In early November Metro News, ran an interesting supplement about the MBA programs.

The following are the links to and titles of the articles.

MBA degree can pay off:

http://www.metronews.ca/toronto/learn/article/358235–degree-can-pay-off

EMBA can be a juggling act
http://www.metronews.ca/toronto/learn/article/358232–emba-can-be-a-juggling-act

Sauder eyes health care courses
http://www.metronews.ca/toronto/learn/article/358217–sauder-eyes-health-care-courses

Blackberry program a hit
http://www.metronews.ca/toronto/learn/article/358208–blackberry-program-a-hit

The Indian School of Business is ranked 15th according to the Financial Times Global MBA Rankings.

http://www.isb.edu/isb/index.shtml

http://www.isb.edu/ISBWEB/ISBCMS/File/FT_GlobalMBARanking09.pdf

Their Associate Director of Admissions, Hima Bindu, will be visiting Toronto Sunday, September 13th to introduce Canada to their innovative program. This presentation will be conducted in conjunction with the Richardson GMAT Preparation Centre (http://www.prep.com.

The Indian Business School offers an incredibly innovative program. It is a testament to its quality that such a “young school” could rise so quickly in the global MBA rankings.The program combined with its incredible facility in India (home of the world’s fastest growing economy) and its world class faculty, make this one school should consider.

Date: Sunday September 13/09 – Tentative start time 11:00 a.m.

Location: University of Toronto Downtown

In order to register please email: 800gmatprep@gmail.com

Note: This will be free admission!

Richardson GMAT Preparation – Toronto Canada

http://www.prep.com

Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=129615964547

Have a look at this. Could this be a response to the GMAT vs. GRE wars?

The GMAT bus delivers the test to Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Hispanic Serving Institutions

Continuing its journey to increase access to graduate management education, the Mobile GMAT Test Center will launch a cross-country tour of Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Hispanic Serving Institutions. The eight-month tour will begin October 21, 2009, at Humphreys College in Stockton, California.
On its fifth cross-country tour of North America, the GMAT Mobile Test Center, a bus equipped with six testing stations, will deliver the GMAT exam at all US-based four-year HBCU and HSI members at least 40 miles from a permanent GMAT test center. The 14-state, 33-school tour will conclude May 7 at Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach, Fla.

To read the complete article:

http://www.mba.com/mba/TheGMAT/ScheduleaGMATAppointment/GMATBus2009.htm

Should you take the GMAT or GRE for admission to business school?

The GRE has slowly been becoming a substitute for the GMAT in MBA admissions. The reasons are well canvassed at:

http://www.prep.com/gmat800/gmatvsgre.html

Here is a complete list (from GRE) of programs that will accept the GRE.

The following Canadian schools, including Queen’s are included:

• Canada
• Lakehead University
• Queen’s School of Business
• St. Mary’s University
• University of Calgary
• Univ of New Brunswick - Saint John

A special comment with respect to Queen’s. Queen’s also accepts the QMAT for admission to their executive MBA programs.

Comments on this story (4)

Madhavi Acharya-Tom Yew

Business Reporter

Paolo Delano was drawn to Canada as a peaceful land of opportunity.

Nikhil Mathai was looking for the right school.

Mehran Redjvani came here so his fiancée could be closer to her family.

About half of all MBA students in Canada are international students. Whatever brings them to this country, one thing is certain: an MBA program is an expensive endeavour. Fees for international students can run as much as $80,000, compared to $65,000 for their Canadian counterparts.

Add in living expenses and the tab can easily reach $100,000 for a one- or two-year program.

That’s a lot of rupees. Just ask 26-year-old Siddharth Samarth.

“It’s probably about five times the salary I would earn in a year over there,” said Samarth, from India, who worked at a bank in Pune, India for about four years after completing his engineering degree.

“Honestly, I don’t know if I’ve spent that much money in my entire life.”

After seeing businesses in a developing economy, he decided he wanted some perspective on how business is done in the West.

To read the complete article:

http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/588857

Comments on this story (2)

Corina Milic

SPECIAL TO THE STAR

Elissa Beckett’s new company has a strict 90/10 policy – 90 per cent of revenue goes to charity; 10 per cent goes back to the company.

