A Rotman candidate is someone who…

Claire GumusThe MBA candidate to the Admissions Officer: What are you looking for in a candidate?

The Admissions Officer to the MBA candidate: We are looking for well-rounded candidates.

I am sure almost all of you have heard this phrase over and over from different admissions officers. Sounds easy to understand, but what does this phrase mean really?

Is [a well-rounded candidate] someone with well-balanced soft and technical skills? Sounds about right but still not clear enough.

At the Rotman School, we also define our ideal candidate as [well-rounded]. Via this blog post, I’d like to clarify this further for you so that when you start your Rotman MBA application; you will have a better understanding of who we are looking for.

We are looking for candidates who are committed to life-long learning. Having an undergraduate degree; while does open some doors, does not necessarily set you apart anymore. The job market is very competitive and our employers are looking for candidates who have furthered their [intellectual horsepower]. Having a strong undergraduate GPA and a competitive GMAT score are very good indicators of your academic performance. However, if you have a master’s degree or a designation in any field, the Admissions Committee will definitely pay attention to the extra schooling you have undertaken. Of course, needless to mention the fact that you are planning on quitting your job and starting an MBA will also show your commitment to learning but pre-MBA schooling will help you distinguish yourself in the competition.

We are looking for diverse experience.  Diversity in any sense is always welcome at the Rotman School. We are looking for candidates who demonstrated leadership potential/skills in their work. It could be your professional experience or community involvement. Having strong community involvement is very important especially if this experience is in a field that is meaningful to you.

All of these will also count for your technical skills. As every top business school, we also look for strong technical skills. Submitting a thorough resume and well-written essays along with a good GPA and GMAT score will help you make that great first impression you need in order to be invited for an admissions interview. During the interview, you will be required to supplement your technical skills with your people skills.

We are looking for candidates with strong soft skills. “Soft skills” is another broad term. It encompasses strong leadership potential, communication and interpersonal skills. While having strong skills in all of these areas is an asset, let’s not forget [self-management] skills. Being able to manage others is a great skill but being able to identify areas for self-development is also equally important. We believe that there is always room for improvement. You can be as accomplished as one can be but you will always need to work hard to keep up with the changes and progress further. Pursuing an MBA is a great step to identify and work on opportunities for growth. If you have already identified some areas for improvement and if you are targeting the business schools that can provide you with the right resources to strengthen these areas, any Admissions Committee will be very impressed.

Nearing the end of the blog post, I’ve come to realize that describing the ideal candidate is not an easy task at all but I hope I was able to give you an idea of our perception of the ideal candidate at the Rotman School of Management. Please don’t hesitate to reach out for further clarification or assistance, we’d be happy to help anytime!

Claire

10 thoughts on “A Rotman candidate is someone who…

  1. Let me introduced myself, my name is Andrea Chow and I am a graduate of Stanford University. I have been working for an international consulting firm in the past 4 years and I am now pursuing my dream of getting an MBA from a top school.

    The University of Toronto MBA program is very attractive to me because it has everything from great faculty to excellent facilities and career services. However, one thing that keep me from applying to the program is the extremely limited financial support and the high tuition fee.

    As Rotman is moving toward a top global business school, it needs to attract the best talents around the world regardless of the financial background. Someone with a GMAT above 700 and excellent academic record and employment history will usually have many choices from top MBA programs worldwide. Historically, US schools have consistently shown that they are very generous in non-loan financial packages even for international students. As the average GMAT at Rotman, well under 700, is relatively low compared to most major MBA programs in North America, I have a feeling that many top students although interested in joining the program have to give up because of the lack of financial assistance from Rotman. In the past I have seen at least 3 candidates who decided not to pursue Rotman MBA due to financial constraints. It is very hard to make a decision when some top Universities offer full tuition fee waiver and even stipends while Rotman only offer a small fraction of tuition fee scholarship or a 45K loan. I would hope that the program will seriously look into this issue and perhaps attract the brightest students that will in turn building Rotman reputation as a global top business school.

