I am looking for (as much as possible) unbiased opinion and information about McGill’s Desautels, JMSB, HEC, compared to other business schools in Canada such as Queens, Rotman, Schulich, and Ivey. Basically, I am trying to figure out which business school I should go to/apply to and I must say that I am torn, so I am truly sorry for the long text that is about to follow.
So, I’m from Montreal, currently studying at Dawson College to complete my DEC in Social Science. I am usually a top student (mostly 90s+) with a pretty decent R score. Ideally, I would like to do my undergraduate here in Montreal, and then my MBA. Essentially, I want to work as a business consultant (mostly interested in Marketing/PR) or in project management or in marketing/sales management.
Bottom line is, I want to know which school would offer me the best opportunities. After my Bcomm, I am planning on moving either to London, UK or in New York City, and do my MBA at the same time as I start working to gain experience. Therefore, I would like to know:
In terms on recognition internationally, is Desautels, JMSB or HEC better? More specifically for London or Europe in general and NYC.
Which school would allow me to get accepted into the best Business School for an MBA in Europe or USA
Which school offers the highest-paid job offers or best opportunities if I want to work internationally.
Which school offers the best program in terms of quality?
Which school offers the best opportunities in terms of internships and networking? (aside from your own personal connections)
How do these schools compare to other top business schools in Canada in terms of quality and recognition in the job market and internationally.
Which school offers the nicest student exchange program if I want to go to London or USA.
Finally, which school is more "hands-on learning" than "theory learning" because though I think that theory is an essential foundation, to learn and to become better, you must DO instead of listening to lectures all day and write notes to actually learn and become better.
Ouff, if you’ve read until here, my apology for this long post… Didn’t intend for it to be THAT long lol Thanks in advance for your help!!! Any help is appreciated
McGill is the only Canadian school that gets immediate name recognition outside of Canada. Concordia is unheard of but HEC is well regarded in francophone areas.
Note that most top MBA programs in the US do not offer part time study. Also top MBA programs require a minimum of 2 years post bachelor’s work experience before applying for admission.
I am sorry but what @tomofboston said is not completely true. McGIll is not the only Canadian school that gets immediate name recognition outside of Canada. In fact, programs such as Queen’s and Ivey are gaining more and more recognition internationally than McGill. Also, WLU’s Business Program is being recognized as one of the most challenging business undergraduate programs in Canada. If having a McGill profile picture is not being biased, then I don’t know what is.
@javv34 You are a 17 year old 12th grader. I am sure your world travels have supported your claims. And yes, I am a McGill alumnus who has a tad more experience in the business world than you have.
I worked more than 12 years in Asia for Tier 1 investment banks. In Asia, thanks to French immigration, the HEC is well known, and the HEC Montreal benefit from that (just don’t say it too loud).
In fact, there are so many French speakers in Tokyo and Hong-Kong that if you are a trader and don’t speak French, you have not access to the best market.
I went to the mba session of both McGill and HEC. For me, its the small classes and the program itself that attracted my interest to HEC. The HEC program is intensive and last one year only vs two for both McGill and JMBS.
I was not interested in “making contacts” as I have tons of them with a 20 year career in investment banking, but it could be of interest for you as you don’t plan to have a big work experience before starting your MBA. On this, I’m not sure which one offers the best, probably McGill, but HEC not far beyond but with European contacts (ie France … which is a very good network to have anyhow…).
Keep in mind McGill s $80k. At that price, if you’re personally footing the bill, I’d consider JMSB and HEC instead, or I’d go somewhere else (ie Toronto or Boston area
Consider this post to be slightly biased as I am a former JMSB student. Comparing strictly JMSB and McGill, McGill is the one with the most international name recognition. However do not confuse this with quality Business education. Don’t get me wrong, there are many smart students at McGill with very good professors. However the McGill name gained most of its international recognition through its Doctor and law programs which unfortunately for the other majors gets a big chunk of the annual budget.
The education at JMSB has a more practical methodology. You can expect more case based studies forcing you to apply the academic concepts to cases based on real world situations. Expect professors mostly with professional designations and decades of real world experience including high governmental and private positions. You can get jobs through your professors! JMSB takes international case competitions very seriously. This is where JMSB is feared amongst Canadian and International Universities as the undergraduate and graduate teams often win podium. This demonstrates the effectiveness of the JMSB teaching Methods and culture. You will come out of JMSB on average as a stronger business person with more practical knowledge.
Now what does this all translate to? Well, McGill might help you get your first job, but let me tell you, performance during your career trumps the school you attended when deciding on promotion prospects or career job switching. In my opinion, JMSB will better prepare you for the real world, giving you the necessary practical experience to outperform your fellow employees. Locally, McGill, HEC, and JMSB are highly regarded, however in my opinion, HEC and JMSB have stronger Business programs.
As a JMSB student, majoring in Accounting, I received multiple Big 4 offers. When looking at the new hires list, there were double the amount of hired JMSB students then there were McGill. Clearly JMSB has the edge locally with ample employment opportunities.
JMSB has 7000 undergrads, Desautels has 2500 undergrads. That could explain the discrepancy. Also McGill grads tend to disperse throughout Canada and the world.
TomSrOfBoston, you are right, JMSB does have more than double the undergrads. It is a bigger business school. Bigger school=bigger alumnus. Bigger Alumnus=greater network of business professionals. However it does seem that the ratio of hired students is the same. McGill grads do tend to disperse throughout Canada however this is mainly due to McGill’s Acceptance policy geared towards international recognition. They admit mostly international students who are only coming to Montreal for a 3-4 year time span to study and leave.
To answer the original poster’s question not sure how recognition is all over Europe, however i had a group project with a student from France, according to him, he chose JMSB majoring in finance, and i quote, “Back in France, they gobble up JMSB finance grads”.
As a side note, just found out that a friend of mine who goes to UQAM (yes the worst Montreal University) just got accepted to the Imperial College of London for a masters of Finance and Accounting. Just goes to show that your performance and networking skills are much more powerful than the name on the diploma. Choose the one that will give you the best tools to perform.
Hi everyone,
Thanks God I found this newest threat about this discussion. When google it I found whole bunch of very old comments in the past 10 years and they talked about JMSB as crap. So to be up-to-date, do you guys think the situation is getting better?
To be honest, my R Score is just slightly higher than McGill’s requirement (for BComm program in 2015), so I am really afraid of being refused. My goal is the CPA designation, and then the MBA, Concordia seems to be more welcomed students who finished CEGEP or university from other countries which are my two cases. I meant I couldn’t find those information regarding my case in McGill’s admissision page.
I was 90% sure to apply to JMSB because I knew I had more chances to be accepted, also save time and money for application. But then I did a little reasearch about McGill vs Concordia, I think if people all say that McGill is way better, why not just try my luck?
