Hi everyone,

I am a first year commerce student and I would like to know what is waiting for me after I get my degree. Here are few questions I would really appriciate if people could answer. It doesn't have to be your own experience, maybe someone you know or heard of. Please don't give mr the Mac's website info, it is unclear and doesn't apply to most of the people.

1. How is McMaster Commerce degree viewed by employers?
2. Where did you (someone you know/heard) end up working? (ex. CIBC management)
3. What was the salary? (if it is not a huge secret)

Thank you so much in advance.

Most of the commies I know became CA's during and after their degree. The pay was solid too, $15-20 is common. As for perceptions of employers, I don't know but we have some good people here, like Dr. Bates and Dr. Bontis.

If I had the chance to do it over again I would have probably taken Commerce, as it is one of the most practical degrees you could get.

It really depends on what you do during the four years at university. If you don't do any internships or have relevent work experience in the field you wanna work in, you wont have much luck after school or will struggle a lot, as I know many people who are. All the people that have gotten jobs after university are the ones who did internships. Otherwise the degeree is useles, but same goes for every degree. Then you have the options of CMA, CA or CGA, or even MBA. Salary depends on your experience and if you have any professional designations. Look at some job posting for the area you want to specialize in, that will give you a good idea of what you need to do during your four years so you're actually employable at the end! And keep your grades high!Also where the degree is from doesn't matter too much. I know some people who have gone to Brock for accounting and have gotten really good jobs, mostly because Brock has a co-op. They have had better luck with jobs than some people from Mac. Hope that helps

Realistically,the undergraduate degree, from any university will not get you anywhere. What will, are your connections, drive and interpersonal skills.

With that said, from what I knoww there is a large concentration of McMaster grads in RBC World Markets, RBC trading floor, Scotia Real-Estate/mortgage department and a lot are also at CIBC. Also the average salary for commerce undergradates was $42,500 last year in their first year of employment.

For MBA, (from the Degroote MBA website) http://www.degroote.mcmaster .ca/MBA/index.html

- Four out of five DeGroote Co-op MBA grads are employed within six months of graduation
- MBA Co-op students start their careers with an average salary of $69,283
- DeGroote MBAs rank in the 90th percentile of all North American graduates
- DeGroote School of Business MBA graduates enjoy the highest increase in salary in Canada—118 per cent
- Fewer than 10 per cent of business schools worldwide have earned AACSB - Accreditation, the highest standard in management education

Originally Posted by Serps

Hi everyone,

I am a first year commerce student and I would like to know what is waiting for me after I get my degree. Here are few questions I would really appriciate if people could answer. It doesn't have to be your own experience, maybe someone you know or heard of. Please don't give mr the Mac's website info, it is unclear and doesn't apply to most of the people.

1. How is McMaster Commerce degree viewed by employers?
2. Where did you (someone you know/heard) end up working? (ex. CIBC management)
3. What was the salary? (if it is not a huge secret)

Thank you so much in advance.

1) This is really subjective. I'm sure some employers have had good experiences with McMaster graduates, and some have not. That being said, I'm sure that most employers view McMaster's commerce degree in a good light, which means you have a good shot to get hired.

2) Many people who go through the Commerce program end up working as accountants, mainly CAs, although some go for their CMA and CGA instead. I'm sure that people also end up working at the other usual places, i.e. banks, credit unions, other financial institutions etc. Not to even mention the HR/Marketing focused jobs.

3) I only really know the salary for a CA. When you first enter the workforce, you're looking at $40,000 a year. After 2 years when you get fully liscensed, you start to make around $60,000 and then you get raises from there based on your performance. Of course, that's if you work for a public firm such as Deloitee, PWC, Ernst & Young, KPMG. If you go into private, you'll make a lot more (probably $100,000+).


