Why Dalhousie?: Students Speak

January 30, 2017 Coburg Consultants Leave a Comment

This year, QS Global 250 Business Schools Report ranked Dalhousie’s Rowe School of Business (RSB) as one of the best business schools in the world. But why? How is it that with all the possibilities out there, students are consistently choosing RSB? We explored these questions and found three key factors that make Dalhousie an excellent choice:

Halifax

It’s easy sometimes to forget how lucky we are to live in this city. We enjoy ocean adjacent property; yet because of our size, both beaches and ski hills are only minutes away. We also have some of the best nightlife and festivals on the East Coast, from the Halifax Pop Explosion to Jazz Fest. During the school year, the areas surrounding campus and the downtown are bustling, a pleasant mix of locals and students. Winters are mild (if a bit long) and summers idyllic (did we mention the beach yet?)

CRMBA Program

Another reason students pick Dalhousie – and RSB in particular – is the unique CRMBA program.

For me, the main reasons for picking Dal and the CRMBA program were: 1) Career pivot 2) the Corporate Residency, 3) job prospects with an MBA – Camille Chandra, MBA Class of 2017

Many students would agree wholeheartedly with the above. In fact, because most of the cohort comes from a non-business background, the ability to pivot into a business role is an energizing and essential experience. This is greatly helped by the integrated eight-month Corporate Residency and job prospects which open new and exciting career paths that students would otherwise have not thought of.

The Cohort (i.e. friends!)

Most importantly though are the people. Every year, around 50 MBA students join the program; they are not only joining a great academic program, they are also gaining an invaluable network.

I come from a large undergrad where I barely knew 5 people in my program, and this program is completely different. Now I can say I have 50 best friends! It’s an empowering feeling always knowing you’ll have that network there for support years after graduation – Marcia Peters, MBA Class of 2017

Students like Marcia will go on to have long and successful careers in a variety of fields. But the friendships they make at Dalhousie, the colleagues they gain, and the alumni they become a part of, follow them throughout Canada and the world at large.

Making the Grade: Tips for Writing the GMAT

January 19, 2017 Coburg Consultants Leave a Comment

Writing the GMAT

The GMAT is an important part of the application process to Dalhousie’s CRMBA program. Here are some key pieces of advice if you are looking to take the GMAT soon.

Know the Test

The GMAT is a way for business schools to standardize a portion of the applications they receive and is meant to approximate a student’s ability to reason verbally and quantitatively. These are key skills for MBA students. However, being clever is not enough – you also have to understand the test and how it works. There are many resources in the real world and online to help you do this, and reading as much as possible is highly recommended for any aspiring test-taker.

At its core, the GMAT is a computer adaptive test, meaning that the questions you see on test day are different from the questions being answered by the people around you and the difficulty of the questions you receive depends on your performance throughout the test. There is also a logic to the length and structure of the test, so timing, quick decision making and an understanding of risk is key to good performance.

Practice Regularly and Focus on Weak Points

Once you understand how the test works, you must practice as much as possible. People often see 100-point or more jumps in mock test scores after a few weeks of practice. These people do not suddenly become much smarter, they just took the time to understand the test. Also, realize that the test is divided into two major sections (Verbal and Quantitative) and you are likely naturally much better at one than the other. Focus your attention on the weaker of the two; drastically increasing a bad skill is better than marginally increasing a good one.

Aim High

550 is the minimum acceptable GMAT score at Dalhousie but there are real incentives to scoring much higher than that if you can. A 550 meets the requirements and makes your application valid but you want to be competitive. Higher scores could result in early acceptance and make it less likely that the school must make a hard choice between you and someone else with a mid-500s score. Higher scores also make entrance scholarships more likely to be awarded if combined with a high GPA, strong personal statement and a good interview.

