Does anybody have any insight into MBA programs in Montreal?

Basically, I've narrowed my decision down to three options:

McGill
Concordia/John Molson
HEC Montréal

I understand that McGill is the only school of these ranked in the FT - but I'm not sure that that's enough to justify the additional cost of that program. How do Concordia and HEC stack up, in terms of learning environments and cohorts?

Read through http://www.find-mba.com/boardsearch/62/q/Concordia+HEC and perhaps come back with more specific questions.

How do Concordia and HEC stack up, in terms of learning environments and cohorts?

If you want to enhance your knowledge then HEC is the best MBA program for you as many participants come from a wide range of academy with professional backgrounds. It will be a wonderful experience for you.

I would argue that HEC Montreal is the same as HEC Paris. Also, you can say "I went to Insead" and nobody cares if you went to Singapore.

Niels
MBA Q&A

Please don't listen to Niels about this. He seems to think that HEC Paris and HEC Montréal are two campuses of the same school, like INSEAD in Paris and Singapore. That is not the case.

HEC Montréal is, not even in relative standing, not the same as HEC Paris. HEC Paris is Europe's top business school (http://rankings.ft.com/businessschoolrankings/european-business-school-rankings-2011); it is ranked in the top 100 MBAs (18th). HEC Montréal is not in the top 100 worldwide. It is not even the top MBA in Montréal (that is McGill).

Yeah that is right, but you can still say "I went to HEC" and nobody cares. Then I would argue that unless you go to the top-10 school, nobody really cares about the rankings.

So, depending on your goals, you might want to consider Hec Montreal as well.

Niels
MBA Q&A

I agree with Mr. Duncan (hey, I liked your earlier profile picture!)

Going by Niels's logic, it won't matter if you go to HEC Montreal or Paris or Lausanne. The logic seem to suggest that a similar named school be perceived as same. May be true for the untrainned, common folk with no relation to any Business related activity.

Any knowledgable person will know the difference. HEC Montreal is not the same as HEC Paris. If one was to stretch Mr. Niels logic, then whats to stop one from going to Howard, and while speaking they can say "Hey, I went to Howard" Many (especially from non english speaking countries) may perceive that as "Hey, I went to Harvard".

As for Montreal. McGill is the best at both Bschool and at University level. Most agree that HEC Montreal is not far behind, but ahead of John Molson.

Like many people (Including Mr. Duncan - Who I wish to put back his old pic) posting here at Find-MBA, we are not consultants. We don't have any agenda to divert traffic towards our website or milk you for information / counsil / guidance. We put in our views that may make you help an informed decision.

As for me, I am a prospective full time MBA student and have researched many B schools. This year I hope to get rid of the "propective" tag and that too on my own :)

Hope it helps !
BR
Ayon

Niels,. you have proved to be a very ignorant and ill-informed person with very little understanding of the people around you.

Go down the cave again and talk to yourself.

Yeah that is right, but you can still say "I went to HEC" and nobody cares. Then I would argue that unless you go to the top-10 school, nobody really cares about the rankings.

If this were true, it would be the immoral action of a business leader whose weak integrity would lead a business to disaster.

But, of course, it's not true. After the first ten, there's big difference between the second ten and the third ten. That's why there's seven or eight applicants for every seat at Darden, even though it's not in the top ten. Darden's alumni report an average salary over $100K, compared to $75K at HEC in Canada (http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/rankings/full_time_mba_profiles/heccanada.html). So the idea that no-one cares about the rankings outside the top ten is wildly mistaken. I really think that Niels' opinions can't be trusted to be reliable.

McGill grads have higher salaries, generally, but that's because of the fact that they get placed more often in finance roles (McKinsey and Scotia Bank are top recruiters.)

I would argue that Mc Gill is the more traditional one. Traditional MBA programs that have been around for longer periods of time (e.g. Harvard, Oxford, Cambridge) tend to have better connections in the more traditional careers (e.g. Management Consulting, Banking). Please also be aware that these salaries are averages and that oftentimes it is the alumni themselves that fill that in. I strongly believe that there are too many factors that come into play here. A particular school might be more focussed on Social Entrepreneurship and less on banking which might lower the average salary. It all depends on the individual circumstances.

You can't compare Harvard's MBA (which is around a century old) with Oxbridge, which launched MBAs around 15 years ago. HBS has a strong, multi-generational alumni network which the Said and Judge schools don't have.

Does anybody know if this is due to the geographical distribution of graduates (ie, do more McGill grads end up in places like Toronto, where the finance industry is bigger, or maybe HEC Montreal grads tend to stay in Quebec where overall salaries are lower?)

Thank you everybody for your help with this.

I'm just curious about what people here think of McGill. I'm a little concerned that the school lacks AACSB or AMBA accreditation - and a little curious about how it broke into the FT rankings without it. Does this detract from the MBA program's overall value?

McGill's been one of the leading Canadian programmes for a generation. The FT doesn't follow its policy over-rigourously. There are schools like McGill and the IIMA which can't justify the investment in international accreditation because they serve national markets and don't have big budgets. McGill's well known to traditional MBA employers by, if you want to take your MBA elsewhere, why not try any accredited school?

I'd tend to agree with what Duncan is saying. McGill doesn't have international accreditation, but its FT ranking and solid placement stats in Canada make up for that. I'd imagine that the school will be able to invest in accreditation soon, since it raised its fees after they were capped by the Quebec government for so long.

Gotcha. It seems like a good program, but the cost of it is, for a Québec resident exponentially more expensive than the others. I guess I have to decide if that additional cost is worth it over the long run.

McGill & HEC Montreal are both very good MBA programs. In fact they both are ranked as "Elite Global" programs by the 2012 QS 200 Business Schools ranking. (http://www.topmba.com/qs-global-200-business-schools-report-201213)

You cannot compare HEC Montreal & HEC Paris, not in term of quality per say, but because acceptance at HEC Paris is much more competitive and salaries in Paris are higher (stronger Euro). But it all depends of where you want to work after the MBA. If you want to work in Canada, the HEC Montreal brand will definitely be much stronger than HEC Paris. Actually, HEC Paris doesn't have a good reputation in Montreal, as the school and graduates are rightly seen as snobbish and lack English language skills.

Also, it wouldn't make sense to compare McGill to HEC Montreal. HEC Montreal is stronger in Marketing & IT Consulting, while McGill is best for Finance & Management consulting. With an MBA from HEC Montreal, you are most likely to work in Quebec while with an MBA from McGill, you'll probably be working in Toronto or New York (which explains the higher salary).

HEC Montreal also targets different applicants, mainly French speaking applicants, who will see the highest ROI after the MBA in terms of English language skills & jobs opportunity in North America.

If I were an English speaking applicant with a strong GMAT score (over 700), I would only apply to McGill. If my score was lower than 650, I would apply to HEC Montreal or Concordia.