Poets&Quants Top Business Schools

University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management

#35

School Data

Annual Tuition: 101,350 (CAD) In-State, 109,970 (CAD) Out-of-State

Full-Time Enrollment: 350

Average GPA: 3.5

International: 66%

Mean Age: 27

Median GMAT: 680

GMAT Range (mid-80%): 500-760

Female: 40%

GPA Range (mid-80%): 2.0-4.0

Male: 60%

The profile was last updated on March 21, 2018. If you have any questions, please contact our general manager.

Application Deadlines
Round 1: October 16th, 2017
Round 2: January 8th, 2018
Round 3: February 26th, 2018
Round 4: April 16th, 2018
Round 5: May 21th, 2018

The University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management is a “hot” school. The latest entering class of full-time MBAs is the largest, smartest (at least judging by their average GMAT scores) and most international ever.

Under Dean Roger Martin, the school carved out a reputation as one of the most innovative players in management education in the world. That has happened largely due to the confluence of three big decisions.

1) A focus on “integrative thinking” which is a core theme throughout the MBA curriculum. It’s the ability to assess and balance conflicting ideas, business models or strategies. As a partner at the consulting firm Monitor, Martin identified a pattern of problem-solving among his business clients that can be learned and developed.  Rather than looking at what leaders did, he looked at how leaders thought.
2) Teaching “business design,” using commonly deployed design principles to jumpstart innovation in business settings. These are elective courses but are among the more creative offerings in any business school.
3) Intense personal development. Though nongraded and voluntary, a student participating in all the labs can get up to 60 hours of personal development work.

Several business schools assign MBA students coaches to help them with career planning decisions, but Rotman may well have the most far-reaching personal development initiative of any full-time MBA program in the world. The school now employs 18 full-time coaches, assigning every admit a coach in July and August before they show up on campus for the September start of the MBA program. The coaches then work with students over the entire two-year program. Students here are drilled on their presentation skills, prepped for interviews with such key employers as McKinsey & Co., and go through unlimited one-on-one sessions with coaches who cover everything from how to interview with corporate recruiters to how to negotiate a job offer.

Soon after becoming dean in 1998, Martin made the rounds of corporate recruiters. When he asked a large multinational why the company didn’t recruit the school’s MBAs, he was told: “You don’t have enough product.” At the time, the school’s annual intake of full-time MBAs was just 110. In 2014, Rotman’s entering MBA class was 350-strong–much more than other quality Canadian schools such as Queens (with a total full-time MBA enrollment of 117), Western Ontario (with 133), or McGill (with 145).

Size does matter because it leads to a larger, more influential alumni network–and brings more companies to campus to recruit students. Nike recently added Rotman to its recruiting list, the only Canadian school on it, and so did lululemon, the fast growing retailer of athletic wear for yoga and working out.

One very big appeal for international students is the fact that MBA graduates get a three-year work visa from Canada. If you have a spouse, it’s relatively easy for him or her to get a work visa while you study at Rotman. And it’s also relatively easy to gain permanent status during your three-year work visa due to the country’s liberal immigration policies.

It helps, too that Rotman is in downtown Toronto, Canada’s business capital and a world-class city, and part of the most prestigious university in the country, the University of Toronto. All in all, these are very positive signs that make Rotman a school on the move.

Rankings Analysis: The University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management is ranked as the 28th best business school outside the U.S. in Poets&Quants’ 2014 composite ranking. The school’s best ranking comes from BusinessWeek, which ranks full-time MBA programs largely on the basis of graduate satisfaction and corporate recruiter opinion. In 2014,  BW placed the school 11th on its list of the best international business schools–a very impressive showing for Rotman.

The Financial Times, which in 2013 ranked Rotman 254h outside the U.S. and 53rd globally, gives the school its highest ranking for any school in Canada.

Contact Information

Location:
121-105 St. George St.
Toronto, Canada ON M5S 3E6
Admissions Office:
416-946-8463
School Social Media:

From the Rotman School of Management

The Rotman School of Management is the most globally recognized business school in Canada, consistently placing in the global top 10 for its faculty research and thought leadership (Financial Times). It is part of the University of Toronto, Canada’s top research and teaching university.

Rotman is located in downtown Toronto, the fourth-largest city in North America, and its third-largest center for financial services and communications technology. If your aim is to gain experience in the North American job market, there is no better place to be.

The Rotman advantage

With one of the largest full-time MBA programs in Canada, Rotman is the destination school in the country for global firms wishing to hire MBA students. Leading companies like Nike, McKinsey, Goldman Sachs, Google, IBM, P&G, IDEO and Microsoft regularly recruit at Rotman. While known for its strengths in finance and consulting, Rotman has recently made bold strides in placing its graduates in growth industries like healthcare strategy, innovation, and entrepreneurship.

Growth: In the past 15 years, Rotman has quadrupled its endowment, and tripled its physical footprint, its student body and its faculty. A state-of-the-art building has more than doubled the school’s available research, teaching and study space and this trajectory has positioned Rotman as Canada’s leading business school.

Scale and Impact: The Full-Time MBA class at Rotman is not only one of the largest of any business school in Canada, it’s also the most diverse. Our incoming Full-Time MBA class of 2019 had 143 women, (40 per cent of the total), 24 of whom received Forte Foundation Fellowships as outstanding female candidates. At Rotman over the previous 2 years, 30 + Forte fellows have been awarded more than $1 M in total scholarships. 52 per cent of our incoming students are international and they come from 35 countries. Exposure to this diversity of perspectives and Rotman’s unique problem-solving approach ensures that our graduates are prepared to tackle challenges in an increasingly complex world. Just as our faculty are the thought leaders of today, our students are the global business leaders of tomorrow.

Location, location, location

The Rotman School is part of the University of Toronto, Canada’s top research university (founded in 1827). It is located in Toronto, a dynamic, safe and multicultural city, the fourth largest in North America. Toronto is Canada’s business capital, the site of major clusters of innovation in industries ranging from aerospace to biotech. Toronto is consistently rated one of the best cities in the world in which to live.

Toronto ranks:

The University of Toronto ranks:

Your career

Canada is one of the most welcoming countries in the world when it comes to attracting talent. Because the Rotman Full-Time MBA is a two-year program, all MBA students are eligible for a three-year work permit upon graduation.

How we help you succeed

Located just blocks from Canada’s business hub, Rotman is ideally positioned to help you connect face to face with top employers who hire MBA graduates. Rotman has invested in building one of the largest MBA career teams in business education. Our exceptional careers staff-to-student ratio– 2X better than the business school average – means you will receive the personal attention you need to find your ideal job.

At Rotman, we help you make the most of your potential:

  • The Rotman School’s unique approach to problem solvingwill teach you to become a high-value decision maker and better business leader.
  • Through the  Self Development Lab  and the Leadership Development Lab you gain insight into yourself and the tools you need to grow and develop your own unique leadership qualities.