why do West Coast banks love Ivey (Western Ontario) so much?

Just curious. This year's SA class from Ivey at University of Western Ontario sent 6 kids to LA alone:

2 to CS LA 2 to Moelis LA 1 to Houlihan FRG LA 1 to Barcap LA

I also know of kids going to CS SF and Qatalyst SF, and that GS LA sent kids for final rounds (not sure if anyone offered/signed).

I think that's quite a large number of people, especially for a far-away Canadian school that's not nearly as well known as the US targets. Since these WC offices all have small analyst classes, I wouldn't even be surprised if Ivey sent more kids there than anywhere else. Why do firms love Ivey kids when they can get plenty of talent from the likes of Wharton, Berkeley Stanford etc??

FYI I'm in Ivey and going to a BB office in Toronto - this is just out of curiosity.

9 Comments
 

I think having to live in london, ontario for a few years you would also be desperate to live somewhere warm like cali. Although I suppose you are in the office the whole time... to be honest it is a weird phenomenon. I'm not quite sure why. It has been evident for a few years now, and seems to have become a perpetual cycle as alumni base grows. Ivey kids certainly are bred for banking so I don't doubt they outperform US targets in the interviews.

 
Best Response

It's a legacy dating all the way back to the DLJ days (believe HBA class of 97 or 98, something around there). Those guys did really well out in LA and when DLJ got bought out by CS and then some ppl left for UBS LA, the one firm recruiting from Ivey became two and grew from there.

For example, MD at Moelis LA named Anthony Guagliano is a member of that DLJ class and he's kept returning to Ivey to recruit throughout his time at DLJ, UBS and now Moelis. As a result those Ivey guys following him are well entrenched in not only in West Coast banking but at all the top PE shops out there as well.

 

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