MBA: Must Bring Adventure!

Chronicling my time at Rotman and beyond with an adventurous spirit!

Rotman Recreation

Rotman is awesome!  Why?  Because aside from being Canada's top business school (the Financial Times just said so!), it also knows how to have a good time.  Aside from the weekly Tipsy Tuesdays, the school will regularly organize fun, sporty, social events, which are a welcome break from the academic & summer internships recruitment activities. While events like Trivia Night (Jeopardy-style) will have everyone with that scrunched-up look on their face trying to remember the right answer, events like Rec Room will have students engaged in endless rounds of competition at the ping pong, foosball & air hockey tables, as well as the endless laughter with Twister & Wii.  But competition is taken to an entirely new level, when students are pitted against the professors in different challenges in Rotman Gladiators, although it gets quite entertaining with intense bouts of Dodgeball, where some professors displayed their intense competitive spirit, while some students let loose some of their frustrations.  Extremely entertaining to watch, but I don't think I'd like to find myself in the middle of that firefight!    But probably the most fun was the No Talent Night, where many students presented their hidden talents, and some students overcame their fear of sharing their poetic expressions with the rest of the class (Yes, that was me!).  It was quite entertaining with a clown act, ethnic dances, beatboxing, musical covers, original compositions, and acoustic performances, and a nice glimpse into many students' hidden talents.

Apparently the fun factor is going to be heightened with the annual Rotman-Schulich hockey game later this week.  With the pep rally, the actual game, and the post-game celebrations, it's known to be legendary in terms of school spirit, friendly competition, and fundraising for the school's chosen charity.  I'm quite looking forward to seeing my first ever live hockey game, and participating in one of Rotman's annual traditions! :)

Negotiating a New Year!

After the madness known as Q1 & Q2, I think everyone was in desperate need of a break, to rest, recover, recuperate, and possibly even squeeze in a bit of relaxation before the start of the next madness known as Q3.  For some it meant staying in town, and seeing the sights & sounds of Toronto.  For some it meant going up north, and testing out their new skis on the slopes.  For some it meant flying off to some tropical destination, and getting some sun (By the way, what's the big deal with getting a tan? All I do is get lobster-red and sun-burnt!).  For some it meant going home to see the family & friends they'd ignored over the past 3 months. The desert gal that I am, I was in desperate need to defrost from all the cold, and happily used that as an excuse to go back home to Dubai, and spend some much-needed time with my family... I don't think I'd ever hugged my folks & younger brother as much as I did when I landed in Dubai :)  It was the best holiday present by far!  After twelve days of delicious home-cooked food, enjoying one-light-jacket-only winter, and being surrounded by my ever-supportive family, it was sadly time to leave home again.  I can safely say that I wasn't as excited about going to Toronto on the 31st of December, as compared to back in July.  I was feeling a bit homesick even before I left, but alas, it was necessary to leave, especially given that I had a week-long intensive course beginning on the 2nd of January.

As I walked into our Managerial Negotiations on that Monday, I remember mumbling to myself that the early start to this course better be worth my missing the New Year's Eve Celebrations and missing starting the New Year surrounded by family in Dubai!  The little mumbling over, I sat down and wondered actually how could a week-long course even begin to change negotiation skills enough to have an impact.  An hour into our course, I soon realized that my fears were unfounded, as we were exposed to different negotiation styles, and how negotiations didn't necessarily have to be a battle, but could instead possibly be a dialogue where both parties could do well, if not win, without either party losing or being worse off.  It was interesting to learn about determining value, managing information, and managing people, with different strategies for different situations.  One of the highlights was being able to put all that theory into practice with different negotiations exercises, simulating real-life negotiation scenarios, such as two parties with one issue, two parties with multiple issues, team negotiations, and multi-party negotiations.  I had always believed that skilled negotiators are just born and not made, but this course made me realize that I can use preparation, reservation, observation and conversation to not only turn things around in my favor, but also use it to benefit the other party.

While the Managerial Negotiations course gave us opportunities to practice our negotiation skills, the real test would come during the following week, when Recruitment Season would begin at Rotman.  Watch out for more to come on that rollercoaster next time!

My 2 cents on Q2...

