Canada MBA discussion

I would imagine it matters only in certain situations.

In terms of your actual school experience, it matters with respect to facilities, administrative qualities of the school, and mostly access to electives outside of the course.

In terms of the reputation on your resume it will not generally matter to people actually recruiting at MBA's, or for jobs/industries directly related to the field in Canada. If you are going to venture into unusual job territory, or move internationally I think the reputation of the overall university might matter more (in other words, these people would have never heard of Ivey or Sauder, but may have heard of UBC as at the least a well-respected institute.

In most cases I think the quality and reputation of the business program is really the only thing that matters. In the case of Ivey vs Sauder, I think Ivey is the clear winner in all cases (in terms of generic reputation, not controlling for where you want to work and what you want to do)....

Please note, this isn't from experience. Just some thoughts.

GO CANADA! We have to get this thread going again, I have so many questions and for the majority I am applying to Canadian Schools.

Agreed. Whats your question?

Schulich, Concordia, Rotman, Ivey.... all four are on my radar, I guess I'm just curious if anyone has any insight on these schools and what they will be looking for, based on the results i think i can see a 700 on my eventual GMAT i'm writing in December, but my GPA was 2.8 in my BBA from Memorial University. I have some extra cirriculars and will have roughly 3-4 years experience at matriculation.

So any ideas what my chances might be for each school?

I'm by no means an expert here (and I'm sure that will become apparent quite quickly once you read my post), but I can tell you that from a pure stat for stat comparison, you've got a competitive profile. As you probably already know... assuming a 700 GMAT and a B final year average, you fit the 'median' posted profile for both Schulich and Rotman (with an above average GMAT to boot!)

I don't want to engage in the critical reasoning exercise of "*so and so* got into XYZ and had inferior stats to you... thus you WILL get in", but I have co-workers that have gotten into Schulich and Rotman with less work experience and a comparable GMAT score. I've also had friends with a lower GMAT and fewer years of work experience get admits from one of the schools you've listed. Make of that what you will, but I think you have every reason to be confident in your school choices.

I'm excited for you nphelan, any reason why you chose those schools?

Yeah these schools for me represent an innovative education rather then the typical MBA experience. Everything I've read about the two have provided me with excitement, enthusiasm that they want me to bring something to the table, and at the same time they are providing me a unique experience that I wouldn't typically find in a grad school. My concern has always been my GPA, I've seen on every website for Canadian Schools a 3.0 GPA average is required. I am willing to spend more and more time studying leading up to December to really make myself a strong candidate, and maybe that low GPA is the motivation I need leading up to it. I should also add that I'm deep into the interview process with Deloitte right now for a Production Assistant role leading up to matriculation. This means a possibility of writing my CFA L1 and L2 exams before matriculation. I've been coaching Minor Hockey for 4 years now, I've participated in multiple charity events such as a 160km bike tour for Multiple Sclerosis, etc. I'm currently looking into playing a larger role in a charity this year leading up to applications, and I believe my achievements through school and work (Exxon Mobil Scholarship, Top Sales in the region 6 out of 8 months working, etc.) will all give me the extra curricular needed to appeal to the schools. But again that GPA I was told needs to be a 3.0 to be considered by a school. Anyone have experience with this or knows how they might handle this situation? What would be the magic number on the GMAT to make that GPA issue disappear?

Thanks again!

Was your cumulative GPA a 2.8? Or just the last two years?

I know that my worst courses were in years 1 and 2 - the only C's in my transcript are in my first three semesters (one per semester) but they were bad enough to have a pretty big effect on my GPA... but when I look at my last two years my GPA is quite reasonable and hopefully competitive.

cumulative, but I would say my last year has been comparable to this as well, MAYBE a little better

I'm actually in the same boat as megany. A low-ish cumulative GPA, largely due to a horendous semester in second year that basically crippled my cum GPA.

Doesn't hurt to go back and re-calculate your final year and final 2 year averages just to see where you stand. I can say that I was plesantly surprised to find that my final 2 year average was a fair bit higher than I would have expected.

I'm in the same situation as nphelan. My target schools are Ivey and Rotman, however I'll likely be applying for 2013 matriculation.

My stats are as follows:
GMAT: 700 (49Q/37V)
GPA (last 2 yrs): 2.9 BBA at a top-tier Canadian business program
Work experience: 4.5 yrs at matriculation in public accounting/capital markets
Extracurriculars: A ton of leadership positions during undergrad (President of student club, VP/director positions, etc)

Like nphelan, my GPA is the toughest thing to get over right now because it's *just* under the 3.0 threshold. Hopefully the other parts of my application will offset a couple of poor grades.

Hi all,

I have heard that if one has Canadian permanent resident/citizenship status, he/she will have to pay for his MBA much less than an international student. Is this true?

Thank you very much.

Yes, there are other fees incurred with an international student. For example check out this link for Rotman:

https://www.rotman.utoronto.ca/mba/admission.htm

If you scroll down to the fees there is a difference of about $9000 each year for a total difference of $18,000 over two years. This is the case at rotman as it is at most schools in Canada. I've also looked into schools in the US and Australia, and both have turned up with the same extra international fees which are higher or lower then what is at Rotman based on whether the tuition is higher or lower in general.

Hey all,

I am wondering about the MBA scene in Montreal. I'm from Toronto and I have a fair idea about the MBAs here (Rotman, Ivey, Schulich, and the newly begotten Rogers at Ryerson) - feel free to ask!. but I would like to find out about Montreal. How is the banking/consulting industry there, and how is the recruiting for Desautels at McGill? It wouldn't be bad to study in Montreal and learn French, but then again since I don't speak perfect French I would probably have a hard time competing for jobs.

Cheers!

Hmmm, not much love for Canadian schools on this site. Anyways, for people who're in Toronto, MBA fair is on Sept 10th.
https://www.topmba.com/qs-world-mba-tour ... ca/toronto

Did anyone go to the MBA fair?

I did.

I found a list of ranks of MBA programs in Canada below:
https://www.infozee.com/channels/mba/can ... nkings.htm

Is this list correct?

Thank you.