Calgary or Western - Canadians/Nayls?
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Western, for sure, Im an alum of Ivey, and I, not to long ago landed a FT analyst position of Greenhill and Co. Recruiting is much better, and Ivey ranks higher than Haskayne if every ranking imaingable, the alumni network is very excellent at western, and it will be much easier to land a finance job. The career services at U Calgary are non existent but Ivey's are hands down the best in Canada. You can apply for AEO, which requires lots of ECs and a 90% average, or you can go to another accredited campus on western or somewhere else for 2 years before going to Ivey (Ivey's UG program, HBA lasts 2 years only). If you begin a finance career in CA, it would depend on where you worked. Some HFs and PEs automatically go for NY BB to fill their ranks. For people's long term goals that are NYC, I recommend going to Greenhill, GS Canada, MS Canada, Merill Lynch Canada, ManGroup, Bain, Etc. IN investment banking, Ivey is the most represented Canadian B school, and is a "canadian target" along with Schulich, and Rotman. Where I work, there are 4 Ivey grads, 1 rotman grad, and 2 Queens U grads.
FINANCE Allstate Insurance Company of Canada American Express Barclays Capital BDO Dunwoody LLP Berkshire Securities Blackmont Capital Inc. Blair Franklin Capital Partners BMO Capital Markets Canaccord Adams CIBC Bank CIT Financial Ltd. Canada Citi Smith Barney Citibank Cormark Securities CPP Investment Board Credit Suisse Creststreet Capital Corporation DBRS Limited Deloitte (Audit, Tax & ERS) Descartes Global Asset Management Ltd. Desjardins Securities Inc Deutsche Bank Diversified Global Asset Management Drug Royalty Corporation Inc. Dundee Securities Corporation Ernst & Young LLP Evercore Partners Export Development Canada Fidelity Investments Fox-Pitt Kelton Cochran Caronia Waller GE Capital Solutions GE Commercial Finance Genuity Capital Markets Goldman Sachs & Co. Greenhill Haywood Securities, Inc. Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin HSBC Financial Investors Group Financial Services JP Morgan K J Harrison and Partners Kilmer Capital Partners KPMG LLP Lazard Corporation Loewen & Partners Corporate Services Inc. London Capital Management Macquarie North America Ltd. Manulife Financial FINANCE - CONTINUED Maple Leaf Capital Mawer Investment Management Ltd. Merrill Lynch Canada Inc Middlefield Capital Corporation Morgan Stanley National Bank Financial Neal, Pallett & Townsend Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board OPAX Investments Inc. OPSEU Pension Trust Orion Securities Pembroke Management Ltd. PricewaterhouseCoopers Raymond James Ltd. RBC ReichmannHauer Capital Partners RSM Richter (Accounting) Scotia Scotts Real Estate Investment Trust Standard Chartered Bank State Farm Insurance Taconic Capital Advisors, LLC TD Canada Trust Tech Capital Partners Tri-Artisan Partners LLC Tristone Capital Ubika Corporation UBS Union Square Advisors Wells Fargo & Company
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I took Faculty of engineering b4 going to Ivey (AEO). Yeah, it's true that soem ivey profs teach at BMOS, but it's nowhere as prestigious as Ivey's HBA. Unfortunately, most employer dont recognize the "closeness", they see BMOS as a Faculty of Arts and Humanitaries type program, as it somewhat focuses on human behaviour type stuff. The only BMOS grad I know, is a strategic consultant. BMOS is excellent for Management consulting,and marketing but for Finance, HBA is more revered among employers.
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Western is a better school than UofC regardless of the program. I myself went to Western for undergrad, applied and got turned down from Ivey's HBA program and got my first job on Wall Street from my history program. I went to Ivey for my MBA and have been just as impressed with the MBA as the HBA program. You made the right decision.
Having said that, there is no doubt that Ivey is the better program (versus other programs at Western; I didn't even know they had another undergraduate business program but I'll take your word for it). Work hard to get into Ivey. Go to the school, develop a relationship with the program recruiters. They are expanding the program and growing it over the next few years, so you picked a great time to enter. Work hard and keep your grades high and you know to keep up your extra curriculars. The strength of Ivey comes from the strength of the applicants and the class.
Dual specialization is highly sought after, particularly in Calgary. An HBA and engineering degree would make you a top candidate for energy and mining groups (and likely others including industrials). I am not sure what other dual programs you are looking at, but soemthing like law would also be attractive.
Finally, would a position in Canada help get one in the U.S.? Yes. If you pick your spot well and time it well with the market, you can make a move within investment banking pretty much where ever you want. I know bankers that worked in Toronto and went to NYC, others who did Toronto to London (and LA, and HK and from Calgary to all these places etc). Once you have finance skills you can pretty much work anywhere at the junior level (harder at the senior levels as you are expected to have client relationships that are tougher to do in a move).
I can't log into this site from my work anymore so I am likely going to be dramatically less active on this board but will check in every now and again.
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