Class of 2019 – Profile

Posted on September 6, 2017 by

Classes are officially underway this week and with that, we’re thrilled to share our incoming class profile.

This year’s class is among the most diverse classes ever at Rotman. 70% of incoming MBA candidates were born outside of Canada representing 51 countries. We are also incredibly proud to report 40% female students in the program for the first time ever at Rotman! As the saying goes, you learn as much from your peers in b-school as anything else. And via program kick off last week and the pre-program courses, it’s already very clear that this group is really going to complement one another well.

With applications rising nearly 30% this year, getting into Rotman is more competitive than ever and this group is impressive by any measure. What’s always hard to capture are the stories behind each of these 350 incredible people. The academic backgrounds range from aeronautical engineering to orthopedic surgery and corporate law. Some have already been published, and others hold patents. Many have already started companies, served on boards, and founded social ventures. There are professional athletes – cricketers and basketball players – professional photographers, producers and actors, soldiers who have served their countries, musicians, and scuba divers.

By the Numbers

Our GMAT average climbed slightly to 665 (+3), while the GRE average remained steady at 313. The GPA average also increased from 3.4 to 3.5 and years of work experience rose marginally by .2.

● GMAT Average = 665; GMAT Median = 680
● GRE Average = 313; GRE Median = 316
● GPA Average = 3.5; GPA Median = 3.5
● Average Years Work Experience: 4.3

Because class profiles are often viewed through the prospective student lens as a proxy for what admissions committees look for, we always encourage everyone to review the full ranges for GMAT, GPA, work experience, etc. This framing more accurately captures our holistic focus in admissions and hopefully serves as a helpful reminder (especially to anyone thinking of applying) that nobody is the average.

Despite the beautiful end of summer weather here in Toronto, our team is already traveling the world to meet with top talent for our next class. Have a look at our schedule of events here to see when we will be in your area!

Class Diversity That Isn’t Just a B-School Buzzword!

Posted on September 24, 2014 by

Business schools love to talk about how diverse their class is but we thought rather than just saying “Rotman has a diverse class!” we’d use our latest blog post to talk to the many of the really exciting things happening on and off-campus for students from all walks of life.

For whoever you are or where you are from, we have a club for you:

- The Letters at Rotman (Rotman’s LGBTQ and friends club)
Association Francophone de Rotman
European Business Club
Latin America Business Association
Middle East Business Association
Rotman Asian Business Association
Rotman African and Caribbean Association
South Asian Business Association
Women in Management Association

What’s especially great about these clubs (and all of our student clubs in general) is that they are exclusively for the MBA student body and therefore arranges networking events, helps students maximize their Rotman experience, etc, JUST for Rotman MBAs. As a result, the events and resources provided by each club are perfectly suited to our student body’s needs.

Despite the above clubs list, you might be wondering, “how much do these clubs actually do on campus?” And the answer is lots! In fact, every club has at least a few events happening every month:

Feel like getting reconnected to your Indian roots? Come out for the Holi party!

Want to expand your network in South America? Come out to Latin America Business Association networking night!

The Rotman calendar is filled with all sorts of events like this. -And in order for a student club to exist at Rotman in the first place, it is required to have a certain number of events every semester. This guarantees you that when you join a student club, you will get to take part in some pretty cool activities!

Beyond the Rotman walls, our students get access to some pretty awesome networks as well. For our women, we are one of only three Canadian b-schools that partner with the Forté Foundation. Forté organizes seminars and very prominent guest speaker events with the goal of helping women accelerate their careers through the MBA. These are initiatives that you simply cannot find in b-schools that are not affiliated with Forté.

Some of our students move to Toronto with their families as well. –Such students are here studying away at Rotman while their significant others are not. To this end, we host events on and off-campus to ensure these “Rotman families” are settled in, enjoying their time in Toronto and are having their needs met, beyond just those in the actual Rotman MBA program.

