well, I am too, a student of Ivey 2007. But my personal feeling is much different. Obviously my fellow buddy stated too much goodies about Ivey, which might sound encouraging, but actually far away from the reality.
First, Ivey stubbornly thinks that it is still the absolute No 1 in Canada and the 1st tier in the world. But the reality is: it is sliding to 2nd tier or even 3rd tier in the world, and in Canada, it is losing ground to other schools too. Rotman is becoming No1, obviously, just look at their job replacement rate and the recruiters' comments. Yes, Ivey still has advantages, mainly because its history and alumni. But when we shall not underestimate the power of alumni, we shall not overestimate it too. Consulting companies said that Ivey students did not prepare well in their case interviews, well, as a case study school, I really did not see any excuses here. As to Investment Banking, boy, I donot know where Michael got the data, 25-30%? NO,NO,NO. Actually many IBanks have not come to Ivey for years. Michael's data might be finance jobs, but that is huge difference between finance jobs (some Canadian banks' manager trainee positions) vs IBanking. I have not heard anyone from Ivey last year, this year so far, got job offers from big IBanks.
Michael's second point is half right, half wrong. Yes, Ivey is not for everyone, but that should not be sounded as a priviledge. No school is for everyone, that is for sure, and Ivey is not an exemption too. Its different style simply means its different style, does it mean Ivey's style is good or bad? Really tough questions. You say it is good? but the results show the opposite. You say it is bad? then Harvard uses the same style, and everybody thinks Harvard is the king. So my view is that it is not actually matter that much which style a school choose, the only thing matters is the result. As long as the school's ranking is good, the job replacement rate is good, the students' feeling is good, then the style is good for that school. The same as the opposite. So in Ivey's case, you can make your own judgement.
As to the one year program, since it is new, then we can really say nothing about it. But we could do some analysis: what is the problem of Ivey? Does changing to one year help to solve the problem? To me, I think the problem of Ivey is that its education focus is away from the market needs, yet the ego of Ivey does not want to admit and correct the problem. Then change to one year would have no positive effects at all. It is like a gambler, who is losing his shirt, and trying to bet the last bet. Hehehehe.....
So, I am not intentionally against Ivey, it might be a top school years ago, but now it is not. However, the school and some of its students are still living in the glorious dreams, and draw a fancy picture for applicants. Which I think is not right. |