Ivey vs. Non-Ivey

So I've heard that Ivey is like the number 1 feeder school for IB, then Queens, then McGill. However, I don't like Kingston, certainly don't know French and I don't have a 100k laying around to pay for Ivey. As such, can I major in finance at Western (non-Ivey), join the Western Investment Club and still get into IB? Will there be any difference between Ivey and Non-Ivey students? Are my chances slimmer at pure Western or should I go to either Queens or McGill? 

 

i understand your issue since im in a similar situation but tbh if you are really set on IB in the USA then yes ivey and queens are your best bet however if u consider IB in canada or other finance roles from what I have seen a lot of people landed offers (not specifically IBD) these offers range if IB-AM-ER etc.. from a mixed pool of universities I saw university of calgary, wilfried luarier, Uoft etc.. so yes if u dont speak french, and hate kingston go to western try to secure internships, good grades, relevant activities and u should do well for example western investments club is not only limited for ivey students its for all western students so u can take advantage of those stuff. But idk about networking events and stuff like that good luck

 
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Ivey grad here - UWO (non-Ivey) is tier 3 at best for front office finance recruiting (worse than semi targets like Laurier / Schulich / Etc). Being a general member (“researcher”) in WIC won’t do much as everyone can join, and in order to be an investment analyst / executive you basically have to be either in Ivey or AEO.

If you’re actually serious about IB, “not liking Kingston” is a terrible reason (arguably London isn’t that much better), since the university is completely separate from the locals. You also don’t need to speak French to do your undergrad at McGill.

 

Ivey grad here - UWO (non-Ivey) is tier 3 at best for front office finance recruiting (worse than semi targets like Laurier / Schulich / Etc). Being a general member ("researcher") in WIC won't do much as everyone can join, and in order to be an investment analyst / executive you basically have to be either in Ivey or AEO.

If you're actually serious about IB, "not liking Kingston" is a terrible reason (arguably London isn't that much better), since the university is completely separate from the locals. You also don't need to speak French to do your undergrad at McGill.

The above post hit's the nail on the head. Definitely don't do the non Ivey business program at Western for recruiting for banking type roles. Western non-Ivey is a complete non target and would be below programs like McMaster for example. I'd recommend you also look into other programs like Waterloo's Accounting and Finance co-op program or Laurier BBA co-op. Their co-op programs are really solid and their off cycle internships seem to place a lot of kids into really solid roles 

Also, relatively speaking Ivey is not that much more than Queens Commerce. As for McGill, Montreal is a pretty sick student city from what I've heard and I don't believe you should have any issues if you're not a French speaker.

 

You goto any non-bba or “hard stem” program your chances of banking out of undergrad is pretty nil. Heck know Mcmaster bba grads who made it. 
If you went somewhere did compsci/econ different story. But Canada aint like the USA you want to work in banking you study a BBA.

Majority of McGill does not speak french so not sure what you mean there. Ivey students get very generous loans from RBC.

Have you done any actual research?

 

Banking recruitment in Canada is targeted directly to BBAs. Typically banks want to hire the best corporate drone money can buy, and no program prepares you better for such a life than undergrad business. We do not have elite liberal arts programs like the UsA.

If you truly have an interest in engineering for the sake of it. You take engineering before Ivery at UWO and then once in Ivey decide if you want to finish your degree. Or you goto Waterloo/McGill, take all the econ/business courses you can so someone legit believes you are interested in the “softer side of business”. Network your butt off. 
I know engineers who went on to do banking, but none of them knew about it as an undergrad.

 

Don’t need french at McGill at all. McGill bcom > non Ivey Western. If you’re not willing to shell out the money for Ivey (which is certainly a valid factor), id say sacrifice your qualms about Queens and go there or McGill. You’ll see a significant drop off in placement frequency and quality (especially in US, but even in Toronto) if you choose to go with anywhere else (excluding some Waterloo programs + UBC PMF). Rotman places some kids I guess but it’s almost impossible to get a high enough GPA and you’re competing with a lot of intl students for basically only Toronto jobs

 

Don’t need french at McGill at all. McGill bcom > non Ivey Western. If you’re not willing to shell out the money for Ivey (which is certainly a valid factor), id say sacrifice your qualms about Queens and go there or McGill. You’ll see a significant drop off in placement frequency and quality (especially in US, but even in Toronto) if you choose to go with anywhere else (excluding some Waterloo programs + UBC PMF). Rotman places some kids I guess but it’s almost impossible to get a high enough GPA and you’re competing with a lot of intl students for basically only Toronto jobs

 

I've seen a few people break into IB without Ivey but its definitely the outlier. There's ways to finance your education at Ivey through loans (a lot of the banks give loans for either the 2 years at Ivey or all 4 years of school with quite low rates). Since Ivey is a 2 year program you can also consider transferring in which may save you the cost of living away from home.

That being said, if you don't want to take out a loan consider programs like Rotman, Laurier BBA, Schulich, etc. It might be a bit harder to break in but from what I know the big 5 banks in Canada do recruit from them. I jokingly hate on Laurier a lot but their co-op program does seem pretty useful and a lot of my friends who went through it ended up in great places.

You should note that just going to a certain school doesn't make it "easy" to break into IB - you still need to have decent grades, be involved with clubs, network and try to get some relevant internships in the first two years in school to get looks on Bay St. I know too many transfer students who came to Ivey and struck out with finance recruiting because they thought jobs flock to Ivey students when this can't be farther from the truth.

All-in-all you have options and not going to Ivey, McGill or Queen's won't make it impossible for you to break in as long as you do go to a decent business program. Just make sure to get involved with the investment clubs, network and keep your grades up. It might be a more difficult task but if you're persistent and work hard you should be in good shape.

 

To be honest, the only way to realistically break into the US is to attend a target school and get on a top investment club; Queen's (QUIC, Limestone), Ivey (WIC) or McGill (HIM) (unless you are in UBC PMF). And even from these schools, you need to be the top of the class (top GPA, top internships) to break in. There are a few outliers from Waterloo and Laurier. If you want a job in high finance, you need to stop being so picky about small things like "not knowing french" or "hating Kingston". University towns are quite similar across London, Waterloo and Kingston. 

And for jobs in Toronto, I would say 80%+ of the front office jobs are given to Ivey, Queen's and McGill kids. If you want a shot outside of these schools, Laurier's BBA program places decently well into buy-side

 

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