Canada's 35 million population is spread across one of the largest land masses in the world. With an abundance of natural resources, Canada fosters an economy that is built around Manufacturing, Mining, Oil and Gas, Agriculture and Forestry. Unlike the US, where a Government controlled healthcare exchange offers information about the insurance policies in the market, Canada delivers a free to use healthcare service through a government-funded system for all residents. The lower value of the Canadian Dollar (0.75 USD), makes the world’s truly multicultural country an attractive destination for MBA aspirants.
Although Canadian Business School is behind their American counterparts in ranking, the quality of the students, the teaching expertise, and the post-MBA opportunities are comparable to the top MBA programs in the US. The lower cost makes Canadian Business School a primary target for students who want the bang for their buck in the short term.
Perhaps, the biggest advantage is that international students can change their study permit into a work permit as soon as they graduate. International candidates should note that government subsidies make fees cheaper for the locals.
We have created our list of Top MBA programs in Canada
1) Rotman School of Management
The Rotman School of Management is located in Toronto, which is rated as one of the world’s most multicultural metropolises. In keeping with the city’s ethos, 53% of the students in the Rotman Full-time MBA class are International. The school offers a 2-year MBA program that practices Integrative Thinking where students are trained to think outside the traditional management box, considering the bigger picture while tackling problems. The graduating class of 2015 had a mean base salary of $88,385 with base salaries ranging from $55,000 to $180,000. Prominent companies that recruited include AT Kearney, Booz & Co, Boston Consulting Group, Capgemini, Citigroup, Deloitte, Google, IBM, ING, KPMG, Louis Vuitton, McKinsey, PWC, P&G, UBS, and World Wildlife Fund.
The Rotman MBA offers the unique Flexible Internship program where students can work during one of the three four-month terms during the second year of the MBA program instead of the fixed summer months where the available roles are limited. The flexibility allows students to customize their MBA curriculum and choose roles that would be useful for their post-MBA journey.
The Rotman MBA has a strong global context with opportunities to complete the summer internship in another country, study internationally for up to a full semester at a partner school, or participate in an international consulting Project. Students have the opportunities to study at one of the 23 partner schools spread across 14 countries. The school’s International Study Tours exposes students to emerging economies that include India, China, and Latin America.
With the help of a partner school, Doing Business Internationally (DBI) program teaches students how to do business in a particular country. In 2014-15, students worked in Taiwan, China, and Germany. To apply what they have learned, students take part in the Global Consulting Project. In the past, the project has taken students to Seattle, Silicon Valley, Tanzania, Nigeria, and Myanmar where they work on small projects like setting up a microfinancing system in an underprivileged area to working with leading consulting companies like the Boston Consulting Group.
2) Ivey Business School
1948 was a year that changed the landscape of the Canadian Management education. Ivey became the first Business School to establish an MBA program in the Campus. With the support of Harvard faculty, Management Training Course (MTC), the first Canadian Executive MBA program was established. The School has been developing business leaders for the last 60+ years.
Over 40% of Ivey graduates are at the Managing Director or higher levels in their organizations. The 1-year MBA program’s typical class represents over 26 Countries, with 44% having international work experience. Ivey is well known for its case study approach, with its globally reputed faculty writing over 150 cases every year. In 2015, MBA graduates earned a Median Base Salary of $86,500 that ranged from $50,000 to $156,000. The top recruiters include 3M, Apple, Bayer, Credit Suisse, Deloitte, Capgemini, Diageo, Ernst & Young, HSBC, Google, IMAX and JP Morgan.
A strong emphasis on leadership and global learning makes Ivey MBA curriculum unique. Ivey’s Cross- Enterprise Leadership method teaches students to apply a wider perspective on decision-making. The International Study Trip builds on the classroom learning with real-life cultural and business experiences in emerging markets like China, India, and Latin America. Student-run initiatives like the China Teaching Project (CTP) offer MBAs with a unique opportunity to teach undergraduate Business students in Shanghai or Beijing with the case-based approach. The LEADER Project is another teaching initiative where students impart their Business skills to students and Entrepreneurs in Eastern Europe and Russia. Participants also offer consulting service to local Entrepreneurs.
The electives in six focus areas: Finance, Entrepreneurship, Corporate Strategy & Leadership, International Management, Marketing, and Health Sector, is ideal for students who want a diverse range of career options post-MBA. For applicants who have joined the 2+2 Ivey HBA program, the 8-month Accelerated MBA program (AMBA) builds on the strong fundamentals by expanding leadership and management skills at an executive level.
