University of Toronto’s Rotman School, Western University’s Ivey Business School, and Queens University’s Smith School of Business are generally considered the top schools in Canada. Other well-reputed schools outside of Ontario are McGill in Montreal, and University of British Columbia in Vancouver.
All of the top three schools are located in Ontario and feature state-of-the-art campuses in downtown Toronto; Ivey and Smith have satellite campuses in which they run EMBA, Accelerated MBA and other executive and Masters’ programs. Toronto is a fast growing commercial and tech hub and home to large multinationals, many startups, and the financial industry.
Canadian Business magazine actually has a brilliant breakdown of the top ten MBA schools in terms of return on investment.
McGill comes in at #1 in the ROI department which is not surprising considering their sterling reputation. While Canadian Business reports that the cost of an MBA there is considerable at $65,000, in recent years their grads saw an astounding salary increase of 129% to an average of $112,000. This definitely made me sit up and take notice. The school also notes that several opportunities to study abroad are available.
Studying an MBA at Dalhousie University will provide you with more than just a smattering of East Coast charm and people skills. Their graduates go from $33,000 upon entry to an average of $67,000 for an increase of 103% for those of you keeping track at home. The school pointed out that in recent years over 80% of the graduating class were offered jobs before graduating.
If you’re an Ontario person and don’t mind driving a little within the GTA then DeGroote business school based out of Hamilton offers a respectable 91% ROI. Tuition will cost $35,225, but the exiting salary is over $66K.
If tuition is a major factor for you that consider the University of Saskatchewan’s Edwards School of Business. Students entered the school with an average salary of $40,000 and left around $72,000 mark, but the most impressive thing is that this world-class education only costs $24,520.
One final option that is fast gaining traction in the Great White North is going online to get your MBA. I can vouch for the flexibility of online courses being a major positive, especially when you are trying to work at the same time. The MBA program at Athabasca University is one of the leaders in this field with over 900 current students and boasts that it was the first online MBA in the world. This program costs a very competitive $44,000.