Top 7 Reasons To go To Telfer
by Matthew Kranabetter Website ›
4th-year BCom student
Choosing which university to attend can be a daunting experience. For some, it may be as simple as looking at university rankings and choosing what is best academically. For others, proximity to home and cost may be a deciding factor. After choosing to attend the Telfer School of Management, I found that there was so much more about Telfer that could have gone into my decision making, beyond Telfer being recognized as a top business school worldwide.
During my four-year degree at the Telfer School of Management, there were 7 reasons that stood out for me as to what made the Telfer experience so unique and rewarding.
Here’s what I’ve come to value as the top 7 reasons to go to Telfer:
1. High Value of the Degree
As a high school student at the time, while researching the various possible universities to attend, one of the first things I personally looked at is what will it cost me financially, and what is the value of a degree from each university in question.
The Telfer School of Management is in the top 1% of business schools worldwide based on completing three levels of accreditation. This worldwide reputation of excellence was a very important factor in consideration if I would go to Telfer. In addition to this, Telfer also offers reasonable tuition for the value you receive from a degree at a top university. This combination for me meant that Telfer had the best value for the monetary cost, the “best bang for your buck” if you will.
2. Location, Location, Location
Telfer is conveniently located in the heart of downtown Ottawa. You get the feel of being in a big city, but without all of the commotion and noise (and price) that you find at other big city universities. What’s nice about being located downtown is that everything is in close proximity to you. Whether it’s museums, historical sites like Parliament Hill and the Rideau Canal, grocery stores, restaurants, shopping, nightlife and just about everything you can think of, it’s all within a 10 to 15 minute walk if you go to Telfer.
3. Co-op Program 
Ottawa has a reputation for being a government city, and I will not dispute that reputation. However, Ottawa also has an ever-growing private sector that provides a lot of different job opportunities. What is nice about doing the co-op program at Telfer is that it’s really easy to apply to different jobs and you can pick and choose from the public sector or the private sector to get a feel for what you would like in a future career. The job I had throughout university was through the co-op program, which is a job I never would have gotten without co-op and making the decision to go to Telfer.
4. French Immersion
Although I personally did not choose to be part of the French Immersion program, I do, however, know a lot of people who did, and I was able to speak with them about their experiences. French immersion at Telfer provides students with the opportunity to complete a portion of their courses in French. If you are an anglophone and you would like to strengthen your French, or if you are a francophone and you would like to strengthen your English, then you have the unique opportunity of attending one of few universities to have a French immersion program at Telfer. You also receive a $1,000 scholarship just for being in the French immersion program!
5. Collaboration
At Telfer you get the opportunity to work with a lot of different people from all sorts of backgrounds and learn from them. If you go to Telfer, approximately 20% of the students are international, and in my own experience, I had the opportunity to work with students from Germany, India, China, South Korea, Kenya, and more. Having such a diverse community allows you to make new friends and connections in so many different places. I can honestly say that all of my group projects at Telfer have been a positive experience.
6. Unique Projects
During my experience at Telfer I had the opportunity to participate in many unique class projects that I never expected. The fourth-year Strategic Management course at Telfer runs something called the Intopia Business Simulation, where students immerse themselves in an action-filled weekend running their own company by negotiating, making decisions, and trying to maximize their bottom line and, ultimately, win the competition. Intopia is recognized as a top business strategy simulation, and Telfer is one of the only schools that offers it.
As well, students are able to gain real world experience by working with companies as part of class projects. For myself, I had the opportunity to work with Badminton Canada and the Canadian Museum of Nature to help develop marketing campaigns and promotional strategies. This experience was not only self-rewarding, but it was also excellent to include on a resume and it’s all part of your program at Telfer.
7. Career Centre
The Telfer Career Centre offers various workshops for students such as how to build a resume, do well in an interview, and many more types of workshops. As well, you can speak with career advisors who can help set you on the path to your goal. Having a resource that is committed to both your personal and career development is very helpful as you enter the workplace.
The Career Centre also holds a variety of networking events at Telfer. The networking events attract an array of companies that you can speak with and in turn make connections that can turn into potential job opportunities. Also, the networking events and the aforementioned workshops go hand-in-hand if you go to Telfer by allowing you to apply the knowledge you learned in these workshops at these networking events.