Hello all,

I am a Brazillian native and will be applying for several MBA later this year (bachelor degree with 89% gpa, 8.5 IELTS, 4 years full-time work experience, 23 years old, no gmat yet)

One school I've been looking at fondly is University of Victoria.
Does anyone have any idea how good is the MBA and how well it is regarded in the canada/us job market?

I've already been to the city (actually most in Canada) during the year I lived and studied in Winnipeg (grade 12), so I know it's a very beautiful place, but I always wondered if it isn't kind of a "dead" place as far as jobs opportunity.

Apart from UVic I've been also thinking of applying to UBC, UofCalgary and York.

I am looking for a two year full time mba, preferably with some kinda of co-op / work term, that`s under 50K (total tuition for international students), any tips you may have are welcome.

Thanks in advance for all the help.

Victoria is "the place of the newly wed, and the nearly dead." It's a beautiful place people go to honey moons to, and is also pretty good for retirement, but there's not much economic activity in a place known for it's beautiful gardens rather than financial and manufacturing sectors (it has none).

As for the school, i'm not sure. It's not a bad school. The question is how much access it has to other Canadian cities (especially since having connections in Victoria is worthless, unless you REALLY like it there). You probably won't make much in Victoria, unless you're an entrepeneur and can break the mold somehow.

Hello,

@Clam
This information about the Uvic MBA is enlightening to me.
I was looking to pursue an MBA from Uvic with strong hopes of good career opportunites elsewhere in Canada after graduation.

Incidentally I had read reports that the Uvic MBA enjoys good potential in the job market.It would be helpful if you could perhaps expand upon your views, any other inputs are welcome.

Thanks for reading this post.

I don't know much about the reputation of their MBA, but I know that, generally, the reputation/stereotype of UVic is that it is a very liberal school. It's the type of place you will find a lot of feminists, human right activists, and environmentalists at. I know they have a decent law program, for example, but even their law program is known to be very slanted towards that end of the spectrum. I'm not sure how that would translate to job opportunities, but you figure that out on your own. But usually business people don't like environmentalists haha.

If you've read reports that say good things about UVic's MBA, and you really like the school, then go for it. But generally UVic isn't among the top for Canadian MBAs. The top list generally is left for Ivey, Schulich, and Queens (traditionally in that order, although Queens for some reason has shot up the list in some rankings). Anyone trying to slip anything else in there is mad in my opinion.

Now that UVic has tripple accreditions hows the mba program there? Can you also talk about their post MBA job scope.... @marceltau whis school did you join finally?

This thread is about the U of Victoria in Canada. The triple accredited one is in New Zealand: Victoria Business School.

@ Duncan ....please refer to the uvic mba website once http://www.uvic.ca/gustavson/gill/mba/admissions/.... it clearly shows the triple accredition symbols.....

No, you are mistaken. Triple accreditation requires accreditation by AMBA (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple_accreditation). UVic neither claims, nor has, that.

@ Duncan... I am a little confused.. I did a google to search for Uvic mba accreditions and here I got the uvic mba page which states "The Gustavson School of Business is accredited by AACSB International (The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business) and by the European Foundation for Management Development through its European Quality Improvement System (EQUIS).
Why is accreditation important?
Accreditation with AACSB and EQUIS shows that we provide a top-quality business education."

Refer to this link

http://www.uvic.ca/gustavson/home/home/accreditation/index.php#section0-10

Yes, UVic has AACSB and EQUIS, but it would need AMBA to have triple accreditation: it doesn't.

@duncan...yes I agree...but any idea hows the school reputation and what about post MBA job market for uvic grads?

It's an okay school. It doesn't claim to have an especially strong reputation, and of course it doesn't publish a placement report so it don't have very strong results in the job market. Considering its very low average GMAT and the weak Victoria job market I would expect salaries to be well below SFU... maybe 60k per year?

Take a look at http://gmatclub.com/forum/university-of-victoria-mba-canada-97210.html and http://www.financialpost.com/executive/canadian-mba-programs/index.html?sort=average_gmat

I'm also considering UVIC. I have some of the same fears (lack of job market in victoria, small network, not very high ranking). However, something that continues to confuse me is how their stats are so good. Their tuition is decent (especially with the many scholarships they offer quite liberally), and their job placement rate is 100%, with an average starting salary of $78,000. To me, these numbers seem to good to be true. If they are accurate (and not skewed in some major way), then why if the ranking so low? THey also offer a HUGE co-op program, and have assured me that I could get a co-op placement in nearly any city in Canada.

Am I missing something? Could anyone shed light on some of these questions/concerns?

Thanks!

I'm also considering UVIC. I have some of the same fears (lack of job market in victoria, small network, not very high ranking). However, something that continues to confuse me is how their stats are so good. Their tuition is decent (especially with the many scholarships they offer quite liberally), and their job placement rate is 100%, with an average starting salary of $78,000.!

The stats came from Canadian Business MBA guide 2013.
You're right, these could be self reported, but they are located in an alternate source.... Would really like to find out the validity of the stats.

You can find them here.
http://www.canadianbusiness.com/mba-guide-2013-mba-list/

I think 100% employment means something pretty different for a tiny MBA programme that's centred on a co-op model where people work and study at the same time.