Any business aspirant can flourish when they attend a high-ranking university, especially when the institution is a global powerhouse. For decades, McMaster University’s DeGroote School of Business has attracted ambitious professionals to its two campuses — Hamilton and Burlington — overlooking the shores of Lake Ontario in Canada.
McMaster University now ranks #80 worldwide and #4 in Canada according to Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2022. When you pair that with DeGroote School of Business’s student-first approach, you get the perfect recipe for a “magnet” that brings hundreds of applicants from 26 countries to the bustling province of Ontario.
Their pull factors? World-class MBA programmes, a Career and Professional Development (CPD) team dedicated to MBA students, countless networking events and opportunities, an international environment on campus, and access to companies like Deloitte and the Royal Bank of Canada — all in one of the most stable and competitive business domains in the world.
Here are the four game-changing MBA programmes offered at DeGroote School of Business:
Full-Time MBA with Co-op
Perhaps the most ideal — and oldest — programme in Canada for fresh graduates who lack industry experience and need to network is the Full-Time MBA with Co-op. A co-op or work term, is a work integrated learning opportunity and this programme alternates between traditional education in the classroom with three fully-paid work terms, giving students the chance to work in leading organisations for up to 12 months. Their average annual salary over three co-op work terms is 41,000 Canadian dollars.
The programme produces graduates who have the right skills, knowledge, and experience to enter an increasingly globalised workforce. Around 97% of this MBA programme’s graduates are employed after six months.
Every student that works with CPD throughout the entire application process has a 94% to 100% success rate of landing the work experience of their dreams. Intrigued? Wait until you find out that enrolling in the co-op work term also contributes to the Post Graduate Work Permit.
This programme gave Jose Sanchez Lira (Class of 2019) from Medellin, Colombia the personal and professional growth he needed to land his current role as an Associate (Sales & Trading Rotational Programme) at Scotiabank. “DeGroote’s co-op programme allowed me to gain great exposure to the industries that I was interested to work in and head start to build those relationships that I was eager to construct,” he says. “My growth and development since I started into the program has been remarkable.”
Classes are just as dynamic. “The feeling you have in class is amazing because we all want in a sense the same things,” says student Karol Juliana Coy Peña (Class of 2024). “We want to learn, growth and be a better version of ourselves. Doing an MBA at DeGroote is very challenging, but you will find people going through the same struggle than you. MBA Students Ambassadors, Professors, Academic Advisors, Relationship Managers, Alumni, and in general, the DeGroote community, will prepare and support you to go through this journey.”
Full-time MBA
Nicolas Jaramillo Martinez (Class of 2023), who hails from Bogota, comes from an engineering background, and a country where English is not spoken as the first language. The Colombian thought he would not fit into the programme and was anxious about the whole thing.
He buried his thoughts as soon as he began his full-time MBA programme. “Our students, staff and alumni were the essential aspects which made me choose DeGroote over other academic institutions. From the beginning, when I was deciding where to pursue my MBA programme, I found a special bond with the DeGroote community.”
Martinez is now a Business Analyst Intern for Scotia Wealth Management. He credits the MBA programme — which takes less than two years to complete — for opening new doors for him and intellectually stimulating him via a rigorous curriculum. “The MBA programme exposes you to various challenging situations where you learn how to make better decisions and determine how you will lead in the future,” he says.
Executive MBA in Digital Transformation
The Executive MBA in Digital Transformation Programme (EMBA) spans 14 months and focuses on equipping executives with the tools, resources, and knowledge to lead their companies through digital disruption. Students learn how to understand and implement digital systems, make data-driven decisions, lead global teams, and recruit talents.
Senior Sales Manager at Canada Post, Josh Green (Class of 2021), graduated from the EMBA programme and went on to use digital-first strategies and design thinking to transform what he does at the organisation. One of the challenges he helped tackle was the shift to the virtual landscape, where Canada Post began adopting Microsoft Teams as their software solution.
“From a leadership perspective, I can’t say enough about the transformational leadership experience,” Green says. “That’s something I’m living and breathing every single day and I’ll continue to aspire to do going forward.”
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