University Decisions, help appreciated
This is my first post on WSO and I'd be grateful for any advice please.
I am a UK citizen with offers from Bristol university Politics & Economics and McGill university Arts (BA).
Although Bristol seems to be a semi-target, provided that I network and study hard, I hopefully will still be in the running for a BB FO job, in London.
However, from my research it seems that McGill Arts program has very poor placement, and to be in the running for Canadian banks I'd have to be in the Commerce program (which is inferior to that of Queen's as well as Ivey School of business).
Obviously, there are exceptions to the rule, but I'd like some input please on where would be best to go please? On all other factors, I prefer Mcgill (apart from the weather!).
Alternatively, I could take a gap year and reapply but I'd only do that if I receive top A-level results.
Thanks again
have u heard of University of Phoenix? i heard they had good placements this year.
McGill is not bad, try to see if you can transfer into the Commerce program. Gap year strategy is fine if you get the results. Talk to some Bristol Alumni to gain a sense of their experience breaking into BB FO in London. I would go with McGill but only if there is a way to get into the Commerce program.
Yes, for finance, McGill is no Ivey or Queen's, but it's probably the next best thing (in Canada). After all, it is still one of the best schools in the country, and as a whole, it is a much better school than UWO (the university Ivey is a part of) or Queen's. Also, you can do 2 years at McGill and then apply to transfer to Ivey. About 1/3 of the undergraduate student at Ivey are people who transferred into the program.
Bristol is fine for London IBD.
Don't choose your university for exit opps. Choose it for the type of person you want to become over the next four years. Otherwise you are wasting your youth, you don't stick out to employers as an interesting human, and if you change your mind or shit goes wrong you have wasted one of the biggest decisions of your life.
I think I do prefer McGill but it seems that exit opps aren't great, especially since I'm enrolled in the arts programme, as opposed to commerce. My overall aim is to get into a great MBA programme, and I know for that the priority will be getting good work experience out of university.
I am open to a transfer from McGill to an american institution but I have no idea what the odds are and whether it would be better just to take a gap year and reapply. What would the exit opps be like in London from Mcgill? I don't think that Ivey or Queens hold much of reputation here.
I know it is wrong to pick over exit opps, but it is a huge part of the decision for me and I don't want to compromise my potential at this stage.
Thank you for your advice. I would be entering McGill with advanced standing (ie. 1 year's worth of credits already) so i'd have to check if I could transfer after my first year at McGill. Also although I've heard great things about Ivey's recruiting on Wall Street, what is its reputation like in London? It seems that Mcgill has a greater international reputation?
How would you stack up Ivey with the american undergrad business schools?
Thanks again, you have really given me something to think about
Ivey is good but their placement still isn't as good as US target undergrad b schools like Georgetown, Ross, Haas, Mcintire or Mccombs. I think you should also look at above schools if interested in working on Wall Street/US.
Yes, I am definitely interested in those schools but I would have to take a year off to apply for them.
That, coupled with the fact that they are 4 year courses, as opposed to 3 years at Bristol or McGill, as well as the increased tuition fees, do dissuade me.
Can anybody give me an insight into transfers from a Canadian school such as McGill to America? My dream school is Dartmouth but that seems a long shot given that the competition for transfers is 30:1 with 50% of those admitted with a GPA of ≥ 3.7.
I have heard that it is extremely difficult to maintain a high GPA at McGill. Apparently the median GPA of the top 10% of the Arts programme (that I would be enrolled in), has an average of 3.7. Does that seem very low? I am unfamiliar with the American/ Canadian systems.
What Tacomisterjunior said! But also, get good grades and transfer to whatever school you want to go to before your junior year.
So I guess the consensus is McGill then? I do prefer it overall to Bristol, but it does seem that there is more risk involved exit opps wise, I'd have to either transfer to Ivey or a good American school or do a good Finance Msc.
Bristol does seem to have decent exposure to BB though, although most describe it as semi-target, it should be sufficient provided I am organised and network hard.
McGill is definitely higher on the risk/reward scale. If you can transfer to Ivey from McGill, you'll be in a good place as far as recruiting goes. Pretty much all the BBs and EBs recruit for both east and west coast IBD. Its pretty competitive though, the top few get almost all of the interviews for the top banks. That being said if you can get in that group your options are about as good as any US school.
The only true targets in the UK are Oxford and Cambridge (in the amount of resources the banks spend trying to persuade these students to work for them). The next universities that get the most students in are LSE and Warwick, but this just reflective of the student body (applications per student is high). If you go to any of the following other top universities in the UK and take spring week applications seriously, you can land a gig in London IBD: Oxford, Cambridge, LSE, UCL, Warwick, Durham, Imperial, Bristol.
Trying to apply the target/semi-target/non-target labels in the UK is not helpful because recruitment is structured very differently. Obviously Oxford > Bristol on a CV but you will get interviews if you are from Bristol and have the other usual stuff in order (ECs, work experience, etc).
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