A Whole New World: Copenhagen Business School

January 16, 2017 Coburg Consultants Leave a Comment

For many students, a foreign exchange can be the seminal experience of their academic career. For CRMBA students in particular, the chance to learn and live abroad offers a perfect opportunity to test the limits of the knowledge they have acquired over the past few years. For this and many other reasons, Dalhousie has traditionally offered lucky second-years a chance to attend the Copenhagen Business School (CBS) in Denmark for a semester.

Copenhagen Business School is a unique place. Nestled in the city, the institution is dedicated solely and impressively to the study of business and its related fields. This helps to create a tight knit group amongst students and contributes greatly to the value obtained from the classroom and professors. In past years, exchange students have been integrated fully into the community and enjoy the same privileges as any other student. One of these privileges is the degree of autonomy and the ability to tailor your program of study:

Students are given a large amount of independence in Copenhagen. There is a lot of reading – more than I probably did since my undergraduate – but students are otherwise free to pursue their studies at their own pace and with their own focus. Professors are there as resources and to help, but its up to you how much you want to rely on them. The bonus is this kind of structure allowed me to travel a lot during the semester! – Marissa Walter, MBA Class of 2017

If CBS and the program itself weren’t enough, the city is nothing to scoff at either. Copenhagen boasts one of the most aesthetically pleasing city centers in all of Europe. Renowned for its quiet and quaint streets, colourful buildings and even more colourful flowers, Copenhagen has something to offer all travelers and students.

Copenhagen (credit to Marissa Walter)

For the fitness enthusiast, bikes are abundant (almost mandatory); there are biking paths and trails nearby, and many Danes consider it the main, if not only, form of transportation. History/travel buffs won’t be disappointed either.

The city is so rich in history and culture, even taking a simple stroll downtown can be an experience. And there is so much to do – zoo, aquarium, amusement park, museums, parks, and more. And the food! The Danish certainly know their cuisine. – Shayla Fitzsimmons, MBA Class of 2017

But if you’re not satisfied staying in Copenhagen (even if you could very easily spend a lifetime there), then it’s no trouble to travel anywhere in Europe with the generous free time and class structure given to students. Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Sweden lie near enough for short but memorable visits, a perk which many CRMBA students in the past have taken advantage of.

If any of this interests you or you simply have the urge to travel, then Copenhagen and the CRMBA program might be right for you. Start brushing up on your Danish and we’ll se dig snart (see you soon)!

New Hedge Fund in Town: East Coast Capital

January 12, 2017 Coburg Consultants 1 Comment

Dalhousie MBA students are no strangers to investment clubs and have created and run many iterations of them in the past. With an intense curriculum and only two years in the program however, it’s often difficult to maintain continuity with each succeeding cohort. To remedy this, a group of students concentrating on finance and looking to create something more lasting have founded the CRMBA’s first official hedge fund society: East Coast Capital (ECC).

The goal of ECC is to encourage classmates to join and attend weekly 1-2 hour meetings, with the hope of learning more about finance beyond the classroom. Many of the students who attend are interested in pursuing careers in finance, while others are simply looking to learn some real world application and the basics of investing and trading for personal use.

Each meeting begins with a “what’s in the news?” segment; by sharing real world events and stories that a fund manager would care about, students start to appreciate the effects of the finance industry on society (and vice versa!). This is often followed by the clubs’ co-chairs running tutorials on different trading strategies, analyzing portfolio returns, and basic investing practices. For the majority of meetings however, students typically break into their separate funds (organized by industry) and discuss investment strategies and stock picks.

