Interview with Imran Kanga, Director of Recruitment and Admissions at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management [Show Summary]

Toronto Rotman wants to see a “spike factor” in its applicants. What is a spike factor? What’s Toronto Rotman’s spike factor(s)? How can you show a spike factor. What else does Rotman offer? What are its 3 other criteria for acceptance?  All questions covered and answered in this informative podcast interview with Toronto Rotman’s MBA admissions director, Imran Kanga. Pull up a chair!

All About Toronto Rotman and the Spike Factor They Seek in Applicants [Show Notes]

It gives me great pleasure to have for the first time on AST Imran Kanga, Director of Recruitment & Admissions for the Full-Time MBA Program at the Rotman School of Management, at the University of Toronto. Imran attended Ridley College for his bachelors and earned his International MBA from York University’s Schulich School of Business in 2010. But he wasn’t finished at Schulich when he got his MBA. Upon graduation he became the Assistant Director of Marketing and Recruitment for the Schulich School of Business in India and managed the Schulich MBA program there. In December 2018 he became Director of Recruitment and Admission for the University of Toronto’s Rotman School.

Can you give us an overview of the Rotman MBA program, focusing on its more distinctive features? [2:11]

It’s a two-year, fulltime MBA. The first part is the core component, where students learn the basic business fundamentals and foundations. The second part allows students to choose from 15 concentrations, and some are quite unique to Rotman in areas like investment banking, business design, and innovation. It’s not required, but students have opportunity to specialize if they like in the second year. In terms of other unique initiatives, we have the Creative Destruction Lab, Design Works Lab, and Self Development lab that allows students to develop their leadership presence. We also have a flexible internship program. Students are required to have an internship, but can choose to do so not just in the summer, but the fall and winter are options as well. Employers like the flexibility to get students on board when they have a requirement for it, not just over the summer.

In January Bloomberg Businessweek proclaimed “Canada Says, ‘Give Me Your MBAs, Your Entrepreneurs.”  Not quite the Statue of Liberty, but the article points out that in three years Canada has experienced a 60% jump in international students studying in Canada. Furthermore, more than 65% of foreign-born adults in Canada in 2017 had a post-secondary degree. How does the Rotman MBA fit into this picture of Canada welcoming the talented, the educated, and yes the entrepreneurial yearning to breathe free opportunity? [6:14]

Canada has come to the forefront in terms of being a preferred destination for international students, which is very much in line with the government’s goal to recruit top talent from across the world to study and then live here.