Shall I quit IVEY?

sean1255

I caught up the last train to get into Ivey this year. Now after more than 2 weeks in Ivey, the school suddenly announced that from next year, it will change its 2 yr program to 1 yr. At the same time, the school promised that this change will restore its reputation in the long term.

However, I really doubt this strategy.

Yes, Ivey is in deep trouble in recent years, from 2001 to this year, its ranking is sliding down from top 20 to 34, which is the last spot of 2nd tier. Applicants reduced to just over 500 for 2005, and students reduced from 320 to 170 this year. The accepted rate is 60%, which means in every 3 applicants, the school gives 2 admission. Too easy for a top school, do you think? Then among the students who received offer, only 50% will actually go to the school. So obviously the school desperately needs some changes.

For Chinese students, the situation is more pessimistic. Among 70 or more 2nd Chinese students, only 6 got summer intern in North America. And that is a good year --- for years before last year, I heard that only 1 or 2 Chinese students could get summer intern jobs. Of course, there are students getting summer intern and final jobs(300k RMB) in China.  But only if you are going to Ivey for immigration purpose, I donot see any return from these data.

Furthermore, Ivey seems donot emphasis on teaching hardcore skills, such as professional knowledge. In return, it emphases more on soft skills, such as presentation, team work and communication. For example, in your grade, 30% is class presentation, which means you have to raise your hand all the time, so that you can get chances to answer questions or ask questions. While I highly believe class participation is key for MBA study, I sincerely doubt the results of this grading system which will easily lead to the situation when you raise your hands for marks, not for interesting thoughts or ideas, thus, class participation simply looses all meanings. It becomes an acting instead of thinking.

So personally speaking, I think the recent failure of Ivey is rooting from less employers, thus the school cannot attract top quality students, and this leads to even less employers.

In addition, I donot think simply changing 2yrs to 1yr, will fix the problems. Because it is not the request from the employers. In addition, very few business schools succeed the 1yr program. Actually, in North America, only heard of 1yr school is Queen, and it is not a historically top ranking school.

If I were the dean, I would first try to regroup ourselves by hiring top professors. Then I will push the career management team to extensively visit existing employers and possible employers. Career management team is the school's sales team, and they shall not allowed to sit in their offices. Except a few members who would be responsible for student couching, all other career management team shall vigorously visit employers in Canada and in USA, in person. If you have working experience in sales, you can understand that you can rarely get customers by only sending emails or phone calls without personal visits. You have to go there, ask them to give opportunities to our students, and listen to their requirements and concern. Then you go back to school and adjust our educational process to meet their requirements.

Ivey's reform, to me, is not a sparkling renovation. Instead, it is more like a person who is in the gambling game, and his chips are almost gone. So he just makes his last bet and prays for good luck.

As to my MBA, short term speaking, when I graduate, there will be 60 more people competing with me for the already not many jobs. In the long term, if the reform fails, then I will lose almost all investment for going to Ivey MBA. Your long term return for MBA is simply your school's reputation.

So in short, I am seriously thinking of quitting and reapplying for top schools, could you help me by giving me some suggestions and recommendations? Thanks in advance for your time and advice.