Global MBA Trends

The Graduate Management Admissions Council conducts an annual poll of MBA graduates to get a sense of what's happening to MBA programs around the world. The 2008 survey was recently released. While the entire survey offers interesting information to admissions advisers and MBA programs, some of it can be useful to students as well.

2008 Global Salary Trend

Always one of the most interesting statistics, MBA grads expect to receive a salary nearly 67% higher than the salary they had going into an MBA. This is up by a wide margin from previous years, and is the highest since grads were expecting to get close to 80% more after their MBA in 2001. Globally, the mean salary of those who had accepted job offers was over $80,000 US. Even with a slowing global economy, it seems that there is still a strong demand for knowledgeable business grads.

What to Look for at a School
Overall, students seem to be pleased with the level of education they have received. Over 90% of students would recommended or probably recommend their school to prospective students. With the ability to meet and/or exceed student expectations and the quality of the curriculum being the main drivers in determining a schools value, strong recommendations show the strength of business education around the world. With most of the top schools in Canada offering a similar quality of education, the intangibles and career benefits are that much more important to consider in deciding on where to take your MBA.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Hello, I am a 2009 MBA applicant, by taking an MBA with finance concentration, I am hoping to switch into financial service industry.

Generally, I am having two choices, 1:Rotman 2:US Business schools
Because I am an international student, US schools are without saying much luring. But I also know that Rotman is quite famous for its finance concentration. And I think Rotman is easier to be enrolled comparing to Top20 US schools, so.. And it's quite close to Bay street, wherears it is hard to get into Stern or Columbia(which are close to Wall Street).

Although I have a lot of interests in Rotman, there are still some drawbacks:

1.The tuition of Rotman is crazy?!! Almost as expensive as HBS!
2.The base salary of Rotman graduats is less than 10k, even some US 30 or 40 could beat it?!

Above are my thinking about Rotman, I wish to hear of your comment and suggestion to me? I appreciate it!!
Anonymous said…
Hi, I think the most important thing to consider is where you want to end up working when you are finished your MBA. I'm assuming you are an international student in terms of both the US and Canada.

If you really want to end up working on Wall Street, you'd probably be better off going to a top 20 US school. On Wall Street, trying to land a position as a foreign applicant with a degree from Rotman (even though it's well known) would be more difficult than with a degree from a top 20 US school.

On the flip side, if you want to work on Bay street, Rotman would obviously have some advantages. However, as a foreign applicant with a degree from a US school, you would probably have an easier time landing a job in Toronto than as a foreign applicant with a degree from Rotman on Wall Street.
Anonymous said…
Hey,there, thanks for your suggestion, it does make some sense. So, how would you rank Rotman among US schools, top30 or 40? I think it's way behind top20, no matter difficulty in application or school reputation.
Or I wanna ask your opinion, if a rotman graduate wants to find a job in the US, his competency is better than TOP???


I think US schools are better choices for Intl students because US graduates make more money comparing to Canadian MBAs. And job market are alot bigger. Would you agree with me??
Anonymous said…
Overall, I would argue that Rotman is probably at the tail end of the top-20 North American schools on a global basis. If you were looking to work only in the United States, I would suggest that Rotman would be consider somewhere in the top 30-40 schools, although its reputation would depend on exactly where in the US you would be interested in working.


Comparing US and Canadian schools for an International student, your intended end destination would be the most important factor. Ignoring a preference to live in either Canada or the US, I'd agree that a top tier US school would be the better value than Rotman. A big part of that is the name recognition that comes with a top US school and the larger network of alumni working around the world. Even though the economy isn't strong in the US right now, the financial markets are still much larger than Canada so it would probably be a better place to pursue a financial career.
Anonymous said…
Dude, thanks for answering my questions, are you a MBA? Where do you study?

According to FT global ranking, the anual income for Rotman is 90k+ dollar, but most US schools are at least 100k usd. Plus, Canada is famous for its tax policy? Which means you will not have much left after the tax?!

Rotman is considered one of the TOP in Canada, why does its MBA has such a low annual income?? Because the economy of Canada is less developed than US, and what about Australia, when you see some Ausie B-schools could reach 100k income?

I would love to hear your opinion. And do you think Rotman is a good choice?? (According to FT, it does not have a good ranking in "Worth" section seemingly?)
Anonymous said…
Hey, I am an MBA student, for the sake of impartiality I'd rather not say where.

Here are two links you might find interesting:

http://www.rotman.utoronto.ca/career/2007JobReport.pdf

http://w4.stern.nyu.edu/ocd/recruiters/placement.cfm?doc_id=7826

They are employment reports for new grads from Rotman and Stern. The base salary's for Finance grads aren't that different between the two, the main difference is in the size of bonuses, which are significantly higher in the US. Which, given the size of the financial markets there and the premium placed on top talent, isn't very surprising.

The FT tries to take some of the variation out of salary figures by using the following methodology:

"To begin with, salary data of alumni in the non-profit and public service sectors, or who are full-time students, are removed.

Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) rates supplied by the World Bank are then used to convert the remaining salary data to US$ PPP equivalent figures.

After the PPP conversion, the very highest and lowest salaries are excluded before the average salary is calculated for each school.

For larger schools, the average salary is weighted to reflect variations in salaries between different sectors. The weights are derived by calculating the percentage of all respondents working in each sector. This percentage breakdown is then used in the calculation of an overall average school salary which includes average salaries for each sector.

The salary data shown on the table are all US$ PPP equivalent figures."

Also worth noting, most of the schools with a high Value for Money ranking in the FT MBA Rankings are one year European schools. The 2nd year outside of the workforce is a large difference maker in value for money.
Anonymous said…
hi,

I want to do MBA in Canada and university of Victoria seems to one with least fees and my score is 550 what do u suggest
Anonymous said…
Hi, Victoria is a fairly decent school. It certainly is one of the schools that offers a friendly tuition to International students.

Without knowing much about your situation, it would be hard offer really firm advice. However, if you want to end up working in Canada, Victoria is good for West Coast connections, which also happens to be a very nice part of the country to live in. Outside of there, it doesn't have as strong as reputation as other schools across Canada. 550 is close to minimum that a number of schools look for, so depending on the rest of your credentials, you should be in okay shape in applying.
Anonymous said…
I have 2 years of IT experience and have done engineering with 60% from India do u suggest me to write gmat again.will writing second time be taken as negative point
Anonymous said…
Hi, two years of work experience should be sufficient. With 60% on an undergraduate degree from India, you should meet most schools entrance requirements. For Victoria, you may want to check directly with the School, but I would think you'd certainly be considered with a 550.

Writing the GMAT a 2nd time isn't a negative. As long as you do better on the 2nd attempt it will probably help your application. However, if you score significantly lower, it can be seen as a negative on your application.
Anonymous said…
hey how can i contact you this seems to be a very painful procedure
Anonymous said…
Hi, please email me at: canadianmbaschools@gmail.com