Who Are We Looking For?
Our students are the leaders of tomorrow: people with exceptional talent and ambition to succeed in areas they are passionate about. In each class, we create a dynamic environment with candidates from diverse backgrounds and experiences that mirror the reality of the business world.
Leadership Skills
From extracurricular activities to academic or career success, personal accomplishments or volunteer initiatives — we’re looking for candidates who can bring their leadership potential into the Ivey classroom.
Academic Aptitude
Ivey Business School’s MBA program and case method are immersive, fast-paced, and interactive. That’s why we look for candidates who are analytical and comfortable solving problems and making decisions with ambiguity or incomplete information. Our assessment of this is based on your academic history in combination with your GMAT or GRE score (exemptions provided) and/or professional designations. We view these within a holistic framework that seeks to understand all aspects of a candidate’s character, qualifications, and experiences.
Professional Experience
So much of the Ivey classroom experience is fuelled by real-world applications. We accept candidates who have been working full-time consecutively for at least two years to ensure that you and your classmates will have experiences to contribute to team and class discussions, along with the context and maturity to apply this learning in a professional setting.
Application Checklist
- Two years of full-time professional experience up to 10 years of experience.
- A current CV is required to be uploaded as part of the application.
- Previous University education is a requirement for our MBA program.
- Three-year degrees are accepted as are MBA degrees achieved from other Universities.
- Unofficial transcripts must be uploaded with the MBA application.
- Designate Ivey with code CMB-MG-18) OR GRE score (Designate Ivey with code 0292)
- GMAT and GMAT Focus Edition are accepted equally
- GRE is also an accepted standardized test.
- GMAT/GRE exemptions for candidates who have the following:
- CFAII, CFAIII
- Canadian CPA
- Canadian P.Eng
- Valid and competitive LSAT or MCAT score.
- Standardized test exemption opportunities are offered. This opportunity is for candidates who don’t have the professional designations as listed above and have graduated from a STEM or Business related degree. Please click here for full information.
- Only professional references will be accepted.
- Two professional references are required.
- There is not a letter each referee has to complete but instead, within the Ivey MBA application, there is an online form that is emailed to each referee.
- If English has been used as a first language for at lest two years during education, and/or professional experience an English Proficiency test is not required for the application.
- There is a section within the application where the request for the test can be waived. This needs to be completed by the applicant, sharing the reasoning for requesting the waiver.
- If English has not been used as a first language for at least two years, we accept the following English Proficiency tests
- TOEFL (minimum internet-based score of 100)
- IELTS General OR Academic (minimum score of 7 in each category and overall)*
- MELAB (minimum score of 85)
- PTE (minimum score of 70)
- CAEL (minimum overall score of 60 required with no part less than 60)
- DUOLINGO (minimum score of 125)
- Online application including completion of two required written essay questions and two required video questions.
- Application fee of $150 CAD.
- Forte launcher applicants receive an automatic application fee waiver.
*For University of Western Ontario Graduates(UWO), Ivey's Admissions office will contact UWO directly to obtain transcripts, so you are not required to order them.
**Applicants may qualify for a waiver for the English proficiency test if they have lived, worked, or been educated in a primarily English-speaking environment for a minimum of two years. If you feel that you may be exempt from writing the English language proficiency test, there is a waiver form that you can fill out on the application for the admissions committee to review. Please review further information on the waiver and applicable English proficiency tests on the International Applicants web page.