I’ve been accepted to Rotman but I’ve been reading a lot of things that are putting me off, specifically that the atmosphere is cold and your campus and social life will suffer. How true are you finding this? Also do you have any idea what St. Michael’s College is like? I was accepted there for residence and would like to know more about it:) thanks in advance!
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hey there,
before i get into this, i may as well give full disclosure: i’m not a rotman student, so i don’t have any kind of INTIMATE KNOWLEDGE about how rotman works. i have a lot of anecdotal information from having friends in rotman, but that can only go so far. i mean, they don’t let people onto the internet with just ANECDOTES, y’know. only real, legit people get on the internet.
but hey, not being in rotman has never stopped me writing about them before! check out aska’s rotman tag for all kinds of musings.
as a general point, i’ll say that lots of programs that are known for being very INTENSE can be isolating (engineering, engsci, rotman, economics, comp. sci). if it turns out you don’t like the program and/or find it very difficult, it can be hard to integrate yourself into the community.
to put it another way: if it turns out you hate commerce, you’re not going to want to be hanging out with a bunch of commerce-y people all the time. it’ll get real old, real fast.
however, it’s not impossible to make friends and get involved. here are a list of student organizations at rotman, all of which are a great opportunity to make friends within rotman. and if you love what you’re studying, you’ll be able to make friends with other people who love it and actually enjoy yourself.
also, you’re allowed to have a life outside rotman (believe it or not). college life is a great opportunity to get involved – at st. mike’s you have the st. michael’s college student union, the st. michael’s college residence council and the st. michael’s college troubadours, just to name a few.
even if you don’t do anything on campus, it’s hard NOT to make friends when you’re living on residence. just like…exist…on your floor and people will notice you and talk to you. and if YOU take the initiative to talk to THEM? well then, you’re golden.
if you want to know more about st. mike’s, please check out our st. mike’s tag. you can also peruse aska’s ‘prospective students’ page and check out the links listed for st. michael’s college. (there’s a lot of ’em and they took a ridiculously long time to link, so please click on them).
the residences at st. michael’s college are divided into five buildings. st. mike’s is the only college on campus which has single-sex floors – which i guess could be a good or a bad thing, depending on your perspective.
despite that, every house/floor in the residence is part of an incredibly tight-knit community. everyone dines in the canada room, which is a great big dining hall on the college campus. everyone eats together, everyone lives together, and everyone participates in rez life together.
as a first year, you’re most likely to be put in fisher house, teefy house or elmsley hall (1st or 4th floor) (if you’re female), and moore house or elmsley hall (2nd or 3rd floor) (if you’re male). you can read up on the character of each building here.
congrats again on your acceptance! see you around next year,
aska