FSW WORLDWIDE

[cansha]

After a certain age, you do not really become close to new folks. I guess 40 or so is the cut off or may be earlier.

You are being generous with the cut off here. LOL. I think it is somewhere around 25-30. I have seen so many posts on reddit forums people saying they are struggling to make friends between ages of 25-30. And most of the times the answer is that social circles kind of stop developing after university years. And this is not limited to GTA / Canada. Similar posts can be seen even in other major cities NYC, Chicago, Sydney etc.

I think one thing which may have impacted this is probably dating apps. Before dating apps people did expect to go out in bars or other social settings to meet new people. With apps people don't want to make that effort and these apps are skewed towards the desired top 10% or 5% of the profiles and rest of the folks.

 

[red_red]

any official news about the FSW draw that didn't happen? I tried to search all over the internet for information but didn't find anything reliable

 

[iSaidGoodDay]

any official news about the FSW draw that didn't happen? I tried to search all over the internet for information but didn't find anything reliable

I don't think there was any official correspondence after that. Oddly, immigration consultants are talking about a possible CEC draw this week.

 

[imransyed]

Thats not a bad idea at all. Infact its very good. I will say leave IT and do a MBA or something if finances permit. Do your internship in GCC and get a job there. May be do a MBA part time while keeping your job? It will take longer but that way you will be spending time here as PR and that will count for citizenship.

A personal update:

So I have thought long and hard about this and the posts of everyone with their suggestions. I have spent every waking moment trying to weigh my options and an MBA is the best/practical/logical way forward for me, given my circumstances.

A general question to all the well read members here: Is an MBA from a not so well known university like York, Ottawa, etc., valuable? I mean i know it won't be the same as queen's or uft or mcgill or even HEC?

Why I ask this is coz given my professional and educational history, it seems extremely difficult to a level of impossibility for me to get into the top schools, despite getting a decently good GMAT score also. Low GPA is not the problem, the mediocre work/professional experience is a MAJOR hurdle which adcoms really give attention to incase gpa is low.

A different option I am weighing is, get a Masters degree in Econ/Fin, ace the GPA, get a good job and then some years later, go for an MBA. Very long and I would like to not do this but it would make a strong application IMO.

 

[scylla]

A personal update:

So I have thought long and hard about this and the posts of everyone with their suggestions. I have spent every waking moment trying to weigh my options and an MBA is the best/practical/logical way forward for me, given my circumstances.

A general question to all the well read members here: Is an MBA from a not so well known university like York, Ottawa, etc., valuable? I mean i know it won't be the same as queen's or uft or mcgill or even HEC?

Why I ask this is coz given my professional and educational history, it seems extremely difficult to a level of impossibility for me to get into the top schools, despite getting a decently good GMAT score also. Low GPA is not the problem, the mediocre work/professional experience is a MAJOR hurdle which adcoms really give attention to incase gpa is low.

A different option I am weighing is, get a Masters degree in Econ/Fin, ace the GPA, get a good job and then some years later, go for an MBA. Very long and I would like to not do this but it would make a strong application IMO.

IMO those schools are fine and the degrees are valuable.

Just stay away from University Canada West and other similar private universities.

 

[GandiBaat]

A personal update:

So I have thought long and hard about this and the posts of everyone with their suggestions. I have spent every waking moment trying to weigh my options and an MBA is the best/practical/logical way forward for me, given my circumstances.

A general question to all the well read members here: Is an MBA from a not so well known university like York, Ottawa, etc., valuable? I mean i know it won't be the same as queen's or uft or mcgill or even HEC?

Why I ask this is coz given my professional and educational history, it seems extremely difficult to a level of impossibility for me to get into the top schools, despite getting a decently good GMAT score also. Low GPA is not the problem, the mediocre work/professional experience is a MAJOR hurdle which adcoms really give attention to incase gpa is low.

A different option I am weighing is, get a Masters degree in Econ/Fin, ace the GPA, get a good job and then some years later, go for an MBA. Very long and I would like to not do this but it would make a strong application IMO.

