Imperial vs UoT (Masters)

Hello everyone,

I do not know which university to go to. I have recieved an offer from Imperial College London ( MSc Finance and Accounting) and the University of Toronto (Mastesr in Financial Risk Management). Some background: I studied a BSc in Business Management from KCL and am currently working in an algo trading firm in London. After my masters, I want to work at a job (IB/Equity Research/ S&T) that maximizes my earnings because I want to save up money to start my own firm in my home country (Africa) in ~5-6 years. I also want to get Canadian citizenship before returning home.

Rotman Route:
1. The Rotman program has a 3 month co-op which will allow me to gain experience. I will also have the opportunity to network in person to try and secure a job right after graduating.
2. The MFRM program content seems highly interesting and is quantitatively rigorous. Classmates seem smart and so are the professors (ex. John C. Hull).

Imperial Route:
1. Imperial has a higher ranking (ranked 6-10 worldwide I believe).
2. I will be staying with my girlfriend of 2 years who is studying math at KCL. We have plans of moving together to Canada some day but she still has 2 years before she finishes her degree.

Imperial Cons:
I won't be able to get a job in London after graduating unless I get sponsored. The reason being I have already used my graduate visa. Usually only top multinationals like Goldman, JPM, BAML, etc.. sponsor students & I haven't secured a summer with any of them.
I will have to go to Canada the hard way. I can apply for jobs in Canada while studying at Imperial but I don't know how much success I will have. I can also go through the Express Entry route to get Canadian permanent residency before applying to jobs. (I am also fluent in French: Can take IELTS/TCF & score high).

Any constructive input will be highly helpful. I have 3 weeks to make my decision. Thanks in advance.

Reply 1

nushnush338

Original post by Anonymous Ninja

To put it simply. If you want to have a life, go to Toronto. If you want to have a the prestige of going to imperial but also lose your mind and subject yourself to one of the most academically rigorous and antisocial environments ever, go to imperial.

Some of my best friends go to imperial and it’s a super antisocial place. Their friendship group is the minority of social people that found eachother basically. But it’s a brilliant university in terms of academics. It’s much better at postgrad level for sure.

i have family have gone/that go to Toronto and it’s known to be super fun. The ones that have graduates have secured great jobs or have done phds/masters at other great universities in different countries. It has a lot of pressure but it’s nowhere near the same as imperial. Imperial is oxbridge level work but you’re living in london so it’s low-key a lot worse lmao. People at UofT intermingle with other unis a lot more whereas people at Imperial are very isolated and don’t usually know people outside of their uni. This isolation hits more when you live in a capital city.

they are both well respected unis and you’re gong to have great prospects from either. Imperial is ranked a lot higher, and is usually considered as prestigious as oxbridge and Harvard for sciences and engineering. Toronto is still the best in all of Canada so no one will overlook you if you get a first from UofT. For business and finance though idk I assume they rank similarly but im sure you’re more aware of their league rankings for your subject field than I am.

You’ll be successful regardless of your choice. But it depends where you think you’ll be happier.