Originally Posted by sarah2874

I'm in second year commerce, so I'm probably a little biased, but I think the program is great. I saw that a few people corrected you on the fact that DeGroote offers internships, not co-ops to its undergrad students. So (not to be condescending or anything, but in case you didn't know) internship is different because its only after third year, and you find either a 12 or 16 month placement. Meanwhile for co-ops, you go to school, then find a co-op placement (for a shorter amount of time, around four months I think), then go back to school for a while, then get another co-op placement, etc. until you graduate. Both co-op and internship programs should give you around the same job experience, since they both add one year to your program length. The main difference is that in internships you do it all at once, and all in one place.
Also, I don't know about whether co-ops are generally paid, but internships are. So that helps financially if that's an issue. And while I'm not an expert on how competitive it is, I haven't heard people complaining that its so terribly hard to get into.
Good luck and I hope that you're happy with whatever decision you make!

In order to be an accredited co-op program, the placements must be paid

BComm Internship is not really competitive.
From about 200 students who enter the internship program, approximately 70 of them get a job. That is about 33%. The raw facts may seem concerning, but, keep in mind, alot of people who apply to this program, end up changing their minds in the end. So it may be closer to the 40-50% range of landing a job.

It isn't necessarily hard to get an internship, but it isn't easy. The course itself (3IN0) prepares your resume and gives you workshops for interviews. The key is being able to stand out, sell yourself. But you can say that about anything.

Depends on what stream you are planning to go into. I believe there are way more accounting and finance positions posted for the internship program. If you're planning to go into something like investment banking though, I would advise you to go elsewhere because banks don't really come to mac. However, I agree with the fact that competition is very weak because students just don't know how to network properly!

I don't know what the quality of the business program at the other school is like but I can say that ours is not up to par at all and it certainly hasn't been improving. The curriculum hasn't been changed from 1991!! Can you imagine how irrelevant some of the material is? First year is a total waste of your time because its basically all bird courses, only one actual commerce course. On top of that, there's a lot of required courses that you have to take in 2nd and 3rd year where you can skip every day of class but still do very very well in it by reading the textbook at home. Of my (almost) four years at DeGroote, I would say that I have gotten very little value out of it aside from my accounting courses. But even then, DeGroote's accounting students are at a disadvantage compared to accounting students from other schools due to the fact that case studies are a minimal part of the entire business curriculum. Case studies are a big part of the exams you have to take to receive a CA designation. 2 out of the 3 exams will be based on case studies alone.

So it's really up to you. Do you want to gain value out of your education? If yes then go to another school. Plus you can always look for your own internship. If you don't care about the value of your education and are looking for less competition then go to Mac. But of course, that doesn't mean you shouldn't put in the effort to leave an impression when networking with potential employers.

Is there a student spirit issue for Degroote? The impression that I am starting to get is that the students don't appreciate the program they are in. I find that the online presence of Degroote doesn't exist and the alumni network is really weak too. Other Uni alumni like Queens take favor of their school when hiring but I don't feel that this is what happens for Degroote. Can anyone tell me about Degroote's alumni network because as a highschool student, I don't see a strong one in existence. McMaster itself seems like an extremely "underdoggie" university.

Originally Posted by allanandthera

Is there a student spirit issue for Degroote? The impression that I am starting to get is that the students don't appreciate the program they are in. I find that the online presence of Degroote doesn't exist and the alumni network is really weak too. Other Uni alumni like Queens take favor of their school when hiring but I don't feel that this is what happens for Degroote. Can anyone tell me about Degroote's alumni network because as a highschool student, I don't see a strong one in existence. McMaster itself seems like an extremely "underdoggie" university.

degroote is not an underdog. Its not even business school on the rise, its just a bad business school composed with mostly egotistical yet mediocre students, unqualified/unprofessional instructors, and an outdated curriculum.

Alumni network is nonexistant. When i browse on random linkedin profiles, aside from the very few current students who had linkedin (not surprised), i have yet to encountered any professionals from degroote.

Originally Posted by allanandthera

Is there a student spirit issue for Degroote? The impression that I am starting to get is that the students don't appreciate the program they are in. I find that the online presence of Degroote doesn't exist and the alumni network is really weak too. Other Uni alumni like Queens take favor of their school when hiring but I don't feel that this is what happens for Degroote. Can anyone tell me about Degroote's alumni network because as a highschool student, I don't see a strong one in existence. McMaster itself seems like an extremely "underdoggie" university.

oh yea, btw

most students are here at degroote because schulich dident take them. So work hard and go some where else C: