Yolanda Guo: Inside First-Year Rotman Commerce

Background

Yolanda is a first-year student at the Rotman School of Business at the University of Toronto. Although she is now studying business, she did not always picture herself taking this path. Initially, Yolanda thought of business as a practice choice that allowed for flexibility when searching for careers, and as a highly employable degree for someone interested in people, culture, and communication, but not strongly drawn to science.

As time went on, her interest in business became more personal since she grew up around parents heavily involved in the field. To her, business is about understanding people, learning about new cultures, and communicating ideas effectively, not just about numbers or technical skills.

Early Exposure to Business

Yolanda did not have an extremely business-focused high school background. In fact, she did not take many formal business courses, and she found her first experiences with case competitions numbers-heavy and ultimately too technical for her to enjoy.

However, the competitions still helped Yolanda understand the value of pursuing business in school and as a career. They showed her that business involves strategy, creativity, and tackling real-world challenges, while also helping her realize that qualitative and quantitative skills are closely connected. Although she originally saw herself as more people-oriented, her first-year classes taught her that math, statistics, and data are difficult to avoid in the major.

Application to Rotman

Yolanda applied to many Canadian universities, including the University of Toronto, Queen’s, Western, the University of Alberta, and the University of Calgary, with Rotman at the University of Toronto being her first choice. Even though her high school average was in the low-to-mid 90s, Yolanda emphasizes that it was not unusually high for a Rotman applicant. Because of this, she believes her extracurriculars played a major role in helping her stand out.

In high school, she focused heavily on public speaking through debate and Model UN. She also spent two years with Youth Leaders in Law, a youth-led nonprofit that connects students interested in law with professionals in the field. She first worked as Outreach Director, handling sponsorships and corporate relations, and later became President, where she helped plan the organization’s annual conference. These experiences taught her how to communicate professionally, ask for support if needed, manage events, and solve problems under pressure.

For Rotman specifically, Yolanda completed a video interview through the Kira platform, where applicants are given a prompt, have a short amount of time to prepare, and then record a spoken response. Because of this, she believes communication matters heavily in business admissions for Rotman. Even though grades are important to get applicants “through the door”, confidence, public-speaking skills, and the ability to articulate complex ideas are crucial for every applicant that seeks success.

Her advice for future applicants is not to obsess over grades unless they are below the required range. Instead, students should focus on becoming confident communicators while building a collection of interesting experiences through extracurricular involvement that they can speak about honestly, since this is what Rotman scouts out in applicants.

First Year at Rotman

Yolanda chose U of T’s downtown St. George campus because she wanted the experience of living in a busy city environment. Her schedule usually involves morning classes, followed by enjoying meals, the gym, spending time with friends, and studying. While this routine helped her enjoy university life, she admits that she often sacrificed sleep.

One of her biggest pieces of advice for first-year students is to take Orientation Week seriously. Since almost everyone is trying to meet people, it is one of the best times to make friends. She also stresses that not every interaction will necessarily become meaningful or long-lasting, and that is normal.

Academically, Yolanda feels that high school prepared her very well. However, she reflects that exams are more difficult in university, professors give less personal attention to students, and lectures move faster than in high school. She also finds that a university workload takes about twice as much time as high school when lectures, textbook readings, and extra materials are included.

Clubs, Balance, and Career Exploration

Clubs are a major part of Rotman and U of T life. She notices that Rotman-branded clubs can be competitive because they are connected directly to the business school, but she does not believe students need to join only the most prestigious clubs to succeed.

Yolanda’s advice is to choose clubs based on genuine interest instead of just their reputation. Joining a club only because it looks impressive can lead to a worse experience if the student is not passionate about the work. From her perspective, students are more likely to succeed, earn leadership positions, and enjoy university when they choose opportunities that fit their real interests.

Yolanda also emphasizes that balance does not always mean doing everything perfectly. In high school, she held several leadership roles at once and admits that she could not give every commitment equal attention. Therefore, students should not expect themselves to excel in every area at the same time if they are burdened with a heavy course load and lots of extracurriculars.

For internships, Yolanda recommends that business students should start looking early, especially for competitive fields like finance. Many opportunities are available, but they require preparation, networking, and initiative. At the same time, she believes that there is no single timeline everyone has to follow. She is not interning this summer and is instead taking classes, working, and pursuing other personal and professional goals.

Overview

Yolanda’s first year at Rotman shows that there is more to business and it is much broader than many students may assume. It is not only about finance, numbers, or having a perfect high school résumé. The major also involves communication, strategy, leadership, creativity, and understanding people.

Yolanda did not enter business with a perfectly planned-out goal or an extensive business background. Instead, she chose a flexible degree, followed her strengths, and stayed open to where her interests could lead.

Overall, her advice is to build strong communication skills with extracurricular activities, pursue activities that are of genuine interest, and to find internships early. For students considering business, Rotman at the U of T, or university in general, Yolanda’s experience shows that success often comes from being outgoing, adaptable, and willing to take initiative.