One of the many reasons I picked Rotman (and am extremely grateful that it picked me too!) is the strength of its program.  The reputation of a business school, its position in the various rankings, the reputation of its dean & professors, the strength of its research, the cooperation & involvement of its admissions, program services & career development team - none of that matters, unless you are constantly challenged, and I'm very fortunate that Rotman offers all of the above.  I personally believe that unless I'm challenged, I'm really not learning anything new, and there's really no point in my taking two years out from my life to go back to school, unless I get real value out of it, unless I'm learning.  And if Q2 is any measure, it's been quite challenging, and drinking up a wealth of knowledge. The second instalment of Statistics for Management offered greater insight into how we could go beyond the confusing statistics from undergrad, and utilize & interpret the data to identify problem areas and possible opportunities for growth for a business, and at the very least, use the data to be more confident about our business decisions.  It even involved a group project, for which study group investigated the predictability of playoff wins in the Stanley Cup using regular season data.  Since both statistics and hockey were foreign to me, I'm infinitely grateful to my amazing group-mates for helping me understand both a whole lot better.  That's one thing I find really great about Rotman - its collaborative culture means students work together to help each other along, and compete with themselves to get better.

Jazz Hands with the hockey-loving statisticians! :P


The second instalment of Financial Accounting also involved a fair bit of interpretation, particularly with regards to a business' liabilities.  "Neither a borrower nor a lender be."  As far as possible, I've tried to adhere to that old phrase, both personally & professionally, and given the role of massive debt in the recent economic downturn, I naturally assumed that avoiding all forms of debt was the best way to conduct business.  While a debt-free situation would be ideal, it isn't always realistic, and this course was quite insightful in determining what kind of debt would be best suited to a business' needs, as well as trying to determine the real financial health of an organization from its financial statements and its debt holdings.

Continuing the train of quant-based courses was the first instalment of Finance.  Bonds, settlement dates, modified durations, strike prices, strip bonds, valuations, betas, expected rates of return, foreign exchange markets, deep connectivity of markets, options, Bloomberg, going long & going short - these were terms I had heard thrown about in the financial publications & news, and although I had a general idea of the concepts, the specifics & more importantly, the role they played in the financial & business world were new learnings for me.  It also involved a lot of learning by doing, in terms of the regular assignments & quizzes, and although the finance folks generally found it to be familiar territory, for a less financially-inclined individual like me, it was a little more challenging, and I found myself spending a lot more time on it in order to understand the concepts better.  But as my Grandmom used to say, "time spent learning is time well-spent," and I think I feel a little more comfortable around concepts & problems relating to capital markets and valuation.

Finally jumping off the quant train was the first instalment of Managing Customer Value, where a combination of lectures & case discussions had us understanding how the traditional 4Ps of Marketing (3Ps actually - Promotion plays a role in the second instalment) play a role in an organization's Segmentation, Targeting & Positioning decisions, determining what drives your customers, and how to best align your product with your customers.

One of the most refreshing courses for me personally was the first instalment of Strategy.  It went beyond the traditional "What is Strategy?" and "Porter's Five Forces Model" approach to actually analyzing industries, drawing insights, determining an organization's core competencies, and determining the best way forward.  One of the best learning opportunities came with the Case Analysis Project - where we were challenged with a live case, with an organization facing a current problem, and in our new random teams, we had to come up with our analysis, insights, and a recommended course of action that fit in best with the industry, the organization, its core competencies, its challenges, and its consumer base, and all in 29 hours!  It was an exhausting experience, and everybody went straight for their pillows after it was over, but I really liked the practical application of what we learned in class to a real, live business challenge.  This course wasn't all seriousness though; it's safe to say that I haven't laughed as much in all my classes combined as much as I did in Strategy, and the interactive learning approach was quite conducive to learning.  Using Beakers, Boats & Planes to illustrate effective Strategic Choices, and André Rieu's Opera & Cirque du Soleil's dramatic enjoyment to teach Blue Oceans were completely unexpected, but who said learning couldn't be fun?

Well, that's it for my two cents on Q2 at Rotman, I'm off to see some fireworks to welcome in the New Year, before Negotiations Week begins on Monday morning!

Happy New Year to all of you, and may this New Year be peaceful, prosperous, and passionately innovative for knowledge, joy & laughter for all of us! :)

A little bit poetic...

We're in the thick of Q2 exams, and while you're in the midst of the hectic studying or writing the exam itself, it's hard not to think about how you're going to fare in terms of grades. When our Q1 grades were released, my response was a little more poetic:

If your Q1 grades have got you down,
And need to turn around that frown,
At your Rotman application essays take a peek,
And remind yourself why this path did you seek...

Now that I have one exam down, four more to go, the poet inside me doesn't really like sitting still, and so have a stanza to accompany the above.  Bear in mind, with four exams hovering ahead, this may not be my best poetic effort, but keeping a positive attitude is essential to surviving and succeeding here!

Almost at the end of the roller-coaster known as Q2,
Sometimes wondering if I even have a clue,
But I'm opening new doors, and discovering new lights,
And as crazy as it all seems right now, in the end, it's all going to be better than alright...

Can't wait for Friday to breathe a sigh of relief!

