What Are The Most Valuable Toronto MBA Programs?
For prospective MBAs, looking at the price tag of earning a degree can be startling- and may even deter talented business leaders from pursuing an advanced education. The fear is certainly justified: an MBA from some of North America’s top business school can reach upwards of $100,000.
Yet, when considering the well-recorded increase that most professionals witness in their salary after earning an MBA, along with a greater likelihood of finding employment, the seemingly impossible cost of an MBA can seem more within reach.
Factors like the cost of a degree, salary increase after graduation and employment rate of graduates are all key numbers that must be considered together before one can determine the true cost of a degree. Below, we take a glance at these different numbers and round up the Toronto MBA programs that provide the best return on investment.
Ivey Business School – Western University Canada
The Ivey Business School at Western University Canada MBA program began in 1950, and has since established itself as one of the best offerings in the world. The business school’s rich legacy has been recognized again and again by the likes of Bloomberg, which touted its MBA as the 11th best international MBA program in 2017. Ivey, with its main teaching center on Western University’s campus in London, Ontario, offers a variety of MBA experiences, such as an full-time, Accelerated, and Executive MBA. The Tangerine Leadership Centre in Toronto’s downtown business district also offers EMBA courses through the Ivey Business School.
The full-time MBA at Ivey is a 12-month program that costs $88,250 to attend for domestic students and $101,500 USD for international applicants. According to the most recent Ivey employment report, about 91 percent of the 169 students in the Class of 2017 earned a job opportunity shortly after graduation, reporting an average salary of $103,560. More than one-third of the Class of 2017 also earned a singing bonus upon employment with a median value of $15,000. Signing bonuses for Ivey MBA grads ranged as high as $45,000 alone, proving that even with high price tag, the degree can immediately pay off.
Ivey Return on Investment (In USD)
| Ivey MBA Tuition | Median Signing Bonus | Median Annual Salary |
|---|---|---|
| $88,250 | $15,000 | $103,560 |
Schulich School of Business – York University
The Schulich School of Business at York University offers students a number of ways to pursue an advanced business education, from full-time, Executive, and International MBA programs as well as offering Master’s degrees in accounting, finance, business analytics, and more. The Schulich International MBA is the first of its kind in Canada, and the Kellogg-Schulich Executive MBA is North America’s first ever cross-border executive MBA degree. However, length of programs should be taken into consideration, since it will determine the time without a full-time income; an important distinction for students that are looking to enter the workforce as soon as possible. At 16-20 months, an MBA at Schulich will take slightly longer to earn than year-long programs like at Ivey.
Roughly 89 percent of graduates from Schulich’s MBA programs find a job within three months, earning an average base salary of $91,860 USD and an average singing bonus of $12,050. Full-time MBA students at Schulich will pay a tuition of $77,900 during the life of the degree, while part-time students pay $81,000. Meaning, grads typically earn about $10,000 more in their first year of employment than the entire cost of the program.
Schulich Return on Investment (In USD)
| Schulich MBA Tuition | Median Signing Bonus | Median Annual Salary |
|---|---|---|
| $77,900 | $12,050 | $91,860 |
Rotman School of Management – University of Toronto
The Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto can boast of origins dating all the way back to 1901, when the university first established a diploma program in commerce. By 1972, the School of Business was an official part of the university, and hasn’t stopped growing since. Today, the Rotman School of Management has become universally recognized by the likes of Financial Times the and Bloomberg as one of the best business schools in the country. Located in downtown Toronto, Rotman offers a two-year, full-time MBA degree, but also more flexible options such as part-time morning and evening MBA programs, executive MBA, and an 18-month Global Executive MBA.
The two-year, full-time MBA tuition at Rotman comes with a price tag of $101,350 CAD ($74,999 USD). However, graduates—80 percent of whom typically find employment within three months after earning their degree—saw a median base salary of $85,000 and median signing bonus of $13,500. This salary increase seems to be typical of MBA graduates in Canada, so considerations of employment rate and program duration may be most important when evaluating Return on Investment for top programs in Canada.
Rotman Return on Investment (In USD)
| Rotman MBA Tuition | Median Signing Bonus | Median Annual Salary |
|---|---|---|
| $74,999 | $13,500 | $85,000 |
Gear Up For These January MBA Deadlines
The next round of MBA admissions is swiftly approaching, with the eve of 2018 almost here. Time to mark those calendars!
