DeGroote (McMaster) Class of 2016 Calling all applicants!

Question

canadian-beaver · Answer

Hey I believe I will be applying in like feb.

I am applying to 
-laurier mba co-op -> 2 work terms, 4months ea
-mcmaster mba co-op ->3 work terms, 4months ea
-dalhousie cr-mba -> 1 work term

which is the best? I am surprised dal looks really good i think i might be leaning that way. I am from the gta btw

tomalter · Answer

Hi,

I have applied to DeGroote FT MBA program yesterday. Can anyone please tell me how much time do they take in sending interview invites and other admission decisions?

Narenn · Answer

Hello GMATCLUB Members,

We are bringing a webinar with Q&A as well as chats with current students focused on the Waitlisted Applicants.
The first event of this series is Webinar conducted by Admissionado's Founder and HBS Alum Jon Frank. Jon will share his suggestions followed by a Q&A session. This is your opportunity to ask your specific questions. The webinar will take place on 31st January 2014, Friday, 9 AM PST.

We shall also be conducting chat sessions with some Current students from various schools who were successfully admitted from a waitlist so you can learn what to expect from the process, what worked for them, and what it takes. These chats shall take place in our Chat Room. We will release the times & Dates (all will be the first week of February)

Webinar Link: https://www3.gotomeeting.com/pjoin/531329318/105379349
Download event to your Outlook
If you are on a waitlist - you do NOT want to miss these!

The webinar and chats are free. There will be a 30-minute Q&A session at the end of the Webinar on Friday Jan 31st at 9 AM PST - join to have your questions answered.

Thank You!

Narenn · Answer

Join us for a chat with several current students who have been admitted from WL last year.
 When:  Tue Feb 4th at 9 AM PST
 Where:   GMAT Club Chat

The recording of the Getting off a Waitlist Webinar is now available on Youtube:  
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61Lo8LAfOIQ

Pushingmylimits · Answer

Hello Guys,

I have applied to the FT MBA at DeGroote School of Business (Fall 2014) and received an interview invite.

Can anyone please throw some light on the interview process and provide some tips to do well?

Thanks in advance

Pushingmylimits · Answer

Hello All, The group is silent.Anyone planning to take up the offer with DeGroote. How good is the placements? :roll:

onfire · Answer

Hey #PushingmyLimits......i guess i am in for Degroote this year...have searched a lot...Latest ranking of this school have been good...here are some Links
https://www.canadianbusiness.com/list-an ... allery_top
https://top-b-schools.4gmat.com/canada.shtml
But as said every website has different ranking..
But dint hear anything negative about this university....Will finalize my admission...Temme if u in too...

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Just go for it

jorgekvb · Answer

Hello Everyone, I have my interview for the Co op Program of Mcmaster University in two weeks and I was just wondering if anyone that have had done this interview has any tips or recommendations for the interview. Also about the activity that is required to do.

I'm from Venezuela so I have been practicing my english with native speaking relatives and have looked for common behavioral interview questions and preparing answers for them. So i was also wondering, considering the actual situation of my country, if it is wise to somehow prepare my answers taking in consideration my country's critical situation or not. Not necesarilly the whole human rights topic, but the difficult business environment that Venezuela has because of our horrible government and how that environment has shaped my work experience.

Thanks

jaya1 · Answer

Hi there, I've my co-op interview in 3-4 days, could anyone please guide me here on the same. please revert at earliest..

MrBilliards · Answer

Hello, I withdrew my application DeGroote in favour of Rotman, but I was just wondering some things about the application process. I just received an email today from DeGroote saying that I need to contact a specific someone at DeGroote by Friday, May 9 (which is two days from now) or my application will be cancelled. Not only did I withdraw my application, my application is also incomplete (I told my referees not to submit their recommendation letters since I'm not going anyway). How did I get an invitation to interview in my situation? It kind of sounds of desperation to me, and if not it's not that then there was a mistake made somewhere, and that sounds unprofessional. Hmm, anyway, just curious. Did anything like this happen to anybody else?

sa11sh · Answer

Considering your poor use of the English language, you are in no position to criticize DeGroote's renown MBA program. If Rotman is accepting those as incompetent as you are, then I am afraid the program has lost all of its prestige.

