CarlMtl wrote:
blah23 wrote:
As a somebody who currently works in MC in Calgary and looking to go for a Canadian MBA I'll give my thoughts and thoughts of others I've talked to while doing my research on schools.
1 - Alberta schools are not viewed to be impressive, I would not suggest these schools for MC or high finance. We do have a few local MBA grads in our group, but I would say they are the exception over the rule. After talking with people in finance, mostly PE, they have all recommended not doing a western Canada MBA.
2 - If you are looking to break into O&G, an Albertan based MBA could suit your needs. I think it could probably get you into areas like supply chain, logistics and other functions without too much strain at large O&G producers
3 - Ivey, U of T and Queens are generally viewed as the better schools here. I don't hear Sauder mentioned much at all, so I'm not sure and how it fits in but I haven't seen too many grads from the MBA program (if any?)
4 - U of T does not have a network out here, I imagine there are a few people but I cannot name one. So expect a much weaker network
5 - Ivey and Queens have the best networks in Calgary and are more respected, although I think Queens may get this reputation from having a strong undergrad program
6 - Our MC (Canada wide) practice took on 2 MBA interns this year, 1 from McGill and 1 from Booth. So no U of T MBAs got summer gigs with us and of course none from the 1 year programs
1 - Alberta schools are not viewed to be impressive, I would not suggest these schools for MC or high finance. We do have a few local MBA grads in our group, but I would say they are the exception over the rule. After talking with people in finance, mostly PE, they have all recommended not doing a western Canada MBA.
2 - If you are looking to break into O&G, an Albertan based MBA could suit your needs. I think it could probably get you into areas like supply chain, logistics and other functions without too much strain at large O&G producers
3 - Ivey, U of T and Queens are generally viewed as the better schools here. I don't hear Sauder mentioned much at all, so I'm not sure and how it fits in but I haven't seen too many grads from the MBA program (if any?)
4 - U of T does not have a network out here, I imagine there are a few people but I cannot name one. So expect a much weaker network
5 - Ivey and Queens have the best networks in Calgary and are more respected, although I think Queens may get this reputation from having a strong undergrad program
6 - Our MC (Canada wide) practice took on 2 MBA interns this year, 1 from McGill and 1 from Booth. So no U of T MBAs got summer gigs with us and of course none from the 1 year programs
Blah23,
Thanks a lot for sharing your western perspective, I'm surprised to hear Albertan schools aren't taken more seriously. Didn't Brett Wilson get an MBA from one of those schools? And didn't he get his start in investment banking?
Cheers,
Carl
I think Haskayne does alright on the sells-side finance, assuming you had the right pre-MBA exp and are in the top students. I can name a couple ER Analysts with Haskayne MBAs but both had either o&g engineer experience or oilfield service exp prior to their MBA. I would say engineers with O&G exp can make the jump to finance with some hard work, but if you have no O&G exp it suddenly gets a lot more difficult as you just don't have the technical knowledge.
Brett Wilson did get his start in ibanking, but that doesn't impact much. If you are going after finance/MC in my opinion is better to go to an Ontario school and recruit with the large firms/banks and ask to be located in Calgary. They'll probably be happy you want Calgary, as it is sometimes tougher to convince people to come out here and it may help in the recruiting process.
If you want an O&G firm, small banking shop then go to Haskanye and network (especially for finance). If you want a big bank, consulting firm go to where the recruitment teams are actually located (Ontario).
I cannot speak for U of A, as I've never met an MBA from there and we don't even recruit there for our MC group at the undergrad level, we do at Haskanye though.
All that being said I am a strong supporter of networking on your own, and it can often get you into places where you school might not normally place.