Business Design Club Bootcamp 2011

Business Design...  At first, it sounds very artsy and abstract, like one of those concept cars, it looks pretty sweet & futuristic, but you're not sure if it really runs.  But like any car, it doesn't matter how cool anyone tells you it is, you need to drive it yourself, before you can get a real feel for it.  Business Design is much the same way for me, I had to immerse myself in it, before I could really understand it.  Which is why the Business Design Club (BDC) Bootcamp was so invaluable & amazing. According to Rotman, Business Design is a discipline that applies design-inspired practices to tough business innovation challenges, and the BDC Bootcamp is but just a glimpse into that discipline.  Business Design is about asking the essential question 'Why?' and changing the way that businesses think about their clients, themselves, and their problems.

Business cannot exist, survive or succeed without their customers, and so Business Design teaches you to put that customer at the core of your problem analysis and innovation through the three gears.  You're swimming in a sea of Post-Its, as you going beyond the obvious, deeper to better understand your customer, their story, and what drives them, from an emotional and rational point of view, and exploring their needs to see where they form a bond with your product or service, and where can we meet that unmet need, to not just meet their needs, but wow them!  Wowing your customers requires ideas, and Business Design takes this brainstorming phase into high gear, as no idea is too wild or too crazy or too out of the box, as long as it meets your customers needs.  Out of all those wild ideas, emerges one big idea which will wow your customers, and so you take that amazing idea and play it out in a story, a journey for your customers to experience that concept from start to finish and beyond, because Business Design doesn't stop when your customer receives a solution for their unmet need, but rather beyond that, how they feel after they've experienced that solution.  This idea solution story can be as wild as possible, because you take those out-of-the-box ideas and experience, and see how your business can meet that experience; ideas may be toned down a little to be more practical for your business, its strategic objectives and its resources, but the essence of placing your customers at the core of your innovation, and wowing them with all your available resources still remains strong.  With Business Design and its strategic customer-focused innovation, you can only strengthen the connection and the bond that your customer shares with you and your product, which can only mean good news for your bottom line.

Throughout the day, we not only learned about Business Design and its three gears, but we were also able to put it into practice, with different groups assigned to different hypothetical clients, to meet their customers' unmet needs.  Although initially it took a while to get our creative juices flowing, our group really got into the spirit and process of Business Design, with ideas bursting at the seams for our hypothetical client, United Way.  We were challenged to be even more creative, to go beyond our expectations, and at the end of the day, we presented an amazingly, wonderfully, wild idea, 'The Red Balloon Campaign' for our client, and learned how important curiosity and those out-there ideas are all essential to wowing your customers.  As the day drew to a close, it was a little sad to have the BDC Bootcamp come to an end, it was an amazing experience, and by far, the most exciting event of Q1 & Q2 combined!

I think I was trying to negotiate a way to keep my red balloon! :P

The BDC Bootcamp wasn't just an introduction to business design and design thinking, but a call to reawaken your mind, and remembering to be curious again about the world and its little quirks.  It was almost like learning to be a kid again, when you were filled with curiosity and wonder, and your world was filled with questions like "Why is the sky blue?" "Why can't I touch the clouds?" "Why don't people fly like birds?" and "Why don't we have cookie trees?"

Although a day-long workshop is nowhere near sufficient to understand the immense breadth of business design, it was an incredibly exciting opportunity.  But that's the beauty of it, you can never learn enough of it, and you constantly want to throw yourself in deeper, in order to better understand its beauty and its relevance to today's & tomorrow's business & world challenges, and embrace curiosity.

Rotman Career Discovery Week 2011

Most people decide to do an MBA to advance further in their careers, change industries, increase their earning potential, or just learn for learning.  But in the midst of all the hustle-bustle of Q1 of your MBA, and expanding your knowledge base, it is easy to overlook the career reasons for doing your MBA, which is why the Career Discovery Week was such a great event. Hosted by Rotman's Corporate Connections Centre (CCC), the Career Discovery Week (CDW) was held just after the end of Q1, before we got into the madness known as Q2.  Over the course of the four-day event, the CCC covered sessions on Career Blueprinting, Designing Your Core Message, and Art of Connecting, to develop your blueprint for your professional future, and present it in recruitment situations.  We also met in our Career Teams with our Career Advisors (most students already had a few meetings), to go over the game plan for the next two years, and fine-tune our documents at the Résumé & Cover Letter Advisory Clinic.  One great highlight of the CDW were the Alumni & Student Panels, where Rotmanites in different industries and different hierarchical levels, provided honest insights into their industries, including Strategic Management, Internal Strategy, Corporate Finance, Finance (Sell/Buy Side), Operations, Technology, Human Resources, and Sales & Marketing.  The CDW also provided ample opportunities to network with our Upper-Years, as well as the visiting Alumni.  One insightful part of the CDW were the sessions on "Self-Management: Developing a Leader's Instincts" which covered building self-leadership by using different psychological techniques for personality realignment, and honing our leadership instincts.

