Elements of Success: What's Your Formula?

Last month I attended GMAC's Annual Industry Conference in Baltimore, Maryland, and the theme of the Conference was "Elements of Success: What's Your Formula?" I found the tag line quite ingenious, especially when coupled with graphics that resembled a periodic table of "MBA elements."

As graphics and colours flashed on the screen before the welcoming address, I started thinking about what the Ivey MBA Program's formula is, and also how important it is for applicants to the Program to know what elements they 'bring to the table', so to speak. I have written about the importance of self awareness before, but in considering what elements make you successful, I feel like it's a slightly different kind of awareness.

For many of us, we find it hard to talk about ourselves and our accomplishments for fear that we may sound conceited. However, there is a difference between being proud of what you've done in your academic and professional career and being able to articulate the impacts you've made, and bragging about them. It's like selling versus telemarketing: one is an art, the other is annoying!

One question I often like to ask applicants is, "How would your colleagues describe you as a leader?" Taking a step back to reflect upon your interactions with others and how you have contributed your organization's success, often allows people to come up with descriptors of themselves that they otherwise wouldn't have been able to. A few adjectives to get you thinking about yourself: passionate, innovative, caring, firm but fair, loyal, hard-working, diligent, focused. . . .

So when preparing your application and for interviews, take time to reflect upon YOU. Consider what capabilities, elements of character, and experiences have contributed to your success, and don't be afraid to share them!

Ivey, Ethics and Tradition.

I’m sure many of you have read in the news recently about the MBA Oath started by students at Harvard Business School. With the mixed opinions about whether or not MBAs should be held partially responsible for the current economic conditions, Harvard students started this Oath to encourage graduating MBAs to keep ethics and integrity top-of-mind in their business dealings. The Oath has now gone global with over 1000 MBA signatures, and business schools around the world jumping on board.

What some of you might not know is that Ivey has had an ethics pledge in place for over 5 years, marked by the tradition of the Ivey Ring Ceremony. The Ivey Alumni Association Board of Directors initiated the Ivey Ring Tradition in 2004 to send a clear message to new graduates about their role and responsibility in preserving the strong collective reputation that Ivey has earned over the last 87 years.

Since 2004, all students who graduate from any of Ivey’s degree programs participate in a ceremony that marks their promise to act ethically, and with integrity in the business arena. The Pledge that students sign and recite at the Ceremony also includes a promise to uphold the reputation of the Ivey Business School, and to acknowledge the responsibilities of being a member of Ivey’s prestigious alumni network. Ivey Alumni are active participants in the Ivey Ring Tradition, witnessing over 700 graduates sign the pledge and get “ringed” each year.

This Tradition is an important part of Ivey's commitment to developing leaders who act with integrity, and contribute to the communities within which they operate. It symbolizes and gives confidence to the business world that Ivey graduates all over the globe are upholding ethical business practices, and have made a promise to maintain the traditions, integrity and high standards set by those Ivey alumni who have come before them.

You can read the Ivey Pledge and find out more about the Ivey Ring Tradition on our alumni website.

Outliers - Ivey Edition!

I recently finished reading Malcolm Gladwell's latest book, Outliers, and loved it! (A great read and highly recommended!) He presents some really interesting theories about factors that contribute to extraordinary success, and without ruining the read if you haven't yet read Outliers, I was really fascinated by one conclusion in particular...he suggests that in order to be considered an "expert" at anything (from professional hockey to computers) it's necessary to log 10,000 hours performing this skill.

From this conclusion my thinking shifted to the Ivey MBA Program - being an Ivey student and participating in the Ivey case-method and making decisions on hundreds and hundreds of cases throughout the year at Ivey is a huge advantage in building experience hours on the way to becoming an expert decision-maker! The Program is structured to teach students not just what to think but HOW to think, and builds skills in decision-making, drives action-orientation, and focuses on how to act on and execute decisions. All of these skills are critical to being an effective leader, and Ivey's real world approach to business education sets our grads apart by actively building these skills throughout the Program. With more Ivey grads on Caldwell's Top 40 Under 40 list than any other university, the skills and exposure around decision making and leadership at Ivey produce extraordinary success within our alumni network. I'm sure Gladwell would agree that the head-start and time devoted to honing these leadership skills in our Program plays a key role in explaining why so many Ivey grads have achieved such extraordinary success and can be called Outliers.

