A Broken Ladder: Part I the Composition of Smith Commerce
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A Broken Ladder: Part I The Composition of Smith Commerce 1 Smith Transparency Project (www.smithtransparencyproject.com) Preface Objective This document aims to provide objective data and best estimates to inform discussion, inspire reflection, and catalyze change at the Smith School of Business and beyond. Smith School of Business Involvement The Smith Transparency Project approached the Smith School of Business in Fall 2019 and asked them to provide relevant and available data to aid this initiative. The initiative (and accompanying asks) were initially supported and encouraged by the school. However, this support was later withdrawn due to a lack of bandwidth. The Smith School of Business recommended that this project be completed on an independent basis. Methodology and Validity The data and analysis provided in this document represents solely publicly available social media, census, and geographic data and information disclosed through a voluntary survey delivered to the Class of 2021 official Facebook group. Additionally, this team is comprised of 4 Commerce students with a limited background in socioeconomic research. The team recognizes the above limitations and suggest that future users of this document acknowledge these limitations. Analyses of high school-level information includes both international and domestic students (i.e., tuition fees), whereas socioeconomic analyses applies solely to domestic students (i.e., average family income). Further, the team welcomes and encourages discussion and improvement to this analysis. Specifically, the team hopes for the Smith School of Business and other related organizations to publish similar and additional analyses or information pertaining to this topic. Contributors and Team This document is not affiliated with the organizations to which its contributors may belong. Data collection and analyses were done on an independent basis. 2 Smith Transparency Project (www.smithtransparencyproject.com) About A Broken Ladder Many high school students who aspire to join the ranks of Canada’s elite look to Smith Commerce, the undergraduate student program at Queen’s University’s Smith School of Business. They do this for good reason. Since its inception in 1914, the program has educated many generations of Canadian business leaders - the Musk brothers, multiple Big 5 bank CEOs, and countless other leaders of Fortune 500 and TSX 60 organizations. To this day, many prestigious employers, including investment banks, consulting firms, and buy-side financiers, recruit heavily from Smith. However, in recent years, questions have emerged around the program’s accessibility and inclusivity. Do students of all socioeconomic backgrounds have equal opportunity to attend Smith Commerce? Once in the program, do students from all backgrounds have a fair chance to succeed academically, professionally, and socially? Does Smith Commerce act as a ladder for students to move up the rungs of society? Or is the ladder broken, only allowing for those who start above a certain level to use it? Several months ago, the Smith Transparency Project began looking into this issue. Using the Smith Commerce Class of 2021 as a sample, we analyzed high school attendance data for 391 students, surveyed 125 students, and interviewed a representative group of 47 students. This gave us an unprecedented understanding of how socioeconomic status affects everything at Smith Commerce - from before you apply to after you leave. We separated the release of our findings into four distinct reports for expediency and concision. These reports include: • Part 1 - The Composition of Smith Commerce (OUT NOW) • Part 2 - The Forces Behind The Composition of Smith Commerce • Part 3 - The Effects of Socioeconomic Class on Academic, Professional, and Social Success at Smith Commerce • Part 4 - What Can Smith Do Better? 3 Smith Transparency Project (www.smithtransparencyproject.com) COMM ’21 disproportionately comprises of students from certain… I. High Schools II. Geographies III. Socioeconomic Classes 4 Smith Transparency Project (www.smithtransparencyproject.com) I. High Schools COMM ’21 students overwhelmingly come from “super-feeder” schools 80 students, over 20% of our sample, came from just 16 “super-feeder” schools. 