A lot can happen in two years. Two years ago, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. Two years from now, I’ll likely look back on myself today and realize that I still haven’t got a clue. But two years is already a sixth of the time that I’ve existed to make decisions, and no matter how much can happen in that span of time, no one at eighteen can claim that we know very much about ourselves at all. I suppose that’s the thing that really drew me to Ivey. The two-plus-two design of the program allows us to be eighteen and explore the world of knowledge that is available to us before we decide what we want to create in the next two years. Of course, I look forward to joining the school, but our lives before HBA are what create the diverse background and unique individuals that form the next graduating class. It is those unique minds that build the future as somewhere with a space for everyone.
I had the pleasure of speaking with Saad Ahmad, an HBA1 student with an interest in sports management, about his experience as an AEO student.
Saad chose to apply for AEO status out of high school because, like many of us, he wanted the opportunity to explore his interests and figure out what subjects he’d like to pursue in his future career. I think that’s a perspective many of us can agree with: at eighteen, it’s difficult to feel like we’ve lived enough life to have touched every base in terms of career options. For his first two years, Saad decided on computer science as his major, but realized one semester into his computer science degree that the subject just wasn’t for him. He immediately transitioned into BMOS for the remaining one and a half years, which he said made his journey so much more natural. Saad was able to explore his own interests on his own, while maintaining a solid base in his business degree, and was ultimately successful in reaching the HBA1 level.
While Saad has now found his calling in business, that first semester of AEO1 wasn’t easy for him. He opened up to me about how his average was lower than he’d hoped for, and recalls calling his mom in distress, convinced that he would fail and drop out of school entirely. I told him this was morbidly reassuring to hear since as a first year; these moments can feel more frequent than they really are.
"You’re going to go through struggles in the first year where you think you won’t make Ivey, but it’s four semesters.” Saad told me in response. “It’s twenty half credits. That’s twenty different classes, and yet it still feels like the world is resting on what will ultimately make up five percent of your total average. You can easily balance a bad grade with a good grade, and the things that seem so huge and important right now will eventually balance themselves out, because there’s just so much.”
Now feels like a good time to mention that Saad is also my residence soph, and inherently quite the pep talker. I asked him what other advice he has for maintaining an Ivey worthy average in the first two years in a balanced way.
“Once you let that stress leave you, and you realize how university actually works, it’s not all that hard,” he said. “You need to work hard, and put the time and effort into your academics, but at the end of the day you got here somehow. The most important thing you can do is balance school with your social life. School is important, but without a social life and a focus on your hobbies and interests, you will burn out and that academic effort is wasted.”
I really appreciated Saad emphasizing this, as maintaining a good work-life balance is so often overlooked as academically important. I asked him how he’d maintained that work life balance today as an HBA1 student, and if he had any tips on how to achieve it in Ivey specifically. He thankfully told me the balance is very achievable, because Ivey gives you your schedules for upcoming weeks very well in advance. Saad recognizes that some weeks are going to be a lot busier than others, and he accomplishes balance by looking ahead in his schedule to budget out time for recruiting, schoolwork, and social time. To Saad, it’s essential to determine when he’ll be busier than otherwise so that he can prepare himself to maintain an equal balance across the semester.
Aside from time management, I was curious to know what other sorts of changes we should look forward to from Saad’s perspective. He immediately joked that it feels sort of like a high school. You’re in a class with the same group, and you end up getting super close with the seventy people in your section. He also pointed out that the professors are notably amazing in his opinion. They come off so personable, as if they’re really trying to understand your unique style as an individual student. Their unique teaching styles from such diverse backgrounds really build on the fact that everything about Ivey is attributed to growing as a community.
Saad’s years leading up to Ivey may have had some changes and extra exploration, but he’s in a place now where he feels good about what he’s pursuing as a career. I asked him about it, and if he had any advice for AEO students that maybe feel overwhelmed about still trying to figure it out.
“My personal goal is sports business. I just have such a deep interest in sports, there’s so much room for growth and improvement as something that really intrigues me, and it’s an industry that I’d really like to work in. I’d also like to make an impact in terms of diversity, especially in hockey. My advice is to really milk those first two years in terms of exploring your interests. Take courses you’re interested in, not just bird courses. It helps you figure out what career path is good for you in the future.”
I asked Saad to tell the imaginary mic if he had any final words to leave with the roaring crowd. He did, and they’re words that I’ll try to keep with me the next time I feel any sort of overwhelmed. We’re just eighteen after all, and we’ve got countless more sets of two years to piece together into a career that we’ll love and flourish in, just like Saad is.
“80 percent is not a real number. Don’t ever think about that number. Just work to the best of your abilities and live a full life, because it's not worth stressing over. Everything will come together in the end, so don’t trap yourself in percentages.”