Our admitted students stand out by doing interesting things with their personal and professional lives —something we describe as the ‘spike factor’; what are the things that you have done in your life that demonstrate Passion/ Grit/ Resilience/ Innovation/ Drive/ Ambition and more? This can cross all or any aspects of life outside of work –hobbies, volunteerism, awards, entrepreneurial ventures, sports and the arts. We believe that exposure to a rich diversity of viewpoints makes for a superior learning experience, and pride ourselves on building a diverse class of exceptional individuals who will go on to make the School proud as professionals and alumni.
Rotmanhas done a complete U-turn in their MBA application requirements this year. For the past 5-6 years, Rotmanhad asked a variation of “Why Rotman? Why MBA?” essay question for their first prompt and encouraged students to describe their characteristics in just 5 words for the second prompt. While the second question remains the same this year too, the first question has gone a complete overhaul –presumably to cater to the social media generation where pictures tell as much of a story as words. The admissions blog says that this change in prompt will allow students to share more of their authentic self, and we could not agree more.
A good way to think about this essay is to visualize what you would want the admission committee and your future classmates to know. Do you want them to know you only through professional achievements or do you want to present a well-rounded off picture? Arguably, the second approach is usually better. The school has a decent idea of your professional accomplishments from your resume, so this is a perfect opportunity to let them know more about you as a person.
The wording of the prompt uses the word “spikiest” so it makes all the more sense to include high points of your life and relate them to the values (passion, grit, resilience, innovation, drive, ambition) that Rotmanholds. Obviously, the pictures don’t need to convey all of these values but ensuring that each one of the pictures signifies a different value is a sound strategy. Use each of the pictures to convey a distinct storyline and theme with examples. The different themes should ideally culminate in defining you as a person and can also be related to your goals.
Diversity is important for Rotmanand the school is looking for interesting albeit accomplished individuals for its class. In this vein, it will make sense to elucidate what you bring to the table in terms of your proposed contribution to the cohort. You can link examples of how you have contributed to the community around you and propose how you may continue to do so at Rotman.
The prompt suggests that you could upload 1-3 pictures, which means you may very well upload less than 3 pictures if you want todiscuss probably only 2 aspects of your life and build the essay around these 2 aspects. As long as you come across as an individual with varied interests and contributions and demonstrate your passion well, presenting less than 3 pictures shouldn’t be a problem.
