Calling all [[Michigan (Ross)]] 2008 applicants...

RED, Canada has a number of famous companies: RIM, the maker of the Blackberry and started by graduates from my university; Bombardier, makers of trains, planes, buses; McDonald Detweiler, maker of the Canada Arm used at the International Space Station; Encana; Manulife; and Imperial Oil. A number of large US companies do alot of development in Canada. Microsoft, Electronic Arts, and Rockwell Automation all have huge development centres spread around Canada. In terms of automotive, Canada is not limited to US manufacturers. Right across the street from me is a huge Toyota Manufacturing Complex that produces the Lexus SUV and Corolla among others. A new complex is being built to account for increased demand for Toyotas in North America. The level of skill and competency in Canada is very high with a strong emphasis on internships and accreditation. The factor that effects Canada is its small population. Canada has one-fifth the population of Russia and one-tenth the population of the U.S. Alongwith the harsh winters, this is probably the biggest hinderence to Canada's growth.
I am sure you will enjoy Canada when you visit.

I would like to visit Canada while I am at AA, but unfortunately I will need to get visa to go and I don't know how will that work out. Actually... I am considering moving to Canada post-MBA because I think Toronto is a realy nice place to live with the 2nd highest rate of foreign born citizens from all north american cities (second after Miami), but the only one where no 'visible minority' is dominant. Also I heard it is very clean! And I also think that *maybe* working in management consulting in Toronto recuires less travel than in the US. (I have heard that consultants in Paris work only in Paris and London) ... but in the US you travel everywhere because there are a bunch of big cities In Canada I don't think you have to travel much, at least not outside Ontario

also, for all you people who want to live in the suburbs of AA (like me), here is a map of the parking spaces available for students at UMich https://pts.umich.edu/maps/central_south.pdf
It looks like the closest parking lot is FOUR block away ((( that is so far during the harsh winter months!!!

Darden, has Ross replaced Tuck as your top choice?

R.E.D., one Canadian company that jumps to my mind is Bombardier, Inc., which makes snowmobiles (v.famous for it), planes, locomotives.

Yes, when I saw Bombardier name, I recalled it really great company. So post-MBA location is getting more details Canada is a good direction.

nope, I still like Tuck a little better , but only a little.

Ross has just been more on my mind lately because Tuck is not showing me any love

stigma? name a really fuel-efficient American car. design is very subjective, so I wont go into that.

I like that question without the nicknames associated with it.

Hey Harvard, it's not you, it's me. Really. I think we are just too different. And yes, there is another school now. But we can stay friends.

From my experience, a lot of the Canadian consultants at my firm are often assigned to projects in the US. Actually, it is a quite nice perspective, as you can enjoy both the quality of living Canada offers and work in the US if that's what you want. The thing with Paris is that France is very centralized when it comes to financial services, and even if you have to travel, you rarely fly for more than an hour or so...

On the other hand, the biggest advantage of Canada is that their immigration policy is very open, and they do not have an H1 quota or anything like that. They do have requirements in terms of education, professional experience and language proficiency, but from looking at the profiles here, I think most people on this forum would be eligible.

could you go into more detail? what are the requirements / criteria? thank you!

branson a good resource for immigration related issues is https://www.workpermit.com

thanks darden, kudos your way.

CerealsMBA thank you so much for presenting your insight from the management consulting indrustry in Canada. Do US consultants get assigned on projects in Canada? or is the exchange only one way?

Yeah I know the US is a *complain* when it comes to immigration policy. I would never work on a H1 visa, because the whole H1 visa program is equivalent to modern day slavery. Even after you go throught the *lotary* to get the H1 visa you have to work your ass off to get your employer to sponsor you for the green card. Even though 'on paper' you can change employers in reality it doesn't happen often because you basically have to stay with the same employer during the green card aplication process (which lasts for years). So after many YEARS spent slavoring in the US, and with a lot of luck throught lotaries, you might get a green card. But by the same time you could acquired a citizenship somewhere else, and there are many nice, developed countries, with a lot of oportunities around the world so I don't get it why some realy smart people are blinded by the US.
I got my undergrad in the US and most of my international friends remained in the US, taking up **** jobs for a year (jobs like, receptionists, librarians, shop asistants) on their OPTs and after that year they aplied to some **** schools that are not even ranked (because they did not have a career to talk about) because with a 1 year OPT good companies did not want to hire them. And ... I don't know what will happen to these people in the future, but their future doesn't seem very bright. I on the other hand returned home right after I graduated (didn't even do an OPT) got the best job in my country and after 2 yrs of experience I am aplying to top 10 school. When I graduate I will return to Europe and I am sure I can get some really nice job in a financial center in Europe (London for example) or pretty much any country I want in the world except for the 'grand' US of A

Darden, could you advise what are the other options to work after graduation being able to repay the loan and have a challenging job? I tend to think about US, Canada and UK.

well the biggest ones I know are
1. UK - you get an automatic work permit when you get an MBA from a top 10 school in the US. And you should expect to receive immigrant visa within 4 years (no lotaries)
2. Canada - the work permit is not automatic but if you have at least 2 yrs work experience, speak fluent English and you are younger than 40 you qualify for imigrant visa. But ofcourse you can get a work permit with no problem if you get an offer. So for us it is easy to qualify for immigration to Canada, but the problem is that there is a long waiting period. If you apply when u r in the US it takes about 2 years. For my country though, it takes 10 -12 months... I am lucky to come from a small country huh
3. Australia - they have the point system also but I am not all to familiar with it

And as our friends posted yesterday, Russia, Brazil ... (where you get paid high wages for management consulting even though the averages are low)

Here is a questionary that can be used to evaluate chances of getting residency in Quebec:
https://142.169.112.143/dpi/controler.jsp?languageCode=en
I think that if you satisfy some minimum requirements, you have great chances to be admitted as a permanent resident in Quebec, which as far as I know is still part of Canada. One of my friend just moved there about 6 months ago. She had the hardest time securing a job in France as a she was a history major (France only loves engineers, lawyers, doctors and business grads... the rest not so much...). She now lives happily with her boyfriend in Montreal, and has no plans of coming back...