Please help! UC Berkeley vs Western Ontatio
Hi! I'm currently debating between going to UCB or UWO for undergrad. I don't have a specific career path in mind yet, but IB, VC, finance, and entrepreneurship are pretty interesting to me.
UWO:
-got AEO for the HBA program ( of course, no guarantee for Ivey)
-recieved some scholarship money
-tuition much cheaper (I'm a Canadian citizen)
-I can skip first year classes
UCB:
-no perks other than it placing higher globally, I guess
Of course UWO seems like the more rational choice, given the cost. But the thing is, I really like Berkeley (I really can't explain why though)
One of my main questions is recruitment and career prospects.
-how do each of their alumni networks fare?
-how difficult is it for a Canadian student to get a job in the states?
-how much more difficult will it be to find work in the US with a Canadian degree vs an American one?
-is Berkeley worth all the extra money?
-any other pros and cons of each school?
Thanks a lot in advance if you can share your input!
Hi. I went to Berkeley (class of 2010), and so while I can't comment much on UWO, I can definitely tell you a lot about Berkeley and what you should look in to for UWO.
Since you're asking on this site, I'll tell you that really all the fancy banks and consulting firms come to recruit on campus (Goldman, JPM, MS, McK, BCG, Bain). It is very hard to get a job at one of these places if they don't do campus recruiting (obviously it's not a layup at Berkeley, you have to do quite well in your classes/ace the interview/etc), so you should check whether these firms even come to recruit for front office IB/consulting roles (doesn't count if they are just hiring back office clerks).
Second, if your interests are broader than just the world of fancy business jobs, graduate school opportunities are pretty high. A number of my friends are at Ivy league PhD programs, others in good med and law schools. And if you go on poetsandquants (google it) you can see that Berkeley is one of the most represented schools at Harvard Business School, Wharton, etc. (I don't see UWO on the list). You can probably look up at how many UWO kids end up at whatever top tier grad schools and compare.
Also, as it sounds like you've picked up on, it's just a fun place to go to school. The town is great, the people are great, the sporting events are fun (go to the football games even if, as a Canadian, you don't like football, it's more about the party atmosphere anyway).
Anyway, can't comment on some of the Canadian specific stuff, but if you do well there it's absolutely worth the tuition (even the high non-CA tuition). I work at Bain now and am about to transition over to the buy side as an associate and it's Berkeley that set me up for this success.
Happy to answer other questions if you have them.
When did this place become college confidential?
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