Meet Toronto Rotman’s MBA Class Of 2021

Winners of the 2017 Rotman Design Challenge

The class, which is composed of 44 different countries, averages 27 years in age and holds five years of work experience. 26 students ā€“ or nearly 10% of the class ā€“ are pursuing dual JD-MBA degrees. It is a business-heavy class in terms of undergraduate studies. 32% of the Class majored in Business and Commerce, with another 13% studying Economics. That said, Engineering and Applied Sciences make up 28% of the Class, followed by Life Sciences (6%), Humanities (6%), and Social Sciences (4%).

In terms of professional experience, Financial Services again accounts for the largest segment of the class at 25%, up five points over last year. The remainder of the class is highly segmented, with the biggest blocs including Consulting (11%), Technology (9%), Energy and Natural Resources (7%) and Consumer Goods (6%). Healthcare, Education, Manufacturing, and Non-Profits each take up 4% of the class seats.

FINANCE SCHOOL? HARDLY

Recreational area at Rotman

Ask the average person what they know about Rotman and theyā€™d probably say ā€œfinance and consulting school.ā€ The numbers bear that out to an extent. In the Class of 2018, for example, 38.7% of graduates joined finance, followed by 18.5% in consulting. Those numbers were 37% and 20% respectively for the 2017 Class. Ironically, neither field was the highest-paying last year. Those honors belonged to Legal Services and Technology and Telecom. Together, they represented 13.4% of 2018 graduates, with mean pay for $116,841 and $109,071 respectively.

This ā€œFinance Schoolā€ myth also doesnā€™t hold up when recent Rotman grads are queried about it. ā€œWhile it does have a stellar history in these fields, Rotman offers much more,ā€ writes Arundhati Sriraman, a 2019 P&Q Best & Brightest MBA. ā€œStudents are able to customize their Rotman experience to match their interests and meet their needs. From study tours to independent study projects to fellowships at institutes such as the Institute for Gender and the Economy (GATE), Rotman students are able to choose their own adventure.ā€

Adil Sethi, a 2019 P&Q MBA To Watch, considers the moniker to be a compliment. ā€œAny business school worth its salt should be. However, in my experience, Rotman makes equally equipped those students, who are looking to explore careers in niche sectors such as sports, entertainment, business design and sustainability.ā€

AN INTERVIEW WITH IMRAN KANGA

Those are just a handful of the offerings available at Rotman. This fall, P&Q reached out to the school to learn more about new developments and underrated aspects of the program, along with the significance of the COMPASS programming that opens the first year. Here are some answers from Imran Kanga, director of recruitment and admissions, for the full-time MBA program.

P&Q: What are theĀ most exciting new developments at your program?

IK: ā€œIn addition the revamping the core curriculum, we have also introduced the Flexible Internship Program (FIP) which allows students the flexibility to take the mandatory internship in the Summer, Fall or Winter term in the 2nd year. The Flexible Internship Program allows students to take advantage of work opportunities that occur only at specific times of the year while completing the degree requirements. This structure provides access to a much greater volume and a wider variety of roles beyond the traditional summer internship cycle. It also gives our students the ideal learning opportunity to try new roles and responsibilities, or experience a completely different industry, function, company, or even location before making the leap to full-time employment.ā€

P&Q: What is the most underrated part of your program that you wish prospective students knew more about?

Imran Kanga

IK: ā€œMost prospective students are concerned about the admissions process and post-MBA career outcomes when doing their research on business schools. While the ā€œpreā€ and ā€œpostā€ MBA are important considerations, students often donā€™t know or donā€™t fully utilize all the resources and opportunities available to them during the program. In addition to the rigorous academic curriculum at Rotman, there are numerous clubs, student organizations, speaker events, networking sessions and international immersion opportunities that I hope students will take advantage of during their time at Rotman.ā€

P&Q: Another hallmark of the Rotman MBA is innovative curriculum, be it the Creative Destruction Lab, Self-Development Lab, or COMPASS. What do you see as the most innovative offering and how does it embody the Rotman spirit?

IK: ā€œI think the CDL, SDL, and COMPASS are all unique to Rotman but I think COMPASS has the most impact because that all incoming students start the MBA program with the COMPASS challenge. This innovative program was designed by our Office of Student Engagement in partnership with McKinsey and the City of Toronto to help with the cityā€™s poverty reduction strategy. I think this initiative embodies the Rotman spirit the most because it reinforces one of the core values of Rotman which is to act as a catalyst for positive change in the community and the economy.ā€

A DIFFERENT WAY OF THINKING

Innovative programming is the bedrock of the Rotman MBA experience. That starts with the foundation of the curriculum: Integrative Thinking. A systematic approach to problem-solving, integrative thinking looks beyond the either-or, zero-sum models inherent to decision-making. Instead, Rotman MBAs explore the problem first, understanding the various points of view ā€“ and the values, needs, and assumptions theyā€™re based upon. After mastering the nuances and complexities of issues ā€“ and the biases and simplifications surrounding them ā€“ integrative thinkers delve into proposed solutions, seeking connections between variables and pulling out the best from each option. In doing so, they reframe the issue entirely, increasing the possibilities and crafting more holistic solutions in the process.

