McGill Desautels vs UWO (no AEO from Ivey)
I know the Desautels vs Ivey topic has been discussed many times on here but my situation is a bit different. I'm a grade 12 student who is leaning towards going into IB after undergrad but unfortunately I didn't get into Queens Commerce and I honestly don't even know how but I didn't get AEO for Ivey which are generally agreed to be the best business programs in Canada. The offers I have to choose from are: McGill Commerce, Western Financial Econ, Waterloo Math (w/ Co-op) and Queens Physics (the last two I kind of applied to while considering majoring in a different subject. I was really hoping on getting into Ivey and I guess since it doesn't start until 3rd year, I technically still have a chance of getting in, and I would assume my chance is higher if I apply from Western Financial Econ than McGill at end of 3rd year. Does anyone have a recommendation on what to do? I know Desautels is still a really good school and it seems foolish to throw away an opportunity for a slightly greater chance at Ivey so I'm leaning towards it but I just wanted some input. Thanks.
bump...anyone?
Hi adaffdaaereaer, congrats on your offers!
I'll try to shed some light based on my experience and hopefully not be too biased (currently attending McGill Desautels and will work in IB at a BB in HK this summer):
Out of your offers, I'd lean away from the non-finance degrees (e.g Queen's Physics) as banks in Canada recruit from finance backgrounds more often that not -- even if they'll say that they're beginning to recruit from new backgrounds (predominantly engineers), those still only represent a tiny portion of incoming classes (and those guys have to network insanely to get offers). I know a couple of kids from Waterloo who got decent co-op placements at top Canadian PE pension funds -- think OTPP, CDPQ -- that's if PE is of any interest to you (didn't hear much from Waterloo IB offers). But make sure they recruit from the same co-op pool for the Math programme first.
I'm guessing that you want to work in IB in Toronto? Yeah, then Ivey HBA and Queen's generally place better than Desautels these days. If you choose Desautels, I would highly recommend the HIM programme which admits ~12-15 candidates per year (v competitive), and you apply at the end of your first/ second year. But recent placements are not as good as before (there was a year where with 4 Goldman IB offers), now mostly place at Canadian Big 5 and some MM and pension PEs. Overall, Desautels is still a solid choice (even if not HIM, as long as you have solid GPA ~3.6+), plus you get a competitive advantage if you decide to apply for Montreal offices (might need French, but I've also seen people who got Montreal offers w/o being fluent).
I'm not too familiar with UWO's Financial Econ programme, but what I can tell you is that Ivey's HBA would be a massive boost if you can get in -- not sure about how competitive it is for entry, so hopefully someone else can shed some light on this.
Anyway, I hope that this helps!
Hi magicplouc2,
Thanks for responding to my post, I really appreciate your advice, and congrats on your placement in HK! I'm not completely sure where I want to work, but I think I would prefer New York over Toronto, would that have any impact ? I've heard slightly mixed opinions as to how Ivey and Desautels compare in terms of international opportunity (people tend to mention the reputation of the "McGill Brand" in the U.S but I've also heard that Ivey itself is well-known on Wall Street).
I was definitely leaning towards Ivey and would have gone straight to Western if I got the Advanced Entry status, but now I think Desautels is a more solid offer than Financial Econ and I can almost just as well apply to Ivey again from Mcgill as from Western Financial Econ. And yeah, I will definitely apply for the HIM program and if you have any advice you'd like to share (either here or over PM) on getting into that or at least setting myself up in a good position from the start of first year, I'd greatly appreciate it and try to work with it.
Anyway, thanks so much for the advice, all the best in your future experiences!
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