Students working in the Dalhousie Risk Lab

Dalhousie’s Risk Lab and Bloomberg Terminals

Using Dalhousie’s Risk Lab and available Bloomberg Terminals, students then perform trades and create a multi-million dollar fund (fake money for now). In the near future, the vision is for ECC to invest real capital and become a fully functioning student-run hedge fund. This past semester, this initiative led the co-chairs to get involved with a local student-run venture capital initiative, Venture Grade. We spoke with one these co-chairs, Jaime Cahill, on her experience with East Coast Capital this year:

The goal this year was really to ratify a society and bring back an MBA hedge fund similar to the ones that existed before. For a busy MBA student with a non-business background – like most in our program – getting up to speed with the finance industry before interview season comes around can be really challenging. Even for those not necessarily interested in careers in finance, when else are you going to be able to discuss trading strategies with a group and learn the ins and outs of investing? – Jaime Cahill, ECC Co-Chair, MBA Class of 2017

Moving forward, the group is hopeful that ECC’s name and work will be continued by future cohorts and that all Dalhousie MBA students will have the opportunity to get involved. As it moves closer to its goal of managing real money as well, the opportunities for experiential learning will only grow.

Corporate Residencies: An International Perspective

January 9, 2017 Coburg Consultants Leave a Comment

For prospective international students, one of the main benefits of the Dalhousie Corporate Residency MBA (CRMBA) is the effect that the corporate residency has on your ability to find long-term employment in Canada. As is the case for millennials around the world, securing your first great job experience can be difficult, yet it is crucial to opening the doors to a great career. Throughout the history of the CRMBA program, Dalhousie and Management Career Services have helped to secure excellent residencies for international students who seek to work in Canada or abroad.

My residency gave me a new perspective on what I wanted to do in the long term, career-wise. It gave me the opportunity to not only work in the industry, but to actually feel like a valued staff member and not just an intern. – Thomas Sykes, UK & Bahamas; Residency at Department of Natural Resources of Nova Scotia

Given that Canada is a multi-cultural nation, the input of non-Canadian citizens in the work environment is often valued, as Thomas can attest to. But corporate residencies – because of their eight-month duration – also offer the opportunity to settle in and make a bigger difference than can be made during a traditional four-month internship. This is especially true for international students who might find themselves adjusting to both a new culture and a new job.

My residency gave me the opportunity to work with professionals in the finance industry and to gain hands-on experience in credit analysis. It was a supportive environment to learn how to apply what I was taught in the classrooms. Ultimately, the corporate residency prepared me greatly for my subsequent job search and for the next steps of my career. – Matthew Cheung, China (Hong Kong); Residency at The Bank of Nova Scotia

As Matthew identified, the corporate residency is a time to apply course learning to the real world, make a difference, and gain valuable experience. It also helps shape and deepen the course experience in the second year, which is designed to prepare students for a successful career.

If you are an international student who is interested in the Dalhousie CRMBA, please feel free to reach out!

Thomas Sykes

Matthew Cheung

MBA Winter Formal: Friends, Faculty and Frosty

December 16, 2016 Coburg Consultants Leave a Comment

On Saturday, November 26th, students from Dalhousie’s Rowe School of Business came together to celebrate among classmates, friends, and faculty at this year’s annual MBA Winter Formal. The evening took place at the Halifax Marriott Harbourfront Hotel and featured a cocktail hour, delicious dinner, awards ceremony and dance to finish off the night. Each year the event gives students a chance to take a break from all of their hard work, laugh and appreciate one another along with their professors.

The event is organized by devoted MBA students, and presents ample opportunity to get involved. In addition to the event organizers, there were MCs for the dinner and awards ceremony, and students running the lights, sounds, and music at the event. We spoke with this year’s lead organizer – Emma McGinn, and the group’s host for the evening – Geoff Hutchinson – on what they gained from the experience.

