Indian Student - MBA - Will I get accepted?

[crazyclix]

Hi Guys,

I've spent the last few days researching (on the internet) about what course to take up and where.

My Profile

10th Std - 84% (Tamil Nadu State Board, India)
12th Std - 91% (Tamil Nadu State Board, India)
Bachelor's in Arts (Economics) - 73% (0 arrears/backlogs during the entire course duration) from one of the top colleges in the country NAAC rating of A

Work Experience: 1 year in a Big 4 tax firm right now. It would be 2 years approx by June 2017 (I'm planning on joining in Aug/Sep 2017).

I'm currently preparing for my GMAT and TOEFL and I'm quite certain that I'd be able to get a fairly decent score of 600+ and 100+ respectively.

I'm planning on applying for an MBA and I'd appreciate your responses on the following questions,

1. I've a 3 year bachelor's degree and as per WES.org (free evaluation), it is considered to be an equivalent to a U.S. bachelor's. So, should I get it verified by WES or not? As most colleges have mentioned a Canadian 4 year degree or equivalent. Do they need a validation or they consider Indian 3 year degrees equivalent by default?

2. Are international students allowed to take up part time work? From some sources, I figured that for the first 6 months, it can only be on-campus. Kindly shed light on this.

3. The cost of the programs I'm looking for is average of 8000CAD + 12000CAD (living expenses). Will it be possible to for me to earn 9600CAD (before tax) assuming I work 80h * 12m * 10CAD (minimum wage). How hard would it be to get temporary employment?

4. What state/city/area should I prefer based on future employability, availability of part time jobs, cost of living?

5. I'm looking for possibly getting employed in Canada post my MBA. So, how hard is it to secure a job? and should I pursue my MBA in an industrious/commercial area or can I move there after my graduation? I'm fairly good at networking and I've cracked a few job interviews in India with ease. Also, if I get accepted into a university and I answer this question honestly during my visa interview, will it impact my visa application?

6. The biggest and most important question I currently have is selecting the right university. Do rankings of public universities matter in the job market? How should I select the right university?

7. What is the average application acceptance rate across universities in Canada? I currently have about 5-6 universities shortlisted, should I apply to more or would this be sufficient?

8. Here, in my city, there are tons of consultancies that help with getting accepted at a university. Should I go through them or would it be equally okay if I approach the institutions directly?

I honestly appreciate the time that you've spent reading/responding to my query. I hope that it would help me and people in similar situation.

Regards

 

[prongs13]

What universities are you thinking of applying for ?

I am not sure if 12,000/- is manageable for living expenses. This is for 1st 6 months ?

 

[crazyclix]

What universities are you thinking of applying for ?

I am not sure if 12,000/- is manageable for living expenses. This is for 1st 6 months ?

Oh geez, I was actually considering that amount for an entire year.

The colleges I'm considering applying to would be,

1. Memorial University of Newfoundland
2. Thompson Rivers University
3. University of New Brunswick
4. Trinity Western University
5. Laval University
6. University of Alberta
7. University of Ontario Institute of Technology

 

[prongs13]

If you have a good academic background, why not try for better ranked universities ? You might better off directly immigrating and working rather than getting a degree from a lesser known college.
SFU, RRU and university of Victoria are somewhat easier yet having good reputation.

If you go by the living expenses breakdown given on university pages as well common research, i would say 12,000/- might be doable but very close to living miserly. Try visiting the finances/fees section of some universities MBA pages like Rotman(U of toronto), UBC (Sauder).


Life as a serious MBA candidate from a decent university probably does not mix well with off-campus work.

 

[enywmara]

Wow! That's a lot of questions. I will try to answer them one by one for you.



1. I've a 3 year bachelor's degree and as per WES.org (free evaluation), it is considered to be an equivalent to a U.S. bachelor's. So, should I get it verified by WES or not? As most colleges have mentioned a Canadian 4 year degree or equivalent. Do they need a validation or they consider Indian 3 year degrees equivalent by default?

If you are thinking of doing an MBA, a bachelors should be fine. But please remember its not just the Bachelor's degree they are looking for. A three year bachelor is no problem for them. But 73% is not a great score when it comes to MBA programs. You have done a BA in Econ, so you must think hard on what type of MBA you are going to go for. If its MBA (Marketing) for example, you won't get in.


2. Are international students allowed to take up part time work? From some sources, I figured that for the first 6 months, it can only be on-campus. Kindly shed light on this.

If you are going to go for an MBA, then please remember there are programs where you can actually work for three months in a paid intern-ship and earn almost $15K or more if you get a good position in just three months.

3. The cost of the programs I'm looking for is average of 8000CAD + 12000CAD (living expenses). Will it be possible to for me to earn 9600CAD (before tax) assuming I work 80h * 12m * 10CAD (minimum wage). How hard would it be to get temporary employment?

How is it that the cost of MBA is so low? I have never heard of a good MBA with such low costs of CAD$8,000. Please research again. If you are going to a Uni which costs so less then, you mu friend are going to a very bad quality MBA. MBA's generally cost CAD$50K and higher. If you get a good scholarship then you might be able to do it very cheaply, but competition is very hight and chances of getting into an MBA are very slim let alone getting a scholarship.

4. What state/city/area should I prefer based on future employability, availability of part time jobs, cost of living?

Toronto is a best state for MBA's , then comes Montreal, then Vancouver, then Alberta and so on.

5. I'm looking for possibly getting employed in Canada post my MBA. So, how hard is it to secure a job? and should I pursue my MBA in an industrious/commercial area or can I move there after my graduation? I'm fairly good at networking and I've cracked a few job interviews in India with ease. Also, if I get accepted into a university and I answer this question honestly during my visa interview, will it impact my visa application?

It is quite hard to get a job after MBA. Canada's economy is in a downward trend right now with the oil market waning. On average south Asian MBA's from decent universities (Not Rotman or Schulich) have to sit around for 6-8 months before they land a decent job. And these guys have work experience of at least 5 years.


6. The biggest and most important question I currently have is selecting the right university. Do rankings of public universities matter in the job market? How should I select the right university?

Rankings in Universities matter a lot in the Job Market, but only if you are going to the top 4 schools, Rotman (University of Toronto), Desautels (Mcgill University), Schulich (University of York), Sauder (University of British Columbia).
Other than that, if you are going to work in a region, the employers there prefer that you have an MBA from a good university in the region. All universities in Canada are of a high standard and I think Canada is the only English speaking country in the world which does not have a formal University ranking as all universities have this healthy practice that they shun ranking competitions and do not want to constrict the minds of students by making them dependent on rankings.

7. What is the average application acceptance rate across universities in Canada? I currently have about 5-6 universities shortlisted, should I apply to more or would this be sufficient?

You must apply to at-least 5 universities. I applied to 6 and got into three and barely.

8. Here, in my city, there are tons of consultancies that help with getting accepted at a university. Should I go through them or would it be equally okay if I approach the institutions directly?

You must approach the institutions directly when applying for an MBA. Universities want candidates who have a "can do" attitude when it comes to MBA and they do not prefer candidates who cannot apply on their own.

I'm currently preparing for my GMAT and TOEFL and I'm quite certain that I'd be able to get a fairly decent score of 600+ and 100+ respectively.

This is not a question but I really want to tell you something about GMAT. 600+ is a pretty bad score. People do not apply with 600+ scores. I got 710 and that was an "average" score, not a good score. And give IELTS not Toefl, its easier and IELTS/Toefl does not really help in your application, its just a requirement both for the Uni and for the Visa office.