I just got a letter, overnighted by Fedex, from Queen’s University’s MBA program. I sent Queen’s my GMAT results because you can send to up to five schools for free, so just on the crazy off chance that I might want to apply there I included them.

(There’s a couple of reasons why I’m not applying to Queen’s: the big one is that I don’t want to move somewhere else to do this, and Kingston’s not really reasonable to commute to. The program there’s a lot more like American MBAs, targeting management consulting and investment banking, and has a price tag to go with it: $50k instead of Ottawa’s $15k. And as good a school as Queen’s is, having grown up in Belleville I don’t want to end up back in Kingston! On the other hand, I could move back in with my father for a year… no.)

Anyhow, the letter: after congratulating me on my GMAT score (which is all they’ve seen of me), they invite me to come down and spend a day touring the campus, sitting in on classes, and interviewing with the AdCom, at their expense (travel, meals, accommodation).

I don’t think I’m going to take them up on it, because I don’t want to have to go through the process of putting together an application or even doing an application interview just for a free day in Kingston, but it was a nice sign that my Ottawa application will probably go well! In the back of my mind there’s a little voice telling me that I should have applied to the ranked Canadian schools too. But I really don’t think I’m after what they provide, and the disruption and expense of going to school in Kingston or Toronto would be too much anyhow.