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 mid-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’ and ‘GLOBE’. 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). The last two weeks of the program are called GLOBE and this module connects everything you’ve learned in the program to today’s real-world leadership challenges.

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!