I’ve been accepted to these three, and I’m very confused about which one will be the best investment as an international student. I want to study Economics but I’m not sure what I want to specialise in so I want to explore a bit, and McGill’s U0 year sounds great but i read that the Arts Faculty econ degree is not that useful. I’m still waiting on a decision from Desautels at McGill.
Which one has most prestige, and would give me a good shot at graduate school applications in the US? Or maybe job opportunities after graduation? If you could give me a general overview of the pros and cons of the econ program at all of these that would be great too
One issue that you are going to run into is finding people to comment who are knowledgeable about universities in all of Canada, Italy, and the UK.
McGill is certainly well known and well regarded, including by graduate school admissions in the US. McGill has a reputation for being academically very challenging. Getting A’s at McGill is not easy. Montreal is generally considered to be a great place for an undergraduate student to spend four years. I assume that you know that it is a bilingual city – you will overhear conversations in French, in English, switching back and forth between these two languages equally, and occasionally in other languages as well.
It it hard to know how this compares to Warwick. I used to know a couple of Warwick graduates, but I have not talked to them for years and we never talked about their experiences in university.
I know nothing at all about Bocconi.
Thank you so much for replying! I really appreciate the input.
Yeah, the lack of information is annoying because I can’t find enough to compare the schools online like I can with US colleges, and going by the rankings seems a little stupid 
I will be comfortable with the bilingualism, since I speak 4 languages (just Indian things) plus I’ve taken 8 years of French (fluent in reading and writing but damn I cannot understand the way they speak rlly fast with the accents). Do you know if not being fluent in French will be a problem in terms of part-time jobs or internships?
You definitely do not need any French at all in order to do well as a student at McGill.
Knowing even a bit of French will make it more interesting living in Montreal for four years. In my experience if I go into a store or restaurant and start to speak French they immediately switch to English (clearly a comment on the quality of my French) but seem to give me better service for having tried.
I do not know whether French would be needed for internships or part time jobs. There are some very good intensive French courses that you could take over the summer in order to brush up on your ability to speak and understand French. A daughter took one. The quality of the program was very good and the price was exceptionally reasonable.
“but i read that the Arts Faculty econ degree is not that useful”
In who’s eyes?
“Which one has most prestige”
Prestige in who’s eyes?
“Would give me a good shot at graduate school applications in the US?”
What type of grad school? For econ PhD programs, any of the 3 if you do well.
“Or maybe job opportunities after graduation?”
Depends on where you want to work and where you are a resident/citizen/can get a passport.
What goals do you have?
Also, McGill would follow the (North) American educational system of continuous assessment (in a big public with giant lectures). At Warwick, you would only study what you signed up for and pretty much all marks would come down to big tests at the end of the year. Don’t know what Bocconi does.
If you are up for a challenge, you can try the Honors Economics at McGill. Desautels is also pretty rigorous. A lot of smart students. I don’t know why an Economics degree from McGill would be less useful than one from any other similarly ranked school.
Can’t comment on the other two schools.
Overall, Bocconi and Warwick have more renown economics faculty. However, the econ program at Warwick is very fixed and you cannot easily change your program of study or add electives. I do not know about Bocconi, but assume it is similar to Warwick.
McGill educational system is very flexible and it is easy to mix and match majors. At McGill, economics major is more like PPE, so if you want to study math-based economics, you need to take the honours version.
I was in a similar choice between a UK uni (UCL) and McGill, and I chose McGill. I have to agree, that I do sometimes question my choices, but overall, I am happy. This is because I am not under pressure to choose what I want to study and I applied for the wrong course at UCL, because looking back at it, I know that I would have hated it now.
Also, I think that rankings/prestige matter, but only to a certain extent and should not necessarily be a decisive factor, because there are other important factors (such as where would you want to work: North america or europe?) For example, you said you’re an international student, I know that Canada has very lenient immigration rules, so you might look into that. Getting another citizenship along with your education might be a plus (double check the requirements though)
I just heard that the Arts faculty is significantly easier to get into than the other faculties at McGill, so I was worried about how competitive and well-endowed it is
Thank you so much for the reply, it was really insightful! I do want to explore a bit since I’m not completely sure what I want to do. I will be doing the Honors econ program, but I’m also interested in Comp Sci and would like to take some electives/ minor in it. Would this be possible at McGill, since it’s a different faculty and I’ve been admitted to only the Arts faculty? Also, could you talk about how mcgill places into top graduate schools in the US?
If you ont know Italian, I’d cross out Bocconi, because while the classes will be in Englih, administration and daily life will be in Italian.
McGill v.Warwick:
4 v. 3 years
Europe v. North America
Easy permanent resident permit v. ?
Yes in Quebec you must be able to speak French for internships and business but McGill has intensive French classes. (For daily life you’ll be 100% ok with English).
Up to 1/3 classes could be in a minor at McGill v. Fixed, focused program at Warwick
Superb City/finance placement for Warwick.