For our LGBTQ community, the University of Toronto hosts an orientation week at the start of the school year specifically for the LGBTQ community. The university also offers LGBTout, the University of Toronto’s student group for the LGBTQ community. As well, every year Rotman takes part in Out on Bay Street, a weekend-long conference and networking event entirely around helping the LGBTQ community pursue its post-MBA goals. Out on Bay Street was also founded, in fact, by a Rotman Alum as well!

Clearly Rotman has quite the diverse class but thanks to our amazing on and off-campus initiatives, we make sure Rotman feels like a second home to you, wherever your first home may be. 🙂

Why a Rotman MBA is like competing in the World Cup

Posted on June 11, 2014 by

Tomorrow marks the opening of the 2014 FIFA World Cup and while 32 teams play for world soccer (football 😉 ) supremacy, something very similar is happening right here at Rotman- 350 students working towards their Rotman MBA! Here’s why:

Multiculturalism

The world cup features 32 countries participating. The Rotman student body features 31.

Global Recognition

Competing in the World Cup opens doors for soccer players to play around the world. Similarly, a Rotman MBA opens doors for you to management roles around the world (as Rotman’s Professor Bova alludes to at 1:20 in this clip).

Nike Brand Presence

Nike is everywhere during the World Cup: They outfit 10 teams in it and the company has a 90% global market share for soccer shoes. Similarly, with Rotman as a core hiring school for Nike, come recruiting season the “swoosh” is quite prominent on the Rotman campus as well.

Group G

In this year’s World Cup, Group G is considered the toughest. Making it out of that group successfully will give teams the confidence and momentum to be strong competitors in the knockout round. Rotman’s Term 1 in the first year of the curriculum is considered our students’ Group G. Term 1 includes:

The following courses:
- Statistics
- Strategy
- Finance 1: Capital Markets and Valuation
- Accounting
Preparation for summer internship recruiting
Case competition season including
- Stock Pitch Competition
- McKinsey Case Competition
- Rotman Risk Management Association Case Competition
- Rotman Healthcare & Biotechnology Association Case Competition
- Investment Banking Competition
- Labatt Marketing Case Competition
- Venture Capital Competition

….All at in the span of 9 weeks!

While it is challenging, come January (post-Term 1), our students too, have the confidence and moment to power through the rest of the year and land great summer internships!

Team Spirit

Soccer fans are famous for their dedication and creative costumes in support of their teams. Rotman students are no less dedicated to their school:

To see this team spirit in action, check out Rotman at the MBA Games in this video.

Bonus Money

Many players earn hefty bonuses if they win the World Cup. Similarly, as you can see in our latest Employment and Salary Report, upon graduating and landing a full-time job, the average signing bonus for our newly graduated students was $13,352! And that is on top of base salary.

While we might not all become FIFA World Cup champions, our students and alumni can certainty feel that way!

Enjoy the tournament!

Location, location, location!

Posted on June 3, 2014 by

When deciding where to do your MBA, one of the biggest factors is “location:” where, geographically speaking, is your MBA campus located?

For those that might be a bit unfamiliar with Toronto, Toronto is Canada’s business and financial capital. As North America’s fourth largest city, it is quite big. However, a vast majority of Toronto’s (and by extension, Canada’s) largest companies’ head offices are located in the downtown core of Toronto, which happens to also be where the Rotman campus is located. This brings Rotman some huge advantages for both students and employers.

Rotman’s Location Advantages for our Students

To land one’s coveted MBA internship and post-MBA job, one of the most important things MBA students must do is network with industry professionals and/or the companies they are interested in working for.

As a Rotman student, regardless of your career interest, be it finance, consulting, marketing, health care, etc., you are around a 10-minute trip away from most of the country’s largest and most prominent employers. This means all it takes is an hour break between classes to get the time you need to head to a company and meet with a Rotman alum or executive working at one of such companies. For all of you McKinsey fans, their office is actually even on the University of Toronto campus making access even easier!

When you consider as well, that our first year students do not have class on Wednesdays, an entire free day means the opportunity to meet multiple companies every week.

