eunjukim wrote:
Rookie84 wrote:
eunjukim wrote:
Hi everyone! I am new and I am about to submit my applications to McGill, Rotman, Schulich, Sauder and Ivey.
I am Korean with 5 years of experience working in mainly marketing / PR role. I got only 710 on my GMAT and exactly 100 on TOEFL... I hope it will be enough! Most Koreans go to the school in the US so there is not a lot of information about Canada in Korean threads online.. I was reading the schools thread and see a lot of different opinions on the Canadian top schools. Anyone want to share some more information or personal experience? My main concern is post-graduation placement. The stats from all schools look quite similar but is there anything else I should consider?
Hi Eunju. Good to see a fellow Korean in this thread. As you said, not many Koreans are applying to Canadian MBA programs, it seems. I found zero information about Canadian MBA programs while doing searches in Korean... I got all of my information by doing my research in English.
Although I cannot really comment on placement as I only went through the application stage, I just looked at it this way: if I end up being in top 10% of my class and do reasonably well in networking, I am pretty sure I can land a decent job. In other words, job placement is really up to me as long as I can get into a program with a strong reputation.
Are you looking to apply soon? If you are, you need to know that you are a bit late to the game and the seats are being filled fast. You seem to have great GMAT score and GPA so you should be able to put together a strong application as long as you can really convince the adcom about your work experience and extra curricular activities and have good recommendations.
If you have any questions I can help you with, feel free to reach out to me via PM. You can even write to me in Korean.
Good luck!
Hi fellow Korean! I will write here in English for now, maybe our conversation can help others too
Actually most of my friends are doing their MBA in the US because their companies will pay but I want to stay in Canada for some years and maybe immigrate to Canada (life here is tough, as you know... I just got off work and it's past1:30 am!). Is that your situation too? As for McGill, I am planning to apply before the deadline is next week... I am definitely concerned for the visa and overall space but to be honest, I am also waiting on something at work so if the timing isn't right, I will defer to next year. An additional year of work experience is always good, I think.
As you know for people in our country rankings matter and I see Rotman at the top on many rankings. But I also see conflicting statistics on their website, like their placement rate which is quite low (85% after 6 months for Rotman, that means 52 students don't get placed every year..
) McGill's salary statistics are actually as good as Rotman's and people tell me it's generally cheaper to stay in Montreal than Toronto or Vancouver. Tuition is also considerably lower, so from a ROI perspective, it seems like a great choice. However, French is a concern though, as you know but I am not closed-minded to learning it. I suppose that moving to Toronto is also an option, from what ambassadors say. Until now I contacted ambassadors in several schools and only McGill and Ivey have gotten back to me. I heard a lot about the communities there and I think it's an important factor since all top schools should have good academics. What was your experience like?
If there is any alumni here, can someone tell me about the impact of going to Rotman vs. McGill from a placement perspective? Also, if anyone knows about careers in analytics / marketing, I would be glad to listen more about it.
Yup, life in Korea is tough. My work experience actually consists of working overseas mostly, but I have many friends who work at Samsung and the likes, so I have a good idea of what it is like. I am also looking to immigrate to Canada. I ruled out Ivey when I was choosing programs to apply to as it is only a 1-year program, which means you get 1-year work visa instead of 3-year work visa you get after graduating from 2-year program. I think having a full year of full-time work experience in Canada before applying for PR is highly beneficial as far as I could tell from my research thus far. Definitely something to consider since you are considering immigrating to Canada.
ROI is definitely something to think about, and yes, Montreal's cost of living is considerably cheaper than Toronto's or Vancouver.'s I am bringing my wife and child with me to Canada, so it is more of a factor for me than for a single person as it would have costed me around $40k more to go to Toronto considering the difference in tuition and cost of living. Then I got accepted to McGill with a sizable scholarship, so this almost seals the deal for me. I am just waiting to hear back from Rotman at this point to see what kind of offer I can get, but I will most likely end up at McGill.
I also reached out to all the ambassadors from the 3 schools I applied to, and only McGill's got back to me. McGill's ambassadors were very much willing to help and I think it shows the kind of community they have among the students and alumni.
McGill's brand name is recognizable in Korea, although not as much as some of top US schools. I read in a newspaper that most of LG group's executives are McGill alumni, so there seems to be a reasonably good network of McGill alumni in Korea. I don't think Koreans know many Canadian schools other than McGill and UofT, which is part of a reason why Schulich (York U) was my last choice among the three, in case I ever had to return to Korea. Yes, Koreans love rankings so I am a little bummed about McGill falling out of FT's top 100, but it is a trend for all Canadian schools as all other schools also experienced huge drops in FT rankings. Good thing about McGill and UofT is that their overall university rankings are quite high, which Koreans also care about.
I've spoken to McGill's ambassadors and to a friend of mine who got his undergrad degree from McGill, and French does not seem to be much of a concern unless you want to work in Montreal after graduation. Since McGill places pretty well in Toronto, I do not think it should be an issue for me. I am also willing to learn French but I know that I will not get to a level needed for professional work environment in 2 years of studying the language.
You have exactly same GMAT score as I do, BTW. What is the breakdown of your score? I think as long as your work experience is good, you stand a good chance of getting at least some scholarship.
I also see that you are applying to Sauder. While it is a great program, you have to consider that the job market in Vancouver is not big which can affect your placement. I was only going to apply to Sauder in R3 if I wasn't accepted at any of the 3 schools I applied to in R2.
Again, good luck and feel free to ask me any questions!