Rotman MBA - For Equity Research (Canada)

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AbhiJ

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Hi Friends,
I am seeking some advice from finance professionals in Canada.
My brief brofile: 3 years in Big 4 Audit Firm as BA on the IT(tech) side. Passed CFA L1. Bachelors in Enginnering from a Top 3 univ. I am planning to write GMAT and go for an MBA.
Have heard that there is an oversupply of CFAs in Canada, so would Rotman MBA help me in differentiating for an equiy research profile. How tough it would be to transistion from IT to ER.
Please share your views in this regard.
 
From what I have heard and also been somewhat proven in financial magazine rankings:
It’s the best business management school that you can go to in Canada.
It will definetely help you differentiate
 
small sample size:
a former work colleague did his MBA at Rotman and graduated in the spring of 2009. He is also a CFA charterholder. He has not found a job since he graduated and has been trading on the side in the meantime. He went to Hong Kong earlier this year for 3 months to find something there but to no avail.
 
cfamaven, do u have a link for the financial magazine rankings? thanks!
 
Caveat: I don’t work in finance
A recent Rotman MBA just started in our group at a pretty entry level position (I started in a similar position out of undergrad). Although the individual did do the MBA straight after their undergrad, so no work experience (which Rotman says they don’t accept, obviously untrue), I’d be pretty pissed if I just dropped $100K in tuition et al. to start at $60K’ish a year.
On another note and provided without comment, here is their elected Graduate Student Council from last year.
http://www.rotman.utoronto.ca/gbc/details.aspx?ContentID=12
 
I’m sure we can find Harvard grads who are still looking for jobs, or working for a “measly” 60K salary. That’s not the point!
Rotman is a great school if you want to stay in Canada. You have to make sure you do some/all of these key tasks:
-Make sure you network with those who are members of RAMA (the Asset Management Association) club and make your way into the club/represent your class or get elected to one of the positions.
-Utilize effectively their trading lab - it’s world-class .
-ensure you are selected to represent Rotman in the annual Security Analysis Competition.
-OR ensure you are a member of the team that represents Rotman in the annual ‘Financial Post’ MBA Portfolio Competition.
Given, these are not easy tasks but then you are not aiming to mow your neighbor’s lawn either…….just saying.
 
I think his point is that a few unemployed graduates does not imply that the school is bad, since even the most prestigious of business schools probably has unemployed graduates.
In fact, according to this FT survey, 13% of Harvard Business School graduates were unemployed 3 months after graduating. That’s actually kind of scary.
 
Being an unemployed Harvard grad in many cases is different than being an unemployed Rotman grad.
In some cases, unemployed Harvard grad = couldn’t get a job at certain firms.
 
That’s true, though I think it depends more on specific jobs than specific firms. A front office job at a small firm is probably more desirable than a BO/MO job at a large firm.
But still, it’s a bit demotivational to consider that many people from the highest tier of business schools are having this much trouble in the job market. Remember - their job search has been going on throughout business school, not just during the 3 months after graduating. I’m sure they’ll be ok in the end, but this illustrates how there isn’t such thing as a golden ticket for anyone.
 
I work with some Rotman MBAs.
I’m willing to guarantee you get a position as an RA if you try hard enough.
The question is, the tuition is like 60k plus 2 years off. total cost of 200k. if that makes sense, then you got it.
 
Just don’t get into school and spend all your time studying.
All the people from my business school who did nothing but study graduated with their 4.0s, but don’t have jobs… hahahahh serves them right. losers.
 
Am I taking crazy pills, why are we comparing Rotman to Harvard?
I think the point to make is that as far as Canadian business schools go, specifically for a finance specialization, Rotman is near the top or at the top of the pack.
There is probably a lot better value for money guy could get elsewhere, but assuming he wants to stay in Canada, and is willing to work his but off doing the suggestions put forward by Iginla, the MBA will definitely have a positive impact on his hireability.
I’d hypothesize that a lot of the long-term value of an MBA is in learning from/with your peers, and I think Canadian business school’s in general have some very serious deficiencies in terms of the quality of their students. The OP would likely be better off at a US or European school (especially if his undergrad was done in Canada) to gain some international exposure. If he was dead set on Canada he could easily do his own work in trying to get a job back here upon graduation.
It’s not like the Rotman MBA is cheap anyways; if you’re GMAT / application is decent you could go to a much better US school for virtually the same price. And if he’s able to land a job staying in the US or Europe he would get paid a lot more cash upon grad than if he worked in Canada.
 
I agree with SuperiorReturn completely.
My sister-in-law did her MBA at Rotman and she will tell you that she was probably bottom 10% in her class. She would say that the engineers just killed the program. But what separated her is she can sell anything to anyone and she ended up with one of the highest paying jobs of her class as an equity trader. The firm actually offered her a full time position after interning there after first year and that is how bad they wanted her. She now recruits from Rotman and laughs at people who have no people skills. She doesn’t care about your grades but looks for a person she can sit beside for 12 hours and if the person can make her money!
She always comments that you are not paying for the education but for the networking ($80K) and recruiting. So when SuperiorReturn says don’t go to the school and study all the time, he is dead on right.
 
FrankArabia Wrote:
——————————————————-
> SuperiorReturn is by far the biggest loser on
> here.
Cause I have a good job and telling people what to do in B-School?
What do you do Frank?
 
SuperiorReturn Wrote:
——————————————————-
> FrankArabia Wrote:
> ————————————————–
> —–
> > SuperiorReturn is by far the biggest loser on
> > here.
>
>
> Cause I have a good job and telling people what to
> do in B-School?
>
> What do you do Frank?
I apologize. You da man.
 
Iginla2010 Wrote:
——————————————————-
> I’m sure we can find Harvard grads who are still
> looking for jobs, or working for a “measly” 60K
> salary. That’s not the point!
>
> Rotman is a great school if you want to stay in
> Canada. You have to make sure you do some/all of
> these key tasks:
>
> -Make sure you network with those who are members
> of RAMA (the Asset Management Association) club
> and make your way into the club/represent your
> class or get elected to one of the positions.
> -Utilize effectively their trading lab - it’s
> world-class .
> -ensure you are selected to represent Rotman in
> the annual Security Analysis Competition.
> -OR ensure you are a member of the team that
> represents Rotman in the annual ‘Financial Post’
> MBA Portfolio Competition.
>
> Given, these are not easy tasks but then you are
> not aiming to mow your neighbor’s lawn
> either…….just saying.
That’s basically it if you want to do finance. Win the MBA Trading comp (I think it’s a onoe day event), that lets you represent rotman at the International Trading comp, and worst case scenario you get to go to some nice parties. Best case scenario you end up trading energy at UBS or something.
 
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