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Ivey MBA,Canada
Rankings | Class Profile | Employment Report | Sample Essays | Interview Questions
Two things make Western University Ivey Business School, based at the University of Western Ontario in Canada, stand out from the crowd. The first is its deep commitment to the case method. Forget lectures: the entire Ivey MBA is taught via cases which the school creates itself — it is the second-biggest writer of cases, after Harvard Business School. Ivey students can expect to study about 300 cases during the program. The point is to create a practical, action-oriented education.
The second thing that makes Ivey different is that its full-time MBA is short for North America, lasting just 12 months. That makes it a serious option for people who don’t want to take two years off work. Obviously, that means that certain elements present on other MBAs are dropped; exchange trips are optional, and there is no internship. The short duration helps a lot with ROI, though.
Over 90% of Ivey MBAs find employment within three months of graduation, almost all of them in Canada. That includes the 30% of MBA students who are international, the vast majority of whom come to Canada because they are looking to settle in the country. The biggest recruiters are consultants and banks, though the country’s vibrant tech sector — centered in Toronto, just a couple of hours away — is hoovering up more and more. For more details Click here…
Ivey MBA Rankings
| Class Profile Summary | |
| Class Size | 154 |
| Average GMAT Score | 660(520-780) |
| Average Work Experience (yrs.) | 5.5 years |
| Average Age (yrs.) | 28.5 years (24-35) |
| Employment Summary | |
| Average Salary | $117,997 |
| Average Bonus | |
| % placed within 3 months | |
| Tuition Fees Summary | |
| Total Tuition | $111,750 |
| Living Cost | $ 20,500 |
| Total Cost | $ 132,250 |
Ivey MBA Application Deadlines
| Deadlines | Applications |
| Round 3 | 12 Jul 2021 |
| Round 4 | 20 Sep 2021 |
| Round 5 | 08 Nov 2021 |
| Round 6 | 10 Jan 2022 |
Ivey MBA Application Tips
Ivey Essay 1: What are your short-term career plans immediately post-MBA, and why is an Ivey MBA essential to those plans? (250 word limit)
Quick essay Tips – To write career essays for IVEY MBA program, a very simple structure to follow is
- Explain your current position and work experience → 2. State your short and long term goals → 3. Skillsets you have acquired throughout your career so far → 4. Explain what you currently lack to attain your short and long term goal → 5. Show how an MBA from school like Ivey can help you bridge the gap in your skills to achieve your short term goal.
Detailed Essay writing Tips – The best and an easy approach to write this IVEY application essay is to break it into two parts:
- First Half – explain “what are your goals and why you need an MBA”
- Second Half – establish ”Why or how the Ivey MBA program is the perfect fit for you?”
First Half – Goals and why MBA?
Start with a strong introductory paragraph on who you are and what are your desired goals from an MBA.
Eg: “I am an engineer with four years of experience in the IT sector leading projects for clients across multiple countries. In the short term i want to transition from a software developer role to a product manager role”
For the main body, start on a strong note, show what skills you already have. B-schools in general prefer to see strong academic track record, progress in professional career, client management exposure, leadership and international experiences. Highlight some of your key achievements with numbers or awards that you may have received. Show your outstanding performance via the promotions or opportunities to lead or international deputation.
After establishing the strengths of your profile, move on to show how the limitation of your current role and skills are hindering your future career progress or desired transitions. Establish the need for upskilling yourself which can only be done via an MBA at this stage of your career. Talk about how an MBA can enhance your business acumen, leadership skills, soft skills for communication and presentation or provide you the network to grow your career or business.
This sets the context for your “Why MBA” argument. The first half of the essay explains what you already have and what you lack to grow in your career. Lastly how an MBA can unlock opportunities for you to grow.
Second Half – Why Ivey MBA?
To answer the – “why Ivey MBA” part of the essay, build your argument on 3-4 points which helps you fulfill the gaps in your skill set and achieve your goals. Reasons to choose the Ivey MBA program should align with your reason to do an MBA as mentioned in the first half of the essay.
Ensure your reasons portray a holistic approach to how you intend to gain/upskill from the MBA program. An easy way to structure can be to break it down across three buckets –
- Inside the class – what excites you the most about the Ivey MBA program in regards to the academic curriculum? Is it a particular specialization? Range of Electives? Quality of Professor? Feel free to name drop a few.
- Outside the class – outside of the academics, how do you plan to make the most of the opportunities available at Ivey? Clubs? Networking event? International exchanges? Leadership seminar? Speak with Alum, current students and find specifics which perfectly aligns with your needs to achieve your goals in a particular industry or function.
- Outside of campus – show how the overall school brand, alumni network which you would carry and be a part of long after your campus stint can help you build a successful career in the long term.
Closing argument
Summarize your entire essay in 3-4 lines and confidently portray how you believe the Ivey MBA program is the perfect next step or logical step for you to achieve your career goals and how you would be a great fit and valuable addition to the class if selected.
Ivey Essay 2: Tell us about a challenge you have faced in your life, and what lessons you learned from it.
Before jumping into writing the essays, you should introspect and come up with one strong example or situation in your life where you overcame a significant challenge. To compete at the highest level for application to schools like Ivey, dig deeper than just professional challenges.
Everyone at Ivey has 4-5 years of experience and everyone will have some sort of professional challenges they have overcome. How do you stand apart? Most people use examples primarily from professional experience. But it is much better if you can also showcase examples from social voluntary work, start-ups, your extracurriculars or personal life challenges where you have overcome difficulties.
When illustrating examples, an easy method to follow is the STAR methodology. Situation → Task → Action → Result.
Start with describing the situation or problem at hand to give a background to the reader. Explain what was expected out of you to do and the consequence of the task. Explain how this difficult situation drove you to take certain actions. It is important to show what the outcome of the action was and what are the results that you obtained.
Conclude by showing what you learned from this experience or situation. How has this made you a better person or a better leader? how these learnings will enhance your prospects of being a successful leader or prove you to be a good value addition to IVEY’s MBA program.