MrBilliards · Answer

Wow, where'd that come from? Okay, maybe I was a critical of DeGroote's admission process, but I was in no way critical of the School itself. It is a great school, and it was my top choice of destination for much of my MBA application process. My choice to go to Rotman wasn't because DeGroote sucks (it doesn't), but because Rotman has a lot of the things I was looking for in a business school.

If you're going to bother replying my post with a scathing remark, at least you could answer the question. Did you join the forum just to post that?

Oy vey.

If you're going to bother replying my post with a scathing remark, at least you could answer the question. Did you join the forum just to post that?

Oy vey.

Roosevelt · Answer

I've got a buddy in the program at DeGroote and she's saying they;re getting a little desperate. They had some salad years during the recession but as things are improving in the economy, it's getting harder and harder for them to fill their ranks out.

Form what she says, the academics at DeGroote are ok, but they don't hold a candle to those at Rotman or Laurier. The co-op program is a ruse - you're going to fork over a ton of money to have what are basically guidance counsellors web scrape the internet for job postings for you, get between you and your employer and force you to attend inane meetings about how to write resumes, etc. She says that a lot of the postings - like 80% - are also pretty near garbage work experience. You get the name of an employer on your resume, but you're just as often photocopying stuff or filling out MS Excel spreadsheets

I'm aiming to apply to Laurier or Rotman

MrBilliards · Answer

That sounds interesting to hear, but to be honest I'm not too surprised. For me, the "Eureka!" moment came during the MBA Tour when I attended the talks by both DeGroote and Rotman. DeGroote was first, then I went to sit in the audience for Rotman, and right then and there I decided it had to be Rotman. The class of presenter was in different leagues. Steven Walker from DeGroote at times seemed to struggle, paused often, and just seemed like a salesperson selling a product rather than the gate keeper to what was supposed to be a great program. Sheldon from Rotman on the other hand, was totally different, and kept the audience engaged, even when he didn't have access to his presentation slides due to technical issues. Also, went to a QS MBA Tour back in November 2013, and Denise Anderson was the speaker for DeGroote this time, but all she did was read off of a piece of paper in front of her or the presentation slides. And if the presenters are that different, what about the programs?

I also asked the DeGroote administrators about the reference issue. I was able to receive an invitation to interview without submitting any references. I had told my references not to bother, since I got into Rotman and DeGroote was not an option anymore. So my application was still open (couldn't find where I could withdraw my application on the online application portal) but was incomplete because I didn't have my references.
 
I still got the interview invite.

I asked them why, and how. They said that the rest of my application was exceptional. So I wondered: if you have an exceptional application, does that mean you don't need references at all? I was wondering if I were to have a successful interview and get an offer, would it have been conditional upon the submission of the references? I asked them this in a follow-up email but didn't get a reply yet.

Thoughts?

gmatgiver12345 · Answer

I read the reply of "sa11sh" and "MrBilliards" earlier and just read the conversation of "Roosevelt" & "MrBilliards" and could not restrain myself from adding my views. Frankly I did not know anything about Laurier school. Does this school even exist??- they don't even have forum on gmat club or any where else. Laurier's name is not there in any of the b school rankings. No body knows Wilfrid Laurier University outside of Canada, not sure about within Canada. It is a local college not recognized even nationally. I got admission to Schulich. I knew about DeGroote as McMaster is a good university. My junior applied to co op programs of DeGroote and Laurier and thats how I later came to know about Laurier. He asked the administration about the placement stats of both the colleges and DeGroote easily provided but laurier did not. They have not mentioned anywhere properly. Only the avg and max Co op work term salaries, which are way less than what are mentioned on DeGroote website, are mentioned. Talking good about Laurier and comparing with any other school without facts is just like shooting with blind eye. He is joining DeGroote this year as Laurier was not giving any clear information about their program so I think there could be something they didnt want us to know.

For Mr Billiards- Rotman is very good compare to DeGroote in every way so we don't need to have any comparison btw them. Sending invitation without ref could be a mistake too. And you did not attend the seminar given by Laurier so cannot compare laurier and DeGroote on that basis. Obviously Rotman is non comparable in Canada.

