My Past
Background :10 yrs experience in International sales/Product development for a large footwear manufacturing company in India, dealing with international clients like WalMart, Payless, Sears etc
In Canada since June 2008 as a PR, working at the Home Depot, as a Pro a/c sales associate
GMAT : 640
GPA : Don?t know the no, but overall percentage 70%
School : Applied to Schulich(York), Ted Rogers(Ryerson) and De Groote(McMaster) and was accepted by the last two. My first choice was Schulich (its better then the two in every aspect), so I did not join any of the two, as I was holding on for an answer from Schulich. They did not accept me as I had a three year bachelors degree from India.


Present
After having a discussion with Schulich Admissions Director(where I was told that I still have a chance, if I get a promotion), I applied to Hult(Boston) and was accepted.
Hult :
Pros ? 1 year, pretty goood international exposure, ranked #1 in international business by FT, USD 16000 scholarship, has some reputation(shows up on some rankings)
Cons ? wont be able to stay in Canada with my family, am not sure about job prospects in Canada after studying at mid-tier US school
Ryerson :
Pros ? 1 year, low tuition fees(15000 CAD), has a retail specialization which might work for me, get to stay with my family
Cons ? not really reputed, does not show up on any ranking
Schulich:
Pros ? a good global school with international exposure, is well reputed(at least in Canada), get to stay with my family in Canada
Cons : 20 months, am not sure whether I will be accepted

Future (Planned)
I am not aiming really high like consulting/finance, I am aiming to get into retail(buying/operations) /0international trading/brand management

My questions:
1)Which one should I go for and why?
2)If you are not aiming high, do you really need to get into good MBA school (having said that, I will obviously want my education at the best place possible)
3)What are the job prospects like in Canada, if you study at a mid tier school in the US?

Thanks for going through my loooong post. Any insight will be really helpful in helping me make the most imp decision of my life.

My questions:
1)Which one should I go for and why?

2)If you are not aiming high, do you really need to get into good MBA school (having said that, I will obviously want my education at the best place possible)

3)What are the job prospects like in Canada, if you study at a mid tier school in the US?

First off, thanks for the response, secondly my GMAT score was 650(must have been a typo). I do agree with you on Schulich, if I get in, I am not looking else where. I kind of disagree on the other rankings though (Are you basing it on the fact that I want to stay in Canada and so you have Ryerson/De Groote before Hult). From what I have researched, I would put them as-
2)Hult
3) Ryerson
4) De Groote(I am not considering it as an option now)
I would rate Hult as an upcoming mid-tier US school, that has made rapid progress in the last years, and provides a solid international exposure(which I am looking for). I would put Ryerson as mid-tier Canadian school, which is also making progress, but certainly not at Hult?s pace.
As for my school target strategy, this is what I had in mind
Schulich ? was and still is my first choice, this is the school that I want to get into.
Ryerson/De Groote- These are the schools, I knew, I would get into. After getting in, I put them on hold, as I wanted to wait for Schulich.
As for the other good Canadian schools(Rotman,Ivey,Queens), their tuition is too high and apart from Rotman, they are far off from Toronto. And so I started looking at options in the US. I knew I wouldn?t get into the top 20, so I came up with these criterias-
1) Possibly not very far from Toronto
2) Tuition fee in the range of 50K
3) Possibly one year(so that I don?t stay out for long)
4) One which has a pretty good international business specialization
Out of all my options, Hult stood out, as it met all the criterias. If you have any other options, do let me know. Actually, I hadn?t heard of Hult before, but after researching, I found it interesting and was surprised why its not so well known. Here in comes my dilemma ? if it finally boils down to Ryerson/Hult, where should I go?

Ralph,

I would really appreciate you throwing some intake on Schulich's January intake program because eventhough the Sep entry is a safe bet, the Jan entry students suffer from not doing internships and it looks like it's aimed at those who dont wanna switch their careers post MBA. Hey, people make a huge investment of time n money indeed to make a switch or have better prospects irrespective of the intake time.

What do u think? Schulich brand can save the Jan intake right?

KK

I just looked at Hult's website (which I just heard of from this post probably because they started in 2003) and I was very impressed. They seem to have a lot traction.
My view on your dilemma is this:
Which company specifically do you want to work with? (that I feel will be the ultimate decider)
My personal suggestion would be
You go to Hult, make sure you get a job while you're in the program NOT after. Work in that job (which will be in the USA or some other top location) for a while and then switch to a similar company in Canada. The canadians wont care too much about your mba if you were the SVP of some top shot company in Dubai or if you were d VP of JP Morgan. However, don't think you can bring the Hult Mba to canada without some work experience! So, are you ready to work where Hult has its core strength (could b Boston healthcare or what have you) or would you work where Rogers has its core strength. (I suggested Hult over Rogers because you said you got a scholarship. Better to lead in Ryerson than serve in Harvard dude)