Quick Info

• Name: Philip
• Graduate Year: 2023
• Morning or Evening MBA: Evening MBA

Why did you decide to join Rotman?

I joined Rotman because of the strength of the faculty, the diverse backgrounds of the student body and the school’s extensive professional alumni network. The flexible schedule of the Evening program allows me to immediately apply what I am learning and grow in my role.

What is your career aspiration? 

My career objective is to be the general manager of a basketball organization. I am passionate about leadership and bringing together athletes and high-performance staff towards the common goal of winning a championship while facilitating individual growth and fulfillment.

In the meantime, I am pursuing leadership opportunities within my current organization (Canada Basketball). Working with the Men’s National Team has taken me around the world and allowed me to grow both personally and professionally, building valuable relationships globally and I look forward to continuing to develop an international perspective in my work and an adaptable framework for dealing with challenges that arise in my role.

What are you enjoying about the program? 

The intensive week, while challenging, was a great opportunity to dive right into engaging classes, discussions and team work. I also have found the asynchronous nature of the managerial economics class useful for time management, but I do still value the synchronous office hour discussions and interactions. I have also really enjoyed the SDL sessions so far: five synchronous modules with Maja and the presentations module with Anthony have been incredibly helpful and I have been able to apply some of what I’ve learned in my personal and professional life.

What is the experience in the cohort? 

We are really fortunate to have a fantastic cohort in the M/E class of 2023. In the few short months we have gotten to know each other, everyone has been incredibly supportive and open to sharing ideas and engaging in discussions as we work through the challenges of online learning together.

Have you been able to take advantage of extracurricular activities at Rotman - CDL, clubs, case competitions?

Due to the lack of in-person interactions, to get to know people outside of my cohort and to maximize my Rotman experience, I joined several clubs: SABR, BDC, RSBA, RBAC, RNA and EMA. I have really enjoyed the club events so far, which have ranged from case competitions to workshops and networking opportunities. One of my favourites so far has been a design sprint organized by BDC and GBC in early October. It was my first MBA case competition and my first experience with business design. We had a fantastic team (met 3/4 teammates for the first time for this event) and ended up finishing in second place!

Share a networking experience you have had at the Rotman School, what benefits did you derive?

BDC ran a DesignX series of events, which had guest speakers from a variety of industries and small breakout group sessions where we could ask the speakers questions about their business design process and career trajectories. All of the guest speakers were open, engaged and very insightful. One interesting silver lining of the current (virtual) situation is that the cost of attending events (ie. travel time) is much lower, so you can attend more than otherwise would be possible (ie. back to back events would not have been possible in-person, unless they were in the same room one after another).

Anything else you would like to share? 

I am definitely looking forward to in-person classes and meeting many of my classmates and professors face to face for the first time, but in the meantime, the school has done a fantastic job of keeping us engaged with challenging classes and stimulating discussions, countless virtual events, and social, team building and networking opportunities.

To learn more about the Morning & Evening MBA and to ask questions, contact us and send us your resume for pre-assessment.