Now let’s examine the scenario of attending another b-school: At best, the Toronto downtown core (i.e. where Canada’s largest and most prominent employers are) is about a 1 hour and 15 minute trip away- and this is a best case scenario. When you factor in traffic and/or coming from a b-school that is a bit farther away, this becomes an even lengthier trip.

The below comparison of time commitments on a student for an informational interview (i.e. networking with one employer) will hopefully add some clarity to why location is such a huge advantage for Rotman students:

	Rotman student	Non-Rotman student (best case scenario)	Non-Rotman student (typical case)
Time to get to informational interview	10 minutes	1 hour and 15 minutes	2 hours
Informational interview meeting	30 minutes	30 minutes	30 minutes
Time to return to campus from informational interview	10 minutes	1 hour and 15 minutes	2 hours
Total time commitment	50 minutes	3 hours	4.5 hours

One meeting with one company takes over 3x less time for Rotman students! This leaves more time for our students to meet with even more companies, get involved in extracurriculars, polish their interview skills, etc.

You might be wondering though, in our internet-connected age, couldn’t students just Skype an employer and meet with them that way? I can promise you that for networking and landing one’s post-MBA job, the importance of face-to-face, in-person interaction cannot be understated.

Rotman’s Location Advantages for Employers Looking to Hire MBAs

Employers are very busy people with limited time for out-of-office activities (i.e. meeting students on an MBA campus). Put yourself in their shoes and consider the following 2 questions to an employer:

Question A: Can you take 50 minutes out of your day (the time to meet students + commuting time) to come to Rotman?

Question B: Can you take 3 hours out of your day (the time to meet students + commuting time) to come to (non-Rotman) school?

All else being equal, I hope it is clear which request an employer would be more likely to say yes to. 🙂 – And as a result of this, this leads to some pretty fantastic guest speakers coming on campus, from Bill Downe, CEO of the Bank of Montreal, to former Coca-Cola CEO Neville Isdell!

Hopefully this blog post helps illustrate why “location, location, location” isn’t just for retail success but is also pivotal for picking the right MBA school!

Career Trek to Silicon Valley

Posted on March 5, 2014 by

Rotman MBA candidates have the opportunity to participate in some pretty cool events like our Career Treks! Career Treks are a great way for our graduate students to explore careers outside of traditional recruiting avenues in key employment destinations. Treks will facilitate global engagement, deepen student understanding of global business and play a large role in growing our global brand. Students will meet with employers and alumni in top firms outside of Toronto with the goal of connecting them to internships and full-time opportunities outside of Toronto.

Recently, our students travelled to Silicon Valley (SV) to visit companies like LinkedIn, Electronic Arts, Box, eBay, Jump, Google, Zynga, Pivotal Labs, and AppDirect. They also had the opportunity to connect with alumni who are working in the area and get some advice on what life is like in SV.

Here’s a snapshot what went down:

1) LinkedIn: Students were greeted with customized Rotman signs and given some neat swag bags before going on a tour, listening to a great keynote, and participating in a Q&A with an MBA panel.
2) Electronic Arts: Toured the lot, which had a full-sized indoor basketball court AND giant outdoor field, and enjoyed the employee discount in the EA store!

3) Box: Picture this: Students walked into Box only to be greeted by a two story yellow slide! Afterwards, they were divided into groups and given tours around the office and, as luck would have it, bumped into the CEO as he was making his way to the bathroom! Their sales team had a gong and they take shots when they make a certain level of sale. Students witness the unicorn mascot and got some neat swag.

4) eBay: Upon arriving at eBay, students learned how the company was started with a story on the Pez in the glass case. After learning about the improvements Vincent (Rotman’s eBay ambassador) made, our candidates were invited to review the site and send him ideas for further improving customer engagement.

5) Jump: Sara Vanos, who led this Career Trek, describes what happened at Jump. “We started out the morning with a standing wa-bam scrum where we explained what we were excited to learn at Jump. We were given a great presentation about complexity vs. ambiguity and their differences. We also learned Jump’s differentiators. We concluded the visit with very interactive and fun group work: Lily’s Lemonade. We looked at different revenue models and how company offerings look very different depending on which one is used. Overall, it was inspiring!”

