After accepting your offer, your first step as a DeGroote MBA student is to schedule a Zoom call with your Onboarding Officer, Chandani Sheth.
The Onboarding Officer supports your transition into this exciting new chapter, so please ensure to add the email mba.studentexperience@mcmaster.ca to your safe senders list.
Please book your call within one week of accepting your offer. After the call you can expect to receive a follow-up email with more information.
Book your call
It is imperative that you activate your MacID once you receive your “next steps” email. The email will be sent within 48 hours of accepting your offer, and this step is essential for accessing university systems and resources throughout your degree.
Note: your MacID is not your student number, it is a unique, alphanumeric identifier provided to all McMaster community members to access university systems, resources and applications.
In order to secure your acceptance, you are required to pay a tuition deposit. The amount and deadline can be found on your offer letter.
You will be able to pay your deposit after you have received your MacID activation. When you have your activation, proceed to Mosaic, where you will go to the Finances tab. Under the Finances tab of your Student Centre in Mosaic, you will see the Make a Payment Button located on the right-hand side of this section. Please follow the instructions to pay your deposit.
Please visit the Student Accounts and Cashiers website for detailed instructions on how to pay your deposit using your preferred payment option.
As you prepare to start the program in a few months, we know that there are various aspects to consider, including the visa approval process. Ensuring that your visa is in order is a crucial step to guarantee a smooth transition to campus life and academic studies. To facilitate this process, we kindly request you to fill out the Visa Update Form.
Completing this form will allow us to keep track of the progress of your visa application and set you up for success as you embark on your DeGroote MBA pathway. It is important for us to have up-to-date information, so that we can effectively prepare for your arrival!
You will also see questions about your passport process. Although it may be a little early to have your passport stamped now, we have included these questions so you can update the form after each step you complete on your journey to Canada and starting the program.
Please keep a copy of your form link, so you can edit your response any time. After submitting all your answers, you will see a hyperlink labeled ’Edit your response’ and can use this to update your answers in your form in the future. Please save the link.
Onboarding events will be taking place in-person at the Ron Joyce Centre in Burlington, ON.
Dates are tentative. Any updates to these dates will appear on this webpage as they become available.
International Students: Your full-time program commitment starts on August 27, 2026. Plan to arrive in Canada prior to this date to begin the program.
Domestic Students: Your full-time program commitment starts on August 31, 2026.
Mandatory Onboarding is scheduled on August 31 – September 3, 2026.
Mandatory Onboarding: Program orientation and onboarding is scheduled on September 2-3, 2026. Attendance is mandatory.
MBA Students Mandatory Onboarding Program orientation and onboarding is scheduled on July 11-12, 2026. Attendance is mandatory.
To help to prepare you for your career journey, our Career and Professional Development team will deliver a virtual career launch course prior to the program starting in September.
These sessions will be virtual and more information will be provided closer to the start of the course.
You are required to attend a virtual course in August. It will be delivered over two half-day sessions on consecutive Saturdays. Attendance is mandatory and will be monitored. Further details will be shared by email.
Incoming students are strongly encouraged to attend the virtual course to strengthen their quantitative skills before the program begins. A short assessment will be required before and after the course.
As part of the BLPT program, there are on-site academic components (residencies) that each student must attend (these are mandatory). The residencies take place once per month during a weekend at the Ron Joyce Centre in Burlington. The dates are outlined below for the next two years:
Fall
Winter
Spring/Summer
Fall
Winter
Spring/Summer
The Student Services team is composed of the Recruitment and Admissions, Academic/Programs and Career & Professional Development (CPD) staff, working collaboratively to provide students with exceptional support, resources, and an engaging overall experience throughout their MBA journey.
Connect below or by emailing mba.studentexperience@mcmaster.ca. Please also add this email address to your address book so you receive all the communications going forward.
