NYU CAS Econ vs UofT Rotman

*as the title says. I am uncertain about my career path at the moment, I believe I do want IB to be potentially open, but more interested in research type roles.

27 Comments
 

no question NYU. you can recruit into all canadian banking roles with NYU + you’re at a low target in the US. are you a US citizen?

 
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some true points here but important to realize Rotman is tier 3 within a highly competitive Canadian IB landscape. i agree that my friends at Rotman are more capable and motivated than the few kids ik from NYU CAS/other non Stern programs, but because that’s what literally all the kids at the real Canadian targets do as well so they have no choice unless they wanna be unemployed or do Big4 Audit. Also Rotman is 5x more challenging to get a high GPA vs NYU CAS

Ivey/Queens > McGill/Waterloo > UBC/Laurier/UofT/York > everyone else firmly in terms of recruiting in Canada, so it wouldn’t be like OP is a significantly bigger fish in a smaller pond than tier 3/4 NYU CAS is in the US.

I agree that US citizenship is a huge factor here so OP will have to comment, but as a canadian who went to one of the tier 1/2 canadian target schools I mentioned, pretty much everyone I know at Ivey/Queens/McGill/Waterloo would have taken NYU CAS if not for $$$ reasons over where they went, with the exception of some STEM/Quant kids from Waterloo and maybe some Ivey dual degree ppl (ie. Engineering). That’s quite telling, even if they landed a good spot

Also 95% of the ppl ik at those schools that made it into Canadian IB/PE/Pensions would move to the US in an equivalent role if they could, simply due to the fact that you make 10-20% less at Big6 Canadian banks vs US BB, get taxed 10-15% higher and get paid in an increasingly weak currency. Also way fewer exits to the buy side than the US, particularly in the HF/AM/LO space (just way less spots)

Either way I agree you can definitely break into Canadian high finance from Rotman, but it’s certainly not 1st or 2nd rate (albeit respectable) and the Canadian market is shrinking, unforgiving and less fruitful than the US. Also TN for bankers to the US is a crapshoot and has been (and may continue to depending what happens this fall) since Trump

Assuming for all scenarios cost isn’t an issue (ie. if OP is Canadian and has to take 400k debt for NYU vs 60k for Rotman, then Rotman >), here’s what i’d recommend:

If OP is a US citizen, no brainer NYU

If OP is a Canadian citizen, Rotman worth considering but still would go NYU as could recruit into both Canadian and US markets (NYU is considered prestigious in Canada)

If OP is neither, NYU all the way unless getting PR is a priority, in which case Rotman >

 

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