Wilfred Laurier school of business

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Wilfred Laurier

by Adild » Wed Sep 10, 2008 10:10 am
Hey there

I recently graduated from the Laurier MBA program and couldn't be happier with the experience.

I think the key to my satisfaction was that I walked in with the right expectations. WLU is not one of the premier MBA schools in the country (although most in-the-know would agree that it is increasingly popular in the business community) but they are definitely very close to that level so for a fraction of the price I was getting the same education in smaller classes than the folks over at Ivey or Schulich. I can see the argument that paying three times more for Richard Ivey is worth it simply for recruiting purposes but Laurier has arguably the best co-op programs in the nation so they are able to leverage that and all grads had jobs following graduation. Their alumni base is not as strong but I do know that they are working on that.

The program benefits from being in the Tech Capital of Canada so a lot of its students and professors come from world class companies like RIM and Opentext and there are just generally a lot of opportunities in the city. Having said that, Waterloo is not big and certainly not glamorous but if cost is an issue, it is extremely cheap to live in.

I'm not sure what else you'd like to know but if you have specific questions, feel free to ask away.

Cheers, Adil.

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Re: Wilfred Laurier

by Sunny22uk » Wed Sep 10, 2008 10:28 am
Adild wrote:Hey there

I recently graduated from the Laurier MBA program and couldn't be happier with the experience.

I think the key to my satisfaction was that I walked in with the right expectations. WLU is not one of the premier MBA schools in the country (although most in-the-know would agree that it is increasingly popular in the business community) but they are definitely very close to that level so for a fraction of the price I was getting the same education in smaller classes than the folks over at Ivey or Schulich. I can see the argument that paying three times more for Richard Ivey is worth it simply for recruiting purposes but Laurier has arguably the best co-op programs in the nation so they are able to leverage that and all grads had jobs following graduation. Their alumni base is not as strong but I do know that they are working on that.

The program benefits from being in the Tech Capital of Canada so a lot of its students and professors come from world class companies like RIM and Opentext and there are just generally a lot of opportunities in the city. Having said that, Waterloo is not big and certainly not glamorous but if cost is an issue, it is extremely cheap to live in.

I'm not sure what else you'd like to know but if you have specific questions, feel free to ask away.

Cheers, Adil.
Can you please share your profile with us, e.g. GMAT score, GPA, number of years of exp prior to MBA, Field.
You cannot discover new oceans unless you have the courage to loose sight of the shore.

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Laurier

by Adild » Thu Sep 11, 2008 10:10 am
No problem

My GMAT score was 610 which I know isn't that high but Laurier looks heavily at all the other factors so it balanced out for me. The school I went to previously does not do GPA (most schools in Canada do not) but I can tell you that I had a low A average.

I had a year of work experience in politics so I decided on their MBA Co-option and ended up working one placement at a well respected consulting firm in Toronto and the other with a media firm in New York.

Personally, my focus was on entrepreneurship so Laurier's "Innovation and Entrepreneurship" Option was perfect for me and I was able to launch a business while in the program. The school is also really well suited for people looking to concentrate in finance and marketing.

Hope this helps.