A big shout-out to the CCC and the super-helpful Career Advisors, for their patience with our career confusion, helping us develop a road map for the summer internships in 2012, and holding the Career Discovery Week, to remind us that while it is okay to get caught up in all the craziness of classes, it is also important to take a step back, and also spend some time on the career side of our MBA.

The Q1 Wrap!

My hands were aching, as I hurriedly tried to write the last sentence, when they called ‘Time!’ on our last exam.  With a sigh of relief, I put down my pen, handed over my exam to the proctor, and then it hit me… I just finished Q1! After six hectic weeks of pre-readings, post-readings, cases, assignments, essays, presentations, and exams, I finally finished Quarter One of my MBA!  I remember it like just yesterday, when I sat in the first class of my MBA, wondering how this experience would be… it’s been an exhilarating experience, although instead of fast-paced run through the forest, it felt more like a bullet train charging through a mountain without a tunnel!

All throughout Q1 we were bombarded with new information on traditional concepts, and the beginnings of how we can tie them all together, and analyze them in a new light to become better problem-solvers.  One interesting aspect throughout the quarter has been the "learning by doing" approach.  While I find this approach quite important, and much better than a solely lecture-based approach, grading that self-study approach, with feedback coming much later, doesn't allow for much room or time for course correction.  I think it's something that I do struggle with, and I suspect some of my classmates may be in the same boat.

How to accomplish a team's common goals, while trying to manage differing individual goals in ‘Managing People in Organizations.'  A lot of people are skeptical of the 'soft skills' courses, but their importance cannot be overstated.  You may be a technical genius, but if you can't work with different people with varied perspectives, how are you going to manage and lead a team.  With its simulation-based approach, 'Managing People in Organizations' helped you discover the problems that might ensue, and how do you overcome them, while still staying in tune with your team's, department's and organization's goals.

How our skewed perception of our risk appetite could interfere with making bold choices in 'Foundations of Integrative Thinking.'  While Integrative Thinking is regarded by some as a mere positioning tool, the fact is that it really is the new way to think.  In an age of limited financial, human and natural resources, where each decision is going to impact your present and future, you cannot always pick one choice over another.  Quite often, you have to develop a creative combination of your options, in order to maximize your scarce resources, and efficiently accomplish your goals.  With its problem-analysis and model-building approach, 'Foundations of Integrative Thinking' started to move you towards a new mindset where you are creating models that look at the whole picture, and turn challenges into opportunities.

How to account for the impact and regression of several different factors in making a managerial decisions in ‘Statistics for Managers.’  This isn't your typical statistics course, and quite different from the courses you took in your undergrad, and the additional help from the Scholars makes the concepts and its applications much clearer.  While the technical terms generally remain the same (the engineers in my class displayed a particular affinity for all the jargon), the analysis is what makes this statistics course different.  I was surprised by the extent to which statistics and data are called upon in making the hard decisions critical to a business' direction, growth and success, and am a bit curious as we head towards the second half of this course in Q2.

How to analyze financial reports for hidden problems and possible opportunities in ‘Financial Accounting I.’  While it did cover the basic concepts and principles of accounting, especially in terms of an organization's financial statements, it was clear that Financial Accounting is not just about preparing all those financial documents, but analyzing them as well.  More than just a section in a company's annual report, financial statements allow you to learn more about a company, and the impact of its financial decisions in greater detail, with the analysis aspect kicking into high gear in Q2.

How economists think, and why economic analysis is critical in making better business decisions in ‘Managerial Economics.’  Although supply and demand are important elements in the study of economics, this course went beyond that general perception into greater detail on the economic analysis.  It was pure delight to learn about strategy, forecasting, oligopoly, incentives, auctions, and most of all, game theory.  After hearing that term thrown about in business scenarios, strategic analysis, and pop culture, it was quite exciting to finally understand the concept, and its application to business decisions and modelling.

Whew!  And that's a wrap for Q1!  Stay tuned for the next phase of the roller-coaster ride in Q2!

Section 3 FTW!


Make the Time for a Cause

It would be extremely unlikely for anyone to say that they have an abundance of free time during their first year at Rotman.  And as Q1 exams draw near (the first one is in about 40 hours from now), free time is something of a myth!  Even so, sometimes you have to make the time, to take a step back from the hectic pace, and refocus on what's really important. That's not to say that my Academics aren't; wouldn't be at Rotman for my MBA if it wasn't important to me.  But that's really only one slice of the pie.  Health, Faith, Family, Friends, as well as a little bit of Fun, are really important, to stay sane, strong, grounded & focused, and so I'm determined to try my best, to make time for these different aspects.  But sometimes you lose sight of what's really important amidst all the maddening chaos, and sometimes focusing on something other than your needs & wants helps to put things into perspective.

