Calling all Rotman(Toronto) MBA Applicants(2019 Intake)-Class of 2021

Was invited to write a debrief too, so I'll just paste what I wrote over here, if it may be helpful:

I met up with my interviewer twice previously during the MBA Tours and a 1-1 Coffee Chat. My advice is to already know which schools you are aiming for before attending the MBA Tours and use your time there to network with their AdComms team voraciously, rather than go for these MBA Tours only to "find out more", unless you are not intending to apply in that intake. Keep a lookout for when your target school representatives make a visit to your country and network with their AdComms again. Make sure that they are aware of who you are and know you by name. Speak to alumni in those events only if you need to desperately know the culture of the school on that same day or to ask something which is not convenient to ask the AdComms team, because the AdComms team makes the final decision regarding whether you matriculate into the school, not the alumni. So spend as much physical time with the AdComms team, not alumni. Try to Skype the alumni instead, which is a 1-1 session and you can ask more personal questions. Be pleasant during networking - don't stand shyly at the back but don't hog the AdComms member talking to you or be aggressive towards others in the group. Your positive attributes (and negative ones) will be remembered. MBA classes are all about fit and being part of the team. The AdComms team have good memory despite seeing so many people in so many events.

For my interview, I enjoyed a small chit-chat at the beginning since the interviewer already knew my story via the 1-1 Coffee Chat and what I aspire to do after the MBA. Keep up to the latest news regarding Rotman, be it from their website, or from other sources. Preferably other sources. I managed to pick up an article on Rotman that was so recent (published only hours before the interview) that it didn't appear on Google, and the chit-chat revolved around that. It showed that I wasn't merely doing a last minute Google search on Rotman before the interview to impress, but rather I was really looking out for such news on an almost daily basis.

The standard questions followed:
- What led you to decide to apply to Rotman?
- Why Rotman instead of other schools?
- Why are you picking ****** as your career goal? (the interviewer remembered my career goal from the 1-1 Coffee Chat session, so make sure that your story doesn't contradict - if you have a very strong reason for reading an MBA, your story will always be consistent)
- Tell me when you faced an issue while working as a team
- Tell me an instance when networking helped you
- Tell me an instance when you learnt something valuable from someone (I spoke of someone I learnt a great deal from, and suddenly realised that he was one of my recommenders for Rotman when I was wrapping up my answer - crazy coincidence because I chose different recommenders for the different schools I applied to! - and just managed to mention this fact before the next question, or that moment would have been lost)
- Tell me one instance when you encountered a failure
- Is there anything that you wished I had asked you

Then came the questions to be posed to Rotman. Target to ask around 3 questions unless you had been really eloquent in your responses and the interview is already past 45 minutes. Use your own judgement, sense how tired the interviewer already is. If the interviewer is still energetic and raring to go, go ahead and ask questions but try not to go beyond 55 minutes so that they can prepare for the next interview and/or write positive notes about you after you log off.

Also, speak to alumni you are already friendly with to confirm that the problems you sighted in the programme have not been addressed (it would be a little embarrassing if the problems you thought were present had already been addressed in the recent intake).