There’s some people who are going to Ivey here, and yes, congratulations, however, I just wanted to share with you some of my thoughts before you make that final decision.

Last year, I got accepted into Ivey and Schulich. I also applied to queens, but didn’t get in. I chose Schulich over Ivey, and boy, did I make the right choice. Going to Ivey is a huge rip-off; you may not feel like it at first, but Ivey at the end of the day is a school for MBAs, not a school for undergrads.

Here's a few of my points about going to Ivey:

A) The degree you get from graduating from Ivey is a Honours Bachelor of Arts (HBA). Seriously, you’re paying like double to get an Arts degree on Honours Business Administration. If your parents can afford it, great, but in reality, if you are going to go abroad to anywhere outside North America, recruiters are going to see this and it’d be a huge waste of money. Ivey has done well to hide that in their marketing, but if you ask them straight up, they will eventually tell you that its an Arts Degree you're getting (with the University of Western Ontario printed on it).

B) Ivey is a 2 year program, not a 4 year program. Most of the stuff you learn in third year at Ivey you learn in first and second year in 4 year program like Schulich. By the time you start third year, an Schulich 3rd year (or Queen’s or wherever you go) is in a much better position than a Ivey third year.

C) A lot of people on this forum talks about jobs, co-op, internships, etc. Well, students who are in AEO in first and second year do not receive career support from Ivey like they do from Schulich. All those job postings, benefits, etc are all stuff you get in year 3 and 4, not in year 1 or 2.

D) If you decide to go on exchange, Ivey is definitely not a good choice for that. Again, it’s about what you pay for vs. what you get. If you go on exchange to Mexico or Europe or wherever, you are losing half a year of Ivey which is 25% of the program. Why would you do that? At Schulich if you go on exchange you only lose 12.5% of the program.

E) Ivey says that they have electives and they have diverse classes, etc because you are in another program in year 1 and 2. In reality, you’d be taking arts or social science courses like every other “regular dude” in class sizes of 400 to 500, or even bigger, in year 1 or 2. Most people who go to Ivey start with BMOS, and the entering average of BMOS is not high at all – how would you find year 1 and 2 challenging when you’re in a class full of regular non-achieving students? Again, I’d rather be paying my money to go straight into a business program that has 300 or whatever (less if you’re in iBBA) students in the ENTIRE program. Just look at how many offers they are making to try get lots of people to get in - and they are even increasing their program size to 500 students?

F) Lastly, Ivey has no huge advantage these days anymore. Maybe 10 years ago they do, but lets get serious here. Everyone has case-based courses, everyone does cases, every school has a great career centre (especially at Schulich and Queen’s), and the top schools like Schulich and Queen’s are highly selective in admissions. We at Schulich also have smaller classes than Ivey’s class sizes of 75, and that’s just in third year. Classes get even smaller when you go up. Just look at the Ivey website… just look at it – it disgusts me that they use simple marketing campaigns to make their program look complex while it’s offered everywhere else. “Ivey Select (TM)”, “Ivey Immersion (TM)”, “Ivey Environment (TM)”, “Ivey Career View (TM)”. It’s a huge marketing scam and really they’re just trying to make you think you’re making a good investment while in the meantime they are getting your money to fund their MBA or executive programs.

You may disagree with some of my points, and that’s totally fine. But I just want to let you know that last year I was in the same position of many of you guys: Ivey vs. Schulich (or maybe for some other people its ivey vs queens or ivey vs. mcgill or ivey vs. laurier), and I almost chose Ivey – and I’m glad I didn’t. If I chose Ivey I would’ve been sitting without a proper job for the summer right now. I would not have been able to meet some really great people in my classes – hell I might still be drifting off in geography or psychology or some other useless subject. And I also think there’s a reason why people on the forums who chose to go to Ivey don’t post here… I think it’s because they feel ripped off and are little too embarrassed to come back. Schulich, Queen’s, McGill, Laurier are great schools and you need to really consider all your cards that is available to you.

Think before you make your decisions… think… think… think… it’s a huge decision and I know a few of my friends at UWO who was on the Ivey track are already kind of not happy about their decision. Don’t regret your choice.

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Schulich 2011

You make some valid points. However, its the career advantages that matter, especially if it is banking or consulting you planning on entering.

In reality, there are thousands of jobs out there available to business grads, many of which actually pays very well. You dont need an Ivey degree to get that. And... those firms hire at other schools as well, they do not hire exclusively at Ivey. The benefits you get Ivey are marginal in the big picture perspective. The picture that Ivey paints is also quite misleading... I know people who graduate from Ivey who dont get the jobs they want and land up working for the governments or non-profits instead - and these are 4th years.

Also, only a small percentage of Ivey grads go into Banking anyways - Ivey isn't a "banking" school. It's still going to be a competitive process even if you go to Ivey.

Besides, what's wrong with working at a Canadian bank like TD? They're doing much better than UBS, Citi, or Lehman Brothers. With the US economy going down, I might prefer to stay in Canada.

My point is, the one benefit of going to Ivey (the banking jobs) is SO marginal in the big picture scheme of things, that you might as well do a 4 year program at Schulich, queens, etc. The real fact is the tier 1 schools dont really differ each other in careers - so you might as well look at the disadvantages, face the reality, and think why the hell you are doing this to yourself by going to Ivey. You'll be better of saving some money for your undergrad and go back to ivey for mba or something like that. It is after all only an undergrad degree.

AGAIN - my friends that went to Western as an AEO who are the same age as me are in a much worse position than I am now - they do feel some sense of regret of being in 2 years of regular programs along with everyone else. Look at the big picture and dont be too narrow minded.

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Schulich 2011

This post is nothing more than a cheapshot at Ivey, either to make yourself feel better about going to Schulich or some other unknown agenda.

There are many reasons to go to Ivey, and to paint it in a negative light as you did is simply irresponsible.

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-Stringer

quadrant, you sound desperate lol

i agree, ivey is a waste of money for its HBA ..20K just in tuition for your last 2 years are you kidding me, which isn't even a Business Administration degree...good post for clarifying to all the people going to ivey, (poor folks)

"However Year 1 schulich students dont recieve many corporate job opportunities."

Not true. The opportunities are there, its just most first years are not proactive enough to network with alumni or apply for on campus internships available to all years.

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Schulich BBA

but Ivey students tend to recieve more I-Banking jobs than Schulich. Schulich is more for accounting.

for sure. But you have to keep in mind that we still send 10-15 kids to ibanking each year, which is good for a small canadian business program. Lets say 350 kids in Schulich, 20% go into finance so thats 70 students on the finance track. Out of that 70, not everyone wants to work under stressfull environments and 100 hours a week. So maybe 20 something kids, if that, are interested in banking from Schulich. 10-15 out of 20 something potential candidates is really good. You also have to remember that not all these kids are qualified or good interviewers.

I'm not saying were as good as ivey for banking, they are like the Wharton of Canada in terms of banking placements but anyone that knows their stuff and can interview good at Schulich that I know of has gotten into banking.

i agree, ivey is a waste of money for its HBA ..20K just in tuition for your last 2 years are you kidding me, which isn't even a Business Administration degree...good post for clarifying to all the people going to ivey, (poor folks)

Nobody is going to say bring your degree with you to the interview. A business degree is all the same just different names.

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Schulich BBA

Dear God what a waste of time.

I cant believe people STILL waste their time starting fights about this garbage.

^ If you want to live in a university town go to Ivey. If you want to live in Toronto go to Schulich.

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Schulich BBA