Get our top-rated Mini-MBA Certificate for $199 $65 (till 23rd Mar!)

Rotman School of Management

How to get into the Rotman School of Management

MBA class profile, fees, salaries, application process, essays, interviews

 
The Rotman School at the University of Toronto continues to be a top choice among international MBA applicants.

Located in the heart of the culturally diverse Toronto, this school has been seeing a continuous rise in the number of applications over the years.

What is it that draws so many applicants to this business school?

Is it its reputation of being the number 1 business school in Canada? Or its strategic location close to Bay Street, the next Wall Street, buzzing with finance, technology, media companies and start-ups?

Let’s take a look.
 

Why Rotman

Rotman is Canada’s top ranked business school by Financial Times. Rotman offers a good ROI for international students.

With the top US bschools having their tuitions as high as USD $130000 to $145,000 range, the Rotman MBA tuition fee is more affordable at Canadian dollars $120,000, which works out much lesser.

Rotman offers a generous $4 million financial assistance through various fellowships, scholarships and awards.

Its location in downtown Toronto has a concentration of companies offering some of the best job positions with top employers.

Toronto offers a high living standard and a variety of recreational activities. International students can conveniently transition from studying to a legal working status. And so can their spouses.

Another interesting and unique aspect about the Rotman MBA that has got attention is its innovative problem solving method.

Known as Integrative Thinking and Business Design, this model encourages a step-by-step approach.

It guides you through your thinking process so that you’re able to identify and systematically structure the problems and find the best solution. It’s a great tool in decision-making for businesses.
 

MBA program overview

The Rotman MBA comprises a 16-month study period with a 4 months internship.

The term begins in September and has four core terms. During this period, you’d be developing a solid knowledge of the core courses.

You’d also be introduced to The Integrative Thinking and Business Design model that we already discussed.

During the final term, you’d be able to take up three electives of your choice out of the 90 options available depending on the area of your interest.

The second year allows MBA students to specialise by choosing one out of fifteen majors or take elective courses. MBA majors are offered in variety of interest areas.

MBA majors

  • Health sector management
  • Brand management
  • Real estate
  • Innovation and entrepreneurship
  • Investment banking
  • Management analytics
  • Leadership and change management
  • Consulting
  • Funds management
  • Global management
  • Risk management and financial engineering
  • Process and supply chain management

 

Capstone project

The capstone project will give you hands-on experience in applying the decision making skills using the integrative method you picked up in the first year by applying it to real-world business problem.
 

Internship

Rotman offers a flexible internship program. Students are required to complete a course “Applied Management: Placement” which helps students get suitably placed according to their career goals. The four month long paid internship can be taken during summer, fall or winter terms.
 

Terms Internship period
Summer May-August
Fall September-December
Winter January-April

 

Rotman Fee structure

The total academic fees for international students for the 2-year full-time MBA program is $120,680. This is just the tuition.

The other fees can cost you an additional $3000 for each year.

Other fees include

  • University incidental fees
  • Annual health insurance
  • Rotman ancilliary fees

 
The total living expense is estimated to be in the range of $21,000 to $28,000 for a single student in downtown Toronto for one year.
 

Scholarships

Rotman offers $ 4 million financial assistance to its students in various forms. Here’s a list of some scholarships and fellowships you could be competing for.

Fellowships

  • Forté Fellows Program for women
  • Reaching Out LGBT MBA Fellowship
  • Rotman Pride Fellowship for contribution to LGBTQ+ initiatives.
  • Creative Destruction Lab Fellows Program for those exploring careers in entrepreneurship and start-ups.

 

List of scholarships and awards

  • Joseph L. Rotman Scholarship
  • Rotman Scholar Awards
  • Ontario Graduate Scholarships
  • Awards for In-Program Students
  • The Rotman Family Healthcare Scholarship
  • Entrance Awards
  • Professional Student Loan Plans with BMO & RBC
  • 30% Club Full-Time MBA Scholarship
  • CIBC BASc / MBA Scholarships

 
International students may look out for other external scholarships from their home country that they qualify for.
 

Employment opportunities

Rotman offers Teaching and research assistantship positions and students can apply for it on completion of their first year.

During the four month long paid internships, students on an average earn around $5000 a month.
 

Loans for international students

International students may apply for bank loans from Bank of Montreal (BMO) or the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC). Prodigy Finance also offers non-cosigned loans covering the entire tuition fees for international students.
 

Recruitment at Rotman

Here’s a peek into the recruitment opportunities at Rotman and how you can leverage it to find the right job that suits your career goals

Information sessions

These sessions let students familiarise with various aspects of the company including a company’s culture and the job postings. These sessions include interviews for summer internships and full-time positions.

Career treks

Students keen on exploring opportunities outside Canada can make use of these career treks to visit companies all over the world to take up internships and full-time employment. Whether it’s New York or Singapore or some other place where students wish to work, the Career Trek can help by taking the group of students to the desired destination.

Industry Nights

The Rotman career centre conducts Industry Nights in partnership with the student clubs and recruiting companies. Students can make use of this chance to network with recruiters and explore the various areas or roles that fit their career aspirations.

Speaker Series

These guest lectures attract a huge number of students, alumni as well as members of business community. It can be a great venue for networking and developing connections.

Rotman has an alumni network of over 11000. Students can benefit from mentorship program designed to form connection with alumni with similar interests

Here’s a sample list of some top companies that participated in the Rotman recruitment drive:

Microsoft IBM Google KPMG
ATKearney Accenture McKinsey&Co P&G
LG Unilever Nike Amazon.com
Bain & Company MorganStanley UBS Deloitte
Nike Barclays Pepsico Grant Thornton

 

Rotman employment statistics

For the class of 2018, 85% of the students were employed within three months of graduation while 90% of the class found employment by the end of the year (2018).

