Queens Commerce (with 50k Scholarship) vs Western Ivey for Undergrad

Canadian high schooler here struggling to pick between the two options. 

I'm interested in both finance (prob Non-IB, grind's probably not for me) and consulting. Wouldn't mind ending up working in Toronto instead of the States.

The factor keeping me from taking the Smith offer right now is because I have connections with several current and incoming students at Western and I was planning to room with a close friend before I received the Queen's scholarship. Additionally, I heard Queen's clubs are pretty exclusive, and I don't know anyone there, which could limit my potential. 

My parents said the money would be nice to have but they can finance Ivey for me without any issues. I'll just have to eventually pay them back in full.

My head says Queen's, but my heart says Western. Any advice is appreciated!

17 Comments
 

$50k is a lot, I would definitely go to Queens tbh

Agreed. Especially in this current environment, you don't want to take on any debt if you can avoid it. Ivey also doesn't start till 3rd year, you can go to Queens and decide if you wish to transfer to Ivey later on as well. 

 

Yeah you're right about minimizing debt. Would be in about 120k debt with Ivey, around 60k with Queen's. I wouldn't consider transferring though -- it would be tough for me to make such a sharp transition to a new place with new people.

 

For sure, 50k is definitely nothing to sneeze at. Maybe it's not as valuable from a long-term perspective, but short-term it's a lot. I'm pretty outgoing but not overly confident in my ability to forge new connections especially since I don't know anyone at Queen's. It's a difficult decision because I want to have a blast in university, too...

 

There was a thread recently about summer placements for Canadian unis. Have a look. Queens placed pretty well I think. Although it was for mostly IB 

 

Yeah Queen's employment prospects are pretty much on par with Ivey's. Just debating whether to take the $$$, or invest in a more fulfilling university experience with connections in place.

 

Personally I'd go with Queens, this post is structured as if you can't make friends and have an amazing time. Also Kingston is slightly less shit than London. Start working hard to get into QUIC or Limestone

 

The Ivey name is better, you can pay the debt off in a year with a better placing job. qComm is very uncompetitive so if your super smart QUIC is achievable easily as the schools application process only involves 86+ avg then they read your essays. I had similar opp and picked UWO for the better pipeline to IB, but if finance isn’t really for you then take scholarship.

 

Hey there, ultimately chose Queen's. Decided I didn't want US IB and realized if I didn't cash in I'd put hella pressure on myself to go balls to the wall for a high-paying career, whereas now I'm able to have a more chill balance. Feel free to PM if you want to talk more!

 

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