This past weekend Rotman opened its doors to prospective students for the 2014 Rotman Problem Solving Challenge Weekend and a chance to win a full MBA scholarship (valued at $90,000!). Participants included guests from across the world, from Toronto to India!

It was a very busy 2 days of competition and networking but very exciting as well. Here is a summary of the events of the weekend:

Friday March 28

9-10:30am

Participants arrived at Rotman and were placed in their teams for the Challenge. These teams were created to maximize diversity in terms of teammates’ current jobs, interest post-MBA, country of origin, etc.

Participants were also welcomed by one of Rotman’s instructors from the Desautels Centre for Integrative Thinking, Scott Rutherford, who gave an overview of what to expect for the weekend and the challenge question all of the teams would tackle over the weekend.

10:30am-5pm

Each team had 6.5 hours to create a PowerPoint presentation of up to 15 minutes in length that answered the Challenge question.

During this time current Rotman students met with each team for coaching sessions as well, to help guide the teams along as they prepared their solutions to the Challenge question.

5pm

Time’s up! Every team had to submit their presentation by 5pm on the dot or be disqualified.

5-6:30pm

After a long day of work, all Challenge participants were invited for a networking reception where they could mingle together, with the Rotman Career Centre, current students and alumni.

8-11pm

Following the networking session, all Challenge participants joined current Rotman students at a nearby pub for some more time to unwind.

Saturday Mar 29

8-9am

Teams reconnected over breakfast and Rotman’s Director of Recruitment & Admissions, Niki da Silva provided an overview of the day’s schedule.

9am-12pm

Each team presented the presentations they created the day prior. Each team presented in front of  judges comprised of alumni, current students, the Rotman Recruitment & Admissions Team and Career Centre team.

When teams were not presenting they had the opportunity to attend a wide variety of sessions on campus designed to provide more insight on the Rotman experience. These sessions included:

• Rotman campus tours
• Rotman student and alumni panel discussion
• Coffee Chat with the  Managing Director of the Rotman Full-Time MBA Program, Kevin Frey
• Experience Rotman’s Self Development Lab in action
• How to create a successful personal brand online

12:30-1:30pm

Over lunch, the top 4 presentations were then announced. Those top 4 teams would need to present again later that day to determine the Challenge winner.

1:30-2:30pm

Prior to the final presentations, Challenge participants were treated to a Q&A session with Michael Tippett, Director of New Products at HootSuite!

3-5pm

Final presentations in front of Challenge participants and our judging panel comprised of:

• Kevin Frey, Managing Director of the Rotman Full-Time MBA Program
• Stewart Lyons, President & CEO of TeraGo
• Michael Tippett, Director of New Products at HootSuite

5-5:30pm

Prior the Challenge winners being announced, Rotman’s Associate Dean, Mihnea Moldoveanu provided Challenge participants with a more in-depth look at Rotman’s approach to model-based problem solving.

5:30-7pm

Awards ceremony and cocktiail reception where Challenge participants, admitted students and current students could mingle and find out who won the Challenge scholarship awards.

Everyone that participated in the Challenge worked extremely hard and we were very impressed with their efforts. Congratulations to all of you for your excellent work!

After the reception, everyone then headed to a local pub for additional mingling time.

Sunday Mar 30

Challenge participants met up for brunch with some Rotman alumni and then all went together to Ripley’s Aquarium.

Sunday afternoon many of our guests said their goodbyes to each other but it will be a very short-lived goodbye- They will all be back on campus this summer to kick off their studies at Rotman!

A HUGE thanks to all of our current students, alumni, Challenge participants and newly admitted students for making the Rotman Problem Solving Challenge Weekend such a success. It was your energy, passion and eagerness to get involved that made the weekend what it was; we could not have done it without you!

Happy new year! As many of you finalize your applications in time for the round 2 admission deadline you might be thinking, “is there anything else I can do to improve my chances of getting in?” Or perhaps you were already admitted and are eager to get a head-start on the Rotman experience.

To cater to those interests and give prospective and incoming students the opportunity to experience Rotman’s unique model-based problem solving approach in action, we are introducing for the second year, the Rotman Problem Solving Challenge!

Here is a clip of some current Rotman students who participated in the event last year, talking about their experience at it:

Beyond the great opportunities and benefits that Michael, Viral, Jonathan and Alex mentioned, some other things you can expect during this year’s Rotman Problem Solving Challenge Weekend:

• Networking opportunities with current Rotman students, industry professionals and Rotman alumni
• The opportunity to win a scholarship such as full tuition to the Rotman Full-Time MBA program
• Experience Toronto with your future classmates

Stay tuned to the Rotman Problem Solving Challenge website in the next few weeks for complete details on:

• The big, messy, unstructured problem that prospective and incoming students will be tackling
• Judging Panel
• Key dates and deadlines
• When registration is open (while you can see the registration button the page now, it is not live yet. Not to worry; we will announce when we will begin accepting entries!)

Good luck with your submissions and looking forward to seeing you on campus!