University of Toronto MBA Reflection: Decision Making Process

This reflection report details a student's decision-making process in selecting an MBA program at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Business. The student, having completed a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, outlines the factors that influenced their choice, including the school's reputation, quality of education, location, and financial considerations. The report examines the criteria used, such as college fees, transportation, placements, and infrastructure. Several alternative universities were considered, both within and outside of Canada. The student acknowledges potential biases, such as optimism and confirmation bias, that may have influenced their decision. The report concludes with a self-assessment of the decision-making process and suggestions for improvement, such as considering fewer alternatives to simplify the process. The report includes references to academic literature supporting the analysis.

Running head: REFLECTION
REFLECTION
Name of Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1REFLECTION
I decided to do my Masters of business administration after my graduation in
bachelors of business administration since I have always been interested in higher studies. I
decided to do the MBA program from the Rotman business school belonging to University of
Toronto. I selected this business school only because of a number of reasons such as I had
heard a lot about it and about the quality of education that is provided in this b-school. Since I
am from Canada I thought that it will be economically feasible for me to join a college in my
own hometown. Some of the criteria’s that I felt was important for my decision were- the
college fee, the transportation facilities, the quality of education that is provided and the
placements that are offered by the institute, the infrastructure of the college was also an
important determinant for those purpose. Ultimately my parent’s advice and also my friend’s
suggestions helped me take my decision unconsciously.
A number of alternatives considered by me were different colleges and universities
offering the same course and some of them were also located outside my country (Reynolds
& Vince, 2017). Some of these alternatives included- universities from Australia, from
Singapore, and some other places. These were some of the alternatives considered by me on
the basis of my criteria’s. In the process of selecting one alternative maybe some important
alternatives were overlooked by me because I gave more preference to some selected
criteria’s only.
I collected all the necessary information about all the alternatives through various
consultancies that were helping me in getting admission according to my marks and my
criteria’s. I got information from the official websites of those universities; I got information
from directly calling few shortlisted universities. Therefore I took my decision based on
sufficient information and suggestions of people I know like my teachers, parents, friends and
others.

2REFLECTION
I finally took the decision to study my MBA program from the University of Toronto
by analysing all my alternatives properly and visualising the pros and the cons of joining
different universities (Cottrell, 2017). For instance I thought that there may be some cultural
barriers that could be faced by me in case I went to Singapore for my studies and the
advantage was that the study fee was reasonable and affordable. Similarly I thought about
the pros and cons of each alterative and also discussed the same with my parents.
Optimism bias may have affected and influence my decision making because I got
reviews of people, I gathered information from the website and moreover my decision may
also have been influenced by confirmation bias that is I was looking for information that
supported my decision of selecting University of Toronto. In order to improve my decision
making ability in future I need to consider fewer alternatives because the more the
alternatives the more difficult it will be to take a decision. In this case of selection of
university also I had considered many alternatives and that had made my decision making
process even more difficult.

3REFLECTION
References
Cottrell, S. (2017). Critical thinking skills: Effective analysis, argument and reflection.
Macmillan International Higher Education.
Reynolds, M., & Vince, R. (2017). Organizing reflection: An introduction. In Organizing
reflection (pp. 15-28). Routledge.