9 of these schools are private – some of the most prestigious and expensive nationwide. All remaining public high schools are in the top 30% of earning neighbourhoods, with many schools serving some of the most economically and socially privileged areas in Canada. Proportion of COMM ’21 students from Private Schools Public Schools “super-feeder” vs. all other schools 100.0% St. George’s School Upper Canada College (Vancouver) (Toronto) Lawrence Park Collegiate Institute (Toronto) 80.0% Grade 12 Day Tuition: $27,045 Grade 12 Day Tuition: $37,135 Avg. Family Income: $318,599 60.0% 78.5% Crescent School Crofton House School Northern Secondary School (Toronto) (Toronto) (Vancouver) 40.0% Avg. Family Income: $146,212 Grade 12 Day Tuition: $34,150 Grade 12 Day Tuition: $25,200 20.0% Appleby College (Oakville) Oakville Trafalgar High School (Oakville) 21.5% Grade 12 Day Tuition: $64,120 Avg. Family Income: $306,398 0.0% Also: Greenwood College (Toronto), Hillfield Strathallan College (Hamilton), Also: Bayview SS (GTA), Colonel By SS (Ottawa), Bill Super-feeders All other schools Ashbury College (Ottawa), West Point Grey Academy (Vancouver) Crothers SS (GTA), South Delta SS (Metro Vancouver) Source(s): Web-Scraping (N=391), various private school tuition profiles 5 Smith Transparency Project (www.smithtransparencyproject.com) I. High Schools Private “super-feeders” achieve higher attendance rates at Smith Despite having smaller class sizes, “super-feeder” private schools send a similar number of students to Smith Commerce as the largest and most high-achieving public “super-feeders.” For example, Northern Secondary School (Toronto) is the single largest source of COMM ’21 students; it sent 9, or roughly 1.6%, of the 567 students in their graduating class. On the other hand, Crofton House School (Vancouver), with a class size of only 98, is the alma matter of 7 COMM ’21 students, or roughly 7.1% of their graduating class. Attendance rates of students from “super-feeder” high school in COMM ‘21 8.0% 7.1% UCC and St. George’s send many kids to Queen’s Legend 7.0% 6.7% University, more broadly. At least ~16% of students in the Class of 2017 at these two schools Private school 6.0% now attend Queen’s. 5.0% Public school 5.0% 4.8% 4.6% 4.1% 3.9% 4.0% 3.6% 3.0% 3.0% 1.9% 2.0% 1.6% 1.6% 1.4% 1.3% 1.0% 1.0% 0.7% 0.0% Crofton Crescent West Point Greenwood Upper Hillfield St. George's Appleby Ashbury Oakville Northern South Delta Lawrence Colonel By Bill Crothers Bayview House School Grey College Canada Strathallan School College College Trafalgar Secondary Secondary Park Secondary Secondary Secondary School Academy School College College Secondary School School Collegiate School School School School Institute Source(s): Web-Scraping (N=391), , Fraser Institute Report on British Columbia’s Secondary Schools 2017, Fraser Institute Report on Ontario’s Secondary Schools 2017, private school class profiles 6 Smith Transparency Project (www.smithtransparencyproject.com) I. High Schools A third of COMM ‘21 students come from private high schools, over 5x the Canadian proportion While only 6.1% of Canadian high-schoolers On average, the cost of grade 12 day-schooling for COMM ’21 private school graduates was attend private schools, almost 33% of the nearly $30,000. This tuition is out of reach for most Canadian families, since it would represent COMM ’21 class graduated from one. roughly 50% of after-tax income for the median Canadian household. This tuition is also more than 2x the per-student funding that public schools receive in BC and Ontario. Proportion of COMM ‘21 students Average public school per-student funding compared to average private who attended private high school school tuition fees 35.0% 33.0% 30.0% Public school, BC $7,468 25.0% 20.0% Public school, Ontario $12,246 15.0% 10.0% 6.1% 5.0% Private school, COMM '21 $29,475 0.0% COMM '21 Canada $0 $5,000 $10,000 $15,000 $20,000 $25,000 $30,000 $35,000 Source(s): Web-Scraping (N=391), private school tuition profiles 7 Smith Transparency Project (www.smithtransparencyproject.com) II. Geography COMM ’21 Super-Feeder Areas COMM ’21 students disproportionately attended high schools in affluent “super-feeder” areas 105 students, over 25% of our sample, hailed from schools in 3 “super-feeder” geographic Midtown/North Toronto Oakville West Side Vancouver areas: Midtown and North Toronto, Oakville, 50 students, over 10% of our sample, 30 students, roughly 8% of our 29 students, roughly 8% of our attended high schools in Midtown sample, attended schools in Oakville, sample, attended high school in and the West Side of Vancouver. These are and North Toronto. The area a ritzy suburb of Toronto where Vancouver’s West Side, a lush, some of the wealthiest, most expensive, and contains Canada’s most elite locales average family incomes are roughly affluent area of the city with the like Forest Hill and the Bridle Path. $220,000. No area of Oakville sent most expensive real estate in most well-educated regions in Canada. The average family in this area less than 5 students to the COMM Canada. The average residence in makes over $300,000 annually. ’21 class. this area costs a princely $2.4 million. Feeder Schools (# of students) Feeder Schools (# of students) Feeder Schools (# of students)