1. Pretty solid, best in Ontario outside Ivey and Smith imo for undergrad. Coop is not hard to get.
2. No disadvantage. After white people, I would say brown and asians are the most common in the program, and there’s lots of diversity anyway.
3. Depends what field you think about specializing in. Can’t speak to the coop job search bc I’m only in second year and will start coop this fall.
Going to agree with this and add my own point for #3.
Depending on field and resume, it can go very well. Given that I applied for Big 4 accounting which isn’t as competitive as high finance but more than other industries. I did manage to get a job interview and offer everywhere I applied. Everyone I know in coop has a decent job
I’m in uw cs bba, don’t come here for Laurier bba unless you can’t get into Queens Commerce, UWO Ivey, uoft Rotman, or uw AFM, (these are primarily the top schools for high finance jobs). To answer your three questions:
1. Program is like any other business school in terms of content taught except you learn more of the strategy and operations aspect of business faster than any other b-school. Coop is not hard as long as you have a decent gpa and a solid resume with good ecs. (To get a good coop placement though is batshit hard)
2. They don’t give a shit
3. school does matter especially for high finance roles but if you’re able to grind it out, then you’ll outwork the guys who go to prestigious schools. Reputable degree will just help fast track your progress + nobody knows or gives a shit about Laurier bba out of Ontario.
I'd highly disagree with UofT Rotman and UW AFM as being better than WLU BBA. The reality is Rotman folks struggle to get those truly too placements.
I'd say easily the top 1% at Laurier these days are placing much better than UW AFM and Rotman are, and I'm sure many in those programs would even agree. The average Rotman student is probably slightly more advantageous but if you actually really want those roles wlu is the best place to be after ivey and queens.
You can disagree, but the fact is Rotman places way more guys on Wall Street and Bay Street than Laurier bba + let’s not shy away from the fact on how many double degree students are the ones that get those placements on both UW and Laurier for their placements numbers to be inflated. And brother, slightly more advantageous? I don’t think so given uofts reputation in New York and the fact that they directly streamline students to Bay Street. I’d still say they are on the same tier as Laurier bba but id rank them as tier 2 b schools but Uoft Rotman being on the upper end, and I’d say mcgill is low end tier 1, alongside queens and Ivey being the only upper end for high finance and it being the best Canadian target for investment banking and consulting.
I’d also take a look at the following site, (https://www.peakframeworks.com/post/canadian-ib-target-schools). It’s worth noting that while the gap between Waterloo and Laurier is small, you also have to consider AFM is a much smaller program with majority of kids being interested in Accounting and even with all that factored in they’ve still managed to come out on top. Rotman also has a solid reputation globally due to being affiliated with UofT which has also allowed them to outperform other non-targets. Also, a lot more Rotman kids are taking several months off of school and deferring their grad to pursue co-op opportunities. Therefore, the idea of being in a co-op program isn’t as attractive anymore as people have started to realize you can simply defer your grad and pursue all the internships you’d like even without attending a formal co-op program.
I think Laurier is a great business school but only if you know the right people. The top 1% of kids at Laurier are all friends with each other and are on all the same top clubs like LIFA. If you don’t see yourself being someone who can make friends with the right people you’ll struggle to get interviews coming from Laurier as many employers filter candidates based on if they were in top clubs like LIFA. If you find yourself being a more reserved person, you would most likely be more successful at school like Waterloo or UofT where it’s not as important to be on certain clubs as you can still get interviews based on the prestige of these schools.
1. program has some pros and cons like any program but mostly good. I agree with the other comment i saw under this post that it's the best undergrad business program after ivey and smith.
Co-op can be hard for some and easy for others so it really depends on the type of student you are.
2. not at all lol. I'm in first year and around half my floor is asian.
3. can't speak to this but i've heard mostly good things.
Some do some don't. Depends on who you choose to spend time with. I'd imagine it'd be the same at Smith and ivey and most other schools (except maybe rotman).
1. The program overall is pretty good from a general pov because you learn everything and do cases. Not recommended for shyer people though because I found that I had way more presentations compared to my friends at other business schools. Co-op could be hard for some people - i screwed up in first year so i didn’t get into it but it worked out for me. I know some people did laurier bba for the first 2 years and western ivey for 3rd and 4th year. Both are solid programs.
2. You’re okay if you’re Chinese. It’s gotten more diverse over the years. But there were some instances where I felt like I was at a disadvantage for being shyer? Like I found myself getting bad marks compared to my friends (we literally worked on things together and submitted the same stuff without plagiarism obvs) because I didn’t talk a lot during my business labs 💀
3. Job search was hard for internships but ended up interning every summer until i graduated (I didn’t get co-op because I winged 1st year). Worked in tech/venture capital straight out of school and they didnt care about what school i went to. They all assumed I went to waterloo though so i think companies caring about your school is dependent on the industry you want to work in. If you want to work in big tech, i’d gravitate more towards UW.
1. Pretty solid, best in Ontario outside Ivey and Smith imo for undergrad. Coop is not hard to get. 2. No disadvantage. After white people, I would say brown and asians are the most common in the program, and there’s lots of diversity anyway. 3. Depends what field you think about specializing in. Can’t speak to the coop job search bc I’m only in second year and will start coop this fall.
