help with UCLA econ vs Ivey HBA for an international
Hey WSO!
I'm a pre-frosh aiming to break into finance after graduating and am currently deciding between UCLA econ/ biz econ and Ivey HBA (I have AEO status there). I'm an international (neither American nor Canadian). While I was set on living in the States for a LONG time, after reading a little more on here and reddit it seems that it is quite hard to break into any finance jobs (except accounting which is something I'm not interested in) out of UCLA while Ivey places well for Canadian finance.
I plan to get an MBA from an M7 after a few years of work and have heard that UCLA carried weight for mba apps (not so sure about ivey). I would MUCH rather live in LA and want to live in the states in the long term too, however, with the difficulty of the h1b visa and the fact that I was born in a country with a long wait time for GC (say 10-15 years after h1b), I am sceptical about UCLA. However, I plan to transfer to a target after my first year at UCLA (was looking into USC, UMich, Northwestern, Duke, UVA, Columbia etc.) as I have the grades and willing to work toward it. I will try my hardest to network and be part of clubs/ societies at UCLA which, I have heard, would help with recruiting but I am uncertain about to what extent. I keep hearing mixed opinions on UCLA as some say its a complete non target while others say its at least a target for west coast banking and with enough work put in, it's not impossible to break in.
In terms of cost Ivey is ~100k cheaper than UCLA but my parents would be able to afford either (but they'd be stretched thin with the UCLA cost) + it is relatively easy to become a Canadian PR/ citizen after graduating from a Canadian school (which could help live in the states in the long term after an MBA as I'd fall under TN visa). I realize it seems that Ivey has more advantages but in my mind all of these advantages are in the long term, and given that I have wanted to live in the States for years now and that I like the culture, location, campus and so on at UCLA much more, would I be crazy to choose it over ivey?
Please help me decide. TIA
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