Now first things first. I am a tech guy so take my word with a metric tonne of salt. I have NOT treaded this path. There are a lot of variables that make a MBA fit for you or unfit for you BUT, one thing that a lot of folks miss is this: TIME. Here is how:

1. IF you are early in your career, an MBA from a non premium place, IMHO is not really a bad choice. You can still grow take a path and longer you remain in a career, more distant past your degree becomes. Its still there but your experience becomes the key. MBA just gets your feet in the door. Of course unless you have ambition of doing something very specialized. There are PE funds whose MDs almost always come from Harvard.

2. IF you are in late career, go with a MBA that has the best alumni support and mostly these are more premium MBA schools. You do not have as many chances to make mistakes and you will prefer to start from more senior positions. This is especially true if you are adjusting or shifting your career trajectory. NOT doing MBA is okay rather than doing one that puts you in a weird path an takes your time and money.

Also, MBA is a sort of "well rounded" degree. Meaning it is not super strong in any thing particular but it introduces you to a lot of things. Finance, book keeping/accounting, marketing, sales and what not. So I will suggest against doing another degree to just enter into MBA. It will waste your time, IMHO, and will just make your profile weird. Going from super focused to a well rounded degree. Why? hard to answer. So dont do it.

Now there are specific forums where people can give much better advice on this. I know pagalguy used to be one. There may be more.

 

[iSaidGoodDay]

Now first things first. I am a tech guy so take my word with a metric tonne of salt. I have NOT treaded this path. There are a lot of variables that make a MBA fit for you or unfit for you BUT, one thing that a lot of folks miss is this: TIME. Here is how:

1. IF you are early in your career, an MBA from a non premium place, IMHO is not really a bad choice. You can still grow take a path and longer you remain in a career, more distant past your degree becomes. Its still there but your experience becomes the key. MBA just gets your feet in the door. Of course unless you have ambition of doing something very specialized. There are PE funds whose MDs almost always come from Harvard.

2. IF you are in late career, go with a MBA that has the best alumni support and mostly these are more premium MBA schools. You do not have as many chances to make mistakes and you will prefer to start from more senior positions. This is especially true if you are adjusting or shifting your career trajectory. NOT doing MBA is okay rather than doing one that puts you in a weird path an takes your time and money.

Also, MBA is a sort of "well rounded" degree. Meaning it is not super strong in any thing particular but it introduces you to a lot of things. Finance, book keeping/accounting, marketing, sales and what not. So I will suggest against doing another degree to just enter into MBA. It will waste your time, IMHO, and will just make your profile weird. Going from super focused to a well rounded degree. Why? hard to answer. So dont do it.

Now there are specific forums where people can give much better advice on this. I know pagalguy used to be one. There may be more.

As someone who is in a C-level job. I second your first point. There are either excellent B-schools or bad ones. There's nothing called a good or average B-school.

#2 - not super sure about the worth of alumni networks. I see most MBA grads make the same mistake of falling into the infinite alumni loop that reduces their capability to grow (e.g. my alumni did X then Y, so I'll do it too is the general gist). It easily becomes a career trap post mid-level management positions.

The other way @imransyed can get into B-schools is by:
1. joining either a startup for a year or so or by joining a VC.
2. since he/she is in tech - they can also create a product/product portfolio to get into a B-school. That way they'll even know what is it that they'd like to do post MBA (finance vs product vs marketing, etc).

 

[imransyed]

@scylla yes, staying away from those. I wonder who even goes to those schools. Probably just international students but idk if they are eligible for that sweet work permit after course completion.

@GandiBaat I'm turning 29 in a few months. I would say I am 6-7 years in my career and because it has not been very remarkable so far, I think the first option suits me well at this time.
I am still looking for answers so I am scouring all the forums out there.

@iSaidGoodDay I am unfortunately not in tech. I work in non-tech procurement, and currently my job is buying spare parts for maintenance of fleet vehicle that my employer owns. Its a very busy job and I make median pay but my colleague here is almost 45 and in the same role. I panic when I think of myself being that age and working this job.
We had a discussion on this thread where people showed me the tech pathway to career as a 28/29 y.o. fresher but it makes more sense to me right now keep working and hopefully growing in procurement long term. I don't imagine myself making big bucks or anything, but I want to be academically as secure as possible. In other words: mid-level management before ChatGPT esque apps make me absolutely redundant lol

 

[GandiBaat]

@GandiBaat I'm turning 29 in a few months. I would say I am 6-7 years in my career and because it has not been very remarkable so far, I think the first option suits me well at this time.
I am still looking for answers so I am scouring all the forums out there.

