Is it worth to pay 78K Canadian dollars (Fees for my MBA batch) for Full time MBA at DeGroote?
My Answer is NO, and the following are the reasons.
Class Size – 45 to 50 Students. (Students are dominantly from only Canada and China and a few from India, therefore, there is not much diversity in class). The school will claim that the class size is 160, but that is including Co-Op students.
DeGroote can’t be considered as a Global MBA school as till date even if I am about to finish my 2nd semester; there has not been one single case study or strategy about any international brand discussed in class. Class discussion is limited to North American perspective, and even the professors are reluctant to talk about anything with Global outlook.
One can surely go to career services for help with CV and cover letters, but they are not working as hard to attract employers for full-time students as they do for Co-Op students. There have been occasions where there are events organized by the Career services for Co-op students only and FT students are not allowed.
In regards to summer jobs/internships, since last three weeks, there has been not a single summer job posted by the DeGroote career services on the job opening portal for full-time students. These actions clearly explain how much the career services wants to help full-time MBA students to get summer jobs. The aim of career services is to place all Co-op students, but that is not the case for full-time students.
Most of the events are conducted by employers from finance or Health industry at DeGroote (Burlington, MBA Campus). The School is very much Finance focused which is good news for students planning to specialize in Finance, however, not good news for students who don’t want to study Finance or Health and services management courses. Till date, there has not been a single event organized by someone from retail, CPG or technology industry. At the main campus, which is in Hamilton, there are many events organized by companies from different industries, but the MBA classes take place at Burlington campus, so it’s difficult to attend those events.
After attending many networking events organized by DeGroote, in my opinion, DeGroote has an image in the job market of producing good Co-op MBA students, therefore, the employers who come to the school look for Co-op students rather than full time students. Consequently, when employers think of the school then what they have in mind is students with Co-op experience.
At every event in which DeGroote invited Alumni of the School for a talk, there has not been a single occasion where they invited an Alumni who did full-time MBA. Alumni who come to School talk about their Co-op experiences, how they got Co-op jobs, how Co-op jobs helped them to be where they are, and how can the incoming students get Co-op jobs. Please note getting a Co-op is entirely different from getting a Summer internship.
There is no postgraduate student accommodation available for international students so as international students we miss the opportunity to form a personal relationship with other students rather than professional one. People who have lived in university hostels and accommodation would know what I am talking about. Living together in the same building with a common area helps to form a different kind of bond among students rather than just meeting at school.
There is more attention given to Co-op students (approx. 120 students) whereas FT students are around 40 to 50. As there are more Co-op students than full-time students, and following my conversation with the administration, Alumni and faculty members at the business school, I feel that Co-op MBA is the Bread and Butter for DeGroote, but the Full-time MBA is not.
There are very few top positions available for Full-time students at any of the clubs at DeGroote as most of the executive members of the clubs have to be Co-op MBA students.
For all the above reasons, MBA full-time program is not the worth the time and investment if you are an international student (without Canadian permanent residency).
Please try for Co-op at McMaster rather than Full-time until you don't have any other option or can't improve your GMAT score.
Nov 20
13 Feb 2017, 05:50
