MBA - Rotman School of Management

This document is originally written by Tonmoy Chakraborty, MBA Candidate, Rotman School of Management (University of Toronto).

Year of Publication: 2019

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For aspiring MBA candidates:

I have recently been accepted into Rotman (University of Toronto) Full Time MBA, Class of 2021. I have completed my Bachelor's in Electrical Engineering from The National University of Singapore and have worked in a semiconductor manufacturing company as a Global Operations Engineer for 5 years. With my decent GRE scores, I have managed a reasonable scholarship as well.

I am pretty sure that there are a lot of us who are seeking help with regards to their MBA application. I am eager to help in any way possible. Do let me know..

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Let me try to summarize my application process here:

I think the first thing we need to philosophically align is the fact that top business schools look beyond your GRE/GMAT scores and Undergrad results to find who you are as a person, what are your aspirations and how can an MBA from that school help you to meet those aspirations. Leadership and communication skills, academic prowess and laser-sharp focus on career goals are some of the key factors most of the schools watch out for.

Having said that, let me start.

I have been planning for my MBA for about 1.5 years now. I appeared for my GRE (not GMAT) in Jan 2018 and managed a decent enough score in a single sitting. My focus was on Canadian schools because that is where I really want to settle in the long term.

I zoomed in to Rotman from a impressive array of Ivey, Schulich, Queen and Rotman owing to the fact that I felt more drawn to the Rotman culture.

Once I zoomed in to Rotman, I started talking to a few friends and alumni who are currently studying or have graduated from Rotman. I did arrange for some discussion with Leigh Gauthier, Assistant Director of Admissions. She visited Singapore around August 2018 and I spoke face to face with her with regards to my interest in Rotman. Based on our discussion, I was confident that my profile was pretty decent for Rotman.

There are a few components to a good MBA application. The first and most important one would be the essays. I spend over a month writing, re-writing, editing, proof-reading my essay. (I can go into more details over this)

The next item would be the recommendation letters. Both my recommendation letters were from managers who have worked with me in the past and have a good knowledge of what I contributed for the business.

Typically most business school have their own preferred format for the resume and it would be best to follow that.

I finished my application, along with the 1st automated video interview by end-October and got a call for an interview within a week.

The final interview lasted around 50 minutes and went on great.

I received an offer around November.

This is what I managed to recall now, however, I can go into more details wherever needed.