Hi, I'm probably going to end up going to McMaster, but I'm also considering another school that does not have a co op program, but is in a location that I prefer. How competitive is it to get a co op placement in the Bcomm program? Do you work and go to school at the same time? Thanks

the commerce program at mac doesn't have co-op. there is an internship opportunity but no co-op

By definition co-op is not concurrently with classes...it's a full-time job.

does it matter? can someone just answer the damn question?

Its not very competitive. Alot of people drop out of the intern class b.c they found their own internships.

it all depends. do you want co-op with hour lunch breaks or half hour lunch breaks. some people underestimate the difference between the two

Originally Posted by seveneight

Hi, I'm probably going to end up going to McMaster, but I'm also considering another school that does not have a co op program, but is in a location that I prefer. How competitive is it to get a co op placement in the Bcomm program? Do you work and go to school at the same time? Thanks

btw word of advice,

1. dont come to mac for commerce

2. dont let a better program with no internship sway you to a worse program with internshipcoop. Why? Do you see Queen's Commerce, Ivey, Schulich, Wharton, or harvard, or sloan have UG internships? NO. But "somehow" a large amount of these graduates from these schools find their way to boutique banks (ie. the dream destination to be "set" for most business students) anyway.

3. You can find internships by yourself. Learn to network ( i don't mean "networking dinner BS" where potential employers will never remember your face from the other 200 students he spoke to )

And no, you dont work and go to school.

Originally Posted by biglandfarm

btw word of advice,

1. dont come to mac for commerce

2. dont let a better program with no internship sway you to a worse program with internshipcoop. Why? Do you see Queen's Commerce, Ivey, Schulich, Wharton, or harvard, or sloan have UG internships? NO. But "somehow" a large amount of these graduates from these schools find their way to boutique banks (ie. the dream destination to be "set" for most business students) anyway.

3. You can find internships by yourself. Learn to network ( i don't mean "networking dinner BS" where potential employers will never remember your face from the other 200 students he spoke to )

And no, you dont work and go to school.

I'm curious why your word of advice to the OP is not to come to mac for commerce. It's not among the top business schools around, but it's definitely no where near the worst. In fact, Mac's business school has greatly improved over many years now, and still is currently growing. But I feel bad even saying this because even if you were to go to the "worst" business school in North America for undergrad, it really isn't much of a big deal where you go. I know people from a wide range of "tier" business schools who all got jobs that were both not-so-great and pretty damn good jobs. It all comes down to what you put in during your four years, in other words, selling yourself to companies.

I also disagree with your second point. Internships & co-op (by the way, Mac does not offer co-op for their undergrad program) are usually what separates someone who doesn't appeal to an employer and someone who does. People with experience are always going to have an upper-hand at this day and age. I'm in no way saying to avoid Queens, Ivey, etc etc because they're great schools in another way, and like I said before, where you go for your undergrad (purely for academic reasons) does not matter a whole lot and many employers could care less.

I hope you don't think I'm attacking you or anything. I just don't like it when people post their "advice" and it's just "Don't come here" without anything to back it up.

And to the OP: As mentioned above, there is no co-op for undergrad here. However internships are available.

Originally Posted by alee90

I'm curious why your word of advice to the OP is not to come to mac for commerce. It's not among the top business schools around, but it's definitely no where near the worst. In fact, Mac's business school has greatly improved over many years now, and still is currently growing. But I feel bad even saying this because even if you were to go to the "worst" business school in North America for undergrad, it really isn't much of a big deal where you go. I know people from a wide range of "tier" business schools who all got jobs that were both not-so-great and pretty damn good jobs. It all comes down to what you put in during your four years, in other words, selling yourself to companies.

I also disagree with your second point. Internships & co-op (by the way, Mac does not offer co-op for their undergrad program) are usually what separates someone who doesn't appeal to an employer and someone who does. People with experience are always going to have an upper-hand at this day and age. I'm in no way saying to avoid Queens, Ivey, etc etc because they're great schools in another way, and like I said before, where you go for your undergrad (purely for academic reasons) does not matter a whole lot and many employers could care less.

I hope you don't think I'm attacking you or anything. I just don't like it when people post their "advice" and it's just "Don't come here" without anything to back it up.

And to the OP: As mentioned above, there is no co-op for undergrad here. However internships are available.

none of you touch upon how long the lunch breaks should be. half an hour is too waaayyyy too short.

Originally Posted by biglandfarm

does it matter? can someone just answer the damn question?

Its not very competitive. Alot of people drop out of the intern class b.c they found their own internships.

The only two responses posted before this were highly relevant.
The OP asked how competitive the co-op program is, and the response was that there is no co-op program, which is pretty important.

The OP also asked if you work and go to school at the same time, which I answered in my post.

I don't see how that's not addressing the OP's questions. It's not addressing *all* of them, but I don't see where your annoyance is coming from.

idk, bad day mabye

I just got a job through the commerce internship program. There are a lot of people in it, but most people haven't got a clue how to sell themselves, and the competition is gravely overestimated. You take a year off of school, complete your internship, then come back and finish 4th yr. Best decision I've made at university so far.

Not competitive at all, if you do come here, get an 11 for the first 2 years, then transfer.

Originally Posted by biglandfarm

btw word of advice,

1. dont come to mac for commerce

2. dont let a better program with no internship sway you to a worse program with internshipcoop. Why? Do you see Queen's Commerce, Ivey, Schulich, Wharton, or harvard, or sloan have UG internships? NO. But "somehow" a large amount of these graduates from these schools find their way to boutique banks (ie. the dream destination to be "set" for most business students) anyway.

3. You can find internships by yourself. Learn to network ( i don't mean "networking dinner BS" where potential employers will never remember your face from the other 200 students he spoke to )

And no, you dont work and go to school.

Why would someone be "set" working at a boutique? Sure, Lazard, Greenhill, Moelis et al (elite boutiques), but a "no-name" boutique, NO.

It's funny that you were on WSO for a few days and you think you know much.

As well, only Ivey has exposure to the elite, boutique investment banks.

Nice try.

I'm in second year commerce, so I'm probably a little biased, but I think the program is great. I saw that a few people corrected you on the fact that DeGroote offers internships, not co-ops to its undergrad students. So (not to be condescending or anything, but in case you didn't know) internship is different because its only after third year, and you find either a 12 or 16 month placement. Meanwhile for co-ops, you go to school, then find a co-op placement (for a shorter amount of time, around four months I think), then go back to school for a while, then get another co-op placement, etc. until you graduate. Both co-op and internship programs should give you around the same job experience, since they both add one year to your program length. The main difference is that in internships you do it all at once, and all in one place.
Also, I don't know about whether co-ops are generally paid, but internships are. So that helps financially if that's an issue. And while I'm not an expert on how competitive it is, I haven't heard people complaining that its so terribly hard to get into.
Good luck and I hope that you're happy with whatever decision you make!

Originally Posted by TryingHard

Why would someone be "set" working at a boutique? Sure, Lazard, Greenhill, Moelis et al (elite boutiques), but a "no-name" boutique, NO.

It's funny that you were on WSO for a few days and you think you know much.

As well, only Ivey has exposure to the elite, boutique investment banks.

Nice try.

"set"

Only ivey? back yourself up with facts