3) Smith School of Business (Formerly Queen's School of Business)
With the $50 million donation from Stephen J.R Smith, a Queen's University's Faculty of Engineering alumnus, Queen’s School of Business was renamed to Smith School of Business on October 1, 2015. The Ontario-based Business School offers the 12-month Queen’s full-time MBA program.
The school has a unique team-based approach, leveraging the power of teams to help students learn successful traits for the workplace. By assigning students to a team for the core program, a significant part of the overall grade is based on teamwork. Every team gets a dedicated, professional Team Coach. As a result, students don’t just learn about teamwork and leadership, but they practice it every day.
The teams are selected based on diversity, and the class of 2017 had students from 14 countries, with 43% International students. Each student also benefits from having a Personal Coach, a Career Coach and a Lifestyle Coach for the entire duration of the program.
The professors use a healthy mix of case studies, classroom instruction & discussion, team-based learning, and experiential learning. Following the 6-month foundation course, students can choose from a cross section of specializations (Consulting, Entrepreneurship & Innovation, Finance, Healthcare Management, Marketing & Sales, and General Management) through a mix of core and elective courses.
The experiential learning modules are the Management Consulting Project, the New Venture Project (For Innovation and Entrepreneurship), and Dare to Dream internship program.
For MBA graduates with Entrepreneurial mindset, choosing a traditional job to pay the student loan or pursue an Entrepreneurial idea that has gained traction becomes a real dilemma. The Dare to Dream internship provided a $15000 fund for three months, to support the requirements of a new start-up. During the three months, students will work with the faculty, Queen’s network, and entrepreneurial contacts at Smith School of Business. For the traditional job seeker, the Management Consulting Project is an opportunity to solve real Business problems and recommend a comprehensive consulting solution. The New Venture Project is for the Innovation & Entrepreneurship specialization where the students develop a Business plan and turn their new venture into a reality.
Students are armed with a Global Perspective through a Cultural IQ course that is invaluable for the new-age global manager. To build on the cultural Intelligence, Smith School of Business offers a 2-week to 5 Month International Exchange program with 27 international business school partners.
The class of 2015 earned a mean salary of $62580 (with Bonuses $94,719). Some of the recruitment opportunities for the class came from Adobe, Amazon, AMD, Barclays, Bloomberg, BP, Coca-Cola Company, De Beers, Dell, Deutsche Telekom, eBay, Google, Mastercard, MARS, New York Life, Novartis, Oracle, Pepsico, PlayStation, Siemens, The Walt Disney Company, and Thomson Reuters.
4) Schulich School of Business
The Schulich School of Business offers an extremely flexible MBA program which can be completed Full-time (16 to 20 months), Part-time (36 to 40 months), Accelerated Full-time (8 to 12 months) or as an Accelerated Part-time (16 to 20 months) schedule in three campuses Keele Campus (Toronto), Miles S. Nadal Management Centre (Toronto) and India Campus (Hyderabad). Students can start studies in September or January, and even shift between full-time and part-time modes of study.
Flexibility is not limited to the schedule. Students can choose from as many as 20 specializations: Accounting, Arts & Media Administration, Business and Sustainability, Business Consulting, Economics, Entrepreneurial Studies, Finance, Financial Engineering, Financial Services, Global Mining Management, Global Retail Management, Health Industry Management, International Business Marketing, Operations Management & Information Systems, Organization Studies, Public Management, Real Estate & Infrastructure, Social Sector Management and Strategic Management.
Students experience other cultures with a South American study tour in Santiago, Valparaiso, and Lima. For longer duration of stay, Schulich’s Exchange Program allows students to study abroad for a term in one of the 54 partner Business Schools (30 Countries). With the longer stay, students will develop multiple perspectives on real Business problems, the language proficiency required in a global workforce, and the experience for multi-faceted roles post-MBA.
Award-winning researchers and industry experts constitute the faculty. The class has an international profile with more than 65% from an international background. In 2015, the average salary for MBA graduates was $90,700 (includes bonus and other guaranteed remunerations).
Read Top 6 MBA in Canada - Part 2
About the Author
I am Atul Jose - the Founding Consultant at F1GMAT.
Over the past 15 years, I have helped MBA applicants gain admissions to Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, MIT, Chicago Booth, Kellogg, Columbia, Haas, Yale, NYU Stern, Ross, Duke Fuqua, Darden, Tuck, IMD, London Business School, INSEAD, IE, IESE, HEC Paris, McCombs, Tepper, and schools in the top 30 global MBA ranking.
I offer end-to-end Admissions Consulting and editing services – Career Planning, Application Essay Editing & Review, Recommendation Letter Editing, Interview Prep, assistance in finding funds and Scholarship Essay & Cover letter editing. See my Full Bio.