6) Google: Students were greeted by self-driving cars and the Google bicycles! They saw as much of the campus as possible, including the outdoor pool and volleyball court!

7) Zynga: A great panel of MBAs spoke about the products they manage (Farmville and Farmville 2), life at Zynga, and took time to answer our students’ questions. The visit concluded with a tour of their super cool office including their pub where they brew their own beer! Their perks include an amazing staff cafeteria where breakfast, lunch and dinner are served free!

8) Pivotal Labs: This company showed a more structured approach: You work from 9am-6pm and must leave by 6:01pm. They also use pairing to increase productivity.

9) AppDirect: Started in a windowless office with the promise that they would one day have giant windows and lots of natural light…this probably explains why they have the best view in San Fran! Students went on a tour of the offices, met with some “Canadians in traning,” and discovered how quickly the company is growing – they already have big-named clients like Staples and Google!

One of the students who went on the Trek said, “It’s not just the network that we build but also the first-hand insights that we got from people across different levels.” Career Treks are the way to go! Visiting the HQs of some pretty profound and innovative companies will leave you feeling inspired and super motivated. That’s why this was the “Best. Trek. Ever.”

From Vancouver to California – All about Rotman Career Treks

Posted on January 24, 2014 by

Michael Moses - Assistant Director, Recruitment & Admissions

This weekend, Rotman students will be heading to Silicon Valley for one of Rotman’s popular “Career Treks.” What are these career treks, you may be asking?

Well this is an initiative our Career Centre created a few years ago as an opportunity:

For students to get to know other cities in the world as potential places to work post-MBA
To learn about some of the most prominent companies in those cities
To network with alumni face-to-face in those cities
To get face time with business executives at some of the most prominent companies in those cities

In about 3 years Rotman has growth this initiative from one career trek to 6! Here is where Rotman students will have visited on career treks this year:

Calgary, Alberta
New York City
Mississauga
Silicon Valley (this is the one starting this weekend)
Vancouver
Los Angeles

And we expect to be adding even more in the next few months!

A typical career trek’s activities might look something like this:

Day 1:
- Arrival
- City tour
- Socializing with Rotman peers
Day 2:
- Visit 4 companies and network with executives for a few hours at each company during the day
- Evening reception
Day 3:
- Visit 4 more companies for a few hours each during the day
- Evening reception
Day 4:
- Visit 1 more company in the morning
- Flight back to Toronto in the afternoon

Pretty exciting stuff! If you are interested in learning more, definitely drop us a line at mba@rotman.utoronto.ca

Missed the Open House in October? No problem!

Posted on December 23, 2013 by

This past October we invited prospective students to come to Rotman for a serious of sample lectures and information sessions on doing an MBA and doing so at Rotman.

We realize that many people who might be interested in Rotman weren’t able to attend while others who did attend may wish to review the lectures they sat in on during the open house. So we now offer lectures from the day (along with the slides from the lectures) to you for free online!

To view any session, click on each of the links below. The sessions are as follows

Self-Development Lab

-Dr. Maja Djikic, the director of the Self-Development Lab, speaks on what it is and the services it offers students (for free!). Click here to learn more about the lab as well.

The Value of the MBA

-Niki da Silva, Rotman’s Director of Recruitment & Admissions talks to the benefits of doing an MBA generally, and the benefits of doing an MBA at Rotman, specifically.

DesignWorks

-Mark Leung, Director of Rotman DesignWorks, explains how business design works and how it can be leveraged to solve real-world business problems. Click here to learn more about DesignWorks and here for more on business design in the Rotman curriculum.

The Capstone

-This is the final term of the first year of the Rotman MBA curriculum where students participate in “live cases.” Professor Mara Lederman explains how these cases work and how they are integrated into the Rotman curriculum.

MBA Current Students Panel

-Students in their first and second years of study talk to their experience at Rotman and answer questions. This session was moderated by Claire Gumus, one of Rotman’s Assistant Directors of Recruitment & Admissions.

