What Students Say
Likes
- The events organised in collaboration with different firms - this allowed us connect with various people from the industry hence increasing our network
- Case competitions - we had a variety of case competitions to choose from allowing us to gain knowledge in the desired sector for eg: portfolio management, big data, risk management etc.
- Infrastructure - The Infrastructure was really good which allowed us to spend our major time at college. The availability of study rooms allowed us to collaborate with people from different courses at the same place.
Dislikes
- Career Services - there could have been more collaboration from different firms to generate more opportunities. The overall resume feedback and career guidance was really good but the connection with industries was below par.
- Connectivity with different schools - there were no inter school events in general which restricted in minimal contact from folks from different branches apart from the one's in management.
- Career fairs: there were very few career fairs and they could have done better with the same.
Course Curriculum
8
- Coming from a data science background, the difficulty was below par but for freshmen in the batch, the technical subjects were pretty hard.
- The positive aspects were the professors, as they were professional and gave valuable feedback throughout the course. Negative was the timeline and extra-long break during courses.
Admission Experience
-
I applied to the following universities:
- Mcgill, admitted
- University of Toronto-Admitted
- I received positive responses for both the colleges I applied to. I had prior experience in data analytics and data science, which might have been a major driving factor in my admissions. My experience also assisted me in bagging scholarships from both the aforementioned universities.
- The main reason for Rotman's selection was the alumni base and it's presence in a more global perspective. Another incentive was job opportunities post-course and post-connecting with people from Rotman; it felt the college appreciated our onboarding and gave a more welcoming feeling compared to that of Mcgill.
- Both colleges required a SOP and conducted an interview post that. The interview focused on statistical knowledge coupled with basic ML on the basis of the student profile.
- I got scholarships from both colleges and submitted my IELTS (mandate for noth) and GRE (mandate for McGill).
- The overall experience was really good and I'd say the part where you need to refine your SOP was the most challenging, as you need to ensure that you present yourself in a way that you're fit for the colleges given the constraints and requirements provided by the college.
- I applied for 2023 fall intake and the main reason behind the same was it's initiation. The course started in aug/sept which would provide me with ample amount of time to network with people and get to know more about various industries and jobs before the hiring season begins.
- The admission process was not very lengthy. I got the first response within a month after which I was asked to attend an interview. The result for the interview was declared within 2.The external scholarship, i.e., vector scholarship application, was applicable after paying the initial sum and it took around 2.5 months for the result to be declared.
Class Schedule
8
- Typically we'd have around 2-3 classes per day during the first semester, and it was distributed from 8am to 3pm. During the winter term, the timing was a bit different and had courses even at 7 p.m., but they used to start late around 10am. Overall, the class length was either 1.5 hours or 2 hours long.
- There were a total pf 97 students, with 15 indians in the batch
Faculty
10
- There were two batches of about 55 students for each professor during the first semester. For the second semester, we had optional courses and the ratio would be 1:60.
- Faculty members were helpful but couldn't comment about the full-time job scenario. Professors suggested not to opt for part-time jobs, as they said the course is pretty hectic but they were more than happy to assist students in finding jobs for the interested students.
- The faculties knowledge and the way they articulated it were exceptional.
Campus Life
10
- There are a total of 3 campuses under the University of Toronto.
- The main branch is the St. George campus. The other two are Mississauga and Scarborough.
- The campus comprises all possible facilities, including a gym, swimming, basketball, tennis, football, soccer, and other sports as well.
- There are events going on throughout the year. I don't remember the exact festival name but there is a Rotman Alumnu meet and rotman anniversary that invites all the alumns together under 1 room for a big celebration.
- There are different clubs and organisations that are responsible for conducting educational events as well as case competitions.
Part Time Jobs
- A very few people were able to get a TA or RA position; it would be around 1 or 2% only as the course was pretty hectic.The par range was pretty decent, which was >35 CAD/hour.There were other on-campus jobs available like library assistant, data entry, and research with different professors, etc. Max hours allowed = 20 hours per week as per visa constraints.It was pretty hard to get jobs as the number of applications was pretty high.
- On campus, office jobs would be around 35 CAD per hour, whereas off campus they were around 16–17 CAD per hour, as these were minimum-wage jobs. It was hard to manage part-time jobs as the course was pretty hectic to finish in the given 11-month timeline. Students needed to submit their application and resume for jobs. Some jobs also included interviews before appointments.
Placement
6
- A major chunk of people got jobs within 6 months. Can't comment about the official number as the official numbers aren't out yet. Same goes in case of salary but the previous year average was around 85000 CAD.
- There is no placement as such and people need to network and look for jobs on their own. The career services team assists in conducting mock interviews but the major part of looking for jobs is to be done by students on their own, i.e., networking and connecting with the right people to get a referral.
- Rotman graduates are present everywhere, including firms like meta, intuit, uber, Google, etc.
Accommodation
Off Campus
8
- There are various ways to search accommodations:
- Fb page: there are different pages where people sublet a room or look a long term roommate.
- Amberstudent/Universityliving etc third oart vendors
- Graduate housing - offered by the University
- Local connections, property owners.
- Property managers - managed flats
- Realtors - available to show housings as a broker without any extra payment.
- The hardest part was to find something in the desired range, as everything looked a bit costly given you are new to a country and it's hard to find a place before reaching the country if you haven't used any third-party vendors.
- It's great to get third-party vendors if the price suffices.
- It varies from a 15-minute walk to 30 minutes via metro. Indian students preferred places near the metro line or walking distance to the university to avoid unnecessary time wastage during commute.
Exams
- IELTS was a mandate for the application process, whereas GRE/GMAT was optional.
- A statement of purpose alongside 2 letters of recommendation were mandatory.
- The interview was conducted online and my interviewer was a previous alum. It was a wonderful experience as the person conducting the interview had knowledge and was asking questions relevant to the course.
- It mostly consisted of questions from Statistics like central limit theoram and other mathematical problems. Since my profile was from ML background, I was questioned on precision recall, etc. It was great connecting with them and I received a positive feedback as well.
Fees
- The overall fee was around 77000 CAD, which included the college fee, ancillary fee, gym and other sports activities, health insurance, dental insurance, and a few other things.
- The fee was supposed to be submitted in three parts. The first part was a small amount of about 5000 CAD, which confirmed the seat. The next 2 were major chunks of installments divided equally with deadlines in September and November, respectively.
- The approximate amount might vary from person to person and mostly pins down on the type of housing one would prefer. For the students who preferred graduate housing, that would cost about 1400 CAD per room per month; otherwise, the rent varies b/w 800-1500 CAD per head per month.
- The food cost might vary from 250-350 CAD per month. There is a transit pass for unlimited travel with local transport costing 128 CAD per month.
Scholarship
- Yes, there are different scholarships available. I got the entrance award as well as a vector scholarship in AI, which was provided to students who had contributed in the field of AI prior to the course.
- The total amount of both the scholarships cumulatively was about 25000 CAD.
- Many people from my batch received scholarships. Some received awards similar to mine but the overall amount might vary. There were scholarships for women, people from Ontario, etc.
- Can't comment about the average number of students but if I was supposed to make an estimate, it would be around 20%. Can't comment about the award though, there would be a high amount of variance for the same.
