Rotman Commerce Supplemental Application: Questions and Tips

The format

Rotman’s own page says the application is made of “short written and video responses” hosted by Kira Talent, and that the detailed format is given to applicants inside the Join U of T portal. In recent cycles that has meant:

• A pre-shared video question, which you know before you start. It has asked applicants to briefly introduce themselves, name one thing they are passionate about, and describe the unique perspectives or experiences they’d bring to Rotman Commerce, in about 45 seconds, after about 30 seconds of prep.
• A random video question, seen only when the timer starts, with roughly a minute to prepare and a minute to answer.
• Short written responses, a mix of pre-shared and random, typically around 200 words each with a fixed time window. One has asked for your three most significant activities outside class.

Exact counts and timings shift between cycles, so treat the portal as the source of truth once you have access. What doesn’t shift: it is short, it is timed, and you get unlimited practice sessions on the interface before you commit.

What Rotman says it wants

Academic excellence with excellent communication skills, an understanding of teamwork, leadership and community, and a passion for the world of business. Read that as four boxes, because each part of the application is trying to tick one:

• The pre-shared video is the communication test. Can you be clear and specific about yourself in 45 seconds?
• The random video is the thinking on your feet test.
• The written pieces are the teamwork, leadership and community evidence.
• The “passion for business” box is the one applicants forget. Somewhere in your answers there should be a real business or economic thing you’ve noticed and thought about.

The pre-shared question, done properly

Forty-five seconds is about 110 spoken words. Three parts are asked for, so that is roughly a sentence and a half each. The mistake is to treat “introduce yourself” as a biography and then run out of time before the part that matters, which is the last one.

That answer names one thing, makes it specific, and turns it into the perspective Rotman asked for. Prepare yours the same way: one thing, one detail, one sentence on what it means for how you’d show up. Then say it out loud on a 45-second timer until the ending is reliable. Don’t memorise it word for word; the tell me about yourself guide explains why.

Fifteen practice questions for the random video

AcceptMe’s practice questions, written to Rotman’s themes: communication, teamwork, community, and business awareness. They are not Rotman’s questions. Use them on a timer with the same one-minute-prep, one-minute-answer shape.

1. Tell us about a skill you deliberately set out to improve over the past year. How did you practice it, and how did you know you were actually getting better?
2. Describe a business or economic news story you have followed recently. What did it teach you about how markets or organisations behave?
3. Toronto has Canada’s largest financial district and a major startup scene. How do you plan to take advantage of studying commerce in the middle of that?
4. Tell us about a time you felt pressure to cut a corner and chose not to. What did that decision cost you?
5. Describe a group project where the team genuinely disagreed about the direction. How did the group reach a decision, and what was your role?
6. What is the most useful piece of critical feedback you have received? What have you done with it since?
7. Rotman Commerce students specialise in management, finance and economics, or accounting. Which are you leaning toward, and what have you done to test that interest?
8. Tell us about a time you had to explain something complicated to someone with no background in it. How did you adjust when they didn’t get it the first time?
9. Describe a moment when the obvious approach wasn’t working and you tried something unconventional instead.
10. Walk us through the busiest stretch of your last school year. What did you deliberately let go of?
11. Tell us about a time you noticed a teammate or classmate was struggling. How did you figure out what was going on?
12. Describe a situation where you led without any formal title. How did you get others to follow?
13. What is one economic issue facing young Canadians that deserves more attention? Make the case in under a minute.
14. Tell us about a community you belong to. What do you contribute that would be missed if you left?
15. Describe a belief you held strongly and later changed your mind about. What shifted your thinking?

The written responses

A 200-word timed answer is about eight sentences. There is no room for a warm-up paragraph. Start with the answer, give one concrete example, and end with what it means. If you’re asked for your three most significant activities, choose the three with the clearest results and give each one a number or a specific outcome, not a description of the club. Practice these too: set a 20-minute timer, get a prompt you haven’t seen, and write. AcceptMe’s interviews can include timed written questions with a word cap for exactly this.

• Some argue a company’s only responsibility is to its shareholders; others say it must balance employees, customers and communities. Where do you stand, and why? Use one real example.
• AI tools are increasingly doing work once done by entry-level analysts. How will this change what employers expect from new business graduates, and how are you preparing?
• Choose a Canadian company you admire. What does it do well, and what is one strategic risk it faces in the next five years?

Mistakes specific to Rotman

• Over-preparing the pre-shared question and under-preparing the random one. The random question is where the ranking happens.
• Nothing about business anywhere. You are applying to a commerce program. One real observation about a company, a market or a price beats a paragraph about wanting to be a leader.
• Running long on 45 seconds. It is very short. Time yourself; most first attempts are cut off mid-sentence.
• Missing early consideration by accident. Submitting by December 1 puts you in the first review round. It costs nothing but planning.

Where to go from here

Rotman runs on Kira Talent; the Kira Talent interview practice guide covers the platform, the retake policy and what the practice questions are for. The guide to every Ontario supplementary application shows the December 1 early date next to every other program’s. For the random question, the one that ranks you, AcceptMe’s custom interview on a 45-second clock with a question you have not seen is the rehearsal; the transcript tells you where the cut-off landed.