Business Undergrad and OCIs

[DonCorleone]

I know that grades are the most important factor in predicting OCIs, but how much can a business undergrad from a good school help (i.e., Ivey HBA, Queens Commerce, Schulich BBA, Laurier BBA, Rotman Commerce, McGill BCom, etc)?

[Telephantasm]

My anecdotal (and some other's empirical) evidence suggests that MBA students generally do better during OCIs than non-MBA students with comparable grades. That said, I have seen no real correlation between an HBA or BComm and success at OCIs. The students who I saw do best at OCIs often had unique and varied undergraduate backgrounds, including music, philosophy, and health sciences.

[Avatar Aang]

Davies is the only firm I've seen that does hire a lot of people with business degrees - especially Ivey alumni. But it is also a grades-heavy firm so you will need to do very well in law school to interview there.

[QueensGrad]

A bcomm from on of the top programs (for ex Smith or Ivey) definitely helps in OCI's. For example at Queen's during my time there (only a few years ago) pretty much everyone who had a Smith undergrad or was in the joint JD/BComm program landed at a Bay St firm. I also agree that Davies seems to hire a lot of bcomm graduates compared to other firms. 

 

You have two main advantages coming out of a bcomm. First and most importantly, you have tons of connections among future business leaders (for bus dev). Second, you understand a lot more about business generally, which can help when dealing with the facts side of files (but obviously doesn't help with the law side). 

Edited June 30, 2021 by QueensGrad