To tell about what the lady from DeGroote said to "Roosevelt"- Go to the other topic of McMaster and you will find people pointing out on the credibility of McGill too. It is one of the most recognized universities outside Canada and people are saying wrong things about it too. If a person does not get a Pizza on time he/she blames OBAMA for that. It is our mentality to not question our own capability and just keep on spreading rumors that others are faulty. May be that lady did not find any good intern because she did not have the qualities required for the good jobs offered and what she left was to blame the college for that. Don't just go according to what others says but use the facts too while deciding. If you are talking to the existing students than talk to many and than only you will get the correct idea and not on the basis of only one lady bragging around.

MrBilliards · Answer

Great post.

You're right, Laurier isn't that well known outside of Canada, or outside of Ontario for that matter. DeGroote is more well known because it is associated with McMaster, which is a great school; and Laurier as a school is shadowed by its neighbour, Waterloo University. However, locally, Laurier is sort of known for it's business programs. This is from what I've heard though; I personally do not know anyone who graduated from Laurier's business program. I did speak to some MBA alumni from Laurier, and they said that it was a great school for their purposes, which was the part-time MBA (because you are able to do that from downtown Toronto).

I also think that we have to be careful about placement stats of any school. Just because a school can boast a near-perfect placement (which DeGroote does in their brochure), does not mean that everyone got the placement they wanted. I mean, I want to go into consulting, but if the co-op program places me in marketing, that will count as a successful placement too. We also have to consider how they made those statistics, and I don't think DeGroote is very clear on it (correct me if I'm wrong). Rotman says that their placements are done by industry, not by job description (for example, I could become a consultant in the health sector, but for their statistics it counts as a placement in the health industry, not consulting). So just because DeGroote might say that place 30% of their class into consulting, does not mean that all of that 30% is actually doing a consulting position. They could be doing a sales function at a consulting firm, for instance.

I agree with you that DeGroote and Rotman aren't comparable. Essentially I was debating between going to a top Canadian school that specializes in consulting and finance, and going to a co-op school that boasts a high placement; it's just that Rotman happened to fit the former and DeGroote the latter. So I wasn't comparing schools, but what I wanted from the schools and the two schools just happened to be the top choices.

I also don't think that the invitation to interview was a mistake. I emailed them about it, and they said that the   rest of my application was excellent  . I think they overlooked the missing references and gave me the interview. I am still wondering though, whether or not a hypothetical offer of admission would be conditional upon the submission of my references.

gmatgiver12345 · Answer

Ya I also know that DeGroote is not clear abt its placement stats in detail. But I saw laurier's website and could find only its avg and highest salary figures and the companies that hire, which could be about all of the university programs and not just of the co op MBA. So Laurier is in no way in the line. Rest btw Rotman and DeGroote, I think it depends on your career goals, you want co op or full time, your profile that matches with the school's class profile. But if you get through both of them, I would suggest Rotman.

Regarding the reference letters- even if that was not by mistake, it is not a big deal really. your score of 740 is very good compare to the school's average and so your profile could be exceptional. And I know how reference letters are made. 70-80% students write their own reference letters on behalf of their referees. The schools too know this fact. If your profile is good, there is a very less chance of finding osama bin laden in your reference letters and so the admission process can move forward and the letters could sometimes be made conditional.

mbachangemylife · Answer

So,,.does this mean that at least Degroote cares less about reference letters than I originally thought? That seems like a large portion of applicants (70-80%)

MrBilliards · Answer

Yes, I would agree on the 70-80% number. Most referees don't have the time or just don't to bother putting in the effort into writing a letter. I've asked many people to be a reference, and almost all said "sure, you write it, I'll sign it". That's why these days I don't think business schools accept reference letters anymore. Rather, it's an online questionnaire that takes about a half hour to complete. I know DeGroote also has this questionnaire.

It's difficult to quantify how much of your application your references are worth. In my conversations with the admission team, it doesn't seem like every part of your application is worth the same. When they found out my GPA and GMAT score, they simply told me not to worry and just apply and that they'll "schedule an interview very soon" without even mentioning the references or the essays. So I think they weigh your scores more heavily than your references at least, and they also know that if you're applying for the co-op stream your résumé will be lacking.

DeGroote (McMaster) Class of 2016 Calling all applicants!

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