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(3.7) |
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I am a current Part-Time student at Schulich's MBA. Schulich was the only school that I applied to because I knew that out of the traditional top Ontario business schools (Schulich, Rotman, Queen's, Ivey), they'd be the only ones to consider me due to my lack of work experience at the time.
As such, my perspective is as a young student who joined Schulich to learn while also strengthening my network. While there were some good aspects of the Schulich student experience, there is lots of room for improvement.
The Good:
1. Admissions team was super helpful in preparing me for my applications. I also remember attending an admissions event, and by attending the event, the application fee was waived.
2. Location of the downtown campus is perfect. Facilities at both York and Nadal are excellent.
3. When I first started at Schulich, the entrepeneurship classes and opportunities were really disappointing, but I have noticed the school getting better in this area. Still lots room for improvement, but they're headed in the right direction, and I'm excited to see how they progress.
The Mediocre:
1. York/Schulich's online experience.
I'm not referring to COVID-19 initiated online learning via Zoom (which I wasn't a fan of, but it was a new challenge for all involved) - I'm referring to Schulich's and York's websites. In general, York's website is difficult to navigate (i.e finding grades, financial information, enrolling in courses), and I find that a lot of links on Schulich's website are broken (404 or 500).
Additionally, there's so many student portals to go through for learning purposes. Canvas (most frequently used), York Moodle, and the CMD have all been used by my classes for homework purposes, and overall it's an annoying learning experience. I was also introduced to a few more portals during orientation week, but I thankfully haven't needed to use them, and I've forgotten their names.
The data breach that York went through was also not a positive experience.
2. Slow, unresponsive admin who sometimes were unhelpful and/or gave wrong direction.
3. Mediocre course curriculums / professors for most (~2/3rds) of my classes. A lot of subjects and topics interest me, but in most of my classes I find myself unengaged. Whether it's due to the courses or the professors, it's hard to say, but I found that my usual enthusiasm for such topics is not there during most of my classes. Some keep me engaged, but most don't.
4. York University is a commuter school. The fact that Go Buses don't operate on campus anymore is asinine and a terrible experience for students who commute to and from school. While all of my classes are downtown, I sometimes need to go to the main campus, and I find the commuting experience to be inconvenient.
5. The alumni network portal isn't good. I've reached out to several alumni to no avail. Alumni clearly don't check the portal, or maybe they've unsubscribed to notifications. Regardless, while I don't know what to expect, I do believe that Schulich needs to improve the relationship between students and alumni.
The disappointing:
A huge concern of mine is that Schulich's international rankings are falling fast, and from my experience here, I'm not surprised.
Most consider the best part of an MBA to be the networking that one gains from the program. In this area, I have the biggest disappointment. While all of my classmates are nice, and while some are extremely gifted (strategic thinking, leadership, presentations) I am disappointed by the overall quality of my peers.
As one of the younger students of the program (when I first started), I expected to learn a lot and be amazed at my peers' skills. However, through classroom discussions and group projects, I learned that I should not expect that.
I was always under the impression that Schulich was one of the better business schools in Canada, so I expected a lot from me peers. I want to be the least experienced/knowledgeable person in my class, but I feel like I'm far from it. I thought that I'd be proud to one day say that I have a Schulich MBA, but right now I don't feel that way.
I've even had a professor state that the value of MBAs are diminishing, and if one's MBA is not from a top school (Harvard, INSEAD, etc), it's probably not worth it. Here, I disagree with the professor because everyone's experience is unique to themselves, but I wanted to share this information to showcase that there are even Schulich employees who don't fully value a Schulich MBA.
I don't think that I had really high expectations entering the program. I had never expected the MBA to change my life, professionally or personally. I just wanted to learn - from coursework, from professors, and from peers.
I hope that Schulich improves. I want to be proud. But right now, I'm disappointed.
Overall BSchool experience (2.0)
Schools contribution (2.0)
Classmates rating (2.0)
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A wise alum once told me, "Schulich is what you make of the experience. The school offers you various resources, it is up to you how best you utilize this opportunity."
This can't be further from the truth.
Ever since I joined the school, I made the best possible use of every opportunity, and have had a great MBA experience so far. The school has an excellent reputation in Toronto corporate circles. This is a particularly good school if you are interested in marketing with some great professors teaching you courses in brand management, customer experience design, marketing metrics and the like.
There are a number of student leadership opportunities here; it's up to you to seize them. What I like the best about the school is the genial and cooperative nature of classmates, who treat you as collaborators than competitors. I made some lifelong friends in the process. There is heavy emphasis on team work and sustainability is a recurring theme in the school - you'll find it in different courses, and in discussions in the corridor although some students don't fancy it as much.
So far the program has not disappointed me in terms of my expectations. I will know the true worth once I graduate and enter the job market.
