Let's talk briefly about courses. The term structure that Rotman employs is 4 terms per year (quarters), two months long each. Many courses only last one quarter while other run for two. At any point in time, students carry 5 courses. Here is a brief description of the five courses people take in the first quarter:
Managerial Economics - essentially a lightweight microeconomics course focused only on concepts that managers use in making business decisions. This course is aimed towards people with little econ experience, however, those with an econ background may still find themselves relearning concepts in order to adapt to the simplicity of the course. The lectures are engaging and studying isn't overly painful. The course will consists of four 5% quizzes and one 80% final exam.
Managerial Accounting - this course covers the most primary accounting concepts taught at the undergrad university level: constructing and interpreting financial statements and ratios. The only difference is that with the consolidation of IFRS (the European accounting system) and GAAP, the course focuses more on understanding the rationale behind accounting decisions, rather than on memorization of the rules. This adds great value to the course, but still leaves it a little dull for those who have past accounting experience (ex. CFA). This is a full-term course graded based on a quiz, midterm, final, and group assignment (second quarter).
Statistics for Managers - This course introduces fundamental statistics, and is confounded (pun intended) by unnecessary (and often incorrect) nomenclature. Essentially, take a first year statistics course and change all of the words to mean different things. The textbook lacks detail and proves to be a slow and tedious read. This is just one of those courses you have to get through no matter what it takes. A large portion of marks are allocated to a group assignment which involves finding real-life industry data and solving real-life problems. This assignment is, surprisingly, the highlight of a course which otherwise allocates marks based on quiz and exam performance.
Finally the two "fluff" courses: Managing People in Organizations (MPO) and Fundamentals of Integrative Thinking (FIT). The names alone scream "there will be no substantial content and everything will be marked subjectively". Yup. The lectures are really engaging and the professors provide an endless supply of verbal anecdotes. This means lecture time goes by quickly. FIT provides a textbook from which concrete models and content can be extracted. Still, most of the lectures consist of fun exercises and explanations of past social science experiments. MPO is similar except that it includes a participation component in the final mark. This means that in two hours 100 people try to each make a good point about the topic being discussed. What a mess! The class discussions hardly ever tread into the realm of sophisticated and the pace of the class means that not enough time is ever devoted to one topic. Many good points remained unheard or are dismissed by the prof because, perhaps, it doesn't match the agenda of the class. Both of these courses allot many marks to essays and presentations. The FIT presentation for this quarter requires students to present, in groups, their model or opinion about how CEO pay should be handled.
One paragraph cannot possibly do justice to these courses, however, I wanted to describe more the general feeling of attending the course than the content that each course covers. Any specific questions can be addressed in the comments, as usual.
PZ
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Hey Petar, thanks for posting all this candid info. I'm a prospective student and am very intrigued by Rotman's emphasis on Integrative Thinking and Business Design (I have a design background, so yay for design). I've heard a lot of good things about the school in my circles and have seen your Dean speak at an innovation conference in RI, which I really enjoyed.
ReplyDeleteYou said these were the "fluff" courses and there wasn't much time in class for substantial and in-depth conversations about the topic. Did you walk away from these courses feeling satisfied or that the conversations were just brushing the surface?
Thanks!
Best,
Sami
Sincere apologies for the late response. The views I express in my writing are solely mine. I know that many of the students are Rotman who attend to learn about IT and Business Design, and the "fluff" courses which I mention, are very satisfied with the level of analysis and discussion which happens in the classroom. Most of these courses left me with a sense of satisfaction about the learning experience, however, there were one or two which did not sit well with me. I would assume some people would considered these courses their favorite, and the ones I like the most their least favorite, so again, just my opinion. Your best best is to phone up a professor, such as one who teaches IT, and have a phone chat with him/her to ask specific questions and get and idea of what you would learn. Cheers.
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