So if you are doing your MBA school research over the holiday season, take a look at any of the above sample classes- they will be sure to help in your decision making process

As Niki noted in her blog post last week, we are closed until Jan 5 2014, reopening on Jan 6 2014 at 9am. Have a wonderful and safe holiday season and see you in 2014!

Aspiring entrepreneurs are in for a real treat at Rotman!

Posted on December 3, 2013 by

Michael Moses - Assistant Director, Recruitment & Admissions

Over the last few years, Rotman has been steadily growing its status as a place to be for MBA students interested in starting their own company or working with start-ups. A big part of this is through the growth of the “Creative Destruction Lab” (CDL) here at Rotman. The lab is essentially a tech start-up incubator housed at Rotman but with a few twists:

To get into the program, start-ups must apply, like in the popular television shows, Shark Tank or Dragon’s Den
The start-ups that are accepted to the program are connected to post-graduate students anywhere in Canada, legal/professional services, as well as the “G7 Fellows”- 7 tech entrepreneurs who have successfully started and scaled up tech businesses (often very lucratively!)
The start-ups that are accepted to the program get access to the CDL workspace at Rotman
Access to the above resources are “free.” The cost being that each venture must meet milestones every 8 weeks and if they do not, they are cut from the program

In a bit over one year of existence, the CDL has generated over $65 million in equity for its start-ups! Interested in learning more about the CDL? Check it out here.

As a Rotman student, you can get involved in the CDL in a few different ways:

You can submit your own venture to the CDL
Participate in events organized by the CDL
In your second year of studies, you can take the CDL Course where you act almost like one of the Shark Tank sharks:
- You help the G7 Fellows determine which start-ups should be granted entrance to the CDL
- Offer consulting services, providing the start-ups expertise on the business side of their ventures
- You evaluate which start-ups show the most promise over the semester of the course.

As an added bonus, the CDL Course is taught by Professor Agrawal, who has won Professor of the Year (as voted by the student body) 7 years in a row!

Rotman has a few other courses available in your second year of study tied to entrepreneurship as well:

Business Design Practicum– You work in teams with OCAD (One of Canada’s premier design schools), using design thinking principles to develop new products/services that create economic and social value
Innovation and Foresight- You learn about how to employ new and existing technologies in new contexts to create all-new products or services

In addition, Rotman’s Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital Association is a student-run club that offers events throughout the year to help aspiring entrepreneurs turn their ideas into businesses. Some of the club’s events this year include:

Start-up Hackathon Weekend
Business Plan Competition
New Venture Capital Investment Competition– Where students listen to real start-ups pitch and the students decide how much (make believe) funding to offer.

Finally, Rotman also has entrepreneurs in residence. These are successful entrepreneurs (i.e. the founder of EB Games Canada!) who open time for students to drop in and meet them 1-on-1 at Rotman, to assist with anything students are interested in learning in the entrepreneurship space.

Given that Rotman is downtown, students are steps from the slew of start-up networking events that seem to happen multiple times per week at various locales in the downtown core. Check out startupnorth.ca for more on these events.

So for any aspiring entrepreneurs out there, looking forward to seeing you here at Rotman soon!

Rotman in Global Context

Posted on April 13, 2011 by

The world has become a Global Village, businesses operate without boundaries and more and more people are mobile. We are not afraid to explore new places anymore. With the help of the Internet and social media, we can find information about any place we would like to go and we can even meet with people online to exchange opinions. If we are living in a global context, why not take your MBA one step further and blend it with [international opportunities]?

Diversity is very important for us at the Rotman School of Management. When you look at the school from different perspectives, in fact diversity is what we are made of; located in the most multicultural city in North America, Toronto, having a class body of 40% from all over the world. Last year’s class represented 30 countries and the number of languages spoken was 27! Our campus is a micro globe and on top of these our International Program Services Office (IPSO) works very hard to further your international exposure. We offer various opportunities abroad; exchange programs and 2-week study tours are among the most popular. We have a physical office in London where prospective students can reach out to the Rotman representative, Matilda Kentridge for further assistance. We also offer a “Doing Business International Intensive Program” and International Consulting Projects.

