Do You Have the Spike for Toronto Rotman MBA? [Episode 581]

Admissions Straight Talk

Mohammad Salhia, Managing Director of Recruitment, Admissions, and Business Development at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, discusses the distinctive features of the Rotman MBA program. Mohammad highlights the various MBA program options at Rotman, including full-time, morning/evening, and executive MBA programs. He emphasizes the comprehensive nature of the full-time MBA program, which includes academic study, elective courses, and a four-month internship. He also discusses the unique features of the program, such as the Self-Development Lab and the Leadership Development Lab, which focus on fostering communication, collaboration, and critical thinking skills. Additionally, he shares his tips for how to determine and present a “spike factor.”

Relevant Links:

• Toronto Rotman MBA program
• Accepted’s Mapping your MBA Application

Relevant shows:

• Former Wharton/Lauder Admissions Director Joins Accepted: Welcome Kara Keenan Sweeney, podcast Episode 570
• How to Get Into HEC Paris MBA with Sara Vanos, podcast Episode 565
• Advice for Applicants: Moving from 2023 to 2024, podcast Episode 557
• How to Get into the UC Berkeley Haas MBA Program?, podcast Episode 557

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1. Do You Have the Spike for Toronto Rotman MBA? [Episode 581] (00:00:00)

2. Mohammad, welcome to Admissions Straight Talk. (00:01:20)

3. Can you give us an overview of the Rotman MBA program, focusing on its more distinctive features? (00:01:57)

4. What's new at Rotman? (00:08:17)

5. How is Rotman incorporating AI into its curriculum? (00:08:17)

6. The website says that Rotman is looking for four qualities: intellectual horsepower, experience and impact, communications and presence, and the "spike factor.” What is the spike factor? How would you describe it? (00:12:45)

7. What is the difference between communications and presence? (00:16:18)

8. It seems to me from your description that there's tremendous emphasis on the interpersonal skills of an applicant at Rotman. (00:18:09)

9. What changes are you anticipating to the 2024/2025 application? (00:20:45)

10. Your international applicants, be they from the United States, or Europe, or Asia, do they tend to stay in Canada, or do they tend to return to their home countries? (00:21:44)

11. Last year, Rotman's application included a resume, a traditional essay, a required video interview with two questions, before an in-person interview by invitation only. What do you learn from these different elements? (00:22:23)

12. Rotman’s essay question is, "What are the things that you've done in your life that demonstrate passion, grit, resilience, innovation, drive, ambition and more? Do you have any tips for this essay question?" (00:24:06)

13. Can you discuss the optional question: "Please upload one to three of your spikiest pictures, and use the essay to tell us why you have chosen those particular images or these particular images to illustrate your spike factor. Use up to 1,000 words." (00:26:05)

14. What is the purpose of the video interview? What can somebody anticipate? (00:27:43)

15. What distinguishes applicants who get interview invitations from those who don't, other than stats? (00:29:28)

16. What advice do you have for wait-listed applicants or re-applicants to Rotman? (00:31:00)

17. We have a lot of applicants who are sitting down and are either starting to write or are planning to apply from the 2024/2025 application cycle. How would you recommend that they approach the process? (00:34:36)

18. Let's say you have somebody like the recent college grad or somebody who has a great opportunity this year and is planning to apply in 2025-2026 or later, so they're really planning ahead. What advice would you give somebody like that? (00:37:46)

19. What would you have liked me to ask you? (00:39:16)