<p>I know that good firms recruit at Ivey. In terms of scale though, there’s no comparison. There are a lot of firms that hire exclusively out of undergrad from Wharton and a few other top schools. I’m in the honors program here. The average income for a Wharton undergrad 15 years out is over 500k, and an increasing number of Wharton undergrads are choosing not to get their MBAs because they don’t need it. I don’t want to work in Canada. Anyway, I don’t want to get into a pointless argument here. I’m not disagreeing that there are good opportunities in Canada, but for what I want, I’m in the best possible position and have no regrets.</p>
<p>There is certainly no harm in applying to top US schools. It costs about $100 per application. I wonder if most Canadian students realize the intensity of competion for admission to HYP etc. though? Even students with perfect marks/test scores and good EC’s have less than a 50% chance of admission to Harvard based on their published stats. </p>
<p>Other than the few superendowed schools, need based financial aid is limited or non-existent for Canadians. Merit scholarships may cover half the cost but coming out of undergrad with $80,000 in loans would be a huge financial burden for someone just starting a career. If a family can afford to pay that up front, fine, but most Canadians (and Americans) do not have those resurces. </p>
<p>For Canadians, top US schools may be a dream but I’d recommend applying to top Canadian schools as a backup and not feeling dejected if denied admission in the US or if granted admission but the bottom line cost is prohibitive. </p>
<p>BTW, I am an American who got a BCom from McGill. I graduated debt free and didn’t over burden my parents for their contribution. I ended up working for a French company in New York (through a connection I made in Montreal) and later at headquarters in Paris. The company also financed my MBA from INSEAD!</p>
<p>I was lucky enough for the cost to not really be an issue to my family, however I agree with a lot of the things said in this thread.</p>
<p>First off there is no Canadian equivilant to Wharton/HYP/ even the Dukes and Emorys of the world. When I was considering whether to go to Duke or Queen’s commerce I talked to a very high up prof from Rotman. He literally said I’d be crazy to not go to Wharton or Harvard if I got off the waitlist and that he’d still high reccomend that I go to Duke. One other thing I’ve realized is it’s not just the quality of educaiton you get, its the oppertunites. I went to a public high school in a moderate sized Ontario city, and I hear the oppertunities the kids get out of private Toronto ones and it’s no comparison. It’s the same in my mind with top American vs. Canadian ones. You get the oppertunities to get the internship to get the job to get into the mba program in my case. But again, I’m very fortunate with my family situation and if I didn’t want to A go into finance and B have the parents I do I’d be staying in Canada. As starbright says, it’s not worth the money in a lot of cases, your grad school is what matters.</p>
<p>One more thing, I heard from someone very high up at UW, who’s moving on to a new job in Ottawa soon that Canadian schools do a great job teaching considering that his budget was 10k per student, while a school like Michigan’s is 40k and a top private one’s is 100k</p>
<p>Top schools in the US are vastly superior to canadian counterparts.</p>
<p>However, it is the terminal degree that is important to job placement. If your undergrad is from Wharton, then your opportunities are great and you are done. If your undergrad is mcgill, UoT then work hard and shoot for Wharton for MBA. You can still end up getting excellent jobs.</p>
<p>What i mean is undergrad education is by no means the end. If you didn’t make it to HYPS etc, or if you can’t afford to go, that is okay. Go to a good canadian school and gun for a HYPS MBA. You wouldn’t have missed much.</p>
<p>lol. Ontarians have a reputation for being self-loathing, rude, and cocky. After reading some of these posts I wonder if there’s actually quite a bit of truth to that! :D</p>
<p>Imo it only makes sense to apply to US schools that are better than anything in Canada, and then make some good Canadian schools your backups (as they are much easier to get into). My list is like this:</p>
<p>USA:
Duke - ED
Harvard
Princeton
Yale
Stanford
Chicago
Washington at St. Louis
Cornell
Columbia
Johns Hopkins</p>
<p>Canada:
McGill
Toronto
Queens
British Columbia
Alberta</p>
<p>Thank you, Starbright, for attempting to educate a few of the remarkably ignorant and arrogant posters on this thread (as well as those who are just curious). Then again, my son is a lowly scholarship student at Univeristy of Michgan – EGADS! – who was educated in both Canada and the U.S. (the gifted program in the U.S. was the equivalent of what would have been his Canadian HS, btw) so apparently he’s nowhere near as clever as Princetondreams or Electronica and ergo far less descriminating Hi ho!</p>
<p>(Which is quite okay, because while touring Princeton he turned to me and said “I don’t want to go here – at all.” And I said “Why. Are you nuts? People would kill to go here.” And he said: “It feels kind of “American high school.” It’s a really homogenous group of people. I’m looking for a more diverse experience.” And I kind of knew what he meant. Sometimes being driven flattens you a little Different strokes for different folks.)</p>
<p>Which is not to say there aren’t valid reasons, such as specific program and a sense of fit, to choose U.S. schools over Canadian schools. It is a highly personal decision, and it’s not only about money. It’s just that some of the posters here don’t seem to posses the critical depth to recognize that when it comes to academic pursuits, ‘prestige’ is a bit like the visible portion of an iceberg, only one part truth and the rest is really murky.</p>
<p>Nosike if you’re going to base your decision solely based on rankings you’re going to overlook a bunch of great schools (Dartmouth, Williams, Amherst, etc.), not that I care.</p>
<p>I chose the USA for oppourtunities. I am in fact from Ontario, to whomever asked it, and Im really not going to dignify your comment about everyone from Ontario being rude, but thanks for coming out.</p>
<p>However, I like the comments pertaining to this topic. Especially the ones stating how both the USA and Canada provide amazing educations at their respective top schools, and how going to either one is a personal choice and should not be done solely based on rankings. That being said, a school is often ranked very high for a reason, and you should be looking into the schools to figure out why (especially if that “why” is your particular field of interest)</p>
<p>Here’s the deal. Anyone can get as much from their education from Canada as from the US. The top students will get research, cool internships, and options at either a Canadian or US university. </p>
<p>The only things different is the number of opportunities. For example, look at MajorLazer’s case. I’m sure he could go to Queen’s or UfT and be very successful. However, the recruitment, as he stated himself, isn’t as heavy as that of a Wharton-type school. So, the US university was a logical choice for MajorLazer. </p>
<p>After talking to a IChO student who is going to be attending UfT and didn’t bother applying to US schools, I realize that any student can do well in either country and succeed. The only difference is the number of opportunities. The US offers much more most of the time.</p>
<p>That is my outlook. If what you are planning on (career wise) requires a bit more opportunity (as in recruitment, etc.) perhaps the US serves you better. If it is something like being a professor at a university, I would be staying in Canada and going to UfT as it is a great school and can offer everything I need in terms of opportunity.</p>
Hi ho!</p>