ā€œThe typical way of dealing with problems is to list several solutions and decide on the best one, as though it were wrong to select more than one,ā€ explains Roger Martin, the schoolā€™s former dean, current faculty member, and a mainstay at the top of the Thinkers50 list. ā€œBusiness students are taught to analyze business problems in this way: option A yields $2.8 million, option B yields $3.4 million, so option B is superior. Integrative thinking is a mindset that leads you to a new option, which combines the best elements of A and B. Itā€™s a creative act.ā€

So too is entrepreneurship. At Rotman, the Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) has sparked the Class of 2021ā€™s imagination. Launched out of Rotman in 2012, CDL now stretches to MBA programs at New York University, University of Oxford, and HEC Paris. In a nutshell, CDL is a seed-stage incubator for hard sciences and tech startups in areas like AI, machine learning, blockchain, space exploration, healthcare, and energy. The nine-month program targets highly-scalable ventures, providing a platform for students to access entrepreneurial programming and resources, not to mention tapping into the expertise of investors and scientists. Overall, CDL alumni have created over $4 billion dollars in equity value.

Toronto, Canada

THE NEXT GREAT TECH BOOMTOWN

In June, CDL also signed on to be the founding academic partner of the Libra Association, which is creating a global financial infrastructure and cryptocurrency in partnership with Facebook. Gaining this type of hands-on and immersive experience at the intersection of the sciences, tech, and finance sectors was too good to pass up for Emilija Davidovic.

ā€œI was immediately drawn to the CDL when I heard about its focus on science and technology and that, as an MBA Candidate, I could work directly with the startups in the program. The opportunity to see how cutting-edge startups are approaching improvements in quantum computing, space, artificial intelligence, and beyond seemed like such a unique experience to me ā€“ especially given Torontoā€™s rich technology culture.ā€

Rich is an understatement. In some quarters, Toronto is referred to as ā€œSilicon Valley North,ā€ home to nearly 250,000 tech jobs ā€“ not to mention the worldā€™s highest concentration of artificial intelligence startups. In fact, a 2019 CBRE study showed that Toronto had added more tech jobs in 2018 than San Francisco, New York City, and Seattle combined. In the same study, Toronto ranked above Austin, Boston, and Raleigh in terms of ā€œtech marketplace depth, vitality, and attractiveness.ā€ Alas, the city is brimming with renowned accelerators and incubators like EON, gBETA, and Techstars. At the same time, the city is home to a fifth of Canadaā€™s GDP ā€“ not to mention its five largest banks. In recent years, giants like Amazon, Google, and Netflix have expanded their footprint in Toronto, the headquarters of companies ranging from Nortel and Manulife Financial to Tim Hortons and Hudsonā€™s Bay. Whatā€™s more, this commercial and innovation hub enjoys lavish national and national support for startups, with a welcoming, immigrant-friendly culture that serves as a magnet for talent.

AN ā€˜EPICā€™ JOURNEY

Graduation Ball

In other words, Toronto offers just about everything an MBA could want, giving Rotman a recruiting edge in years to come. ā€œBeing in Downtown Toronto will help me maximize my learning, as networking opportunities with entrepreneurs and practitioners is much more accessible,ā€ notes Michelle Molas.

The larger University of Toronto ā€“ ranked among the worldā€™s top public research institutions and home to nearly a dozen incubators and accelerators ā€“ offers another layer of options for Rotman MBAs. ā€œRotman MBA is the #1 program in Canada and the University of Toronto has long-standing recognition for its excellence in faculty and research,ā€ adds Rohini Muthuvelan.

What can the Class of 2021 expect over the next two years? Jesus Amundarain, a 2019 P&Q MBA To Watch, believes their journey will be ā€˜EPICā€™.ā€ ā€œThrough the study of Business Design, Iā€™ve grown more (E)mpathetic. The practices Iā€™ve learned through the Self Development Lab have helped me become more (P)ositive. The learning environment nurtures entrepreneurship and creativity and this has pushed me to be more (I)nnovative. Finally, Iā€™ve been challenged to be more (C)ourageous ā€“ to push my thinking and be unafraid to boldly step beyond my boundaries.ā€

What led these professionals to enter business schools? Which programs did they also consider? What strategies did they use to choose their MBA program? What was the major event that defined them? Find the answers to these questions and many more in the in-depth profiles of these incoming MBA candidates.

DONā€™T MISS: MEET THE MBA CLASS OF 2021: THE GO-GETTERS

MBA Student Hometown Undergrad Alma Mater Last Employer
Meredith Baade Glen Cove, NY Siena College Bloomberg LP
Laura Guadalupe Chavira Razo PurĆ©pero, Mexico Instituto Nacional de Salud PĆŗblica de MĆ©xico Instituto Nacional de Salud PĆŗblica de MĆ©xico
Emilija Davidovic Toronto, Canada McGill University Accenture
Laura Gomez-Cardona Medellin, Colombia Universidad EAFIT Suramericana S.A.
Michelle Molas Manila, Philippines University of the Philippines Google
Mykhailo Lyzanets Kyiv, Ukraine Kyiv National Taras Shevchenko University Moneyveo.ua
Rohini Muthuvelan Mumbai, India NA Procter & Gamble
Aishwarya Nikam Mumbai, India Mumbai University Crimson Fuchsia Retail
Luis Diego Ramirez Jose, Costa Rica Universidad de Costa Rica Obrigado Brigaderia
Daniel Seet Singapore National University of Singapore RHT Compliance Solutions
Woo Chun (Woo) Shim Yong-In, South Korea Cornell University Hanwha Corporation
Marla Yuan Chongqing, China Stetson University PwC

 

Questions about this article? Email us or leave a comment below.