Ivey HBA or Queen's MFin?

I am currently going to an unknown non-target but have a high GPA. My goal is to get into ibanking and there is really no ibanking presence at my school. I am considering the following two options.

1: Transfer to 3rd year Ivey HBA program. - This would mean I graduate in 2015.

2: Stay at my current university and finish BBA in 2014. Then do Queen's MFin and graduate with MFin in 2015.

What would you guys recommend I do ?
I know that there are quite a few Ivey grads here and the recruiting at Ivey is pretty good but has does anyone been through the Queen's MFin or know anything about its reputation in banking?

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated!

 
Best Response

What school are you at? I take it you are currently in 3rd year?

You will not know if you got into Ivey for another 6 months. So would focus to see what internship you could land this summer as that may be the swing decision.

Queen's MFinance, is extremely difficult to get into and usually they want math/stats majors. As well it will not help you get into banking as it is a research based degree and for people who enjoy that aspect. Most of the people I know who went for programs like that did so exactly to avoid banking, one guy actually did banking internships and disliked it.

 

I am in BC at one of the smaller universities. The school is well known in BC for accounting but has no presence in finance.

Yes I am focusing on getting an internship for the summer in IB but i'm not sure what my chances are, since I have no alumni to network with and BC really doesn't have much of a finance industry so I am applying mainly in Toronto but also for Europe and US. From what I've been reading it seems quite unlikely to get an internship from an unknown school without a connection. even with good grades (>95%)

Are you sure you aren't thinking of the Msc in Finance at Queen's? The Msc program is indeed more academic/research based, but the Mfin is marketed by Queen's as a good program to break into finance.

 

I would go with HBA. The masters students at Queen's are always at info sessions and prep sessions, but I've extremely rarely ever heard of a masters student taking an offer from the B.Comms. Success in recruiting is heavily resource based, and the best resources are upper-year students who have gone through the process before. Since you'll be recruiting with/against the B.Comms at Queen's, the B.Comms have the clear advantage there, and it's reflected in recruiting. These days, you'll also be going against Engineers, and I think firms are happier taking an engineer than an M.Fin.

At Ivey, you'll be a more traditional recruit and the story of doing your first few years of undergrad at X school and transferring to Western for HBA is a common one. You'll have all the resources on hand for HBA, the HBA network, and the HBA peer help in a very targetted recruiting scene. You might learn more at M.Fin, but if your ultimate overarching objective is placement, go with HBA.

 

One thing to consider is that Ivey is expanding their classes. They are adding 2 more sections to the 1 section this year so that is about 140+ on top of the 600 competing for 30 some spots. Currently it is already incredibly competitive to get spots. Have you also considered if you are a fit for the case-based method of education? Over 50% of your marks will come from participation and participation is graded very heavy-handedly and if you don't contribute to classes you would not pull through with the average for recruiting. I am just giving you the fair warning before you considered applying.

Have you also considered the pre-experience masters in Europe from CMC, LSE, LBS, HEC Paris and the likes?

 

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