Advantages

Efficient – At Ivey, the MBA program is designed to provide the same learning opportunities and the same proportion of the classroom hours that a typical two-year program would offer. The program is intense, lively and will keep you on your toes throughout the year with little time wasted. Further, the fast paced nature of the program will undoubtedly help improve your work efficiency, a skill necessary for leaders in today’s working environments.

Opportunity cost – The primary advantage of a one-year program vs. a two-year program all things being equal is the opportunity to earn income in your second year as opposed to spending another year in school paying tuition. A one-year program allows you to fully absorb student life again, with the confidence that you’ll be back in the work force in a year’s time.

Build new relationships – Student who attend Ivey come from many different countries and regions. The decision to attend Ivey may mean moving far from family and friends for one year. The Ivey community is strong and supportive. You will have many opportunities to make friends, connect with professors and alumni because you are fully immersed in this new community.

Challenges:

Competing priorities – During your year at Ivey, there are more opportunities, resources and experiences than time. The pace of learning, engaging and participation at Ivey pushes the boundaries of individuals who will be leaders in industry. Leaders continuously face competing priorities and because there are limitless opportunities at Ivey, deciding your priorities allows better management of ourselves, teams and organization. A two-year MBA allows for more time to take advantage of all these opportunities, but a one-year MBA teaches you to make decisions, and prioritize what’s important.

Amount of time networking and career exploring – Although the program offers plenty of networking opportunities, one can argue that another year of those same events would allow more time for networking and relationship building with your classmates. Furthermore, alternative MBA programs are structured around an internship which allow for exploration of career and firm fit. Although this may seem like an advantage if you are less certain about your post-MBA career path, gaining an internship requires significant focus and means less time networking, self-reflecting and preparing for full time opportunities. Many firms dedicated to recruiting MBA’s are invested in the process as they want long-term relationships.

There are two noticeable differentiators between Ivey and other business schools. The first is Ivey’s use of case-based learning in the classroom. Using real-life situations and class discussions versus lectures is more engaging, memorable and applicable to our careers. The talented faculty at Ivey guide this format of learning in a way that students at other business schools don’t have the benefit of. The second differentiator is the alumni network. As a graduate of Ivey, you become a member of a community of professionals who are truly eager to help progress fellow alumni careers, are a group of trusted advisors and mentors, and a wonderful social network.

Ivey’s Entrepreneurship Program is one of the strongest in Canada. If a student is enrolled in the Entrepreneurship Stream, he/she gets access to venture capital firms, seasoned entrepreneurs and business community in London, which in turn can help develop a strong network. In addition, students can attend various workshops, boot camps and hackathons to help launch their businesses. New Venture Project, a capstone project for the Entrepreneurship Stream, offers students a structured approach to refine ideas, conduct market research and then pitch their idea to investors.

If you choose to do the PKP (highly encouraged!), then the program will start end of February/ beginning of March. Otherwise, classes start in early March, kicked off with the Orientation Week. Essentially the program can be divided in half – the first six months is what we call ‘Core’, followed by ‘Electives’ over the next six months. During Core, you have a set class schedule – typically with three classes a day, running from 8:20am until 1:00pm. Starting at the beginning of September, Electives are split into five periods and you can take between one and three classes per period depending on which and how many courses you want/need to take. International Study Trips happen during the third elective period and you will get a three-week break between the third and fourth elective periods (i.e. end of December to early January).

MBAA positions are elected by the cohort during the months of March and April (except for the MBA Directs Section Rep and Social Rep who are elected in July when the Directs arrive). Social Reps and Section Reps are voted on only by their respective sections, whereas the rest of the MBAA is first voted on by their section, and then the winner of Section 1 and Section 2 are voted on by the entire cohort. Elections for the incoming MBA cohort are facilitated by the outgoing MBAA President.

Once the MBAA is elected, Club Leadership elections typically take place. Different clubs have different leadership structures (co-presidents, president and vice-president, etc.), so it's important to understand the leadership structure of the club that you are interested in. Only cohort members who had previously signed up for a particular club can vote on that club election. You are given the opportunity to join the Ivey MBA clubs almost immediately after beginning your program, so we recommend joining any club that you think might be of interest to you.

Senator positions open up throughout the year and are facilitated by the MBAA VP's who require the assistance of the Senators. No voting takes place for these positions, the VP will select a Senator based on the quality of their submission.

Please keep in mind that any of these positions are extremely hard work, especially when taking into account the other responsibilities that you will have. However, it is also extremely rewarding and a great opportunity to practice or develop your multi-tasking skills because you are now adding another ball to juggle. If you've opted for one of these positions, it should be because you have a genuine interest in positively impacting your cohort and are willing to commit to doing the job right.

A typical day at Ivey is very busy and consists of classes, group meetings, school work (case prep), career management, club/sports meetings and time with friends. Although for the most part a typical day remains consistently busy throughout the year, certain activities will be prioritized at different times during the year. For example, if you are applying to consulting or finance jobs, the September – October timeframe will be challenging as you will be preparing job applications, preparing for interviews, networking and attending information sessions, interviewing and trying to manage your school workload and other commitments.

To help you envision a day in the life of an Ivey student, we will attempt to provide an outline of a typical day in the core modules and a typical day during the elective periods. Note that these are just generic outlines and the times of the activities will vary depending on the program schedule and student preferences.

During Core, you have a set class schedule and work in randomly assigned learning teams on majority of assignments.

8:20am – first class starts – rise and shine!
9:40am – first break
10:00am – second class starts
11:20am – second break
11:40am – third class starts
1:00pm – lunch
2:00pm – group meeting
3:00pm – individual case prep/ read news
6:00pm – workout
7:00pm – dinner/ club meeting / or dinner and club meeting at the same time
8:00pm – sports game/ liaise with friends
11:00pm – bed time if it’s an early night!

Electives are split into five periods and you can take between one and three classes per period. Typically, classes run from 8:00am until 11:00am, 11:30am until 2:30pm, and 3:00pm until 6:00pm. Your schedule will depend on which and how many courses you want/need to take.

8:00am – elective class starts – rise and shine!
9:20am – break
9:40am – elective class continued
11:00am – class ends/ read news and review emails
12:00pm – lunch
1:00pm – individual case/recruiting prep
4:00pm – workout
5:00pm – New Venture Project or Ivey Field Project meeting
7:30pm – club meeting
8:00pm – extended dinner/ liaise with friends
10:30pm – class doesn’t start until 3:00pm tomorrow and it’s a Thursday night, might as well head out to The Ceeps!

They Ivey LEADER Project is another student-body organization at Ivey, however, it is not affiliated with the Program Office or the MBAA. LEADER is comprised of students from multiple Ivey programs, totaling 24 - 30 students, of which approximately 10 - 14 are MBAs. There is a formal application and interview process for those who express interest in joining LEADER, typically facilitated by the existing LEADER team.

The organization has five different committees, Fundraising & Engagement, Marketing & Communications, Logistics, Impact, and Curriculum, in addition to a team of Executive Directors. All students who are selected are allocated to a specific committee, which governs their responsibilities throughout the year. During the following April or May, every student will travel to a location overseas to teach business fundamentals using the case method to local entrepreneurs. Current teaching sites include Vietnam, Nepal, India, Serbia and North Macedonia.

LEADER's mission is to coach and inspire promising entrepreneurs in frontier markets to envision, launch, and scale new ventures. The organization was founded in 1991 and has impacted more than 10,000 entrepreneurs over the past 30+ years. You can learn more about The LEADER Project here!