Try us on for size

You'll often hear the word "fit" when our team talks about making your b-school decision, and you may wonder what exactly we mean by this. What it comes down to is that you need to determine which MBA Program bests suits your needs in terms of the teaching method, length/pace, post-graduation opportunities, network, and overall experience.

While there are a number of ways to investigate each Program's offerings (talking to students and alumni, reading blogs, watching youtube clips, etc.), the best way determine if a Program is the right fit for you is to visit the campus and experience a day in the life for yourself. There is a lot to be said for the vibe you get from a campus and the interaction with the students, faculty and staff, so when you narrow your down your choices, or when you are comparing offers, if you can physically get yourself to each School before making your final decision I strongly recommend doing so.

At Ivey, we offer a Class Visit program once per month and you can even apply for a Travel Award to help cover the cost of getting here. And if the Class Visit date doesn't work for you, you can arrange an individual visit through our website, so you can still sit in on a class and meet with either Niki, Hoda or me so that all of your questions get answered.

The importance of visiting campus and experiencing what each School has to offer really hit me earlier this week when I had the opportunity of meeting two prospective students at Spencer for individual visits. One currently has an offer to join the Program and the other had attended a First Class on the Road earlier this spring and wanted to sit in on a real class to confirm that case method is right for him.

I met the fellows before classes in the morning and took them on a tour of the Spencer building; I could tell that they were impressed by the amenities it offers, but also the cozy feel that it has. They were also happy to know that students and professors are on a first name basis with one another, and faculty and staff are always available and accessible to answer questions and help solve problems. My point was proven when we arrived at Amp A and Course Coordinator Fiona McCann was working at the desk next to the entrance of the classroom, ready to address any student inquires (and let them know where they could find calculators for the Decision Making with Analytics quiz that afternoon!). I left the visitors in the hands of Professor Gerard Seijts to participate in a Leading People and Organizations class about Jack Welch and General Electric, and before I was even out of the classroom they were each chatting with a current student.

When I met the visitors for lunch after the class, they were full of great questions and truly impressed with what they had just experienced. For the prospective student with an offer, I really had the sense that he benefited from the visit because he was considering attending a b-school closer to his hometown for convenience reasons, but the visit made him realize that convenience should not be the main reason for choosing an MBA.

I truly love meeting prospective candidates for the Ivey MBA Program, and encourage those of you thinking about Ivey to take advantage of the many Experience Events we offer. And remember: when it comes down to making a final decision, you owe it to yourself to try each Program on for size and make sure that it fits!

New Ivey building in the works!

On Friday, our school received some great news! The federal and provincial governments announced $50 million in infrastructure support towards a new building for the Richard Ivey School of Business. Construction of the new building will begin this summer, with the first phase scheduled to be completed by March 2011. The new building was designed by Hariri Pontarini Architects, and will use the latest green technology making it LEED-certified. It was also announced that over the next 10 months, the project will provide almost 600 jobs in Ontario, more than half in London.

To read more about the new building and to see the video of this announcement, please view the full news article.

MBA Admissions Butterflies

We meet some great candidates on the road at our events – the most exciting part of my job is getting to travel around and talk to people with such diverse backgrounds and experiences. But, sometimes I find myself talking to great candidates who don’t realize how great they are!

Applying to business school makes a lot of people feel vulnerable, and can definitely make you question the confidence you have in your skills and experience. If this is you, you’re in the same boat as many of our applicants! Sure, the business school arena can be really competitive – but everyone has something unique and diverse that they can bring to the table.

