U Calgary MBA program

[BavarianBeast]

Just wondering if anybody has completed the mba program at UofC and what they thought of it? I’ve been out of school for 6 years now and would like to do some meaningful education.

Cheers

[killramos]

I am currently the better part of the way through mine. Program is pretty good, definitely has some flaws but I think it’s really you get out of it what you put into it. I have learned a ton so far especially in the area of finance.

This thread should get you started.

https://forums.beyond.ca/threads/406251-Evening-Haskayne-MBA

Let me know if you have any specific questions.

[BavarianBeast]

Thanks for the reply killramos. I see your doing the evening program, how much time do you find your investing into studying/assignments outside of the schooling? Have you found that you’ve met some good people/connections through the program? Good professors or just a bunch of wash ups?

Cheers

[killramos]

Time commitment isn’t really that bad. What I found worst with work is taking a couple weeks off a year for block week. Really eats into your vacation time and come at pretty bad times of the year for work in my case. I took 2 full extra courses above the base courseload this term to try and make things easier for me over the next year while working full time and while I was busy and tired I made it work. Taking 1 extra course in a semester isn’t really a big deal.

Assignments and studying I mostly do on the weekend. Few hours sat and Sunday after golfing in the morning and an hour here and there during the week. Some courses require more than others, there is one I plan on taking this fall that threatens 10+ hours a week of work outside of class time to be succssssful. I find it’s helpful to not get too wrapped up into the concept of meeting up with group members too often for assignments as that really eats up a lot of time, amazing the number of people who haven’t grasped the concept of colaboration by email for simple stuff.

I have definitely met some cool people, some friends who will likely be lifelong contacts. You get to know who you like working with pretty quickly. And who you don’t want to work with even quicker haha.

The professors are pretty good. I’d say about 25% I found it a real privilege to learn from them, around 50% that are just alright, and maybe 25% duds you can barely stay awake during. Haskayne definitely invests some money in its professors as far as talent goes. I think I saw that my accounting prof this term cleared over 260k this year. Not shabby.

One thing that is pretty valuable is some of the extra events you get access to as a student, there was one open bar dinner I went to for a nominal 20 dollar fee with a star power committee doing a discussion, while at the table they recruited a few C suite level alumni for you to have further discussions with. I think they call it The jaroslowski fellow dinner series? That was pretty cool.

One of my biggest concerns with the program is I think they dumb it down to the lowest common denominator a bit too much, that’s not the profs fault as a general rule but more of a faculty guideline for pass rates. I think they could be a bit more academically stringent in which case I think the higher achievers would get more out of the program.

If you come from an engineering background you will find the academics of it a breeze, it’s mostly a time management excersize.

End of the day total cost for the full program is about 40k split over 2.5-3 years

[BavarianBeast]

Thanks for the reply man! Hoping to start in the fall.

[killramos]

You seem like a motivated guy, you will do great.

Let me know if you want me to send you any course syllabuses or anything like that if you want any more information.

[ickyflex]

BCOM Perspective:

20x Easier than a BCOM. It's actually refreshing in the sense that you get out of the program as you see fit. You want to do little work and coast by you can easily do that. However, if you would like to learn lots and get a lot of out the program you can certainly do that as well. There is an untold hidden pass always, which has been held true to 99% of the people I've met. Some courses i've taken were fantastic learning topics of interest with great guest speakers and great profs with real life experiences. A lot of classes aren't about a textbook, but about real life experiences and practical group work.

I'd say about 70% of the people I've met try way to hard to justify their existence in the program and how "awesome" they are. The other 30% recognize we are all here for the same reason and those are the ones I've kept in touch with and made great connections with.

John Fisher Real Estate Classes are by far the best experiences you can get. Even if you are not interested in Real Estate.

[sexualbanana]

I've consider an MBA on multiple occasions, but I'm always hesitant as a marketing grad because if it's anything like the BComm program, they don't give a damn about the marketing side. I'd have to go to a more marketing-focused school and that would just be too far away.

[austic]

I have my registration day for the fall intake coming up. The options actually seem pretty interesting but you are right even though they have a marketing major there appears to be only 4 marketing courses all year available for the Evening MBA so your options are limited.

[BavarianBeast]

I tried to wing the GMAT and scored 490 lol. I’ve been asked to rewrite by the end of June. Should be able to pull out a 550 with a little prep this time. Any suggestions for study guides to hammer out in the next couple of weeks?