New York City
The NYU Stern School of Business, Columbia Business School, and Rutgers Business School, Newark/New Brunswick are the big headliners when it comes to deadlines in the New York City metro in January.
The Forham University Gabelli School of Business, and the Syracuse University Whitman School of Management Online MBA program also have deadlines in the first weeks of the new year. Click here for more information on upcoming New York City metro deadlines.
The third round for application deadlines to Cornell’s Tech MBA on its new Roosevelt Island campus arrives January 10, 2018.
Los Angeles
The biggest Los Angeles metro business school institutions all have a slew of deadlines ready to pass within the first weeks of the new year, including the UCLA Anderson School of Management‘s full-time MBA, USC Marshall‘s part-time program, as well as the Claremont University Peter F. Drucker and Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management‘s part-time MBA.
Take a look at the coming deadlines in the Los Angeles metro here.
Toronto
Two Toronto metro schools have deadlines in early January, with the Ivey Business School full-time, Accelerated, and EMBA deadlines all falling on January 8, 2018. The second round deadline to the University of Toronto Rotman School of Management‘s full-time MBA also falls on January 8.
Take a look at the coming deadlines in the Toronto metro here.
Chicago
Two of the most prominent business schools in the entire Chicago metro—Chicago Booth and Northwestern Kellogg—feature a bevy of full-time, part-time, and Evening MBA deadlines before January 10. As well, the Quinlan School of Business at Loyola University’s full-time MBA for its annual spring intake arrives on January 15, 2018.
Just outside of the city, on the near border of Indiana, the Notre Dame Mendoza College of Business’ second round deadline for its full-time MBA program is set for January 9.
Get familiar with the coming deadlines in the Chicago metro here.
The second round of deadlines for the Northwestern Kellogg part-time and full-time MBA programs arrives on Jan. 10, 2018.
Boston
In Boston, the heart of America’s higher education, every January is a major month for several of the country’s most prominent MBA programs. Indeed, Harvard Business School and MIT Sloan, as well as the Questrom School of Business at Boston University, the Carroll School of Management at Boston College, and Northeastern University’s D’Amore-McKim School of Business all have MBA deadlines right at the beginning of the new year for various MBA programs.
Take a look at the coming deadlines in the Boston metro here.
For updated deadline information in Philadelphia, Washington DC, Baltimore, Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Denver, San Francisco, San Diego, Seattle, and London, click here.
A Recommendation Revolution Is Underway in MBA Admissions: What You Need to Know
I’m busy, you’re busy, your boss is most definitely busy. Indeed, publications ranging from Men’s Health to the Atlantic, the Washington Post to Forbes are all reporting that “busyness“ has become the new status symbol for our times. Which is part of what makes asking someone to write you a letter of recommendation for business school so daunting. Now, try telling that person that you actually need five different letters for five different schools. Oy vey.
As uncomfortable a spot as it puts applicants in—it’s no better for recommenders. Even your most vociferous supporter is going to wonder what in the world she’s gotten herself into when she realizes that helping you in your pursuit of acceptance to business school means taking time away from work or play or family or whatever else to labor over leadership assessment grids, each a little different from the one before, and write 10 slightly different answers to 10 slightly different questions. Here’s hoping that your top-choice school doesn’t happen to be the last one she gets around to…
Good news. The graduate management education industry recognizes the strain that letters of recommendation put on applicants and recommenders alike and has been wrestling with ways to make the process easier for everyone involved. To this end, the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) established a committee made up of admissions representatives from dozens of leading business schools to brainstorm about ways to lessen the burden while still collecting the third-party assessments of candidates that are so critical to the MBA application process.
GMAC Pilots Common MBA Letter of Recommendation
As an outgrowth of that committee’s work, GMAC last year piloted a common MBA letter of recommendation (LOR) that schools can choose to incorporate into their applications to reduce the burden placed on applicants and recommenders alike.