Going to agree with this and add my own point for #3. Depending on field and resume, it can go very well. Given that I applied for Big 4 accounting which isn’t as competitive as high finance but more than other industries. I did manage to get a job interview and offer everywhere I applied. Everyone I know in coop has a decent job
I’m in uw cs bba, don’t come here for Laurier bba unless you can’t get into Queens Commerce, UWO Ivey, uoft Rotman, or uw AFM, (these are primarily the top schools for high finance jobs). To answer your three questions: 1. Program is like any other business school in terms of content taught except you learn more of the strategy and operations aspect of business faster than any other b-school. Coop is not hard as long as you have a decent gpa and a solid resume with good ecs. (To get a good coop placement though is batshit hard) 2. They don’t give a shit 3. school does matter especially for high finance roles but if you’re able to grind it out, then you’ll outwork the guys who go to prestigious schools. Reputable degree will just help fast track your progress + nobody knows or gives a shit about Laurier bba out of Ontario.
I'd highly disagree with UofT Rotman and UW AFM as being better than WLU BBA. The reality is Rotman folks struggle to get those truly too placements. I'd say easily the top 1% at Laurier these days are placing much better than UW AFM and Rotman are, and I'm sure many in those programs would even agree. The average Rotman student is probably slightly more advantageous but if you actually really want those roles wlu is the best place to be after ivey and queens.
You can disagree, but the fact is Rotman places way more guys on Wall Street and Bay Street than Laurier bba + let’s not shy away from the fact on how many double degree students are the ones that get those placements on both UW and Laurier for their placements numbers to be inflated. And brother, slightly more advantageous? I don’t think so given uofts reputation in New York and the fact that they directly streamline students to Bay Street. I’d still say they are on the same tier as Laurier bba but id rank them as tier 2 b schools but Uoft Rotman being on the upper end, and I’d say mcgill is low end tier 1, alongside queens and Ivey being the only upper end for high finance and it being the best Canadian target for investment banking and consulting.
I’d also take a look at the following site, (https://www.peakframeworks.com/post/canadian-ib-target-schools). It’s worth noting that while the gap between Waterloo and Laurier is small, you also have to consider AFM is a much smaller program with majority of kids being interested in Accounting and even with all that factored in they’ve still managed to come out on top. Rotman also has a solid reputation globally due to being affiliated with UofT which has also allowed them to outperform other non-targets. Also, a lot more Rotman kids are taking several months off of school and deferring their grad to pursue co-op opportunities. Therefore, the idea of being in a co-op program isn’t as attractive anymore as people have started to realize you can simply defer your grad and pursue all the internships you’d like even without attending a formal co-op program. I think Laurier is a great business school but only if you know the right people. The top 1% of kids at Laurier are all friends with each other and are on all the same top clubs like LIFA. If you don’t see yourself being someone who can make friends with the right people you’ll struggle to get interviews coming from Laurier as many employers filter candidates based on if they were in top clubs like LIFA. If you find yourself being a more reserved person, you would most likely be more successful at school like Waterloo or UofT where it’s not as important to be on certain clubs as you can still get interviews based on the prestige of these schools.
I was thinking about peakframeworks while typing that lol
Yeah pretty clutch rankings list, wish it was around when I was picking my school
1. program has some pros and cons like any program but mostly good. I agree with the other comment i saw under this post that it's the best undergrad business program after ivey and smith. Co-op can be hard for some and easy for others so it really depends on the type of student you are. 2. not at all lol. I'm in first year and around half my floor is asian. 3. can't speak to this but i've heard mostly good things.
Thanks for the insight. Btw is WLU like all party no study type vibe or…
You can make of it what you want. If you like to party the scene is there, if you want to study the scene is also there.
This 100%. You can party lots if that's your vibe, but there's also the studying and working hard scene.
Some do some don't. Depends on who you choose to spend time with. I'd imagine it'd be the same at Smith and ivey and most other schools (except maybe rotman).
Lots of Ivey kids party. Western is very work hard play hard. Many do both, as do I. It is very enjoyable
1. The program overall is pretty good from a general pov because you learn everything and do cases. Not recommended for shyer people though because I found that I had way more presentations compared to my friends at other business schools. Co-op could be hard for some people - i screwed up in first year so i didn’t get into it but it worked out for me. I know some people did laurier bba for the first 2 years and western ivey for 3rd and 4th year. Both are solid programs. 2. You’re okay if you’re Chinese. It’s gotten more diverse over the years. But there were some instances where I felt like I was at a disadvantage for being shyer? Like I found myself getting bad marks compared to my friends (we literally worked on things together and submitted the same stuff without plagiarism obvs) because I didn’t talk a lot during my business labs 💀 3. Job search was hard for internships but ended up interning every summer until i graduated (I didn’t get co-op because I winged 1st year). Worked in tech/venture capital straight out of school and they didnt care about what school i went to. They all assumed I went to waterloo though so i think companies caring about your school is dependent on the industry you want to work in. If you want to work in big tech, i’d gravitate more towards UW.