29 is closer to mid career than 25. I will say go with MBA directly, stick to well known names but if you do not make it to HEC or INSEAD its not that big of an issue. If you are in middle management position at 35-40, no one will ask where you did your MBA. Now where do Canadian MBA schools stand? I do not know to be honest. Given that Canadians have easy access to UK and US, I will expect a lot of them with top American and British B-schools.

 

[Shadow09]

No draw today it seems

 

[AndyUK]

No draw today it seems

It's still quite early. Give it another 1-2 hours. Although I'm not sure if there will be a draw today.

 

[Tifa876]

Hey guys so I just came across this group. I got invited for PR under FSW however I am in Canada on a work permit and my spouse is in another country I have to submit a common law statutory declaration and have it notarized. Was wondering if this could be done virtually with a notary official witnessing. I have contacted a few and they said it can be done but I should check if IRCC will accept it that method. I would love to get a feedback. Thanks

 

[Islander216]

A personal update:

So I have thought long and hard about this and the posts of everyone with their suggestions. I have spent every waking moment trying to weigh my options and an MBA is the best/practical/logical way forward for me, given my circumstances.

A general question to all the well read members here: Is an MBA from a not so well known university like York, Ottawa, etc., valuable? I mean i know it won't be the same as queen's or uft or mcgill or even HEC?

Why I ask this is coz given my professional and educational history, it seems extremely difficult to a level of impossibility for me to get into the top schools, despite getting a decently good GMAT score also. Low GPA is not the problem, the mediocre work/professional experience is a MAJOR hurdle which adcoms really give attention to incase gpa is low.

A different option I am weighing is, get a Masters degree in Econ/Fin, ace the GPA, get a good job and then some years later, go for an MBA. Very long and I would like to not do this but it would make a strong application IMO.

York and Ottawa U are both very good universities with very good reputations. I would not hesitate with either of them.

My issue is that nowadays it seems like the MBA is obsolete, I don't think it has the same pull it once did. So I don't know if it's the best option, I would look into it especially because it's also very expensive.

 

[RSub]

A personal update:

So I have thought long and hard about this and the posts of everyone with their suggestions. I have spent every waking moment trying to weigh my options and an MBA is the best/practical/logical way forward for me, given my circumstances.

A general question to all the well read members here: Is an MBA from a not so well known university like York, Ottawa, etc., valuable? I mean i know it won't be the same as queen's or uft or mcgill or even HEC?

Why I ask this is coz given my professional and educational history, it seems extremely difficult to a level of impossibility for me to get into the top schools, despite getting a decently good GMAT score also. Low GPA is not the problem, the mediocre work/professional experience is a MAJOR hurdle which adcoms really give attention to incase gpa is low.

A different option I am weighing is, get a Masters degree in Econ/Fin, ace the GPA, get a good job and then some years later, go for an MBA. Very long and I would like to not do this but it would make a strong application IMO.

Whats after MBA is what you should be worried!!!! MBA or MS or any other masters doesn’t make any big difference. But the skills you develop do. MBA or Masters is expensive if you are not an PR/citizen and you are not gonna get high paying job unless you have marketable skills. If I were you, I wouldn’t care about what Grad degree I am want to pursue, rather I would spend time to hone my skills. Also, GPA matters less.

 

[Impatient Dankaroo]

Whats after MBA is what you should be worried!!!! MBA or MS or any other masters doesn’t make any big difference. But the skills you develop do. MBA or Masters is expensive if you are not an PR/citizen and you are not gonna get high paying job unless you have marketable skills. If I were you, I wouldn’t care about what Grad degree I am want to pursue, rather I would spend time to hone my skills. Also, GPA matters less.

MBA is more for people who already have skills that want better career prospects or to change careers. If you have no skills and do an MBA, it will be useless. MBA from a good uni just indicates to top firms that the candidate has been vetted to a certain extent and will probably be able to do the job