To Thomas, BraveMBA and others;
Well, it is your personal opinion that Ivey is the 'best' school, at least for you. Well it is also my opinion that Ivey is far away from 'best' school, it is not who is right, who is wrong. The key issue here is that you guys only talk about 'nice' things about Ivey which to me and I know many Chinese students in Ivey now, do not think so. And to me, I think as Chinese students currently in Ivey, it is our responsibility to tell the real story, whether you think it is good or bad, so that our Chinese applicants can see more clearly about the decision they gonna make.
Realistically, everybody comes to MBA is ambicious and an investor. You could argue that your ambition is more focused on 10-20 years after this, or in the future; but to me, my ambition is more focused on short term, the reason is that if you donot get results in short term, how can you go for the future? if you donot even have a job offer after graduation, how can you dream about being CEO later? well yes, not totally impossible, but how big is the chance?
Also, what you guys keep saying is just a few points: case study method, class contribution, best in Canada and job rate.
Well ask anyone in Ivey, are they really as fancy as you guys talk about?
Case study method -- yes it is good, but only when you thoroughly understand the fundamentals and also you have the experience and insights. Do we, students in Ivey, have that in all the courses? If we donot, then case study method loses all meanings. Of course, over the two years in Ivey, we learn alot. My point is that case study method itself not necessary means the best method, it is just a different way. All roads lead to Rome, so do teaching methods. While case method is a way of learning, we shall not exaggerate the effects. In fact, I think the reason Ivey says case method, is because Harvard uses it too, and Ivey is the second largest case method school. Does that seem to you that case method is used in someway to associate with Harvard?
Class contribution -- well another point that has been exaggerated. Ask any Chinese student in Ivey, does class contribution (40-50% of total) mean challenge and excellence to him or her? You guess the answer. First, students donot have the expertise to really give thoughtful insights (occassionally, maybe), and class contribution simply becomes a competition to raise hands, say some case facts or some not so deep points, and then the ultimate goal is to gain prof's impression marks. Challenging, pushing yourself.... all these fancy words, I really donot see it all. How can you possible give deep insights if you donot have years of experience and then donot even know thorough enough about the fundamentals? Just tell me how.
Best in Canada, arguably yes. But is it the fact that Ivey is losing the battle to others? is it true that the ranking is diving? Yes, rankings have limitations, but at least, they reflect something, and if your rankings in all ranking systems are going down, does that sound alert to you? Confidence is good, but ego is not. As a member of Ivey, of course, I hope Ivey is the best, not only in Canada, better if in the whole world. Because down the road, ranking is an important part of your investment return. But just saying we are number 1 does not achieve the goal, instead, in order to regain the top spot, the first thing we have to do is to admit that we are not number 1 now.
Job rate --- here the tricky part comes in. First the data. Ivey says over 93% last year, pretty exciting. But the evidence is not that clear. Ask Chinese students here, do they think that 93% of Chinese students get job offers? Ask Chinese students, how many get IB and consulting jobs? Ask Chinese students, are they confident that they can get a decent job offer? Yes of course, there are Chinese students get offers, for sure, but not that high percentage, and the quality of job offers is even worse. Just like I said before, first your ROI, calculate that and think about it. Second, without a decent job to start with, why you so sure about becoming 'leaders' tomorrow? Is there something missing here? Show me your logic.
And very last, personally I feel Ivey is disappointing, probably my expectation is different than future leaders. That is why I post my opinions to alert some applicants who might have the same concerns like mine. Any comments are welcome, but first do not use some insulting words, your angriness shows exactly that I am right; second, if you have different opinions, do not just say, show solid evidence. Eventually, our discussion here is to provide applicants a better view about Ivey, and then they can decide by themselves.
|