I am also the Author of the Winning MBA Essay Guide, covering 16+ top MBA programs with 240+ Sample Essays that I have updated every year since 2013 (11+ years. Phew!!)
I am an Admissions consultant who writes and edits Essays every year. And it is not easy to write good essays.
Contact me for any questions about MBA or Master's application. I would be happy to answer them all
Winning MBA Essay Guide - A Complete Guide for M7 and Top 15 MBA Application Essays
F1GMAT's Winning MBA Essay guide will teach you how to transform your essay into a life journey with trials and tribulations that will move the admission team.
+ Over 245 Sample Essays (Read Previews of F1GMAT's Winning MBA Essay Guide Sample Essays here)
+ Top 15 MBA Programs (Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, Columbia, Booth, MIT, Kellogg, Yale, Haas, Darden, INSEAD, LBS, NYU Stern, Tuck, Duke Fuqua, Ross)
+ The Art of Storytelling
+ Leadership Narratives
+ Review Tips
+ Persuasion Strategies
+ The Secret to "unleashing" your unique voice
+ How to prepare and present for the Video Essay
+ How to write about your Strengths
+ How to write about your Weaknesses
+ Leadership Narratives
+ Review Tips
+ Persuasion Strategies
+ The Secret to "unleashing" your unique voice
+ How to prepare and present for the Video Essay
+ How to write about your Strengths
+ How to write about your Weaknesses
Want to try the individual school Essay Guides before upgrading to the Winning MBA Essay Guide? Try below.
F1GMAT's Essay Guides
Harvard MBA Essay Guide (20 Sample Essays)
Growth-Oriented Essay: Curiosity can be seen in many ways. Please share an example of how you have demonstrated curiosity and how that has influenced your growth. (up to 250 words)Example #1: Persistence Narrative
Background Information: The applicant – a design and music talent, shares her journey through several setbacks. She attributes curiosity to her growth.
Curiosity: Philosophy
Curiosity (Explained): Curiosity as a philosophy is tough to translate into a narrative unless you are from the creative industry or your contributions had an influence on a solution or an initiative.
MBA Essay Strategy: I wanted to capture the humanity of the applicant and her influence in music instead of just highlighting how she overcame multiple roadblocks to gain attention as a designer.
Theme: Persistence
Read: Harvard MBA Curiosity Essay – Life Starts at NO (Growth-Oriented HBS MBA Essay Example)Example #2: International Community Building
Background Information: The applicant, a Machine Learning (ML) entrepreneur specializing in healthcare diagnostics, shares how his curiosity to learn other ML algorithms’ evolution in diagnosing Alzheimer’s, cancer, and heart disease transformed his platform into a global community.
MBA Essay Strategy: I wanted to show the applicant’s contributions in diagnostic from 2020 to 2024 by citing two events. Such examples build credibility instead of engagements that were recent. The evolution of the platform from an AI development community to a community for discussing the application of AI in diagnostics is captured through a ‘curiosity’ angle.
Read: Harvard MBA Curiosity Essay – Growth through Collaboration (AI in Healthcare) (Growth-Oriented HBS MBA Essay Example)Example #3: Culture
Background Information: The applicant, an Entrepreneur from India narrates his first entrepreneurial experience – facilitating exchange of stamps in the late 1990s.
Theme: Culture
MBA Essay Strategy: Instead of addressing the biases in the investor community that could turn preachy, I wanted to focus on the applicant and his entrepreneurial journey by citing two entrepreneurial experiences – a platform(club) for stamp collection and his Grocery delivery App.
Read: Harvard MBA Curiosity Essay – The American Dream (Growth-Oriented HBS MBA Essay Example)Example #4: Addiction
Background Information: The applicant – a beneficiary of the foster home system, captures the sacrifice his adopted grandparents made to save him from a path of addiction. Paying it back through early intervention among teenagers and community engagement is the curiosity narrative.
Theme: Addiction
MBA Essay Strategy: My strategy is to capture a gratitude narrative in the first one-third of the essay to demonstrate motivation for starting the venture and dedicate the latter part of the essay to the unique solution
Read: Harvard MBA Curiosity Essay – Drug Addiction and Gaming (Growth-Oriented HBS MBA Essay Example)Example #5: Scarcity
Background Information: The applicant, an education major, recognizes that 70% of all students in Kenya don’t have a computer. The curiosity that drives him to pivot from one solution to another is the growth narrative.
Theme: Innovation
MBA Essay Strategy: Often, innovation is captured with a ‘hero’ narrative where the applicant is the sole originator of an idea. I wanted to break that cliché and include a person from whom the applicant learned to use a concept called ‘scaffolding.’
