Now I am wondering who
Rotman2016 is. It doesn't seem like you were interested in finance, so it must've been strategy/consulting, so I'm pretty sure I know you lol.
To answer the questions posed by
sidiitm2004. Please keep in mind that I was focused on strategy/consulting and was an executive on the MCA.
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1. What % of people with internship convert it into a placement offer?
This is very, very difficult to answer, because a lot of factors play a role. First, the industry. From what I know, finance and consulting firms tend to offer to convert internships if you do well during the summer. Not everyone converts; it's based on performance. Outside of these two industries, I know of many companies who do not automatically convert, but would offer you to proceed to the final round of full-time interviews instead of having to go through the two to three rounds of interviews. Second, personal career preference. A lot of people are career switchers at Rotman, and a lot of people decide that they don't want that career after a taste over the summer and choose to reject the offer. So it's hard to say how many are offered, and because it's a personal choice it's difficult to predict how many will convert.
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2. How useful did you find the clubs? I hear they are great for networking. But its all what I have read. What are your thoughts on this?
As a former executive of the MCA, and proud of it, I'm pretty much forced to say
very, very useful, lol. There are two types of clubs at Rotman: social and industry. Social clubs are just people who have common interests gathering, like the wine club or the ski club; for these the main purpose is networking. Industry clubs add another element to it; we teach. The MCA spends a lot of our resources (funding and executive man-hours) in coaching case and behavioural interviews. If you want to go into consulting without the background, it is very difficult to succeed without joining the MCA as it's hard to get all this information and training on your own.
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3. Rotman emphasises a lot on self-development lab. What's your take on this?
SDL is a great tool, but it isn't mandatory. Do it if you want, but I would recommend it. You learn a lot of little things that can change your perspective, and it does become useful when networking and making presentations.
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4. How is career support at Rotman? Rotman claims to have one of the largest career centres in North America.
Well, I wouldn't say we have the largest, but definitely one of the highest student-to-coach ratios. They are very supportive, but like
Rotman2016 said, only if you yourself put the time and effort into it. I know some peers who have complained that the career centre has done nothing for them, but that's because they never took the initiative. I personally had a great experience with my coach. First half of first year I saw my coach almost once a week to craft my story and refine my recruiting strategy. After that I saw my coach whenever I needed to brush up on interview skills.
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5. Finally, Rotman is renowned as a Finance school. So, there is expected to be a skew towards finance experience. In fact, the current class profile implies close to 1/3rd to be of finance work ex. Does this make this particular pool the most competitive?
Finance and consulting, actually. And since I was in strategy, I don't know much of how the finance side of the school is like. That being said, I do have friends who were in the RFA executive team, and I do know that it's competitive. To claim whether it's the most competitive, I don't know. And finance is weird. While in consulting, the candidates do most of the work in reaching out and applying... a lot of the finance firms go through Rotman's resume book and reach out and invite students to interview on their own, meaning that the candidate has to do little work to secure and interview once your resume is in the resume book (that's if you have a great profile). Some of my friends didn't "apply" anywhere but still got great jobs because the firms were the ones reaching out for chats and interviews. Again, this is if you've got a great profile that draws attention; if you don't then it's tough luck because it's going to be a hard grind (like for any other career).