AlexMBAApply wrote:
Yes, I did.
But I've seen it time and again - those who tend to have more success at getting into the top b-schools are from McGill and Queen's traditionally. This also has to do with recruiting -- the firms that are feeders for top b-schools (mgmt consulting and banking) tend to recruit more heavily at these two schools (and not just for commerce folks, but all students) than they do at Toronto. UBC is similar to Toronto in that respect - yes within Canada they are great schools and with the resources they have will likely surpass both McGill and Queen's but reputations die hard, and recruiting tends to reflect that.
Yes, amongst younger folks the perceptions of schools may be changing, but for many older folks (i.e. recruiters in their 30s and older) still have perceptions that McGill and Queen's are the top schools. Traditionally, those two schools have been disproportionately upper-middle class and wealthy: kids who went to private high schools like UCC, LCC, St. Michael's, St Johns, etc. That's also why recruiting for the plum business jobs tended to focus on these two schools: they are often hiring kids they know (sons/daughters of MPs, execs, etc.). The traditional path is this: go to a private school, then go to an Ivy or if not that McGill/Queen's; after graduation, then either go work (and then apply for H/S/W) or take the MCATs/LSATs and go to UofT for med/law school.
Again, you go to any top tier consulting firm or major investment bank in Toronto - and it's full of Ivy League alums, and McGill/Queen's alums (who may have then went to a top tier US grad school). Again, these are the folks who have more success at getting into the US b-schools, period.
And both US and Canadian universities do have different streams - some US schools have undergrad business schools, others don't; many have engineering programs; there's pre-med, pre-law, etc. The only real difference is that US schools require the SATs.
The vast majority of Toronto IBD positions at both the junior and senior level are held by Ivey grads. In the US, west coast is almost exclusively Ivey and Queen's is much less than half of NYC Canadian representation. McGill is barely represented in NYC and certainly isn't represented anywhere else in the states. Their Toronto presence is also highly lacking. Also, there are barely any ivy league investment bankers in Toronto, so that's simply false (most Canadian bankers are from Canadian schools). Campus recruiting is strongest at Ivey, followed closely by Queen's, and then McGill (but there's a large gap between Ivey/Queen's and McGill). I am not sure what you're talking about with respect to 30 year old recruiters viewing Queen's/McGill as the top two Canadian schools. For someone who has "seen thousands of applications" and etc. I am confused as to why you don't know what you're talking about. Also, the University of Toronto is more known internationally than any other Canadian school. Americans are probably more familiar with McGill than UofT, but UofT holds significantly more weight in Europe / Asia (particularly Asia).
FYI I'm a QC grad working at a HF in NYC (former investment banker) and my closest friends are at Canadian investment banks and are involved in the recruiting process.
close
30 Dec 2008, 01:18