Having the opportunity to plan the Winter Formal made me truly appreciate how many details go into event planning. I learned to balance my Winter Formal to do list with my school work and worked hard to make sure everything was perfect for my close colleagues and professors. It all seemed to pay off in the end, and I’m so thankful for everyone who helped out along the way. In January I’ll be starting my residency term as an event coordinator for BMO in Toronto. I know my experience managing the Winter Formal this semester will help me immensely on residency. – Emma McGinn, Culture Representative, MBA Class of 2018

MBA Class of 2017

So much of our professional development has focussed on the day-to-day reality of working in a large organization, but very little has been discussed when it comes to events such as these, where the culture of your organization is reinforced. I’ve always been a confident public speaker, but speaking about the people that you work with every day, about your mentors and leaders (whether they’re faculty, or your management team), is a vastly different experience, requiring a totally different set of presentation and preparation skills. I think being involved this year really helped me to develop a feeling for how I should navigate the cultural life of an organization, and gave me an appreciation as to how difficult it is to make any large event run smoothly.” – Geoff Hutchinson, Academic Representative, MBA Class of 2017

A welcomed change to this year’s formal from previous years featured the removal of each class’ Best Professor Award. Instead, students gave short speeches thanking their professors for the semester, and shared a few memories from the classroom. Faculty members had the following kind words to share about the event:

Great job in organizing and pulling off the event so smoothly! Your time and efforts are much appreciated… In addition, nice change to do individual ‘thank yous’ to the Faculty. I think they went over really well! – Jim Power, Professor, Rowe School of Business

MBA Class of 2018

While I missed the dinner (but got their for the drinks, sorry no dancing), I understand from talking to some faculty members that it will go down as the best MBA Formal in memory (and some of these people have some long memories)! Loved to hear that you warmly recognized all the faculty members in attendance, they were really happy they went! It is a credit to both cohorts! My heartiest congratulations to the committee for the great work they did pulling off this event in the middle of a busy fall. Such a great sense of spirit and a great way to blow off some steam before final exams! – Dan Shaw, MBA Program Director, Rowe School of Business

Another consistent highlight of the event is the photo hour where students get shots taken with their group members, intramural teammates, society members, dates, committee members, and any other friends or classmates! The photos will serve as a reminder for years to come of the friends they made at Dalhousie, and the memories they’ll cherish from nights like the MBA Winter Formal.

Ethics and Business: Scotiabank Ethics in Action Conference has its Most Successful Year Yet!

December 9, 2016 Coburg Consultants Leave a Comment

On November 4 and 5th, the Dalhousie Faculty of Management hosted the 4th annual Scotiabank Ethics in Action conference. This event consists of a video and essay contest, guest speakers, a case competition, and the presentation of the prestigious Ethical Leadership Award. It seeks to bring together young professionals and students from across the country to discuss and tackle some of the most important ethical issues facing business today.

2016 MBA Case Competition Winning Team (Dalhousie)

Dean Sylvain Charlebois, Professor Dan Shaw and Dalhousie’s MBA Case Competition winning team

Every year, five dedicated second-year Dal MBAs take on the enormous task of planning and running this national ethics case competition and conference. Having just completed the event, we took the time to have some of this year’s planning committee reflect on why being part of this initiative was such an integral part of their MBA degree:

Last year, I attended the event as a volunteer, and was inspired to apply for the leadership team. Working with the leadership committee this year has been a great way to apply things I learned in class and in residency. Not a lot of students have the opportunity to manage a project of this size and our team was truly able to showcase our abilities. – Shivani Seth, Director of Events & Logistics, MBA Class of 2017

Ethics in Action is important to my degree because it enabled me to learn about ethical issues in a relatively safe environment. Many news stories highlight situations where business leaders have found themselves in ethical situations they never anticipated. Having an ethics based case competition on campus enabled me to think about critical issues that I may face in the future. – Mary Crosbie, Director of Case Competition, MBA Class of 2017

It’s not just the organization of the conference where Dal MBA’s are involved however, it’s also the case competition itself. Jordan Yanover – member of Dalhousie’s MBA case team which took home first place – explained what being on the case team meant to him:

It gave me practical experience on how to handle ethical situations, which may arise while at work. This is something that all business leaders will have to do at some point and is important for any MBA student to learn. I was also in the unique opportunity to hear professionals speak about ethics, sustainability initiatives, and different approaches to problem solving. The best part about the weekend was meeting other students from all over Canada. We were able to speak about our experiences, our school and our classes, and learn from one another. We were brought together because of something we are all passionate about. – Jordan Yanover, MBA Class of 2017

With record breaking attendance and volunteer commitment at this year’s event, it’s clear that Dalhousie’s MBAs are dedicated to pursuing business in an ethical and sustainable manner. Already, the MBA Class of 2018 is excited to help organize and compete at next year’s event. Hope to see you there!

