The Organizational Studies (OS) Program invites interested undergraduate students to apply for the concentration. Admission to the concentration is by application only.

Students should apply during the winter term of their sophomore year. The OS program is designed to be a two-year program in which students are required to be registered in classes on the Ann Arbor campus for at least three semesters.

There are many ways to learn about the OS program. We highly recommend that students start early in their preparation for the program to ensure that they will have completed all the pre-requisite requirements.

To gather information about the program:

1) Visit our website. Take a look at the Admissions [link] section as well as the sections on Curriculum [link] and Advising [link] to learn in more detail what you will be studying and how the curriculum is structured.

2) Attend the Concentration Fair in your freshman year. The Concentration Fair is held during Winter semester and is designed to assist undeclared students in finding a concentration that works for them. This is a chance to do one-stop shopping and to talk with representatives from many departments and programs on campus. The Organizational Studies Program will have staff and students on hand to describe the program and answer your questions.

3) Attend a general information session. OS holds a general information session once per semester. See our OS events section on our main gateway web page for the exact date and time of this event. This session allows students to learn about the curriculum, application requirements, career and graduate education options, and extra-curricular opportunities from the OS prospective student advisor, the concentration advisor, OS faculty, and current students. It will give you the broadest picture of OS from many different perspectives.

4) Visit the OS Prospective Student Advisor or an OS Peer Mentor. Prospective concentrators can make an appointment to meet with Jessica Santos, the Student Services Coordinator, or with the OS Peer Mentors. OS Peer Mentors are students who are seniors in the program. They hold regular office hours to meet with current and prospective students. Prospective students can schedule an appointment using the on-line advising calendar on the Organizational Studies home page. The link is located to the right of the photo.

To prepare academically for the program:
Admission to the OS program is highly competitive. In order to best prepare yourself academically for application to the OS program, we suggest the following:

1) Enroll in pre-requisite classes. Students are required to have completed at least two and be enrolled in the third pre-requisite course at the time of application. It is preferred that applicants have all three pre-requisite courses completed at the time of application. The three pre-requisite courses are:
Psychology 111, 112, 114, or 115 and
Sociology 100, 101, 102, or 195 and
Economics 101
Grades earned in the pre-requisite courses will be considered in the application process, but there are no minimum grades required for these courses in order to apply to the program. AP credit is accepted to fulfill the pre-requisites. Transfer credit is accepted as long as they are accepted by the university as equally transferred. If you are thinking of taking a prerequisite course at another institution, please visit the U-M Transfer Guides to confirm equivalency.

2) Maintain a strong cumulative GPA. Although there is no minimum GPA requirement, the program is highly competitive and selective. Maintaining a strong GPA will provide the Admissions Committee with evidence that you are academically prepared to suceed in this rigorous program.

3) Develop a backup plan! Students should simultaneously pursue an alternate course of action for a possible concentration since OS can only accept a fraction of the applicants. Students should review the requirements for other concentrations to determine overlap with the OS concentration and pursue those courses that would fulfill requirements or pre-requisites in BOTH concentrations. This helps to minimize "catch up" in completing requirements in another concentration if students are not admitted to OS.

To complete the application:
Please allow enough time for yourself to complete the program application. The application is usually posted by the beginning of September with the application deadline in mid-January each year. This allows students an entire term to assemble their application materials. Application materials do not need to be submitted together. They can start arriving as early as the Fall preceeding the application submission deadline and the OS office will assemble an application file with an applicant's materials.

1) Arrange for all external transcripts to be mailed to the OS office. For courses taken by students at other institutions which ultimately resulted in credit transfer to the University of Michigan, students are required to submit an original transcript to the OS Admissions Committee. Students do not need to submit transcripts for courses that were not get transferred onto the UM record. To ensure that external transcripts are received into OS by the application deadline, please requests the transcripts by late November, early December.

2) Arrange for official UM transcript to be sent to the OS office. We encourage students to have their UM transcripts directly sent to the OS office once all grades have been posted for the Fall semester preceeding the application due date. Submitting your UM transcript in early January significantly helps our processing of applications. The steps of authorizing a campus mailing of an official UM transcript by Wolverine Acess are outlined below.
Log in to Wolverine Access
Click on "Order Transcript" under "Academic Record"
Check off box states "After Fall grades are posted"
After reading directions, click on "Place Order"
Select "Process Now"
Click on "Send to Third Party"
Under Transcript Type menu, choose "Official Undergrad/Graduate"
Under Delivery method, choose "Campus Mail"
Under Delivery Information, type in OS address: 713 Dennison 1042

3) Complete the application form. Remember that students are strongly encouraged to apply during the sophomore year. Students will need to be registered on the Ann Arbor campus for at least three semesters following the term in which they are admitted.

4) Complete the essays. The essay is an important part of the application, so it should be carefully prepared. It is OS policy that OS staff refrain from providing any advice about the essays to prospective applicants. The Admissions Committee is not looking for any particular answer to the essay questions. They wish to read students' original and thoughtful responses. Submit the essay together with the application form.

Admissions Notification:
Students will be notified by email and formal letter sent to the address listed on their application form, typically before students leave for spring break. This will permit students the opportunity to plan their following fall semester based on the outcomes of the Admission Committee's decision.