. What are classes like? Does a small cohort feel closer?

Cohort size wasn’t a big factor when she was choosing schools, because the resources are there either way, and in a small class it’s easier to get to know people from different backgrounds.

Classes officially start in July, with a boot camp starting in mid-to-late June. Students without a business background can take foundation courses such as economics, accounting, blockchain, logistics and healthcare, and professors assign individual and group work after each class. The pace is fast, and you lose your summer.

Many students in the program are from India and mainland China, and some have already worked for years (last year’s class included a manager from Domino’s Pizza). Applicants to supply chain programs tend to have engineering backgrounds, but applicants without a STEM background aren’t at a disadvantage.

Any words for younger students?

Try lots of things, and whenever you get a chance, go for it!