I graduated in Computer Engineering from U of W last year and now want to move towards finance/accounting fields. I want to hear your opinion about MBA program at McMaster.
What are the career prospects after graduating from this program? How are the classes like ? How hard is it to get into ?
Coming from Waterloo, one thing I am very concerned about is that I dont want to be stuck in a program with bunch of competitive ppl unwilling to cooperate or even talk. I mean my class at Waterloo was bascially divided along ethnic lines with ppl sticking to their groups and having absolutly no class spirit at all. How is MBA with regards to that ?
I am also considering MMPA at UTM. What do you guys think is better option? MMPA or MBA?
Any one has any thoughts on McMaster MBA program ?
I guess its your lucky day! I’m currently finishing my Ph.D. at DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University, and previously graduated from the McMaster MBA program with a concentration in e-Business & Knowledge Management. At that time, I had three reasons to join the program:
It was one of a kind in Canada – no other schools offered an e-Business Concentration which I was interested in. I had been an e-Business Architect for a few years and wanted to complement my portfolio with a business education.
I knew I wanted to pursue a Ph.D. and was very impressed by the faculty profiles at McMaster
the program was affordable for someone like me who wanted to work and support myself through the studies.
Like you, I had an undergraduate degree in Computer Science from U of T and I found the program generally stimulating.
However, the only reservation I have is that you are a recent graduate… and MBA is typically recommended for professionals with at least 2.5 to 3 years of work experience. Trust me when I say this but you will extract the most value out of an MBA education when you can apply your experiences from the real world to the classroom – otherwise, the curriculum and the lectures don’t mean much.
If you’re simply interested in moving up the ladder through an advanced management oriented qualification, I’d much rather go for an M.Sc. in Management at other schools… these degrees usually dwell upon academic backgrounds more than professional experiences. This goes hand in hand with enjoying a collegial atmosphere with your peers.
Are you considering the MBA Co-Op option? Even so, since you don’t have a finance related background, it may be difficult to find a placement in your area of interest. I’ve personally known many students with horror stories first hand in my MBA years at McMaster.
Having said all this…
In terms of the school itself, its pretty good – we tend to outdo the other MBA schools in terms of the annual exit exams conducted by ETS… have good reputation in case competitions and lately, the school has been expanding very rapidly into innovative areas such as Directors College, Intellectual Capital Management etc.
In comparison, the MMPA program at U of T is more theoretically oriented (yeah yeah… even if they say its practical)… but are you sure you want to get into Accounting and not Finance? The latter has more synergies for people with technology backgrounds.
That’s about it for now… Let me know if you have any other questions.
It was one of a kind in Canada – no other schools offered an e-Business Concentration which I was interested in. I had been an e-Business Architect for a few years and wanted to complement my portfolio with a business education.
I knew I wanted to pursue a Ph.D. and was very impressed by the faculty profiles at McMaster
the program was affordable for someone like me who wanted to work and support myself through the studies.
Like you, I had an undergraduate degree in Computer Science from U of T and I found the program generally stimulating.
However, the only reservation I have is that you are a recent graduate… and MBA is typically recommended for professionals with at least 2.5 to 3 years of work experience. Trust me when I say this but you will extract the most value out of an MBA education when you can apply your experiences from the real world to the classroom – otherwise, the curriculum and the lectures don’t mean much.
If you’re simply interested in moving up the ladder through an advanced management oriented qualification, I’d much rather go for an M.Sc. in Management at other schools… these degrees usually dwell upon academic backgrounds more than professional experiences. This goes hand in hand with enjoying a collegial atmosphere with your peers.
Are you considering the MBA Co-Op option? Even so, since you don’t have a finance related background, it may be difficult to find a placement in your area of interest. I’ve personally known many students with horror stories first hand in my MBA years at McMaster.
Having said all this…
In terms of the school itself, its pretty good – we tend to outdo the other MBA schools in terms of the annual exit exams conducted by ETS… have good reputation in case competitions and lately, the school has been expanding very rapidly into innovative areas such as Directors College, Intellectual Capital Management etc.
In comparison, the MMPA program at U of T is more theoretically oriented (yeah yeah… even if they say its practical)… but are you sure you want to get into Accounting and not Finance? The latter has more synergies for people with technology backgrounds.
That’s about it for now… Let me know if you have any other questions.
Thanks dude. I appreciate the answer. What are the placement rates like for the people who graduate out of the program. What sort of backgrounds the ppl in your class had. I mean was it really diversified? My delimme is that i need experience to get a finance or consulting job. My undergrad degree and the work i do now are simply not enough to get me a finance job.