CRMBA: Meet the Professors – Dan Shaw

March 16, 2016 Andrew Hiscock of Coburg Consultants Ltd Leave a Comment

Coburg Consultants presents the first of a four part speaker series with Dalhousie University CRMBA professors. This week we sat down with lecturer and Director of the CRMBA Program, Dan Shaw.

Check out the interview below:

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Spotlight: Women in Dalhousie’s CRMBA Program

March 4, 2016 Lauren Hunter of Coburg Consultants Leave a Comment

What was once a male dominated field of study, MBA programs across the nation have been attracting female candidates as investment in female talent is key in developing today and tomorrow’s leaders. According to research conducted by Forte Foundation, only 4.8% of Fortune 500 Company’s CEOs are female even though females make up 47% of the workforce. In addition, it has been found that companies with greater female leadership achieve 53% higher return on equity, 42% higher return on sales, and 66% higher return on invested capital. It is no surprise then that companies around the world are seeking out women with MBAs. With this in mind, top business schools have been enhancing programs and creating initiatives to promote gender equality and to attract top female talent.

Dalhousie University’s CRMBA program strives to provide an environment conducive to gender diversity and equality. With 29% of females in the class of 2012, Dalhousie has increased this figure to 45% for the class of 2017. What in particular does Dalhousie do to achieve such a diverse environment and just how valuable is Dalhousie’s CRMBA program for women considering taking their MBA? Four very talented and successful women in the classes of 2016 and 2017 have the first hand experience to to give you this insight.

More Affordable Than You Think: Financing Your MBA

February 10, 2016 Coburg Consultants Leave a Comment

Personal Finances

Personal finances are often the first place students turn when looking to pay for their education; whether you’ve been working for the past few years or simply pinching pennies from summer jobs, it’s a good idea.

For those with few assets to their name though, fear not! These days an MBA degree is a bankable (get it?) commodity and most institutions are more than happy to provide lines of credit to students. Depending on your situation, you may be able to obtain this financing with or without a co-signor or guarantor.

With interest rates relatively low, obtaining and using a line of credit can be cheap. Certain banks even have preferred packages and terms for MBA students. Just be sure to do your homework first. When meeting with a bank they will often ask for documentation, including a budget showing how you plan to spend your (their?) money over the next few years.

Corporate Residency

At Dalhousie, students also have a unique opportunity to supplement their personal income through the built-in Corporate Residency. These eight months of work can give students invaluable experience while also helping to pad their bank account. In the past, students have averaged earnings of $27, 500 over the course of their Corporate Residency.

Student Loans

Student loans form the backbone of many students’ financing and can be a welcome alternative to a line of credit from a bank. Because most provinces do not require students to begin paying interest until they graduate, they can also save you money in the short term.

Most students are eligible to receive loans from their province of residence and should start looking there first. This support often comes in two forms: loans which you repay, and grants which you do not. Nova Scotia residents can consult their province’s website for more information on these forms of assistance and how to apply.

Scholarships

For those students lucky enough to qualify (and there are quite a few), Dalhousie offers a number of generous scholarships. Based primarily on your GMAT and GPA, these scholarships are awarded on a rolling basis and can be as much as $15,000. Besides general awards, specific scholarships also exist for candidates interested in finance and for black Nova Scotians.

Think ROI

Whatever your plan for financing your degree though, just remember that an MBA is an investment. What might seem like a lot of money now will come back many times during the course of your career. Treat it as such, and don’t sweat the small stuff too much!

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