Montreal for non-french speakers
Hey guys, I am a senior studying econ interested in a career in finance (not necessarily IB) I have a 3.7 gpa and an above average score in GRE, I am applying to Mcgill,Uoft and numerous Canadian universities however my heart is set on mcgill but im scared since most jobs and internships require u to be bilingual and im not, and i dont want to hurt my chances in getting an internship that will eventually hurt me landing a full time offer, has anybody been to mcgill or knew someone who went and what was his/her experience in landing internships without knowing french. Cheers guys
I am unable to answer your question, however I did land interviews in Montreal without speaking French. Nothing eventually converted to an offer, and not knowing the language did hurt my chances with a lot of employers.
Are you willing to learn it? Montreal is a cool city with lots of opportunities.
Went to McGill - Would not worry about not speaking French. McGill is a target for Canadian banks and a couple American ones, so the majority of people recruit for Toronto offices and occasionally NY/Houston. The only people I knew that recruited for jobs/internships in Montreal were people originally from Montreal.
yeah, like for the summer internship i can apply to other cities to like calgary,toronto etc..
Worked at a fund in Montreal last summer, didn’t speak a word of French. Should be fine.
which company
Dude, change your username and remove profile pic. Supposed to stay anon on here, not be a profile.
And smaller firms take English speaking kids.
IB in Montreal (Big 5) is not possible without French if you don’t have a senior contact inside. Even some banks say they don’t take masters or if you’re graduating then they take people from your class with relatives at the bank. So it’s all a game of who you know.
And smaller regional boutique IBs don’t have a heavy French requirement at the junior level at least.
But I personally wouldn’t recommend Montreal, not much career progression without French.
Try Toronto or Calgary in Canada. If you have a US work permit, just do New York, MMF can get you interviews anywhere if you can network.
Or, London is always a good option. Gotta go where the jobs are.
Was in the same position as you and wanted to go to McGill for finance. Applied to a handful of schools and although I was originally set on McGill [was also a bit worried about not being billingual] after doing a lot of research - LinkedIn placements, interviewing past alumni, employment reports, etc. I committed to Western with aeo for Ivey. Got into all the three major schools being, Queen's smith - McGill Desautels and Western w/aeo. The reason I suggest going with Western over McGill if that is a choice is that the finance placements really are not comparable. Western has a great alumni network and objectively the best historic placements within investment banking both EB and BB, as well as nearly every other business/finance-oriented industry. When you apply [which not sure if you're taking a gap year - because applications closed a few months ago for this year] I would highly suggest also considering Ivey as a potential option. This is not to say McGill does not provide good placements, it is a great school with arguably the best placements in Montreal, but it isn’t necessarily the top-ranked university for business esp not for Toronto or the US, so if that is a deciding factor for you I would look more into adding Western as a potential option. Also important not to negate the value of a well-grounded network which Western definitely provides. Feel free to PM me if you'd like.
Thanks a lot man! but my issue is that im an econ student and i am willing to pursue a masters in econ since the tuition is very expensive for a masters in finance in uoft mcgill ivey etc.. because im an international student so econ is my best bet, if I had the chance to choose i would definitely go to ivey or queens for business school. but since I cant afford my logic is to go to a overall well known university in canada, because yes ivey beats mcgill and uoft in business but imo the overall ranking and prestige of uoft mcgill ubc beats any university in canada for overall jobs not IB specifically. So my real options are university of calgary uoft and mcgill for a mastes in economics where do u think i should go to?
and yes im looking to stay in canada, im not considering the us
Altough I think the notion of choosing a school based on prestige and correlating that to “overall job placements” probably isn’t as accurate as you might think - however, if it is between those 3 schools I’d pick McGill personally. I do suggest that you do a deeper dive into the employment reports and placement data. Then do a cost/benefit analysis. In the end of the day I wish you the best of luck. Choosing a university is inherently difficult task because their not always comparable - sometimes you just have to make an educated trust fall with what you’ve got.
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