Read: Harvard MBA Curiosity Essay – Scarcity (Growth-Oriented HBS Essay Example)Example #6: FinTech
Background Information: The applicant captures a vulnerable moment of a beneficiary to compare his journey of side hustle before a technology giant noticed his talent. Although cryptocurrency is not a flavor for the year, capture niches where innovation is still happening.
Theme: Education, Child Welfare
MBA Essay Strategy: Empathizing with a techno solution is tough without a strong backstory around the beneficiary. For the essay, I wanted to clearly establish the beneficiary – Rami, before the applicant narrates the similarities to his journey and finally shares the solution that emerged from his curiosity.
Read: Harvard MBA Curiosity Essay – FinTech as a Tool for Good (Growth-Oriented HBS MBA Essay Example)Example #7: Learning from the best
Background Information: The applicant – a Remote Engineer in the Oil and Gas industry, reflects on a value that has helped her learn from the best regardless of her geographical limitations.
Theme: Learning
MBA Essay Strategy: The effectiveness of the case-study method depends on the assumption that peers in a Harvard MBA class will help elevate your learning experience. For the essay, I have highlighted the applicant’s recognition of this value proposition with three examples.
Read: Harvard MBA Curiosity Essay – Learning from the Best (Growth-Oriented HBS MBA Essay Example)Example #8: Military & Search for IMPACT
Background Information: The most common narrative for US military applicants is to quote 9/11 and the reaction your immediate family had while watching the events unfold. The horrifying moment is captured as a motivation to join the Military. On digging deeper, most applicants would share that their motivations were diverse.
Theme: Career Choice
MBA Essay Strategy: I wanted to quickly highlight that the applicant had the choice of entering any industry. One achievement to demonstrate his curiosity that I shared in the first half is the invention of a game. Since the game is mentioned in the resume and verifiable through search, I didn’t quote the name. By clearly highlighting the person’s curiosity and career options, the family legacy is used as a factor in joining the military.
Read: Harvard MBA Curiosity Essay – Career Choice after a Military Career (Growth-Oriented HBS MBA Essay Example)
Leadership-Focused Essay: What experiences have shaped who you are, how you invest in others, and what kind of leader you want to become? (up to 250 words)Example #9: Small Business Values
Background Information: The applicant - a second-generation Asian American, is familiar with the values of fiscal conservatism, building relationships, and understanding the daily struggles of the community through his family’s department store.
Theme: Customer-Centric
MBA Essay Strategy: The applicant’s role in developing an App for the store is highlighted in the essay at a crucial part of the narrative so that the essay is not all about his father. I have also humanized the journey – by sharing how upset the father was when the revenues fell by 40%. The essay is about the transformation in the applicant’s value from a person chasing productivity and optimization technique to someone who is truly thinking about the customers.
Read: Harvard MBA Leadership Essay – Small Business Values (Leadership-Focused HBS MBA Essay Example)Example #10: Breaking Away from Family Business
Background Information: A unique challenge that applicants whose parents are public figures or CXOs of businesses or entrepreneurs are the pressure to live up to the parent’s standards or milestones. For the leadership narrative, the burden of legacy is established before the narrative addresses his leadership principles.
Theme: Authenticity
MBA Essay Strategy: For the essay, I want to capture an entrepreneur’s journey to rise above his entrepreneur father’s image. But I didn’t want to make the entire essay about this complex dynamics. The narrative is around the applicant’s focus on customers and surrounding with teams who keeps him grounded.
Read: Harvard MBA Leadership Essay – Breaking Away from Family Business(Leadership-Focused HBS MBA Essay Example)Example #11: Creativity and Communication
Background Information: When the overall percentage of users with internet access is 62% in South Africa and the inequality accentuated by the rural and urban divide, the applicant endured the lack of digital infrastructure, and spending close to 22% of the family income on gaining relevant information on schools, global exams, and financial assistance.
Theme: Creativity, Communication
MBA Essay Strategy: The strategy is to share why the applicant values no distraction in a child’s home for optimum education experience. Then I highlight the many roadblocks the applicant’s non-profit faced in receiving fee waiver for their cooperative run ISP.
Read: Harvard MBA Leadership Essay – Non-Profit (Telecom) (Leadership-Focused HBS MBA Essay Example)Example #12: Mental Health
Background Information: The applicant like most didn’t pay much attention to the mental health epidemic until tragedy hit home.
Theme: Communication, Innovation
MBA Essay Strategy: A question we frequently get from applicants is whether they should cite tragedy in the family as a motivation for a venture or a non-profit initiative. As long as you don’t linger too much on the tragedy and offer a balanced narrative, there are no restrictions on leveraging unique stories from your life.
