Education

MBA Guide 2020: Programs in Ontario

Specializations, fast-tracking, brand-new buildings: Our updated 2020 MBA guide

DeGroote School of Business
McMaster University, Hamilton

Full time: 16-28 months
Part time: 36 months
Work experience required: 1 year of work experience required for international students and preferred for domestic; 4 years’ work experience required for part-time students
Tuition: $43,000

Highly experiential, DeGroote’s new blended-learning, part-time program launched last September. Flexible online learning combined with interactive residencies culminate in a capstone project with a corporate partner. The Clinic, a “think-space” interconnected with the McMaster Medical Centre and St. Joseph’s Healthcare in Hamilton, helps commercialize McMaster’s vast research by having MBA students transform data into viable businesses. Extracurriculars include initiatives that focus on wellness and inclusivity, and cultural and pride events.

Goodman School of Business
Brock University, St. Catharines

Full time: 24 months
Part time: 2-4 years
Work experience: Experience recommended, not required
Tuition: $26,000

A new “double degree” option at the Goodman School of Business allows students to follow up their year in St. Catharines with an overseas French adventure: a year at either the Kedge Business School or the Burgundy School of Business. Students graduate with both an MBA and a master of science (Burgundy) or management (Kedge). (French proficiency is not required; all classes are in English.) Goodman also offers an optional co-op work placement, and new renovations have added 5,000 sq. feet of teaching space, and 3,500 sq. feet of networking and social space.

University of Guelph
Guelph

Full time: 24 months (no part-time)
Work experience required: 3-5 years’ work experience in related field
Tuition: $40,600

The relatively hefty work experience prerequisite makes for an impressive cohort that already excels at a wide range of skills. No work placement is required (though the Business Career Development Centre will happily help graduates find work, too). Beginning each May, students complete nine core business courses, three specialized industry courses and either a research project or two electives. With its recent $21-million donation—the largest in the school’s history—from Stu and Kim Lang, the business program will have a new home on campus in the renovated Macdonald Hall, as well as substantial new resources, supplies, scholarships and experiential learning opportunities.

Ivey Business School
Western University, London

Full time: 13 months (no part-time)
Work experience required: 3-5 years
Tuition: $84,800

While Western’s MBA program isn’t technically part-time, a brand new 12-month accelerated program will be available in January 2020 for working professionals with undergraduate degrees in business. The innovative “blended” program requires just three weekend class days per month and an interactive online portion to be completed at the student’s own pace, and wherever they are in the world. One hundred and seventy full-time Ivey MBA students enjoy over a dozen clubs, including entrepreneurship, consulting and pride clubs, and participate in various case competitions and community service projects. The newly completed Robert Stuebing Recruiting Centre is dedicated entirely to career management.

Lakehead University
Thunder Bay

Full time: 12 months
Part time: 36 months
Work experience required: None
Tuition: $18,600

Early-career professionals with backgrounds of all kinds pick Lakehead’s MBA, offered in a year-long full-time or three-year part-time program. Alongside basic core courses on operations, marketing, financial and human resource management, is a real-world, industry-embedded capstone project course. Last year’s cohort of 60 was comprised of 85 per cent international students. Though it’s not required, those who prefer a work placement can apply through the school’s Work Integrated Learning program.

Laurentian University
Sudbury

Full time: 12 months
Part time: Up to 8 years
Work experience required: None
Tuition: $22,200

Though the average Laurentian MBA student has 13 years of work experience, they don’t technically need any on-the-job time at all, and they’re not required to take the GMAT. These are big incentives for the school’s more than 200 part-timers (more than four times the full-time cohort) looking to complete the degree on their own time and terms. A flexible format lets them work online, on-campus or in a combination of both. Class offerings are continually expanding, with six new additions this year including Ethical Leadership, Global Management and Corporate Finance. A work placement is required only for those with two years or less of work experience.

Lazaridis School of Business & Economics
Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo

Full time: 12 months
Part time: 40 months
Work experience required: 2 years
Tuition: $33,000

Routinely ranked No. 1 in student satisfaction by Maclean’s, Laurier is home to Lazaridis’s co-op business degree—the largest in Canada—which pioneered the development of an integrated curriculum. Eighty-five full-time and 50 part-time students (a full half of them female) focus on immersive learning with an emphasis on management, though there’s no management experience required. Options abound with classes offered on weekends and evenings and in two locations, the Waterloo campus and downtown Toronto.