Volunteer Work has been a very active part of my life, especially in the last five years or so, with some incredible experiences working with some really amazing people.  Although I'm really enjoying my time here in Toronto, I do miss the volunteer opportunities in Dubai.  So when two amazing opportunities came up, I knew I had to make the time for them.  This September, I completed my 11th consecutive Terry Fox Run, with 10K in 1:42:57!  After 10 years of raising awareness & funds for cancer research in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, it was really great to do the Terry Fox Run in the country that sparked the annual Marathon of Hope, to honor Terry Fox, and his tireless efforts for cancer awareness and research.  This October, through the Rotman Management Consulting Association, about twenty of us (First-Years) volunteered for the 2011 Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation CIBC Run for the Cure in Toronto.  It was windy, cold & wet, and I wished I was wearing more than my four layers (Dubai is not this silly cold in October!), but it was so great to spend some time working on setting up the venue, and preparing for the 30,000 supporters who were running to raise funds for breast cancer.

The Terry Fox Run and the Run for the Cure were amazing, inspiring experiences, and I was reminded of why volunteer work holds so much meaning for me.  No matter how crazy or insane or overwhelming your world may be, there are more critical issues that the world is experiencing.  So, make the time for a selfless cause, because even if your efforts are just a drop in the ocean, maybe, just maybe, you might be able to make a real difference in the world.

It's been a month already?

It's been a month already?  I have to let that sentence sink in for a minute, and I still can't believe it.  Wow!  It has been one heck of a hectic month!  It seemed like just yesterday when we walked into Rotman's classrooms, about to start our MBA. If anyone ever told you that getting into business school was the hard part, and after that it's easy... let me put it to you this way... they probably didn't go to business school!  Getting into Rotman is no easy task, and you have to go through a rigorous process to compete with an innumerable number of bright & successful professionals to get into Canada's top business school.  But once you get in, that's when the real competition begins!  You are one of 265 very bright, intelligent, driven, successful individuals, who are all at the top of their game, and bringing something new to every class.  The professors also bring something new to every class... it's called homework!  Oh, did I mention the pre-readings began before you ever stepped into your first class, your assignments began with your first class, your group projects began your first week itself, and your quizzes by your second week?  And they say business school is easy!

Business school is not easy (if it's easy, you're not really learning anything new, in which case you should go learn rocket science with hieroglyphics!), but it is challenging, and in a good way.  It's quite likely that you may have a look of befuddlement on your face in a class occasionally, or in my case, a look of befuddlement in almost every class.  I'm currently using my befuddled looks as a coefficient of how much new stuff I'm learning!  But there really is so much to learn.  How social intelligence tie in with power & politics in building & managing effective teams in 'Managing People in Organizations.'  How rationality & probability are used in building decision models, with decision trees applied to real-life problems in 'Foundations of Integrative Thinking.'  How to apply statistical modeling to structure, analyze & solve business problems in 'Statistics for Managers.'  How to analyze financial reports for hidden problems & possible opportunities in 'Financial Accounting I.'  How economists think, and why economic analysis is critical in making better business decisions in 'Managerial Economics.'  How you end up applying what you learnt in one class to another class, and why that immersion of Integrative Thinking at Rotman is so important for business education, for your education, and for your future.

Although the pace of Q1 at Rotman MBA may seem a little manic at times, you do have some time to learn some more!  Rotman played host to a number of success stories, including Eric Ries, who used reverse psychology while talking animatedly about entrepreneurial dreams in 'The Lean Startup'; Dr. Sylvia Nasar, who narrated the story of the making of modern economics in 'Grand Pursuit'; Professor Ed Safarian, who spoke about how historical narratives still relevant to today's business world in 'Foreign Ownership of Canadian Industry'; and our very own Professor Mihnea Moldoveanu (Associate Dean, MBA Programs Rotman School of Management), who not only taught us a new word (palter), but also how we could model our own human behavior to think, feel & act in alignment in 'Inside Man: The Discipline of Modeling Human Ways of Being.'

In the midst of all this amazing learning, there was a little bit of healthy competition, as the different professional & social student clubs at Rotman vied for the attentions (& memberships) of the First-Years.  While the clubs' activities are still in their initial stages (understandable, given the Q1 workload), I feel pretty confident of my new memberships with the Management Consulting Association (have a stubborn Rubik's Cube complex), the Business Design Club (always happy to learn about designing better solutions), the Rotman Marketing Association (may have a subliminal love of marketing & communication), the Women In Management Association (women have a unique, insightful way of looking at things), the Rotman Ambassadors (hyped up on school spirit!), and the Rotman Golf Association (there's no better stress relief than taking a swing at things at the driving range).

