The title may be vague, but I have some concerns that have recently arose and I thought of no better place than to ask/discuss. Is a degree a degree in Canada, or does the institution we attend get heavily weighted in regards to post-grad employment/graduate studies decisions? When I look to the states for examples, I find the institution is often more heavily weighted than the degree. It seems as though anyone would take a social science/humanities degree at Harvard over a more specialized degree from a lesser known institution than the big 5. When I look to other Canadian institutions for references, I find the discussion is very similar. However it is difficult for me to find evidence proving so.
I have been told there is no comparison when holding McGill/UofT/Mac up to other Canadian universities.. according who whom? Canadian universities all seem to be pretty interchangeable.

Originally Posted by Marooner

The title may be vague, but I have some concerns that have recently arose and I thought of no better place than to ask/discuss. Is a degree a degree in Canada, or is the institution we attend more heavily weighted in regards to post-grad employment/graduate studies decisions? When I look to the states for examples, I find the institution is often more heavily weighted than the degree. It seems as though anyone would take a social science/humanities degree at Harvard over a more specialized degree from a lesser known institution than the big 5. When I look to other Canadian institutions for references, I find the discussion is very similar. However it is difficult for me to find evidence proving so.
I have been told there is no comparison when holding McGill/UofT/Mac up to other Canadian universities.. according who whom? Canadian universities all seem to be pretty interchangeable.

I can assure you, a degree is indeed a degree in Canada

So basically, all those who have gone by the saying "if you can walk and talk" and chose another institution because of it have been misinformed? In saying so, I know many people who made their first choice on such beliefs including my own. Would you would consider a student from any other Canadian university to be equal with those who achieve the same marks at McMaster? Working harder to access more difficult institutions seems to be the opposite of what one should do. I believe the discussion changes here a bit. If this is the case I may have to do some reconsidering regarding my future here at Mac.

Depends entirely on what you want to get into. In some cases, your school/program's prestige can play a role when looking for employment, and in some cases it is completely irrelevant as long as you have x degree.

From looking into various graduate schools internationally, where you receive your bachelors does affect admission rates. As per employment we can easily state a degree is a degree, but until you distinguish one career over the next degree, degree type etc. will all affect your eligibility. In large effect yes the skills extrapolated from a degree are transferable no matter what degree and what institution it was received at but schools can vary in the way they teach, what they teach, effort they provide, opportunities offered etc.

lol, so many people are delusional in this thread.

Think about the members in a Harvard, UPenn, Northwestern network an individual can exhaust for networking?

You really think the network at the aforementioned schools is comparable to a state school? (University of Arizona, University of Ohio)? It is not.

If there have been studies conducted, I can assure you people who go to top ranked schools have better salaries, and better careers. This is applicable in Canada, too. Someone at Laurentian could only dream of the opportunities a business student at McMaster can potentially obtain. Likewise, a business student at McMaster could only dream of the opportunities someone at McGill/Queen's/Western (Ivey) could obtain.

In Engineering and other technical programs (Math, etc), the top school is obviously Waterloo; however, the discrepancy in prestige is not as profound in Engineering as it is in business. I am sure some people from Mac could get a job at Google/Apple/Yahoo, but they would have a better opportunity, all-else-equal, from Waterloo.

Life Sciences, I think it may be the least. Most people go into sciences with the ultimate goal of med-school. I doubt a med-school puts much merit on the school you went to. Get good grades (3.8+), good extra-curriculars, job-shadowing, etc... and hope for the best.

Argue all you want, facts are facts.

Some institutions are better then others, but there isn't quite the distinction in Canada as there is in the States. Like a engineering or sciences degree is more likely to get you hired from U of T than Lakehead, but if the Lakehead got a break/ had connections and got a good co-op job during school, he may be more likely to be hired than the U of T grad. A lot depends on experience more then the school.

Keep in mind this is the short term. In the long term experience is weighted way more heavily, unless you are going into a super technical job in which case you need good experience and school

Ivey grauduates in business make more than anyone else in Canada. Mac's alumni is stronger than Ryersons for example. UofT has better networking than York. its all in the name

Lesser schools have less talented kids, thus must compensate for that and not challenge them.

If we are talking about jobs, the degree doesnt matter where it comes from. All everything comes down to is your connections that you have. Now before you jump on me saying that people at more prestigious schools will have better connections, those are not the only ones I am talking about. Plenty of connections can come from outside of school, family connections, friends of your parents, etc. I know plenty of people who have gotten jobs just because their parents know somebody.

Originally Posted by Chris23

If we are talking about jobs, the degree doesnt matter where it comes from. All everything comes down to is your connections that you have. Now before you jump on me saying that people at more prestigious schools will have better connections, those are not the only ones I am talking about. Plenty of connections can come from outside of school, family connections, friends of your parents, etc. I know plenty of people who have gotten jobs just because their parents know somebody.

Unfortuntley for a good first job, this is often the case. If you don't have connections, then school prestige kicks in but a portion depends on luck as well

Originally Posted by L_Blankfein

lol, so many people are delusional in this thread.

Think about the members in a Harvard, UPenn, Northwestern network an individual can exhaust for networking?

You really think the network at the aforementioned schools is comparable to a state school? (University of Arizona, University of Ohio)? It is not.

If there have been studies conducted, I can assure you people who go to top ranked schools have better salaries, and better careers. This is applicable in Canada, too. Someone at Laurentian could only dream of the opportunities a business student at McMaster can potentially obtain. Likewise, a business student at McMaster could only dream of the opportunities someone at McGill/Queen's/Western (Ivey) could obtain.

In Engineering and other technical programs (Math, etc), the top school is obviously Waterloo; however, the discrepancy in prestige is not as profound in Engineering as it is in business. I am sure some people from Mac could get a job at Google/Apple/Yahoo, but they would have a better opportunity, all-else-equal, from Waterloo.

Life Sciences, I think it may be the least. Most people go into sciences with the ultimate goal of med-school. I doubt a med-school puts much merit on the school you went to. Get good grades (3.8+), good extra-curriculars, job-shadowing, etc... and hope for the best.

Argue all you want, facts are facts.

Wow, no one could have said it better.

I would say that JOB EXPERIENCE is above all the most important thing. I know plenty of people that have a diploma as their highest achievement from Seneca, Centennial, Mohawk and they have respectable positions in big companies. This is because between the 4 years of school, they built their experience in jobs that were related to the field of study.

Coming from a prestigious school or having a degree may help, but having experience in the field related to you job your looking for is, IMHO, the most important thing.