    • Hi Andrea,

      Thanks for the comment. There are a couple of things I’d like to highlight about Rotman and advantages of our program over major US b-schools. Financial Times ranks our business school #1 b-school in Canada, we are the only Canadian business school in the Top50. You’re correct, some of the top US B-schools have higher GMAT scores, our median GMAT score is 680. I understand financial aid is a concern but I’d like to highlight that we are the only Canadian business school that offers a loan program to international students. We pay the interest on the loan while our students are at school, I think this is a strong advantage. We have around $ 2million CAD scholarship money available and our scholarships are merit based. Given the endowments US B-schools have, I agree that they can afford to be more flexible. This is something underway at Rotman. Another advantage we have over US b-schools is the three-year post-graduation work permit. Our program is a two-year full-time program and our international students are eligible for a three-year work permit upon graduation. Paid summer internships help our international students get some local experience before they embark on their full-time employment. When you look at companies hiring our grads, you will see that we have a very competitive list: McKinsey, Bain, BCG, AT Kearney are some of the consulting firms hirign our students. Other than consulting companies, we have very strong companies in different sectors such as financial services, marketing. A couple of weeks ago Nike’s global recruiting team was on campus. You sound like you have done in-depth research on different b-schools and you’d know that Nike’s summer internships are the most sought-after interneships at Harvard Business School. They will be visiting us again in the fall.
      I think as long as a candidate submits a competitive application, s/he certainly will stand out and have advantages on a number of levels throughout the admissions process. Hope I was able to clarify some of the things we have to offer. Please feel free to contact me anytime at gumus@rotman.utoronto.ca. I’d be happy to schedule a Skype meeting with you to answer your questions and help you with your application. If you would like to visit us in Toronto, happy to give you a tour of our brand new building and set up a class visit visit. Please let me know if you’d like to get in touch with a current student or alumnus. Thanks again for the great comment. Looking forward to seeing you at Rotman in the future! Claire

  2. Wow, thanks for such a thorough reply Claire! And it is nice to hear that Nike has come to Rotman! Such is a good sign that Rotman is gaining its reputation among global companies. By the way, from what I can see on the website, international students can apply for a loan but the quantum depends on credit history and some may need a cosigner who is eitherCanadian or PR of Canada, could you elaborate more on this condition, will a typical international student qualified for a loan without a cosigner and in which situation that such a guarantor be required? I think it is very hard for an international student to have some good credit history in Canada or have a local cosigner. Also among the 15% of applicant that receive the scholarship, how many will get a larger amount such as 50% to 100% of tuition fee? Did Rotman ever award a full tuition fee scholarship?

    Thanks,
    Andrea

  3. Hi Andrea,

    Royal Bank of Canada (RBC)works with international students who do no have a Canadian co-signer or permanent residency status. We include the contact details of the person at RBC in the admissions offer. The candidate contacts the bank directly. So far almost all of our international students took advantage of this great loan program. As for the scholarships, the highest amount for international students is 50% of the tuition. We haven’t been given full-tuition scholarships in a long time. All the scholarship decisions are made based on the competitiveness of the application. Highlighting your competitive edges and advantages over other candidates would be one thing to improve your chances to get a good scholarship. Around 5% of our students received scholarships ranging from $25,000 to $50,000. The rest of the scholarships are between $10,000 and $20,000. Hope this helps Andrea. Good luck with your application.

    Claire

  4. Claire,

    really gained a lot of great thoughts from the post and guest comments. Though I have been in Canada for past five years, I really dont have thorough understanding on the Rotman mba program. I am definitely gonna schedule a trip to U of T. Seeing is believing.

    One concern is… I heard Rotman will double student # (to 400 per year???). So, how would you maintain the quality of your program with such an increase?

    By the way, where is the WordPress Blog you mentioned?

    Thanks Claire.

    FG

    • Thanks Fei. Glad to hear that you find the information provided useful. This is the WordPress blogsite I was referring to, we used to host our blog on our old website. Regarding your inquiry, we have 318 students this year and for next year we are targeting 350. Going up to 400 is a long term plan for Rotman. In terms of maintaining the quality, this year’s class has a higher average and median GMAT scores than the previous years’ classes. We also monitor the wealth of professional experience our students bring to the program closely. Hope this clarifies. Please come by and say hi, we have an Open House on October 13th you can register online at our website and join us that day. Our faculty will deliver sample classes and I think it’s a wonderful opportunity for you to see our students and new building. Please feel free to reach out for assistance anytime. Claire

  5. Hi Claire, I am surprised to come accross the blog and found many useful information here especially about scholarship! It was mentioned that the maximum scholarship for international student is 50% of tuition fee and the range is 10K to 50K. So how about the maximum scholarship for Canadian students and can Canadian students get 100% scholarship? What is the range of the scholarship that you have offered to students who are Canadian citizens? Thanks! Linda

    • Hi Linda,
      Thanks for the comment and following our blog. Same applies to Canadian citizens, last year the maximum amount for Canadian citizens was $40,000 (50% of the domestic fees). This year I believe we are looking at a range from $10,000 to $50,000 for all students regardless of their citizenship and all of our scholarships are merit based. Hope this helps. Thanks again for the comment. Stay tuned for more info from the Rotman School. Claire

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

* Copy This Password *

* Type Or Paste Password Here *