Transferring from Canadian undergrad business program to the states?

Hey WSO, I have received offers from Queen's Commerce, Ivey, McGill's Desautels, UBC Sauder (Chancellor's Scholar Designation) & York Schulich. I will most likely be attending either Ivey or Queen's Commerce in the fall. It is my plan to work in investment banking or consulting on Wall Street, and I understand that those chances are limited when studying at a Canadian business program. Therefore, I am considering doing a second year transfer to a university in the States that has a strong and well-recruited undergrad business program or even economics program. So my question is, what university programs will give me better recruiting opportunities with reasonable chances of transferring in? A few I have found is UPenn Wharton, Cornell AEM etc. Also, a few things to note, I am a Canadian citizen and I will need significant financial aid from the universities. Therefore, I have already discounted programs such as NYU Stern, that will not provide financial aid to "international applicants".

Thanks a lot in advance for all of your input!

 

Firstly, let me explain that I personally attend one of the universities you've listed above. Trust me, transferring (especially to the US) is not commonplace. The chances of it happening are low, especially to Wharton, Cornell, etc.

You are correct in your assertion however that recruiting from these school is MUCH better; especially Wharton, NYU, U Virginia Darden, etc. And if you do want to transfer, make sure you WORK YOUR ASS OFF in school. Not trying to be an asshole, but less than 3.7 GPA will significantly hinder your chances. My roommate in first year scored a 2390 on his SATs (got rejected from Ivy league schools) and then got a +3.9 GPA. He then reapplied to transfer and was again rejected by almost every school except Cornell.

As far as Canadian schools go, Queens has the "best" reputation; not as far as rankings go, simply from a "common-knowledge" viewpoint. They have tons of alumni on Bay Street and among Canadian business circles, there is a pedigree associated with the school. Ivey certainly has the best recruitment and career services offices. I don't know how they do it, but they get the best consulting and banking placements on Wall Street and Bay Street. McGill is superior to all those schools as far as academic caliber goes. The program is far more rigorous and you are given far more experiential skills, especially if you leverage that with opportunities provided here in Montreal. However, recruiting in Montreal is an issue if you don't speak French and McGill doesn't do so well in placements in North America. Essentially, their alumni network is weak and career services is absolute garbage. You need to just leverage the skills McGill provides you with and become your own career services office. Haven't heard much about UBC. I know York does well in the rankings. Don't go there, trust me. You learn very little and it doesn't have much pedigree. I don't know how they impress McLean's Magazine consistently, but honestly the don't accept the highest-caliber of students or professors.

In summation. If you want to stay in Canada go to Queens or Ivey. For the States, go to Ivey or McGill. Anywhere else, Europe especially, go for McGill.

 

Hahaha "CanadianGekko: I'm told "If you can hold a fork, you're accepted at York" I laughed. Yeah, only reason I applied to York was because I didn't get an additional charge for the application. Never even really considered it. So would you recommend that I stay in Canada or strive to transfer somewhere in the States? Also, where would it be worth applying to? After looking at a lot of the employment reports, it seems that transferring to the States really isn't worth the hassle. I'm going to look into it further anyways. Thanks for the help!

 

I mean. US Schools cost SIGNIFICANTLY more. I am originally from New York, but I still came to Canada to save $200,000+. If you go to McGill or Ivey, get good grades (3.5+) you have a good shot at getting into a BB in Toronto and even New York. But like I said, you will have to do the work yourself in many cases (especially at McGill). LinkedIn, unpaid internships, etc. You need to put in your dues.

 

That's true. I think I'm going to stick with a school here for now, and see how I perform during my freshman year. After touring McGill and speaking with many people, I have been told that McGill's business program is its weakest program and is weaker than QC and Ivey. How come you did not mention QC? I heard it's neck-in-neck with Ivey, but Ivey takes the cake for IB in the States. Do I have as good of a chance to work on Wall Street if I attend QC? Also, how difficult is it to attain a high GPA of over 3.5+? What kind of work habits would I have to get into? I will definitely be willing to put in the work to get to where I want to go.

 

I just want to restate that McGill's program is not the weakest. For some reason, it has a bad rep. That reason is terrible career services. As far as curriculum, professors and students go; McGill is undoubtedly #1. Again, I did mention Queens. It is good for Bay Street. It has a prestige associated with it among Canadian business circles. But Ivey does have the best Wall Street placement. Then probably McGill. Of the three. Queens and Ivey are neck and neck on Bay Street, McGill falters. I don't know how the others do in London, but McGill does pretty decently. And I know McGill dominates in the rest of Europe and Asia.

If you really want to get to Wall Street, go to Ivey. Best career placement on Wall Street and an easier curriculum to help you get a GPA. Just remember, time management is very important. Don't get sucked into partying first year (that's what I did and my GPA suffered). Work HARD during the week and the day on weekends, pull 80 hours on your academics. Go out on weekends.