Not the most profitable formula for a woman who holds a master’s degree from one of the country’s top business schools, but Beckett’s bottom line has a few more tiers than most.

“You’re accountable to more than your stakeholders,” said the Richard Ivey School of Business graduate.

Her “triple bottom line” insists on social and environmental responsibility while striving for fiscal gains.

“You can’t pretend it’s 40 years ago and you can run a mill and let your waste go into the river. Consumers are not going to let you get away with practices that are less than ethical,” she said.

Beckett and her business partners have joined the growing ranks of social entrepreneurs graduating from Ivey – a trend that’s taken hold of many students enrolled in the University of Western Ontario’s MBA program.

Social entrepreneurs use entrepreneurial principles to create and manage a social change-making venture. Success is not just measured by profit but also by the venture’s impact on society.

To read the complete article:

http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/588853

Madhavi Acharya-Tom Yew

Business Reporter

The good news is that the big companies, banks and consulting firms are still coming to campus to recruit MBA students.

The bad news is that because firms are cutting their costs, they’re not likely to hire as many students as they do in the boom times.

That means the coming crop of MBA students will have to compete even harder for the few jobs that are out there.

There’s no question that companies are more conservative in their recruiting, said Jeff Muzzerall, director of the Corporate Connections Centre at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management.

“They’re crossing all of their T’s and dotting all their I’s. They want to make sure they’re hiring absolutely the best for the fewer positions they have available, which means our students have to be all the more prepared and competitive and focused,” Muzzerall said.

“It’s important to know what game you’re playing and to change with the game. The student is not in control in this environment.”

It also means that students have to adjust their expectations.

“The banks and consulting firms that in a peak market would pay a $50,000 signing bonus now would pay $10,000,” Muzzerall said. “And the smaller firms, nothing. Signing is your bonus in this market.”

Still, the pace of the job hunt seems to be on track.

These days, about 30 per cent of the graduating MBA class have landed jobs for after graduation. That’s the same as last year and two years ago. In the 2008 class, 90 per cent of students were placed within three months of graduation, according to Rotman’s recruitment statistics.

To read the complete article:

http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/588856

Madhavi Acharya-Tom Yew

Staff Reporter

When the business world slows down, applications to MBA schools go up.

It’s no secret these are difficult times in the business world. Companies are cutting jobs and freezing hiring, and stock markets are way down.

Still, MBA schools say that applications are way, way up. Those who take the plunge into an MBA program, which can cost as much as $65,000 for Canadian students at top-tier schools, hope to acquire skills that will put them at an advantage when the economy rebounds.

MBA schools are doing their best to bring discussion of the latest events into the classroom – whether it’s falling stock markets, mass layoffs or directors who were asleep at the controls – as they help educate the next crop of business leaders.

At the Rotman School of Business at the University of Toronto, applications for the full-time MBA program at up by about 10 per cent to 1,500 this year. That’s for about 260 spots.

“People are thinking now is a good time to go back to school because it’s not a good time to get a job,” said Richard Powers, associate dean and executive director. “And they want to be in a better position to find an interesting job in an industry that they want that’s being compromised right now.”

In the part-time programs, which take three years to complete, the number of applicants is flat. These mid-career recruits would typically get financial support from their companies, as well as flexibility in their work schedules – two things that may feel like big requests these days.

To read the complete article:

http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/588855

Comments on this story (1)

Anna Piekarski

SPECIAL TO THE STAR

As applications are being prepared for MBA (Master of Business Administration) programs, university officials have one message they would like students to heed: be meticulous – these applications will be read carefully.

“A thoughtful application is very telling about how much they want this,” says Niki Healey, director of MBA recruiting and admissions at the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario.

It is helpful advice, but alas, it’s about the only advice all institutions seem to stress. Those looking for the magic formula of grades, standardized test scores and level of work experience required will not find one generic answer.

While it may save time, preparing similar applications and applying to as many schools as possible is to be avoided.

“Unfortunately, there is a bit of a `Throw my hat in the ring everywhere’ mentality,” Healey says.

While the end result may be the same degree, the course to get there is different at every institution, so knowledge of the program is imperative to getting accepted.

To read the complete article:

http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/588858