The bad: the school is overcrowded, there are not enough facilities for everyone. Hopefully the new graduate building should address this issue. The school is getting greedy about money. I don't understand why the fees has to keep increasing every year for no rhyme or reason. International students are looked at as a milking cow while Canadians with low GMAT scores end up getting scholarships, internationals with 700+ GMAT don't receive a dime! The career services is not interested in your profile. They always seem to be in a rush to conclude 1-1s and don't put much effort into preparing students for the job market. Most students self-learn and find heir internships and jobs.
The banks and consulting companies come here very early. Be prepared to be running from day 1. Get your resume and cover ready. I was surprised by how early recruitment season starts.
Overall BSchool experience (5.0)
Schools contribution (3.0)
Classmates rating (4.0)
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Tks for ur review. Very usefull information. How are other specializations such as Information Systems or Entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is pretty good. The new ENTR course director, Steve Pulver, a former entrepreneur himself, is one of the star professors at Schulich and is trying to do something radical. I took a couple of ENTR courses and they gave me a good insight into different companies through cases. But again, entrepreneurship has to be learnt by doing, and not just sitting in the classroom. The school also has an entrepreneur in residence, Chris Carder.
I had no idea what to expect from my classmates when I started. I had heard that certain business schools have very competitive and cutthroat environments. This has absolutely not been my experience at Schulich. My classmates are the best part of my day. Alongside this, the program offers a lot of specialization options and a huge catalogue of courses to meet everyone's interests. Like every school, some profs are better than others, so I recommend doing research on Ratemyprof.com and ask friends. I have found the reviews pretty accurate. I would choose my electives for the prof. and not necessarily the topic.
There are a number of really amazing classes I would recommend taking that really gave me a lot of value:
1. Brand Management
2. Negotiations
3. Managing Change
4.
There is a really great career centre that people do not take advantage of. Make sure to go in at the start of your program, and make a plan with a career advisor. Follow the plan. Start your cover letter early and edit, edit, edit! It's a marathon, not a sprint, so don't start 1 week before applications are due.
Overall BSchool experience (5.0)
Schools contribution (5.0)
Classmates rating (4.0)
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This isn't my experience, but a review.
Pros: Good courses, Excellent professors (If you join, make sure you take courses from Kevin Tasa, Ashley Konson, Graeme Deans, Yuval Deutsch). Lots of specializations to choose from. Huge alumni base in reputed companies. Great location (Toronto is one of the most livable cities in North America and World).
Cons: Career Development Centre could be improved. Declining reputation (recent FT fiasco). Companies take advantage of your immigrant status and offer lower salaries than they offer Canadians(This happens everywhere, not specific to Schulich).
Suggestions: 1. Make sure you know your career goals(be as specific as possible) by the end of first year.
2. Network, Network, Network.
3. Work part time in the relevant industry while you study so that you have an edge over others once your graduate.
Overall BSchool experience (4.0)
Schools contribution (3.0)
Classmates rating (5.0)
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They offer a lot of specializations outside of Strategy and Investment Banking. This is a good school for those interested in Entrepreneurship or other less "traditional" streams for MBAs. I would not recommend for those looking for the best consulting or investment banking opportunities. The brand of the school has declined in the past few years. They also let in a lot of students that are not up to the MBA standard in my opinion, which has led to this decreases in brand value. The top 4 consulting firms do not recruit on-campus here anymore. And the firms that do, don't take as many Schulich grads as they do Rotman and Ivey.
Overall BSchool experience (3.0)
Schools contribution (3.0)
Classmates rating (3.0)
Student body, diversity
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Marketing
Entrepreneurship
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The Schulich brand is well known in the Greater Toronto area but the support from the school itself seems lacking in terms of providing support for internship or job.Schulich is a good business school, especially for marketing, finance and Tech specializations.It also offers a bunch of other specializations which are innovative and hard to find within Canada.
Any candidate would be better off if he/she works to create his/her personal brand and network for as many current students or alumni.This is something that candidate has to work on his own and very little support is provided by the career centre. In fact career centre is more about cosmetic changes to the CV rather than being a department committed to student success.
It's a mixed bag as far as the course or the professors are considered. Some are worth taking a course with while a few are mediocre at best.
Overall BSchool experience (3.0)
Schools contribution (2.0)
Classmates rating (3.0)
Curriculum, Classes, Professors
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Finance
Marketing
Curriculum, Classes, Professors
Alumni Network
Career opportunities provided by school
You are still studying at Schulich right now?
Most of your comments are very concerning and I am debating to apply Schulich at the moment. I will have to move from Vancouver to Toronto and probably need to find a new job too while there is UBC here I can do part time and still keep my current job.
Especially student interactions and profs' teaching quality really important. This is a life time investment and I can't afford to quit and start another MBA program.
Did/do you find you could get better outcome for your buck at somewhere else?
Thanks
G
Can you please share some more information on why you found most courses to have mediocre curriculum and professors? For example, do they just not explain things well, there's not enough cases or projects to apply the learnings, etc?
I received an offer from Schulich and would appreciate your feedback to help me decide whether I should accept or not!