Another important note, people tout networking SO MUCH in bschool. It is bullshit. Don't waste your time on that first-year. Trust me, it is VERY time and energy consuming. Concentrate on grades. It will make networking easier in third-year when it becomes important.

Lastly, you don't always need to take the hardest courses. Spare your GPA and your health. Take bird courses, get A's and relax.

 

GS, MS, JPM, UBS, BofA, Big 5, plus pretty much everyone else recruits from Queen's. Numerous 2010 grads are working NY/HK/Tokyo for these firms.

The extra tuition is definitely not worth it.

I am sure you will have all of these questions answered when you come to Queen's.

www.DayOnBay.ca
 

Jesus you've been thinking about investment banking since high school? Get a life kid.

That said, the businessweek rankings are for MBA programs. Queen's Bcomm is top notch and places well on Wall Street.

Admittedly it would be easier to get into a BB at the analyst level from a U.S. Ivy, but even then there is no guarantee.

 

Thanks for your timely responses,

@evilbyaccident, I like to plan medium-long term into the future. I'm sorry if that offends you in any way, but it's just the way how I like to do things.

@daveveitch, Thanks for the encouragement.

Anyone else have any advice/suggestions?

 

If you really want, transfer to the upper tier of Ivies (HYPC+W) for better BB placement. You still have to work because the kids who get SA positions are all 3.6+ and some have prior experience. Best of luck...

 
liverp00l:
If you really want, transfer to the upper tier of Ivies (HYPC+W) for better BB placement. You still have to work because the kids who get SA positions are all 3.6+ and some have prior experience. Best of luck...

I heard firms are reluctant to sponsor non-u.s citizens for employment visas, should that not be considered in making this decision? Correct me if what I heard is wrong.

 

I'll have a bit more detailed response later, but I'm guessing that you go to Laurier/UW DD correct?

If so, I always thought that Laurier had pretty good IBD recruitment (at least in Canada) and I know UW has really loyal IBD alumni despite having a somewhat mediocre banking recruitment, I go to UW and I've talked to a fair amount of alumni in banking/seen people on Linkedin and most of the IBD people are from the DD program.

 

Hi, yea you are right :) However, I am Laurier based rather than UW, so I do not get access to Jobmine. The laurier co-op system simply does not have any US job postings For the big 5 ibd jobs we see at most 1 position posting from each bank every term, and sometimes they post none..

 

i've heard top BBs in toronto exclusively reserve spots for ivey/queen's students. But meh, I wouldn't worry about transferring to another program other than ivey. honestly, youre in 3rd year and crushing school. youre in a program that has arguably top placements in terms of canadian schools (i personal know people that have received offers from BBs from this program). just keep doing what youre doing. youre in a 5 year program so you have time to network and have more coop experiences. dont rely on jobmine. reach out to firms. just do what you do. taking the SAT will be another pressure that you dont need

 

Hi thanks for the reply! I would assume you are either at a Canadian school or are an alum based on your familiarity with the programs? Indeed there are people from my program receiving offers at the Big 5s every year, but I would say there are not a lot. I think this is because Canadian banks don't recruit that many analysts every year so chances are not in my favour. Also I really hope to work in the US after I graduate (plus I'm not based in UW so I don't use jobmine. UW kids do get some US BBs posting but I can't apply to those jobs). Even if I'm lucky enough to land an IBD offer upon graduation in Canada would it still be extremely hard to transfer to the US after a couple years then? What are your thoughts on this for someone who really wants to work in the States?

 

Can anyone comment on how difficult it is to get a high GPA in the US (compared to Canada)? I do not find courses here particularly difficult, and am wondering whether courses are much harder at top US colleges?

Also what would be the success rate of landing IBD offers at Tier2~Tier3 US target schools? Say at Ivey the success rate would be 10% (200~300 applying for IBD positions with 20~30 landing offers) - correct me if I'm wrong!

 
Best Response

I can't really speak from experience here, but my gut feeling is that if you're a great student, even at a relatively unknown Canadian school, that you would be able to transfer as a junior to a solid US semi-target, if not a target school.

Not many people transfer in Junior year, so if you find a school that would take you as an international student who is willing to pay full tuition, I see no reason why a place like UVA or Michigan wouldn't take you. I had a buddy who transferred to U Chicago from my college(top liberal arts school) but had mediocre grades and he had no problem transferring junior year.

I interned with a few people from Ivey though and it seemed like a pretty cool school, definitely one of Canada's best. I guess it depends if you want to stay in Canada or if you really want to make it to the US. If I had lived in Canada all my life and wanted to stay closer to family/friends it seems like Ivey is a no brainer. If you're looking for a new adventure, or just want to make a move to the US, then I would start working on your apps. Collegeconfidential might be a good site to check out as well.

 

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