Exchange Programs: how do they work?

We are partners with more than 20 schools all over the world. As you can imagine, all of these schools are as strong as Rotman; they all hold high global rankings. The language of instruction is always English. The application process is very straightforward. You need to fill out an online application form and write a letter of intent. There will be a panel interview based on the applicant’s first choice and the host school will also have a short interview with you. Laura Wood, Director of the International Department, says the key is to maintain a very strong GPA at Rotman and give us as many options as you can because you will be asked to choose 10 out of 23 schools.

We are very proud of our students because so far all of the students interested in an exchange program went and successfully completed the program.

The exchange program is for one term and yes, there will be some opportunities to travel while you are there!

Study Tours: how do they work?

Study tours are business focused trips to four destinations: Latin America, Middle East, India and China. There are also more destinations in the works! These two-week long tours are offered twice a year, in January and May, and you are with a group of 15 classmates. The application process for this opportunity is quite different than for the exchange programs. There is some research involved; you will be asked to come up with a list of companies and industries you would like to visit when you are abroad. Our IPSO will establish the connections. There will be a 14-hour prep course before you embark on this exciting journey. At the end, there will be deliverables and you will be graded.

You will not only explore different cultures but also get to know some of our alumni located in that part of the world. This is a great opportunity for networking for those who are interested in doing business internationally.

When can one participate in these great international opportunities?

Full-time students can participate in their second year of the program and three-year students can participate either in the second or third year of their program.

Regardless of the program you choose, it will definitely be great personal development for you. You will hone your people and cultural adaptation skills and have great international exposure on your resume!

As they say: Location, Location, Location

Posted on March 24, 2011 by

The Rotman School of Management is located in the downtown area of North America’s third largest financial district: Toronto. Our location is one of the things that give us a competitive advantage over other good business schools in Ontario. Both being in Toronto and located in the core of downtown area have its perks.

First of all the City of Toronto; apart from being the provincial capital of Ontario, the city itself has a lot to offer. It is the most multicultural city in North America. You can see many different nationalities on the streets and on the TTC-Toronto’s public transit system. You can taste a lot of different ethnic foods without having to leave the country! If you are an international student, you will not only find your own community but also will have the opportunity taste something from home. There are many festivals and events taking place in Toronto; you can check out this great blog about Toronto.

Being in the financial centre of Canada, you can expose yourself to many different opportunities in various industries. You can see many Canadian head offices in Toronto as well as offices of global companies. When you do an MBA, naturally you expect more options to be available to you. Thus location matters when you are doing your MBA.

As a business school, we benefit a lot from our location. Our school is minutes away from Bay Street-Canada’s Wall Street. Being in the centre of this highly dynamic city has its obvious advantages. We have access to many recruiters located on Bay Street who love to come on campus to interview our students or hold events at our venue. The campus is very accessible by subway; employers find it very easy to conduct on-campus interviews because they do not have to spend their entire day commuting. They have interviews in the morning and are back in the office after lunch. They find it very efficient. The same applies to the students. They can have a coffee chat with one of our alumni in between classes. Having this practicality makes networking fun and fast.

Toronto is more urbanised than the top USA cities along with Montreal.

New York 8.3 million or 2.7%

Los Angeles 3.8 million or 1.3%

Toronto 5.1 million or 16.2%

The unlimited events and public speaker series at the Rotman School are again due to our very convenient location. A lot of external people enjoy coming to Rotman to see the school and meet with different people. All of our MBA students can attend these events free of charge. These events are not only informative but also a good break from course work. They also develop new contacts and expand their network in the city.

As they say it is “location location location” that makes a place unique and highly sought after. When choosing a business school, it is definitely important to consider the proximity of the school to the city centre because it will give you clues about a number of things: on-campus recruitment, various events, guest speakers, networking opportunities and also it will set the parameters of your whereabouts as well for two years. Who does not want to live in the city and walk to school and interviews?

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