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I am a current Ivey Student (MBA 2004) and wanted to shed some light on the Rotman / Ivey debate. I find it humorous that people keep saying that Rotman is the Finance school. As a finance guy, I did not even consider applying to Rotman. There are three key aspects one should consider when choosing a B-school: 1) classmates / students, 2) recruiting / employment, 3) Alumni support / networks. I'll speak primarily to finance, which is my own area of expertise and apparently Rotman's strength.
1) Having come from an i-banking background, I was thrilled to see that four of my former colleagues from Morgan Stanley New York, Singapore and London were at Ivey. There were also students from GS, CSFB, Salomon and all Canadian banks. I stupidly assumed that deans list would be a slam dunk after investment banking. Not true. Not only were there incredibly bright people from management consulting, engineering and other diverse industries but also from overseas. I spoke to a Canadian i-banker who went to Rotman and he considers it a total joke in terms of his ability to out-compete his classmates. He figures there is next to no competition.
Fine for some, but I learn best when I respect my classmates.
2) Of my close friends, five are going into investment banking, four into management consulting and only two are still looking for work (picky bastards - they didn't apply for much). I was the only one of my close friends with i-banking experience and many friends had multiple offers. To the best of my knowledge Ivey secured FAR more i-banking jobs than Rotman. The banks recruited less than we had expected in the autumn but have begun to take a second look now. We just had five new i-banking jobs posted on our internal job site in the past week and more are expected in the coming weeks. The students in my class that speak English as a first language are largely placed and into highly competitive jobs. The ESL students are having a bit more difficultly, but I understand that this has more to do with wanting to stay in Canada (reluctance on behalf of
Canadian employers to hire people that do not have Canadian work authorization) than an unavailability of jobs as Ivey's Hong Kong based placement office has been highly successful in bringing in overseas opportunities.
3) The alumni support and network at Rotman cannot even begin to compare to that of Ivey. Not only does Ivey have great alumni partner programs with current students, but the breadth of alumni in the workplace is incredible. My first day of my summer internship the vice-chairman of the bank sought me out, introduced himself, gave me his card and told me that he was to be used as a resource and is always available to fellow Ivey MBAs. My working relationship with senior colleagues was aided by the fact that most of them had Ivey MBAs (the only notable exception was an HBS grad). There were a couple of mid-level associates from Rotman, but I didn't see any that made it to senior coverage. Interacting with other banks on syndicated deals, I found that when I mentioned I was studying at Ivey I had instant credibility and often got contacts for full-time employment. I remember thinking at the time that all of Canada's finance industry must have gone to Ivey.
If you want to know why Ivey slid in the rankings, in my opinion it has everything to do with the transition from Dean Larry Tapp to Dean Stephenson last year. Larry Tapp was Dean for a very long time and unfortunately had to step down due to health concerns. Without trashing Dean Tapp too much, he pretty much stopped being effective in the role of Dean two years ago. Dean Stephenson has not had enough time in her role to make the changes necessary to put Ivey back on the top of the rankings.
If you have an offer from Ivey and an offer from Rotman, choose the Ivey offer. It will provide you with a better classroom learning experience, provide better access to jobs and will plug you into the best alumni network this side of Boston. Good luck!!
From: mountio Mar-31 7:24 pm
T gwylo (9 of 10)
Great to hear some solid Ivey support. As I have previously mentioned, I didn’t even consider Rotman (despite living in and loving Toronto currently), as I just dont feel that it stacks up.
However, (and maybe I spend too much time on these boards) the general consensus on the boards (and in the rankings) is that Rotman is a just as attractive option (or even better). Maybe this board is more populated with internationals who don't have as good of a sense of the Canadian job landscape (or Canadian schools) – I am not sure, but frankly I have been shocked. Does anyone have insight on this? Can anyone qoute placement stats (or stories) of current Rotman students? I know that I met all of the candidates who made our final rounds, and the vast majority were from Ivey.
Again, not that Rotman is a bad school, but Ivey clearly stands above in my opinion.
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发表于 2004-4-7 00:51:00