Somebody asked me recently if I'd had a chance to see the sights of Toronto, and chuckled with amusement when I'd responded, "Does seeing the CN Tower on my way back home count?"  Although it is a hectic, at times, chaotic pace, I really should try & discover more of Toronto before the temperature dips below zero (I'm wearing a sweater when it's 15C; what on earth am I going to do when it hits -15C?).  If I were to summarize the last 4 weeks in one line... "The Rotman MBA is challenging, time-consuming, sleep-depriving, physically-exhausting, but so, so, so good!" :)

Rotman Orientation Camp

I'll be the first to admit it... The idea of camp isn't immediately exciting to me, but then again, apart from that one time when my family spent an evening under the stars, because it was too late to drive back on unlit roads, I haven't really been camping.  So when I learned of the Rotman Orientation Camp, and how it is a rite of passage for any Rotman MBA student, I wasn't exactly jumping for joy. But I could certainly see the joy in the faces of all the Upper-Years who attended camp last year, and spoke of the Rotman Orientation Camp with wistful nostalgia.  And the idea of being able to see more of Canada (I haven't really stepped outside of Toronto) was quite exciting, and the fact that Camp was in the midst of natural beauty, right by the lake, was the icing on the top.

I was hoping to at least get a glimpse of Canada's famous natural beauty, and I wasn't disappointed.  From the driving through the small towns, with quaint homes & quirky mailboxes; to driving past the cozy cottages right by the lakes; and all the way up to Camp Northland, surrounded by beautiful trees, quiet mountains & a serene lake, it was breathtaking.

The GBC promised that Orientation Camp would be an action-packed weekend, and they didn't disappoint.  With fun activities ranging from the academic (when you're at Rotman, your introduction to Integrative Thinking begins at camp!), to the associations (consulting cases, business design, live advertisements, creative story-telling, and adrenaline-inducing trading game!), to the athletic (adapted playground games, races, scavenger hunts, and even a little bit of golf!), to the amusing (themed-costume party on 'when I grow up...' and bonfires by the lake), to the animated (school spirit, and our year's big group photo in our Rotman t-shirts), there wasn't a moment for boredom.  The only time people really groaned was when they realized camp was over, and classes would begin in less than 48 hours!  Will have to chronicle my thoughts on that roller-coaster ride pretty soon!

And so it begins!

And so it begins! After months of researching schools; practicing for & writing the annoying GMAT; writing, rewriting, trashing & then rewriting all those essays; completing & submitting the applications; interviewing with the admissions team (I'm still amused by how the tables turn - when I'm trying to learn about the school, they want me, but when I finally pick the school, I have to convince them to want me!); waiting anxiously for the admissions team's response; jumping for joy when you get the "Congratulations!" letter; watching your family & friends jumping for joy when you tell them about the "Congratulations!" letter; applying for the student visa; breathing a sigh of relief when you get that student visa; booking your tickets; packing for your move to a new place; meeting up with family & friends before you leave the place you've called home; repacking all your stuff because you've left out so much (or taken too much stuff); driving to the airport; having those tearful goodbyes & multiple hugs; flying to Toronto; still flying to Toronto; landing in Toronto (it's a 14 hour flight from Dubai!); getting your study permit; being welcomed at the airport by wonderful family members with the hugest smiles & tightest hugs & high-fives too!; arriving home; being jet-lagged; still being jet-lagged (it's a 14-hour flight & 8-hour time difference, remember!); waking up the next morning & wondering, 'Where am I?'; feeling a bit silly when you realize you're finally in Toronto!; attending the Rotman Ready session; attempting to get familiar with a new city; having a blast at the International Student Orientation Week; attempting to get back in the study mode with the Pre-Program; and more waiting... It finally begins!

Our official journey with Rotman finally began at the end of August during the 2-day Orientation.  You felt a rush of excitement when walking into Hart House, and the historic Great Hall kinda reminded me of the nervous anticipation that Harry Potter felt on his first day at Hogwarts, when he walked into the Great Hall to begin his magical future.