Here are some common concerns we hear from candidates, and why they shouldn’t make you nervous:

I don’t have a background in business. How will I keep up with the finance and accounting classes?
This is by far the most common concern from many of our candidates. You might be surprised to know that in our current class, only 35% of students have an educational background in business. The rest of the class is made up from those with varying degrees – from Arts and Math, to Law and Science. The great thing about Ivey and the case-method of learning is that you learn the fundamentals of business by drawing on the experience of everyone in the class - this helps you to dissect a business issue across all functional areas (Ivey's Cross-Enterprise Leadership approach). The class would fall pretty flat if all of our students had the same knowledge or experience in business! In addition, Ivey has an optional “Preparatory Knowledge Program” for incoming students that takes place prior to orientation week. These 2-3 weeks of programming give you a crash-course (or refresher) in the basics of business including Finance, Accounting, and Economics. At the end of the day, we want to set our students up for success and welcome the most diverse candidates we can find!

I don’t have a very impressive job title.
This is also a concern for many of our applicants, especially those who are on the lower side of the work experience scale. What’s important for you to know is that the quality of your work experience – the skills you developed and the accomplishments you achieved in your job - far outweigh your job title. This goes for those with ‘elite’ sounding job titles too. We care more about what you are going to be able to contribute to the class based on your experiences and the skills you developed in the role, than we do about the label that HR put on your job description.

I slacked off in first year university, so my grades/transcripts aren’t good enough.
We recognize that for many of our applicants, undergraduate years are long passed and may not be the most accurate representation of what their work ethic has grown to be. The good news is that we only calculate your undergraduate average based on your last two years of school, and are generally looking for candidates with a B average. In other good news, the GMAT is a great opportunity for you to show us your current academic potential, especially if your undergraduate performance (even in your last two years) was less than stellar. We use GMAT score and transcripts to help us predict whether or not a candidate will be able to manage the academic rigor of the program, so performing well on the GMAT is a great chance for you to highlight your current academic potential.

I’ve never supervised or managed people before, so I don’t have any leadership experience.
This is a concern that I encourage applicants to think about, because leadership isn’t necessarily synonymous with ‘leading’. Leadership skills are developed from many different experiences. Perhaps you are a regular volunteer with a non-profit organization. Or maybe you’ve initiated new projects or processes at work, or maybe you’re the team member who gets everyone else organized. Think about the ways in which you’ve contributed to something – whether in a team, a volunteer role, at work or at school and draw on those experiences to demonstrate the leadership potential you bring to the MBA program. Also, think about the skills that are attributed or associated with strong leadership. The best leaders have a common skill-set, but you won't always find them in 'leading' roles. (To read more about effective leadership in Ivey’s MBA program, read this article by Ivey’s student blogger, Sacha Gera).

At the end of the day, you can rest assured that you have many of the same concerns as most b-school applicants out there. But, my advice would be to not let these nerves and uncertainties get to you. Confidence in your experience and skills is what will separate you from the pack, so don’t sell yourself short! And on that note, we look forward to seeing your application!

Final Ivey MBA Admissions Deadline

I've been getting many questions about the final application deadline for Ivey's September 2009 MBA intake (June 1st) and wanted to take some time to address Ivey's final deadline. It is not too late in the cycle to apply to Ivey for a fall start - we are strategic in posting a late deadline and always expect to have seats available in early summer. Candidates are welcome to submit prior to the deadline, as we do start processing applications and complete interviews as we put files together. There is no difference in the competitiveness or the quality benchmark we are looking for in September relative to earlier submissions, so if you have been considering the fall class, it's not too late! The only factor to acknowledge is that as we move through the cycle, both seats in the class and scholarship decisions are made, but we do have the capacity to make competitive offers even late in the admissions cycle.

Market conditions this year have highlighted the importance of competitive credentials and have prompted many candidates to consider the MBA, so some words of encouragement and insight into the process at Ivey - we'd love to see your Final Round application!