For Canadians: Toronto vs. New York, which city is easier to break into a boutique?

I am living in Toronto and I am looking to break into a regional investment banking boutique. Should I focus on cold-calling Toronto firms or New York firms?

 

New York. From stalking people on linkedin, what I have deduced is most of the boutiques (GMP, Blair Franklin, Canaccord-Genuity, etc) take on people from MFE (UToronto) program, or from the target UGrad schools.

By virtue of New York having much more boutiques than Canada, common sense says your best bet is there.

Ensure you have a competitive GPA for the Toronto boutiques, I had a sophomore (this summer) internship at one, they placed a lot of merit on grades.

Good luck.

The difference between successful people and others is largely a habit - a controlled habit of doing every task better, faster and more efficiently.
 
Best Response
mhurricane:
New York. From stalking people on linkedin, what I have deduced is most of the boutiques (GMP, Blair Franklin, Canaccord-Genuity, etc) take on people from MFE (UToronto) program, or from the target UGrad schools.

By virtue of New York having much more boutiques than Canada, common sense says your best bet is there.

Ensure you have a competitive GPA for the Toronto boutiques, I had a sophomore (this summer) internship at one, they placed a lot of merit on grades.

Good luck.

Why would a NY boutique ever take a Canadian citizen that they have to fill paper work out to get when there are so many people with US citizenship vying for the same job? I guess there may be the odd instance where you are in the right place at the right time, but it seems like a waste of time to me.
 
nycstateofmind:
mhurricane:
New York. From stalking people on linkedin, what I have deduced is most of the boutiques (GMP, Blair Franklin, Canaccord-Genuity, etc) take on people from MFE (UToronto) program, or from the target UGrad schools.

By virtue of New York having much more boutiques than Canada, common sense says your best bet is there.

Ensure you have a competitive GPA for the Toronto boutiques, I had a sophomore (this summer) internship at one, they placed a lot of merit on grades.

Good luck.

Why would a NY boutique ever take a Canadian citizen that they have to fill paper work out to get when there are so many people with US citizenship vying for the same job? I guess there may be the odd instance where you are in the right place at the right time, but it seems like a waste of time to me.

I thought, since he was considering NY, he has dual-citizenship, or is a citizen there?

The difference between successful people and others is largely a habit - a controlled habit of doing every task better, faster and more efficiently.
 
mhurricane:
New York. From stalking people on linkedin, what I have deduced is most of the boutiques (GMP, Blair Franklin, Canaccord-Genuity, etc) take on people from MFE (UToronto) program, or from the target UGrad schools.

By virtue of New York having much more boutiques than Canada, common sense says your best bet is there.

Ensure you have a competitive GPA for the Toronto boutiques, I had a sophomore (this summer) internship at one, they placed a lot of merit on grades.

Good luck.

Firms like GMP don't give a flying fuck about grades for their trading interns. Much more focused on connections as well as fit.

 
Macro <span class=keyword_link><a href=/resources/skills/trading-investing/arbitrage target=_blank>Arbitrage</a></span>:
mhurricane:
New York. From stalking people on linkedin, what I have deduced is most of the boutiques (GMP, Blair Franklin, Canaccord-Genuity, etc) take on people from MFE (UToronto) program, or from the target UGrad schools.

By virtue of New York having much more boutiques than Canada, common sense says your best bet is there.

Ensure you have a competitive GPA for the Toronto boutiques, I had a sophomore (this summer) internship at one, they placed a lot of merit on grades.

Good luck.

Firms like GMP don't give a flying fuck about grades for their trading interns. Much more focused on connections as well as fit.

Macro, I think investment banking is implied. Also, for people as brilliant as you are; sure, grades are not as important.

The difference between successful people and others is largely a habit - a controlled habit of doing every task better, faster and more efficiently.
 

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