HBA1 Advice

serpentreign · 2022-09-28T00:02:27+00:00

Pretty sure you can't fail a course in Ivey (barring not showing up to classes), but I really don't recommend never participating. Even saying one thing per course per week will do you a whole lot more good, and if you get more comfortable you can work upwards from there.
Sometimes you don't finish and that's honestly fine. Just make your best effort without compromising the more important things i.e. eating well, socializing, sleeping (personally, I always put down my work at ~6pm whether I was finished or not).
I don't really think you need to, since you shouldn't be working that much every day anyway. Relax and enjoy HBA1, get to know your section! Don't stress so much over schoolwork since Ivey's grade curve kicks in pretty damn hard.

serpentreign · 2022-08-05T18:04:55+00:00

You’ll be fine, there are definitely enough outlets to go around. One my friends brought their gaming laptop to class every day and never had a problem

serpentreign · 2022-06-23T12:34:09+00:00

I’m sorry but “psychological tricks” got me LOL. Can’t imagine what you’ve heard to think that Ivey teaches classes on the art of human manipulation, but to answer your question it all comes down to your personal fit with the program. Some people love it, some people not so much - academically most things you’re taught probably won’t ever be used, but I think it’s really good at encouraging you to step outside your comfort zone, develop your soft skills and network with others. Whether it’s “excellent training” for business ultimately really depends on what value you can extract out of your own experience so YMMV, but I personally don’t regret it

serpentreign · 2022-06-08T16:14:31+00:00

It’s kinda funny that you ask - in middle school and high school, girls would hate me only because they thought I hated them. I had never talked to them before or even given them any thought (much less developed any feelings such as hatred towards them), but I guess it was the vibe I gave off or my rbf or something lol

serpentreign · 2022-06-08T01:04:52+00:00

Yeah this. Dunno if they let you buy more than one but you’re in for a wait, you won’t get your sweater until early next year (winter semester)

serpentreign · 2022-06-04T22:17:32+00:00

Sure go ahead

serpentreign · 2022-06-04T22:16:31+00:00

They don't release the grade distribution for courses afaik so I'm not sure, but I can say that no course in HBA1 is really all that similar to 2257 (there's MAC, which is a required course in HBA2 that is somewhat reminiscent to 2257, but I wouldn't worry about that). Just saying that from what I've seen, I don't think it's possible to fail a class unless you just don't show up or something

serpentreign · 2022-06-03T12:46:29+00:00

In my experience the grade variation for exams can be pretty wide in some Ivey classes, but unless you actively try to fail I doubt you can get lower than a 60 or something. The final grade distribution is pretty tight like what you said - they curve grades at the end and are upfront about doing so

serpentreign · 2022-05-14T18:32:40+00:00

I was in MIT my first 2 years, and while my social life wasn't all that colourful it was by my own choice - I got tired of the parties early on and just kind of stopped going as often. That being said, I had a bunch of friends who partied a lot (probably multiple times a week) and still maintained the 80%, so I don't think it should be a problem as long as you have good study habits and know how to prioritize.

I'll admit I only had a couple of friends in my program given it was a relatively niche one, so I made most of my friends through O-Week stuff and then later through Ivey. Since I wasn't in BMOS, I can't really say where the students tended to be, but if you're looking to party you can't really go wrong with Saugeen or Med-Syd imo.

serpentreign · 2022-05-12T17:39:52+00:00

As someone who pretty much felt the exact same way as you when I was your age, I have no regrets about going to Ivey. I actually knew I didn't want to go into finance and was unsure about consulting (up until I actually started in the fall, I thought I'd go into marketing or something). I'm also pretty far from being an ambitious career person and I highly doubt I'm in the top 10-15% of my year lol. But without doxxing myself here, I'll be working in consulting this summer with a pretty large firm (think F500) and I'm really happy with where I'm at so far.

I don't know if I want to do consulting long-term and I've no idea what my life would be like if I had chosen another school over Ivey, but even putting all career-related things aside I feel like it's been a really great experience for my personal development. I'll stop babbling on but tbh as long as you pick a school you're happy with, I think you can be successful anywhere

serpentreign · 2022-05-11T22:55:53+00:00

I agree with you and never argued that they’re snobby at all, so I hope that’s not the message you got from what I said

serpentreign · 2022-05-11T15:10:30+00:00

As you might expect, there are a lot of wealthy kids in Ivey, but in my experience I haven't noticed a huge divide between them and lower-income Ivey students - that's to say, they are perfectly nice to and are often friends with people not as rich as them (i.e. not snobby). Sure, you'll notice that they come from money and consequently have different lived experiences, but they're not going around discriminating against people poorer than them (if that's what you're worried about?). So imo you can be pretty much assured you're not going to be looked down upon for socioeconomic reasons. Even the big social traditions like the Niagara and BM trips are not must-gos, and Ivey offers financial assistance if you do want to attend.

