Eligibility and Admissions
You cannot defer acceptance as the offer is only valid for the session indicated in your offer of admission. In exceptional circumstances, please contact the Graduate Office.
To apply for an MBA at Telfer, you need to have a bachelor’s degree and a minimum of three years of full-time work experience to ensure a common level of professional competency.
Part-time positions, summer jobs, and co-op placements throughout your bachelor’s degree do not count towards the three years of work experience. However, when you apply for an MBA, they are considered during your file evaluation.
Yes, you can apply to the Telfer MBA without a business degree.
We have a diverse group of students in the MBA without a business degree from a variety of educational backgrounds and work experience such as engineering, healthcare, government, entrepreneurship, and more.
Yes, in some cases, we admit applicants without a degree in an undergraduate program.
If you are a professional candidate with 10+ years of managerial experience, we encourage you to obtain a high GMAT, GRE, TAGE MAGE or TCT score and to submit strong letters of recommendation.
If you have 15+ years of experience, you may also consider taking the Telfer Executive MBA program. If you are unsure if you can be admitted to the MBA without a degree, please get in contact with the Graduate Office.
You will need at least three years of work experience in a full-time position to apply.
This does not include part-time positions, summer jobs, and co-op placements; however, the admissions team will consider this work experience when reviewing your complete application.
Based on the pre-assessment of your application, an MBA interview may be required for admittance.
This MBA interview allows the admissions team to explore your communication and collaboration skills, and to assess if your professional goals match the program.
In addition to your academic abilities, we consider your application as a whole when assessing your profile. If your undergraduate grades do not reflect your academic abilities, we encourage you to focus your efforts on doing well on the GMAT/GRE/TAGE MAGE/TCT.
If you’re not sure if you should take additional courses, please reach out to the Graduate Office.
All applicants must have the following MBA admissions requirements; a bachelor’s degree, a competitive GMAT, GRE, TAGE MAGE or TCT score, at least three years of full-time work experience, and proof of English proficiency for international applicants.
- A bachelor’s degree: Applicants must have a Canadian bachelor’s degree, or equivalent, with a minimum admission average of B (70%). Admission grades are calculated following the Graduate Studies guidelines: assessment of the last 20 courses for foreign transcripts, or the last 60 units for Canadian and American transcripts.
- Completed the GMAT/GRE/TAGE MAGE/TCT:
- GMAT: Minimum overall score of 550, with a minimum of 45% in both the verbal and quantitative categories.
- GRE: Minimum overall score of 310 with at least 45% in the verbal category and 40% in the quantitative category.
- TAGE MAGE: The medians you must achieve for the overall and TAGE-MAGE subtests are:
- Final score: 257/600 points
- Part I—Problem Solving: 23/60
- Part II—Verbal Skills: 26/60
- Part III—Logical Reasoning: 27/60
- TCT: A score of 45/90 is a passing score provided the candidate has achieved 50% or more on all three sections of the TCT.
- NOTE: If you completed an undergraduate or graduate degree at the University of Ottawa or other Canadian universities, you may be eligible for a waiver of the admissions test. See Admissions page for eligibility requirements.
- Work experience: All applicants require three years of full-time managerial or professional work experience. Part-time positions, summer jobs, and co-op placements do not count towards the three years of work experience. However, they are considered during your file evaluation.
- English Proficiency: Candidates whose first language is not English, or French must complete one of the required English proficiency tests.
In your MBA application, you need to submit your completed application with a resume or CV, letter of intent, admission test scores, all post-secondary transcripts, and contact information of two referees.
You must also submit your language proficiency test scores in your MBA application if English or French are not your first languages. Discover how to prepare a strong application.
The Telfer MBA (Intensive or Professional) is designed for working professionals and has a minimum work experience requirement of three years. If you are a professional who would like to balance growing your management competencies while moving forward in your career, the MBA is best suited for you.
Managed by the Telfer Centre for Executive Leadership, the Executive MBA is ideal for senior and mid-career executives and has a work experience requirement of five years. The Executive MBA candidates complete their management studies while directly applying new knowledge to their current position and striving for higher management levels.
Exceptional permissions may be granted. Please contact the Graduate Office to inquire further.
After you submit your application, you can expect to hear from the Graduate Office about MBA admissions in six to eight weeks once the assessment period begins. Assessment begins in the late fall for the following year on a rolling basis.
Depending on the volume of applications, you may experience a delay in your MBA admissions decision.
You can upload your admissions documents once you have submitted your application and it has been transferred to the University of Ottawa’s database (approximately 3 to 10 business days).
You will receive an email with your student number and instructions on how to access uoZone. You can upload your documents to uoZone, using uOdoc.
Once you have logged in, go to the “Applications” section to access uoDoc. Click “Upload Admissions Documents” to upload your documents.
It is important to note that if you are admitted to the program, official documents will be required before your first registration. The list of required official documents will be included in your offer of admission.
In your uoZone account, you will also see a list of all required documents. Within that list, you will find a link to add your referees. Once your referees are added, an email will be sent to them with a detailed explanation on how to access the recommendation form and submit it electronically.