“The Common Letter of Recommendation (LOR) effort is intended to save you and recommenders valuable time by providing a single set of recommendation questions for each participating school,” reads the GMAC website. “This allows your recommenders to use the same answers for multiple letter submissions, alleviating the workload of having to answer different questions for each school multiple times. You benefit because it makes the ask for several different letters to be written on your behalf much easier.”
Cornell’s Johnson Graduate School of Management, NYU Stern School of Business, and Michigan’s Ross School of Business were among the first schools to pilot the Common LOR last year. In addition to a single set of open-ended essay questions, the pilot Common LOR also included a leadership assessment grid inviting recommenders to rate applicants on 16 “competencies and character traits” grouped into four main categories of achievement, influence, personal qualities and academic ability.
“At Johnson, we saw the Common LoR as a clear opportunity to improve the admissions process for candidates and their recommenders in a way that would also add value to our own assessment of applicants,” Judi Byers, Johnson executive director of admissions & financial aid, told Clear Admit. “A thorough and consistent review is important to us and the grid provides a straightforward base of insights that can be assessed and compared reliably while the accompanying letter adds meaningful detail and context,” she added.
Soojin Kwon, managing director of full-time MBA admissions and program at Ross, sees applicants and recommenders as the main beneficiaries of the Common LOR and is pleased that more schools are coming on board. “As more schools adopt it, applicants won’t have to feel like they’re burdening their recommender with completing multiple rec letters with different questions and ratings grids,” she told Clear Admit. “This year, more than a dozen of the top 20 schools are using it.”
Ross was also among the schools to first pilot the Common LOR last year, and Kwon served as part of the GMAC committee that helped craft it.
Common Questions Easy to Agree on, Common Leadership Grid Not
“What we found in using the Common LOR this year past year was that the questions gave us helpful insights into applicants, particularly on the important area of constructive feedback. The questions, however, were fairly similar to what we and other schools were using before, so it was easy for the AdCom to use it,” she notes.
Those questions are as follow:
- Please provide a brief description of your interaction with the applicant and, if applicable, the applicant’s role in your organization. (50 words)
- How does the performance of the applicant compare to that of other well-qualified individuals in similar roles? (E.g. what are the applicant’s principal strengths?) (500 words)
- Describe the most important piece of constructive feedback you have given the applicant. Please detail the circumstances and the applicant’s response. (500 words)
- Is there anything else we should know? (Optional)
“The rating grid was quite different from what we’d used in the past,” Kwon continued. “It was also the most difficult part for the GMAC advisory group to develop and get agreement upon. The group worked this past year to revise and simplify the grid so that AdComs could get more meaningful insights from it.”
This year, the 16 competencies and character traits from the original grid have been distilled to 12, with specific questions about analytical thinking and information seeking omitted. Johnson and Ross have both incorporated the revised leadership grid into the LOR distributed to applicants as part of their applications, as have most other schools that have this year decided to incorporate both the grid and open-ended essay question portions of the form. UT’s McCombs School of Business and Rice University’s Jones Graduate School of Business, notably, still seem to feature the earlier version of the leadership grid in their application, the one that calls on recommenders to assesses applicants on 16 competencies and traits.
Four University of Toronto Professors Appointed as Chief Scientists
Four chief scientists have been tasked with leading research and activities at the University of Toronto in behavioral insights as applied to consumers, citizens, organizations and markets. The appointees will work at the Behavioural Economics in Action at Rotman (BEAR) center, which is part of the Rotman School of Management. The center’s goal is to facilitate behavioral change through research in decision-making and use of empirically tested tools. Using a behavioral science framework, the centre strives to develop non-traditional solutions to social and economic problems. Continue reading…
Rotman MBA Receives Forté Foundation Award
Alex Walker Turner, a 2017 MBA graduate from the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, has received the Edie Hunt Inspiration Award from the Forté Foundation. The award recognized her achievements in advancing women into business leadership positions as well as her significant contributions to her school and community. Continue reading…
A Rotman EMBA Diary: Classmates Become Family
Networking is something that every MBA understands. It’s either a necessary evil—if you’re apprehensive about meeting new people—or it’s just a way to meet new people, get a job, learn about various industries or simply get noticed. However, for Andrew Davidson and Abhimanyu Sood, two EMBA students at the Univeristy of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, networking didn’t just help them meet new people; it helped them to build a new family. Continue reading…
