Toronto / Rotman MBA News

Learning doesn’t just happen in the classroom, especially in MBA programs. In fact, it’s the outside learning experiences that can be most valuable for many MBA students and graduates. Most full-time MBA programs organize events, clubs, competitions and other activities to provide their students with an opportunity to apply and refine the skills and knowledge they’ve acquired in the classroom. Business problems aren’t typically cookie-cutter, so it’s in students’ best interest to attend schools that foster creativity, flexibility, and teamwork. Krishna Erramilli, associate dean at Illinois Tech’s Stuart School of Business, had this to say to the Chicago Tribune. “Business problems have become a lot more unprecedented, a lot more complex. To train our students to be successful in the 21st century, they must be able to go into a company, look at that problem and analyze the problem from multiple functional perspectives.” That concept is just one of the reasons behind the Center for Leadership, Innovation and Change (CLIC) at the University of Maryland R.H. Smith School of Business. Read more

Tomorrow, February 1st, female graduate business students and industry leaders from across Canada will have a chance to come together and discuss the most pressing matters facing the business community as part of the inaugural Canadian Graduate Women in Management Conference. Organized by the Rotman Women in Management Association (WIMA) and hosted by the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, the conference will focus around the theme of “Men as Allies and the Parity Proposition,” highlighting the role of gender inclusivity in expanding the discourse on gender equity. Scheduled speakers include Bruce Simpson, director and senior partner at McKinsey & Company; Jennifer Reynolds, head of Women in Capital Markets, the largest network of professional women in the Canadian capital markets industry; and Barbara Annis, founding partner of the Gender Intelligence Group, a a global leader in creating "gender intelligent" organizational cultures. To get more insight, we spoke with Alex Walker Turner, Rotman MBA ’17 and WIMA vice president of communications. Here’s what she had to say. Read more

If there’s one thing that everyone can agree on, it’s that women are necessary for business. In fact, companies with women on the board of directors, on average, have a 53 percent higher return on equity. The issue is that though women represent 47% percent of the workforce, they only represent 17 percent of boardrooms, and 4.8 percent of CEOs among the Fortune 500 companies, according to the Forté Foundation. That’s why University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management has made it a priority to promote women in business. And their efforts have recently been Read more

There’s no doubt that the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto has an impressive list of MBA alums. The Financial Times has ranked it as the #1 Business School in Canada for the tenth year in a row, and that’s just the start. Recently, Forbes interviewed Sage Salvo, Founder of Words Liive and a Rotman MBA alum. Salvo’s story started in the D.C. Public School system where he performed well, thanks to his gifted classes. However, when he moved schools, suddenly he stopped being so engaged and almost failed 8th grade. It was all because he couldn’t connect with the school Read more

Entrance exams generate more angst than any other part of the MBA admissions process for the majority of applicants to business schools, according to a survey released today by the Association of Independent Graduate Admissions Consultants (AIGAC). Sixty-one percent of respondents cited standardized tests as the most challenging application component, while 46 percent pointed to written essays and 20 percent indicated interviews. Interestingly, newer additions to the application process—such as videos and group exercises implemented in recent years by schools like Kellogg and Wharton—seem to incite less anxiety, with only 19 percent of applicants saying these were especially challenging. In fact, Read more

The PROFIT/Chatelaine W100 ranking of Canada’s Top Female Entrepreneurs has recognized two Rotman School of Management MBA graduates. A third Rotman MBA was ranked as a rising entrepreneur to watch and a fourth company, co-founded by a Rotman MBA, placed #1 in the ranking. The PROFIT/Chatelaine W100 ranking and awards program is Canada’s largest celebration of women entrepreneurs. Each year, it ranks the top 100 female entrepreneurs by a score that takes into account the size, growth rate and profitability of the companies they own and manage. Winners are honored in the June 2016 issue of Canadian Business magazine, as well as throughout the year on Read more