If you’re trying to decide where to go to school for your MBA, Kristina Koch, an MBA student at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, has some advice. In a recent blog post, she revealed that your MBA experience is intrinsically tied to the location of your school.
Kristina readily admits that she loves Toronto. “Over the past 29 years, I have lived and studied in Austria, Finland, Switzerland, Canada – and soon Russia,” she said. “And while all of these places had their own charm, there is really nothing like Canada’s largest city.”
In 2015, Toronto was declared the “world’s most livable city” by the Economist Intelligence Unit. It’s also one of the most diverse cities with 50% of its residents born outside of Canada and more than 140 languages spoken.
While all of that is good, what if the Rotman School isn’t on your list of MBA programs? Why does location matter?
“I would argue that location – the city and country in which you will spend one or two years of your life – is almost as important, if not equally important, as the spot a school occupies in the rankings,” said Kristina.
She went on to say that, typically, once students choose an MBA location, they’ll stay there once they graduate, which means not only will the location of your MBA program be where you live during the academic year, it will also be where you stay. Plus, during your MBA program, you’ll meet a wide variety of recruiters and build a stable off campus network that you won’t want to give up once you graduate.
“Before I came to Canada, I thought in detail about what job opportunities would be available to me by studying in Toronto, the heart of Canada’s business and financial centre – and not only because it was one of Rotman’s essay questions at the time,” remembered Kristina.
The long discussion about her MBA location was a great decision for her. She chose Toronto because it fit her background and her work experience, as well as her desire for a multi-cultural environment. The diversity of Toronto made it a better workplace for her and added to her social experience.
At the end of the day, she only had one thing to say. “Keep this in mind when you choose which school to go to for your MBA: location, location, location!”