Odette School of Business
University of Windsor

Full time: 14 months
Part time: 24 months
Work experience required: None
Tuition: $24,700

Designed to accommodate students without business backgrounds, this intimate and immersive 14-month program—capped at just 48 people per year—features some cool crossovers for students with many interests: Odette’s partnership with Windsor’s Faculty of Law offers an integrated MBA and JD, for example, and the accounting stream, accredited by the Chartered Professional Accountants of Ontario, directly prepares grads to write the body’s final exam. A unique co-op placement divides the classroom into small groups and pairs them with corporations like Crayola, and Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment.

Rotman School of Management
University of Toronto

Full time: 20 months
Part time: 28-32 months
Work experience required: 2 years
Tuition: $92,500

More than 400 MBA students annually choose U of T’s Rotman School: it’s in the heart of multicultural Toronto, enjoys a global reputation of excellence and offers massive choice with 90 electives across seven academic areas and 15 majors. Nine classrooms were renovated this summer with the latest technology to accommodate a similarly wide range of learning options (traditional, hybrid-online, experiential and immersive lab delivery). Many students will take wise advantage of academic credits available through a large slate of experiential leaning ops such as OnBoard, where they act as board members to lend their business acumen to local community organizations.

Schulich School of Business
York University, Toronto

Full time: 16 months
Part time: 42 months
Work experience required: 2 years
Tuition: $71,600

Ranked the top school in Canada by the Financial Times and The Economist, Schulich has overseas campuses in India and China and operates exchanges with over 80 leading business schools globally, situating its graduates in the one of the largest alumni networks in the world. Two hundred full-time students can accelerate their program to graduate within eight months, though no programs can be done exclusively online. Last year, the school launched two new master’s degrees—a Master of Supply Chain Management and Master of Management in Artificial Intelligence—for a total of eight, making Schulich one of the most diversified business schools in North America.

Smith School of Business
Queen’s University, Kingston

Full time: 12 months (no part-time)
Work experience required: 2 years
Tuition: $83,000

Smith’s innovative approach focuses on team-based learning that mirrors the workplace—for the duration of their core program, 80 students are assigned into small groups in which they collaborate on assignments, projects and presentations while also identifying their individual strengths and skills. Each student benefits from a team coach to monitor their progress and effectiveness. Digital transformation and management analytics are two new specializations recently added to Smith’s offerings for a focus on real-world perspectives from a variety of industries. Alumni return regularly to teach courses and lead weekend workshops on business areas not directly covered in the curriculum. One-on-one career coaching helps identify career preferences, nurture emotional intelligence and strategize a job search plan.

Sprott School of Business
Carleton University, Ottawa

Full time: 16 months (no part-time)
Work experience required: None
Tuition: $31,000

Construction is well underway for the Sprott School of Business’ new home in 2020: the Nicol Building, a 115,000-sq. foot facility designed for collaborative learning. Since the curriculum is specifically designed for creative, high-performing individuals who want to start their own companies or make the leap into the corporate world, Sprott students don’t need any work experience or even a business background. (Those with no experience at all, however, complete a 16-week internship, usually in the summer.) Sprott’s offerings of broad business skills and a range of applied projects make it an ideal choice for anyone starting from scratch.

Ted Rogers School of Management
Ryerson University, Toronto

Full time: 12-16 months
Part time: 24-36 months
Work experience required: 2 years
Tuition: $30,200

The MBA program at the Ted Rogers School of Business is set to be totally modernized by the fall of 2020: the new curriculum promises maximum flexibility and innovation for students looking to change careers, wanting to move up and into management, or entering the business world from different backgrounds (no undergraduate business degree is required). The new program also emphasizes flexibility in its delivery format, with a combination of online, modular and hybrid lectures and live online sessions. The proposed elective curriculum focuses on business disruption in data analytics, finance, human resources and other current management topics.

Telfer School of Management
University of Ottawa

Full time: 24 months (no part-time)
Work experience required: A minimum of 3 years’ full-time management experience required
Tuition: $30,400

Although there’s no part-time option at Telfer, 50-plus students can accelerate through this hands-on, in-class program in as few as 12 months. Telfer excels at extracurriculars—exchange programs, co-ops, student clubs, speaker series and partnerships with local businesses—that strive to incorporate French and English and to thrive within the Canadian and international francophone communities. Anyone looking to perfect their bilingualism should consider the upcoming immersion stream (fall 2020). All grads complete a consulting project, where teams of four or five devote consulting services to local businesses.

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