To remind us that we were all members of a combined, cohesive community of sporting, sure-fire scholars, the President of the Graduate Business Council (GBC) cheerfully welcomed us all to the official start of our MBA.  We then heard from Mihnea Moldoveanu, the Associate Dean of the MBA program at the Rotman School of Management, and he challenged us to be more than just a Master of Business Administration, but rather a Master of our futures.  Hearing him talk about Rotman & Integrative Thinking with such determined passion reminded me of why I was so determined to come here, and be a part of this new movement in business education.  And then to remind us that we were in fact, in business school, 90 minutes into our orientation, all our teams were challenged to use our problem solving skills on a business case... yes, the work begins, and at orientation!  But the orientation ended on a fun note, when the GBC had another challenge waiting for us, but of a much kinder nature than a business case!  The Rotman Cares 'People for Good' Challenge had teams competing in creating and capturing as memorable and meaningful random acts of kindness as possible within one hour.  While the idea of the challenge was to help us realize that we have a responsibility to contribute our skills and talents to our communities and the world at large, it was quite funny to see groups of Rotman students scattered across the city, trying to 'create' random acts of kindness!  Hopefully we all left feeling a little more considerate of others.

At the start of the second day of our 2-day orientation, our teams were once again shuffled, and after Professor Moldoveanu's objectives for the day, we were introduced to the Corporate Connections Center, followed by a session on self-management, which helped us clarify our identification of ourselves, in order to better identify our plans for our futures.  When I mentioned our teams reshuffling again, I forgot to mention that we were introduced to our groups for the first two quarters of our first year program, and so far, I think we have a pretty cool group.  We know we're going to have to work pretty darn hard, but we might as well have fun, and a few good laughs while at it!  To help us work better as a team, and as a cohort, we were assigned the task of creating team charters (it sounds funny, but it'll probably save us a lot of headaches in the weeks to come).  Professor Moldoveanu closed by reminding us of our challenge to be Masters of our Futures and of Positive Change.

While this is only the beginning, I'm pretty sure that our MBA adventure is going to be challenging and amazing, and I can't wait for it!  (Re-read first paragraph if you're doubtful of my anxious excitement!)

Pre-Program Classes, Rotman Buddies, and Some Fun!

Class.  Sounds like a normal thing, especially for an MBA student.  Although I suppose the plural, classes, would be more appropriate!  But if you're a future MBA student, and you've been out of school for a while, class can be a teeny bit intimidating.  Don't get me wrong, I'm super-excited about my Rotman MBA, but the last time I sat in a classroom was over five years ago.  It's a bit overwhelming to be faced with the prospect of sitting in classes over the next two years, and paying attention, to take in all the knowledge & information being imparted to you by your professors & your peers.  Which is exactly why I was kind of relieved when I learnt about Rotman's MBA Pre-Program. As the name suggests, the MBA Pre-Program takes place before the actual MBA Program, and is designed to give you an idea of the foundations required for the actual classes.  Since I'd been out of school for a while, I'd signed up for all the Pre-Program courses, spread over three weeks, to get back in the studying mode.  The first week's classes included Business Math, Spreadsheet Modeling: Level 1, and Self-Management: Developing a Leader's Instincts, and at first it felt like my brain had been turned off for a while, but it sort of enjoyed waking up, especially during the Self-Management course, where we were trying to improve our mind's focus to be less weighed down by survival & more focused on growth.  The second week's classes included Foundations of Accounting, Spreadsheet Modeling: Level 2, and Communication Skills: MBA Boot Camp, and things were slowly starting to pick up, and with patient explanations of the Whats, Hows & Whys, for the first time ever, I actually understood, applied & enjoyed accounting!  The third week's classes included Language of Business: Concepts in Finance, and Finance Methods, and it was interesting to see how a real-world situation, like Steve Job's resignation from Apple, related to an actual class in real-time.  All in all, the Pre-Program classes were pretty helpful, in learning some new things, and in refreshing some hibernating things.

But it wasn't all about classes during the three weeks of the Pre-Program; we also had to encounter the big 'N' - as any MBA graduate and any MBA student will tell you, Networking is a huge component of their graduate education.  Networking can be an intimidating prospect for many, especially for those fighting their introvert instincts, but events like the Rotman Rendezvous, where you get to meet your Rotman Buddy, make it a little easier.  Aside from telling you about the importance of networking, Rotman Buddies are really great in helping you figure out your MBA management plan, and given their Upper-Year Student status, they can relate to your excitement & anxiety, and it's easier knowing that there are other people in the same boat as you.  Your Rotman Buddy, and Upper-Year Students in general, are quite patient (you're an excited new student likely to start babbling about your nervousness!), helpful (they usually have an answer to your question, and if they don't, they will point you in the direction of someone who does!) & approachable (most of them will actually say 'Hello!' before you've had a chance to look up!  I just realized the 2012 class seems a little taller than the 2013 class... Hmm...).  The calendar also included some socializing, courtesy of the GBC (Graduate Business Council), and the mixers at Proof and at Atelier were great ways to meet some of the 265 students in your year, in a casual, relaxed environment, as well as get to know some of the Upper-Years, and have some fun while at it!

