High School Senior From Toronto, Looking for Advice...

I'm currently a high school senior in Toronto. From my experience so far, my general 'career path' that I'm thinking of is doing my undergrad degree, working in IB for 2-3 years and then working in Real Estate development (potentially PE) back in Toronto. 

I've applied to the typical Canadian universities for business (and also engineering...) but also want to give the US target schools a shot, since I feel like the experience working for top American/International firms can be very valuable compared to a Canadian Big 6.

I have the option to ED2 to NYU Stern, however, I'm afraid that I would have been able to get into a better program (HPY, Penn, Uchicago, other Ivies?) even if I did get in. 

My questions would be 1) can you give some understanding of how NYU Stern ranks among other schools. From my research, it's obviously below HPY and Wharton but in the same tier as other Ivies, Uchicago, Duke... Is this correct? and 2) give my intended career path, would going to NYU Stern truly be a significant step up than other Canadian schools such as Ivey (Dual Eng degree) or Rotman? 

Any advice or additional context would help given my inexperience. I would like to think I'm a strong student (for high school)and have experience in real estate given some family connections and 2-3 internships. 

10 Comments
 
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A few things:

1. You are a 17 year old with a exact plan on where you will be by the time you are 24-25? I would advise to be more open minded

2. It sounds like you missed ED1/REA/EA but you think you have a higher chance of getting into schools of those caliber in RD than getting into Stern in ED2? The math doesnt sound right to me.

3. Generally Stern is good enough despite not being tippy top but the culture is very sharp elbowed and everyone is a mega finance hardo. That should factor in more for you since you will spend 4 years there

4. Stern is definitely a step up than Ivey. Not sure how Rotman even got in this sentence. That school is non-target af even in Toronto.

 

I dont view schools like UChicago or Duke or other ivies to be materially above Stern in the world of finance. H/W would be different. I think there is a reward but I have no idea who you are so only you can evaluate the risk.

Stern is better than Ivey. No one cares about a dual degree from Ivey because everything else offered by Western is frankly worthless. Don't know anyone that would pick Ivey over Stern without personal reasons (financial situation/family)

 

Stern > Ivey for recruiting in Toronto.

Recruiters in Toronto will get many resumes from Ivey and much less from the US. They might hire you for an internship just to say “we have a kid from Stern / the States”

While Stern will make it easier to break in, Ivey might be better in the long-run if your goal is to stay in Toronto long-term as you will have a better network.

 

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