One of main questions that I was asked quite frequently by friends and family was why choose Ivey and Canada?
My reasons included:
1. 1 Year Program – I was looking to return to the workplace as quickly as possible.
2. Top MBA in Canada, with highly regarded professors, quality course structure, unique student experiences, reputed career management department and extensive reach of its alumni.
3. Case based learning method –a more interactive and engaging learning method made stronger due to Ivey’s smaller class size.
4. Canada was attractive because of its open culture, moderate weather (I’m rethinking this one!), high standard of workforce and considerable demand for quality MBA graduates.
Since I was based in India, information supporting these reasons was built pouring over articles, MBA rankings, MBA websites and student blogs. Due to personal reasons, I couldn’t visit the school and get a firsthand impression of the program through a class visit. It was also a difficult choice to leave my job behind and start afresh. The difficulty was made infinitely harder by having to leave my family behind; my 5 year old son was in the middle of his school year and it didn’t make sense for my wife to quit her job as well in the current economic downturn. Despite these challenges, I knew that it was now or never and decided to make the leap and join Ivey.
PKP
The first four weeks of Pre Ivey Preparatory course (Optional but highly recommended!) in August to the start of September were an indicator of things to come. We had 8 hour days – Monday through Friday, covering finance and accounting, Quantitative and Excel skills and Economic theory. It was a chance to meet some of my new talented classmates, get an initial exposure to the teaching style and of course learn about Canada.
Module 1
Sept 8th 2009 was the start of the class and what a start it was! We had an introduction to the module by the Director of the MBA Program – Fraser Johnson. Several accomplished Ivey Alumni were guest speakers, and we began Module 1 with four subjects – Decision making with Analytics (DMA), Leading People and Organizations, Managing your Career and Communicating Effectively. Each of the professors drew us vastly out of our comfort zone. And whether it was to face any fear of public speaking head on, to begin a path of self discovery to discover your career preferences, or to take on the extremely difficult task of being an effective leader in today’s competitive world, each subject and its many deliverables stretched us to our limits physically and mentally.Although I was relatively comfortable with math, DMA was not only about numbers but primarily analytical decision making. We had to showcase business optimization with sequential and simultaneous decisions, predictive modeling and revenue management, and yet do so by making managerial recommendations and justifying them during class. My inner nerd found a true calling with this subject!
Case based learning
The case based method of learning was initially quite challenging as you’re trying to both learn the new subject and participate in the class discussion at the same time. You can maximize contribution by thoroughly studying the case, following the class discussion closely and giving your opinion without fear of failure. There were days when I fell flat on my face (some legendary stories – ask my classmates!) and others when I felt really good about my contribution. I know that higher contribution marks are weighted positively to when you try and fail and then try harder, so use the class discussions as a sandbox for thinking on your feet. With class contribution being a significant part of your grade for each of the subjects, doing this early can be crucial.
End of Module 1
We capped off the module mid October with a four hour DMA case based exam, a 24 hour report and several presentations all in the space of 1 week. Testament to the prowess of the professors, there were standing ovations in all the final classes of each subject.
I also realized that I finished 1/4th of my MBA course in just 5 weeks. I learnt more in 5 weeks than in the last 1 year at work, and I had new found respect for the capacity of the human mind to absorb so much information. The experience was exhilarating, humbling, and challenging all rolled into one.
And so for those of you, who are thinking about doing an MBA, know that the steps to get there can be quite daunting, but the rewards, experiences and learning will be hugely satisfying. If you can but make the leap from thinking about it to just doing it, it will change your life.
Vikram Felix Rozario graduated from the University of Calicut in India with a Bachelors degree in Technology majoring in Electronics and Telecommunication. Prior to Ivey, he worked at the Dell India R&D centre for 7 years, managing global software products as Engineering Manager in Dell’s cloud computing division. Prior to Dell, he worked for 4 years at a leading Indian IT Consulting firm MphasiS developing Storage Software Products for various clients. At Ivey, Vikram is a active member of the Business Technology and Consulting Clubs and his career preferences include Product Management and Management Consulting. He has travelled extensively and has lived in various countries including Holland, Brazil and the UAE. In his spare time Vikram enjoys reading the New York Times, playing squash at the University centre and is an ardent music fan and musician. He is currently also growing a moustache to raise funds for Prostate cancer awareness as part of the Movember initiative.