I’m seriously considering applying to Rotman, I’m really enjoying reading you stuff.

Thank

I’m considering applying for Rotman but I have a few questions — would you mind if I emailed you?

Rod

- Rod

Sorry for the late reply. I’ve taken the summer off which also means this blog is lightly maintained.

Jacky:

Yes, the tuition’s are the same if you’re an International student (now that the CAD$ is on par with the US$). I think you’ve got a good solid train of thought there. There are a few things… First, I would caution you about is looking at average sallary etc. Remember, on Average, nothing is Average. Second, remember who’s producing the statistics, each school measures things in a way that is to their favour. Finally, I wouldn’t sweat it too much in the end. The school choice won’t make or break you–you’re already choosing between two very good schools and you’ll probably be happy at either.

The way I would look at it is first ask, what’s important to you. I can think of a few possible categories that may or may not apply to you: Quality of the Education, Reputation, Peers, Location, Availability of Industry Professionals, Quality of Life, Recruiting Opportunities, Weather, Cost of Living, Ability to Immigrate yourself and family…

Make a list that includes anything you think is important in the short-term or long-term. Once you’ve done that, give a relative weighting to how important each of these factors are to you (some factors can have the same weight). Force yourself to justify the relative weighting and write down reasons why each is important or unimportant. Then, give a relative ranking to each school on the relative factors. Again, justify the ranking to the best of your ability. Once you’re done you’ll hopefully see some interesting trends that might make your decision easier (you can also just multiply out the number and get one number that signifies how you feel about a school on the whole but I find this somewhat more counter-productive since a lot of the time it’s the smaller differences that more largely influence my decision). I find this approach helpful and it provides me a lot more confidence in my decisions (which is almost more important than the decision itself in some cases).

Good luck and let me know if you need any more help.

Zeeshaan:

Yes, I have found a job. I mentioned it off hand in this post: http://www.tunerds.com/rotman/2007/11/22/im-more-efficient-now-and-random-updates/. I’ll be working at RIM in a Product Management Role. My experience with them last summer lead me to believe that I’d enjoy the job. I haven’t started yet, I’m on a break until the end of August. Once I have started maybe I’ll post an update about how much I like/dislike it.

In the end I’m still slightly a fence sitter on if the MBA was worth it but after talking to a few people I’ve come to the conclusion that the true worth of this degree wont be revealed right away. You have to practice with it use the tools as you progress in your career. The MBA certainly has changed the way I think about problems, the approach I take, and the things I feel are important. It also changed the way people approach me/how the work with me. It is certainly a respected degree. On the whole I’m leaning towards it being worth it.