The mean total salary was $99,575. The mean base salary was $92,133.
 

Industry Highest salary received
Finance $125,000
Consulting $175,000
Legal services $252,000
Technology & Telecommunications $200,000

 
The location of the business school in downtown Toronto allows students to explore job opportunities in and around. The school’s location serves as the hub for the finance sector, hence this school is very popular among finance professionals and saw a 38.7% placement in the finance industry. This was followed by consulting at 18.5%.
 

Class profile

The latest incoming class has in all 334 students with 36% women and 51% international students. The average age is 27 while the average work experience is 4.6 years. The average GMAT is 658 and the average undergrad GPA is 3.5.
 

Rotman Admissions Process

Rotman offers multiple admission rounds for 350 seats available for the full-time MBA program. Currently, there are four rounds. Make it a point to apply in the earlier rounds, when the chance of acceptance is high and you have a better chance of being awarded a scholarship.
 

  Application deadline Decision date
Early Round August 5 September 3
Round 1 October 1 December 14
Round 2 January 7 March 8
Round 3 March 4 May 3
Round 4 April 29 May 31

 
Rotman looks out for highly motivated individuals and those with leadership qualities who hold a high potential for success in their chosen field.

They also seek diversity in the incoming class, so you can expect students coming in from a variety of academic and professional backgrounds.

In your application, you need to demonstrate how you’d fit in. Be sure to highlight your unique qualities and what sets you apart.

Like other top international MBA programs, candidate would be evaluated based on their overall profile which would include past academics, GMAT/GRE scores and work experience.

At least two years of work experience is recommended. Rotman places emphasis on the quality of work experience rather than the number of years you’ve worked for.

If you’re able to demonstrate your leadership potential, you may considered even without having any work experience.
 

Eligibility

You need to have a bachelor’s degree or equivalent from a recognised university with a minimum GPA of 3.0 in the final year in order to be eligible to apply.

One thing to note is that Rotman is among the few international business schools accepting candidates who’ve completed 15 years of education, whereas in other business schools, 16 year of education is essential to be eligible to apply.
 

Application requirements

Following are the MBA application requirements:

  • GMAT/GRE score
  • Academic transcripts
  • Two professional references
  • Essay + reflection question + Video interview with timed response
  • TOEFL/IELTS if applicable

(Not required if you’ve graduated from an English-language university)

  • Interview (By invitation only)

 

Rotman MBA essays

Students have to submit an essay question, a reflection question as well as a video interview which includes a timed response.
 

Essay Question

The essay questions may change each year, here are some of the essay questions previously asked:
 

 
Essay Example 1

Our admitted students stand out by doing interesting things with their personal and professional lives — something we describe as the ‘spike factor’; what are the things that you have done in your life that demonstrate Passion/ Grit/ Resilience/ Innovation/ Drive/ Ambition and more? This can cross all or any aspects of life outside of work – hobbies, volunteerism, awards, entrepreneurial ventures, sports and the arts. We believe that exposure to a rich diversity of viewpoints makes for a superior learning experience, and pride ourselves on building a diverse class of exceptional individuals who will go on to make the School proud as professionals and alumni.

Please upload 1-3 of your ‘spikiest’ pictures and use the essay to tell us why you have chosen these particular images to illustrate your ‘spike factor’ (use up to 1000 words).
 
Essay Example 2
Our Full-Time MBA Program at the University of Toronto, Rotman School of Management is best defined as a transformational experience. We believe that your journey begins with ‘why’. Please describe why you are pursuing an MBA? Why Rotman? Why now? (500 words)
 
Essay Example 3
When you reflect 10 years from now, how will you measure your MBA experience? (500 words)
 
Essay Example 4
Please state your professional goals and how you plan to achieve them.
 
Essay Example 5
Describe the most important piece of constructive feedback you have received recently. Please detail the circumstance and your plan to address it.

 

Reflection Question

Next comes the reflection question that has remained unchanged over the past several years.
 

 
List 3-5 attributes or characteristics that best describe you. (5 words)

 

Video Interview

The video interview was introduced in 2013 and the technology being used for it came from a startup by a Rotman graduate.

It includes 2 questions with a new timed written response component (10 minutes in length).

For the admissions team, this is an opportunity to see you and hear you. These questions are designed to be impromptu and usually revolve around your interests and experiences.

The schools really want to see the ‘real’ you, without any bells and whistles or made-up stuff and hence this format.

After completing the video questions, applicants would have to answer a written response question. You’d have a total of ten minutes to read, understand, write or edit the answer.

This is a sample written response question provided on the Rotman official website
 

 
Often prospective MBA candidates build strong relationships, primarily online, with the admissions office. We encourage candidates to follow-up with the admissions team members they meet representing Rotman around the world.

  • Craft an email to the Rotman representative that you met at a recent MBA Fair reiterating your interest in the School and desire to stay connected.

 

Improve your chances of getting into Rotman

As you might have guessed, the application process is rigorous. It requires quite a bit of foresight and planning. Hiring a good admissions consultant can make the journey less rocky.

MBA Crystal Ball has some of the best consultants for Rotman. We have helped many applicants get into the top MBA programs in Canada.

If you are looking for professional help with your Rotman MBA applications, drop us an email: info [at] mbacrystalball [dot] com

Hope to see you in Canada soon!

Read these related posts:
How a computer engineer got into Rotman
Life at Rotman MBA as an international student
Rotman School of Management – MBA Admissions Team Interview