Read: Harvard MBA Leadership Essay – Mental Health (Leadership-Focused HBS MBA Essay Example)Example #13: Trauma, Healing & Finding Authentic Self
Background Information: The applicant narrates the absurdity of war in the narrative about the duties in Kabul, and the trauma. Instead of wallowing in on the horror, the applicant takes what makes military applicants strong and guides unprivileged children build life and leadership skills.
Theme: Resilience
MBA Essay Strategy: Capturing PTSD in an essay, the healing process, and the cues that helped the applicant are too sacred to be shared in a Harvard MBA application essay. However, with the right motivation and narrative arcs, you can capture the essence of your journey without sharing the darkest secrets. That is what I did by merging two stories – the horrors of the war with a non-profit engagement.
Read: Harvard MBA Leadership Essay – Military & PTSD (Leadership-Focused HBS MBA Essay Example)Example #14: Addiction, Setback and Leadership Mantra
Background Information: In this narrative, the applicant captures Peru’s Silver mining boom of 2006. The growth experienced in her father’s business shifted the family’s economic status to a new stratosphere. Through the changing economic and family dynamics, the applicant finds her voice in a unique way, initially to record her unheard voice but later as one of the youngest subject matter experts in mining and commodities.
Theme: Failure
MBA Essay Strategy: For the essay, the strategy is to show how life’s unpredictability is a blessing. By narrating two setback events, the essay demonstrates the applicant’s resilience and her acknowledgment of people who made a comeback possible.
Read: Harvard MBA Leadership Essay – Addiction, Setback and Leadership Mantra (Leadership-Focused HBS MBA Essay Example)Example #15: War, Immigration and Starting Over Again
Background Information: Despite a raging war in Syria, the family of the applicant was unblemished by the chaos. The strategic government assets near the applicant’s house would have made the region an easy target, but it was not. The calmness of her journey is shattered in one event. From the privileges of a cocooned life, the applicant is forced to think about survival, her sister’s future, and her future in the US. The second half of the narrative captures the change that was forced on her.
Theme: Gratitude, Resilience
MBA Essay Strategy: I consciously chose not to start the essay with a dialogue or trauma. Two lines are allocated to set up the narrative before the trauma event.
Read: Harvard MBA Leadership Essay – War, Immigration and Starting Over Again (Leadership-Focused HBS MBA Essay Example)Harvard MBA Business-Minded Essay: Please reflect on how your experiences have influenced your career choices and aspirations and the impact you will have on the businesses, organizations, and communities you plan to serve. (up to 300 words)
Example #16: Creative or Finance
Background Information: The applicant starts the narrative with the origin of her talents. The unbridled enthusiasm receives a reality check when in high school, the applicant’s father has a conversation with her about academics. While the applicant picked up her quant skills, she was reaching over 50,000 loyal fans, and her videos captured 1 million views.
Theme: Passion, Talent
MBA Essay Strategy: Capturing vulnerability is the toughest part for Harvard MBA applicants. For this essay example, I have captured the applicant’s uncertainty about career choice throughout the essay. Here the goal is to show vulnerability in the career choice essay while for leadership and growth essay, I could capture one example each from creative and PE industry respectively to balance the narrative. So don’t follow this example without a strategy.
Read: Harvard MBA Business-Minded Essay – Creative or Finance (Business-Minded HBS MBA Essay Example)- Stanford MBA Essay Guide (24 Sample Essays)
- Columbia MBA Essay Guide (21 Sample Essays)
- Wharton MBA Essay Guide (15 Sample Essays)
- INSEAD MBA Essay Guide (19 Sample Essays)
- Darden MBA Essay Guide (21 Sample Essays)
- Yale SOM MBA Essay Guide (15 Sample Essays)
- Tuck MBA Essay Guide (15 Sample Essays)
- Haas MBA Essay Guide (18 Sample Essays)
- NYU Stern MBA Essay Guide (15 Sample Essays + 6 Examples - Visual Essay)
- LBS MBA Essay Guide (6 Sample Essays)
- MIT Sloan MBA Essay Guide (6 Sample Cover Letters + 3 Sample Video Statement Scripts + 3 Sample Optional Essays)
- Kellogg MBA Essay Guide (11 Sample Essays)
- Chicago Booth MBA Essay Guide (12 Sample Essays)
- Ross MBA Essay Guide (31 Sample Essays)
- Duke Fuqua MBA Essay Guide (10 Sample Essays + Two 25 Random Things Samples)
- Cambridge MBA Essay Guide (12 Sample Essays)
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