I am an international student from India and I have just been admitted to McGill for BCom, and Warwick for MORSE, but so far, I haven’t been able to figure out which one is better. I’m planning to choose mathematics in my second year at McGill, if I decide to go there.
Both courses offer me great opportunities to pursue a career in a mathematics related field post-college, giving me a variety of areas to explore while studying. Both universities are located in amazing cities, however the location doesn’t matter much to me.
I am extremely worried as to whether I will be able to get a job in the UK, given how it is known for not being very accepting to immigrants. I also don’t speak french, so I would say that it would be pretty difficult for me to get a job in Montreal as well. The location doesn’t matter much to me, what matters are the job prospects and whether I will be able to get into one of the top universities for my masters.
Both universities are amazing, probably why I haven’t been able to choose one. It would really help and I would appreciate it if you could give me your opinions, so that I have more information available other than what is present on the website.
Without French getting a career job in Montreal would be very difficult. However McGill graduates get jobs across Canada, in the US and worldwide.
Would you say that getting a job in somewhere like Toronto or Vancouver would be possible for me after graduating from Desautels? Given I score well.
Yes definitely.
I think the U.K. is quite accepting of immigrants, for example there’s widespread support for allowing hundreds of thousands, possibly millions, of Hong Kongers to move to the U.K. And more to the point, there’s now a new visa that allows graduates to stay and work for at least a couple of years and potentially longer.
Warwick is very highly rated for math. But I’m confused by your statement that Warwick is located in an amazing city: it’s one of the least city-like settings of a U.K. university, on the distant outskirts of Coventry, which itself isn’t a particularly impressive city.
I completely agree, I must have written that impulsively. Regardless, thank you so much for your opinion!
In terms of “city”, Montreal wins hands down. 
Warwick has a nice campus in a small town,it’s totally different from McGill’s urban campus.
In case you’ve not “virtually visited” yet:
The difference is striking, both are very nice but not the same at all! 
You cannot control the UK government’s regulations about work visas for international students, but you can control whether you learn French (McGill offers non credit classes and it’d be foolish to pass that up even if you can then work in Toronto, or anywhere else).
Would you have a Desautels major with a Math minor?
The UK is going through a bit of an economic adjustment due to Brexit, it’s likely to struggle for the next couple years. However MORSE graduates should be able to do well.
I agree with everything you say. I am planning to major in mathematics or statistics in my second year at McGill, it is a program under Desautels.
I admit that MORSE is a great program and will give me great career opportunities. If I was guaranteed that I would land a job which would eventually give me PR in the UK, I would blindly go for Warwick.
Desautels is a business degree, not a math degree. Is that what you want? It looks like MORSE goes a lot deeper into math than the math major under Desautels.
Whether studying in the UK will give you PR is out of your control. Rules certainly have become more and more restrictive in the past 10 years but 2 years from now things could change and get more relaxed… or more restrictive. No one knows and you can’t do anything about it one way or the other.
Canada will likely remain relatively immigrant-friendly (though will hold elections by 2023). McGill is respected all over Canada. Warwick is renown for its quant programs in the UK (and to an extent in culturally close places like Western Europe and most of the Commonwealth). So it doesn’t matter to you where you end up after graduation?
The rules have obviously become more restrictive for EU citizens, given Brexit. But the counterpoint is that they are being liberalized for non-EU citizens, with everyone now on an equal footing, whether they are from Europe or elsewhere. In particular note the introduction of new 2 year working visas for graduates of UK universities. See https://study-uk.britishcouncil.org/after-your-studies/post-study-work
Has “hostile environment” been withdrawn?
There are working visas everywhere because university graduates are in high demand. (The UK did, too, even before the 2-year working visa).
In the US it’s called OPT and it’s restrictive in that, after 3 years, the person better win the H1B lottery or get into a grad program… or they have to leave. There’s no automatic path to PR.
In Canada, the working visa is transformed into PR quickly, with the years of study counting toward the years of residence. Its the most generous, with an easy, quick path to PR and citizenship.
In the Netherlands and in France, students who are offered a job can stay for as long as they have that job (or another one if they switch) - no 2-year or 3-year limit. In the Netherlands, all university graduates have an automatic extension for one year after graduating during which they can interview and compare offers. These years count toward the PR requirements in either country.
Definitely McGill is very well known and well respected throughout Canada. It is also well known in at least the northeast of the US although getting an immigrant visa to the US seems unlikely.
There are very good and very affordable French intensive courses both in Montreal and in Quebec City and in other parts of Canada. You could take one over the summer if you wanted to. One daughter took a 5 week course and afterward the two of us were able to have a very basic conversation in French. It would not get you all the way there but would provide a start.
Thank you so much for your reply, with a Desautels degree, would you say that I would be able to get a PR somewhere else in the country? say Toronto? I’m not sure whether the PR laws are different for Quebec.
If I decide to go to McGill, I will definitely take a few courses and learn french on the side 
You don’t get Canadian permanent residency as a student or new graduate. New graduates may be able to get a post graduate work permit that is valid for 3 years. You can work after you apply for this. Once you have a job, you can apply for permanent residency.
Each province also has their own programs for immigration.
It will be harder for you to get a job in Toronto from McGill than it would be as a graduate of a southern Ontario university.
I doubt if this is true. Do you have a source for this claim?
Right. Plenty of Toronto companies (banks) recruit at McGill. Especially Desautels.
You can get Express Entry if you graduate in STEM, have linguistic skills in English (and French), and have shown you understand Canada’s cultural values; getting a Canadian degree automatically adds points. All applicants are ranked and the top applicants get invited. If selected, it means an expedited path to permanent residency.
If you don’t qualify, you can work for a year in a position that requires a degree, then you can request your PR.
There’s also the Provincial Nominee Program, which constantly updates its openings. For Quebec, French skills are essential, but the programs vary a lot (right now, they’re selecting people in trades, in May-June they may focus on graduates, etc.)
Desautels places interns about everywhere. McGill, UBC, and UT are widely respected throughout Canada.
If in my second year at Desautels, I do a double major in mathematics and statistics with a minor in finance, will it count as a STEM degree? I’m also waiting on UBC for a reply. Regardless, if you had to choose between Warwick and McGill, what would you choose?