[killramos]

I bought the books just from chapters from GMAC which were pretty good. If you work downtown I could bring them in tomorrow and honestly you can have them.

Software licenses that come with them are probably expired but I’m sure licences are pretty cheap if you want. Pearson review does prep courses and tests but chances are slim that timing will work for you.

Honestly I bet you still get in the the 490 the standards at UofC are hideously low. They have an averaging process along with your undergrad gpa that is also used if your university grades aren’t bad.

[BavarianBeast]

Thanks Killramos, I appreciate that but I’ll just pick up the set tonight from chapters and get at it.

You are probably right about the score, it sounded as if they didn’t really care but just wanted me to write again anyways. They basically said as long as I improve my score, I should be fine.

[killramos]

It’s an annoying test, but now that you have seen what it’s like you will be better off for it and know what to study. I assume you got the breakdown of where you did poorly?

Ironically engineers tend to do bad in the quant section because the figure they don’t have to study for it but it has some kindof odd mental math skills involved you may not be used to.

[ickyflex]

I tried to wing the GMAT and scored 490 lol. I’ve been asked to rewrite by the end of June. Should be able to pull out a 550 with a little prep this time. Any suggestions for study guides to hammer out in the next couple of weeks?

I don't doubt you'll have any issues getting in. Most people in the program thus far have been fairly entry level jobs in O&G or entry level jobs in other sectors. I think they try and keep the admission "high" so you feel better, but I have no doubts they just let anyone in.

[Disoblige]

So the question I have is, is evening MBA worth it, or is it worthwhile to pay more and do an eMBA? Is it a valid concern to think that you might be in classes with a bunch of people who are under experienced or am I out to lunch and the networking is still pretty decent? I guess it also depends what your expectations are after the program too.

[killramos]

Well EMBA is twice as much money, more intrusive to your work schedule (every other Friday off), and the courses are exactly the same just with less expectations from you in terms of academics. And end of he day it’s atill from UofC so don’t expect people to treat you like you are Ivy League because of it.

I guess it depends how much you value socializing versus education?

In my experience the people who just show up for the networking aspect are the biggest dogfuckers in the program. :dunno:

That said only you can decide if it’s worth it, I know I have learned a lot. The people who barely attend? Probably not so much.

[Disoblige]

That said only you can decide if it’s worth it, I know I have learned a lot. The people who barely attend? Probably not so much.
I thought you said there were participation marks? Hahaha. I can't believe that is actually a thing. What are we, in grade 2...

[ickyflex]

So the question I have is, is evening MBA worth it, or is it worthwhile to pay more and do an eMBA? Is it a valid concern to think that you might be in classes with a bunch of people who are under experienced or am I out to lunch and the networking is still pretty decent? I guess it also depends what your expectations are after the program too.

As an Engineer (I'm not buy I have a friend who did it as an Engineer) then the program is worth it for Education purposes. However, if you are a business grad and just want the letters and to network, do eMBA.

I am in no way knocking the program, I'm just speaking from my experience. You may have maybe one person in each class you take that you would legitimately want to have from a networking point of view, but the majority of the classes i've been in (6 thus far) have been a combination of Accounts Payable Analysts, Telecome Sales Rep, Back Office Bank Workers, Other Industries (Psychologists/Nurses/Health Researchers), Business owners (Nail Salon/Restauraunts/Fam Business/Franchise Owner/Autobody Shop Owner).

Very few people i've met have any "Intermediate" type roles let alone senior roles within an organization I'd say.

With that said, the program offers many programs to meet high achieving people outside of your classmates and to network with high net worth individuals outside the network that are affiliated with school programs.

This is strictly from my experience from a perspective of 6 classes.

Also, yes some classes have participation (usually <10%), but honestly there is no such thing as failing in the MBA. If you look at many course outlines the distribution scale begins at B- (minimum pass). Work load...I took 4 classes in a semester, worked full time, and got grades higher than my undergrad. However, 4 evenings gone, so it was 4 months of hanging out alone at home.

Edit: Also..if you asked 75% of the people in the class they would likely tell you this is going to skyrocket their careers and they are the smartest people in the world. I may just be more of a realist or a pessimist, but I just know that at the end of the day my piece of paper just gets put slightly ahead of someone elses in a pool of great candidates.