To put it all in perspective, the commerce degree is what you make of it. I personally am planning on getting my J.D. following graduation to become a corporate lawyer. Some other people opt to attempt to get into world renowned investment banking jobs which are highly competitive but end up paying you upwards of $200,000. Don't feel limited by the degree as much as being limited by your own aspirations. As long as you put the effort in, you'll be able to do a lot with yourself upon graduation.

Thanks a lot people for the info.

As the resident Commerce Alumnus:

1) McMasters' Undergrad B.Comm is looked on fairly well by employers. More and more since Dean Bates (who doesn't have a PhD) took over. The MARS apprentice competition has made Degroote well known for undergrad marketing talent in addition to our strong Accounting program.

2) I currently work for Hewlett-Packard Canada as a Commercial Inside Sales Rep in TSG (Technology Solutions Group - I sell Servers & Storage in the B2B space)

3) I can't post online, but more than all the other 1st year in the work force numbers listed above (but less than the MBA number). There's also a commission element to it.

Take advantage of all Degroote has to offer. If you're interested in Sales and/or Marketing you should take B2B Marketing with Steve Howse (or anything with Steve Howse) as what I learnt in his course helped land me my current job.

I've been saying this time and time again; they do teach us a great deal of usable and relevant things at the Degroote School of Business.

Alex McColl
Hons B.Comm & Econ Minor 08

PS: Don't listen to Jo87, he's a 2nd year Soc Sci.

To elaborate on the discussion, I was wondering whether taking certain courses increased your chances of post-graduation employment.

For example, if you took Marketing, you'd apply for a job in Marketing stating that you had a B.Comm or B.Comm (Hons) and specialised in marketing (despite the fact that it would neither appear on the degree or the transcript).

However what about if a person only took the bare minimum for Honours commerce courses? Would this make finding employment much more difficult? I imagine it might as there wouldn't be any specialisation one could say they have, however, I could be wrong and input is always appreciated.

Originally Posted by PTGregD

1)
I personally am planning on getting my J.D. following graduation to become a corporate lawyer.

What is your concentration in the honours program? Because I am planning on doing the exact same thing and was wondering if there might be a specialization that would maybe give me an "edge" when applying to law schools. ... and are you only applying in Ontario?

Originally Posted by faheimm

What is your concentration in the honours program? Because I am planning on doing the exact same thing and was wondering if there might be a specialization that would maybe give me an "edge" when applying to law schools. ... and are you only applying in Ontario?

My "concentration" is in accounting, although it doesn't really matter. As far as an "edge", just have a high GPA and an amazing LSAT score, and that takes care of 80% of the application process.

I'm actually not applying to any schools in Canada, except UofT as a backup.

@ Greg

Thats cool- I'm planning to do exactly the same. But, right now I am in Humanities and want to switch into Business ll for Sept '10. The requirement is that you take econ 1B03/1BB3, stats 1L03 etc. etc. with a GPA of at least 7. If I am able to get..say 10, how difficult would it be to switch into Business?

Also, on the Business website, they said they will not consider any summer or repeated course work. I took macro 1BB3 in summer school and got an 8 in it... will I still be able to switch?

Originally Posted by myInteger

@ Greg

Thats cool- I'm planning to do exactly the same. But, right now I am in Humanities and want to switch into Business ll for Sept '10. The requirement is that you take econ 1B03/1BB3, stats 1L03 etc. etc. with a GPA of at least 7. If I am able to get..say 10, how difficult would it be to switch into Business?

Also, on the Business website, they said they will not consider any summer or repeated course work. I took macro 1BB3 in summer school and got an 8 in it... will I still be able to switch?

Hey,

If you manage to get a 10.0 GPA and finish those courses, I think you stand a *very* good chance of being able to transfer into Business II.

As for the second question, I don't really know the answer to that.

You should contanct:

Manager, U/G Programs &
Exchange Program
Amanda Shanks
Ext.: 27213
Email:[email protected]

Amanda should be able to give you the full run-down on any questions you have about successfully transferring in.

Good luck!