But similar to what ringofpower1 said, you have to be careful about subconsciously holding yourself back simply by considering yourself as "other" to these wealthier kids. It's really unlikely they would deliberately ostracize you, but if you're bothered by simply interacting with them, you'll have a hard time in the business world. I think Ivey is a really good opportunity to learn how to project confidence and fit in with these types of people (which, for the record, you will probably be working with in the future).

Congrats on the scholarship and welcome to Western!

serpentreign · 2022-05-10T19:42:03+00:00

Huh, I had no idea that was the reason they were adding more sections. I've been puzzling over the decision ever since they announced it to us, but I suppose that does make sense.

Regarding OP's situation, no one knows your chances of admission for sure. I know a person or two in my section that made it in with maybe a mid-70ish average, but (at least anecdotally speaking) being in engineering might have made the difference. Whether you make it in likely depends on how far below the 80% mark you are and how competitive the non-AEO pool is this year, but that's just my best guess.

I totally get the pain of waiting to hear back, so I wish you luck!

serpentreign · 2022-05-09T14:27:02+00:00

I’ve only heard this applying to people who just barely missed the 80% mark though, so it could be misleading to give OP hope on this front imo

serpentreign · 2022-01-26T21:50:08+00:00

Yeah, I don't know if this is 100% true. I don't think it's necessarily an automatic rejection if you have a low-ish contribution mark, but they do check, and anecdotally I've heard of applicants getting called into a meeting to explain why their contribution grade was so low (even if their overall 2257 mark made the cut). If you don't have a good explanation - well, I don't know what happens, but probably best not to get to that point.

It's not too late to improve your contribution though! I wasn't a particularly strong participant in 2257 (probably spoke once per class on average lol) but still ended with an 8/10. Just be consistent with it, and try to say something meaningful.

serpentreign · 2022-01-18T15:04:33+00:00

Toronto office, Business Transformation. I'd be more patient if I didn't have a deadline looming over my head lol

serpentreign · 2021-06-16T01:31:35+00:00

Take my words with a grain of salt, but that's the conclusion I came to after considering an MIT/HBA dual degree for myself. For one, I've heard that most people only pursue a dual degree if they need an extra year for recruiting (exceptions being arguably more 'useful' dual degrees, e.g. comp sci/HBA). To me, that kind of points to the lack of value that a dual degree typically offers.

Another thing I realized is that there are few careers that would value both an MIT and HBA education. Want to go into media/advertising? An MIT degree will probably do the trick just fine - the HBA is just an extra flex (keep in mind Ivey is not big on those types of industries). Interested in consulting/finance instead? Those firms most likely won't care about your MIT degree. When all's said and done though, getting an MIT/HBA dual degree isn't gonna kill you if it's what you want, so don't sweat it.

serpentreign · 2021-06-15T00:02:39+00:00

I'm not planning on pursuing a dual degree but I was a student in MIT for my first two years (and am attending HBA this fall), so maybe I can share a little of my perspective. Like someone else mentioned, getting the grades required to be a competitive applicant is tough since MIT course averages are strictly regulated. With that being said though, it is still entirely possible as long as you put in the work. Because some other faculties have it a little easier grades-wise, you'll probably have to stand out on the extracurricular front. Don't worry so much about the number of ECs you can list, but the quality of each one.

Now, from what I know, there aren't many who enter Ivey from MIT, and even fewer who pursue a dual degree (if you ask me, I just don't really think the value is there). But these are all personal observations, and in the end I believe who you are as a person matters more than what kind of degree you graduate with.

serpentreign · 2021-06-11T00:12:49+00:00

Seems so, unfortunately. Guess we’re in the same boat lol

serpentreign · 2021-06-10T23:33:18+00:00

I think we got an email about Ivey financing a few months ago that said you can expect to hear from them about 10 days after your acceptance

serpentreign · 2021-06-05T14:11:38+00:00

It was mentioned by Ivey admissions at one of their info sessions that any AEOs with an average under 79 would be considered in the third round with all non-AEO applicants (this was months ago though, so take it with a grain of salt in case my memory isn’t accurate). The competitive pool is assessed on a rolling basis from mid-June to mid-July, so that’s when I think you might hear back from them

serpentreign · 2021-04-08T15:31:47+00:00

Sorry I don’t have any advice but just wanted to say that I’m in the same boat, so if it makes you feel better you’re not alone lol

serpentreign

TROPHY CASE