Calling all Internationals!

The Rotman MBA is exciting for me on so many levels... I get to pursue my MBA at my top-choice school (it's Canada's number one!), I get to meet family & friends (some I haven't seen in ages & some I haven't met at all!), and I get to come to Toronto (it's so fresh, energetic & bustling with energy!).  I'm bustling with energy & excitement for my Rotman MBA, and I'm ready for all that lies ahead, but it never hurts to be better prepared, and considering that it's my first time in Canada, I figured the Rotman International Student Orientation Week (ISOW) was a good idea to get acquainted with my new home.  But the ISOW was better than good, it was great! The ISOW was a great experience for all of us, as international students, to be exposed to the University of Toronto, the Rotman School of Management, academic styles, teamwork tasks, Canada's economic history, Canadian corporate culture, career opportunities, and even visit blue chip firms in Toronto.  Aside from the wealth of information available at the ISOW, it was also a great opportunity to begin to discover Toronto (the ISOW Amazing Race was quite fun), meet the other international students (there are so many other people in the same boat as you!), meet some upper-years (particularly from the Global Business Association and the Graduate Business Council), and of course, the amazing team from the International Program Services Office!

Our team during one of the pit-stops on the ISOW Amazing Race!


I was born & raised in Dubai, and given that it's quite an energetic multicultural city, I thought I was ready for energetic multicultural Toronto.  I'm still ready, but after the ISOW, I just feel better prepared - for the program, the work involved, the corporate environment, and maybe even the winter.  It was a great opportunity to learn, and have some good fun along the way, and not-to-be-missed by any international students!

Ready for Rotman!

You could spend hours upon hours learning about a business school, and you may know a great deal about the school, and you may get into that school, and spend even more countless hours discovering more about that school, but, knowing about the school, and feeling the spirit of the school are two separate things.

I was already excited about my first visit to Rotman, but when I walked through those doors for the very first time, it was a  completely different level of excitement.  All the street-views from Google Maps, and all the pictures & descriptions of the school can't relate to the actual experience.  You feel a rush of energy & adrenaline, and you might even pinch yourself to make sure, "Am I really here?  Did I really get into Rotman?"  Well, the answer is 'Yes!' and it is telling you to get ready for Rotman!

As far as the subject line is concerned, once you find yourself in the enviable position of being part of Rotman's Class of 2013, there are introductory sessions that take place, entitled 'Rotman Ready.'  These sessions are designed to introduce you to the Rotman School of Management, the program, the study opportunities, the exchange programs, the course schedule, the academics, and the fun stuff, as well as meet members of the Program Services Office.  It's also a great opportunity for the First-Years (us Rotman newbies) to meet the Upper-Years (what we hope to be in a year's time), and get their view of the Rotman experience.  One thing that almost every Upper-Year has mentioned as a highlight of their Rotman experience is the Orientation Camp.  It sounds quite exciting, is going to be held at a very scenic campsite up north, and is legendary for its fun factor.  In case you're wondering what actually happens at the Orientation Camp, you'll have to wait just a little bit longer until I experience it, and share that adventure!

MBA: Must Bring Adventure!

At the Business Innovation Factory (BIF-5) Collaborative Innovation Summit in 2009, Roger Martin spoke of something that still resonates with me today, and something that I do not ever want to turn into.  The Dean of the Rotman School of Management spoke of The Economist's wrath at business schools producing nothing other than "jargon spewing economic vandals," and at that moment, I was determined not to turn into one of those "jargon spewing economic vandals." The passion with which Roger Martin spoke of Rotman's approach to business education, and producing business leaders capable of handling not only the challenges of today, but also of tomorrow, inspired me to such an extent, that I could see no other academic future for myself, other than being an MBA student at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management.  So when Rotman said, "Congratulations!" it's safe to say that you would be hard-pressed to find anyone happier than me at that point in time, in fact, exactly 6 months ago to today.

Since that deliriously exhilarating moment, it's been a roller-coaster ride, and I'm pretty sure it's going to be an even crazier ride now that I'm finally in Toronto.  Moving to a new place, meeting new people, starting a new program, living in colder climes (compared to Dubai, Toronto is going to be freezing!), it's all a big adventure.  With congratulations and good wishes pouring in from family, friends & colleagues, I realized a Rotman MBA is going to be brutally amazing, and if I was going to survive two years of my MBA, I would need more than a desire to learn, an optimistic spirit, and 7 layers of clothing for the winter... I would need an adventurous spirit, I would need MBA... Must Bring Adventure!

I may have been just a little bit excited! ;P