Now that we’re back from our one week break (Vegas!) and into the elective period it seems like a good time to do one of those “day in the life” type posts I spent so much time searching for when I was applying to B-School. One of my big concerns when deciding on whether or not B-School was for me was the workload and I expect that most prospective students feel the same way. One note of warning to prospective students, August is an extremely hectic period in the Ivey MBA program and so don’t be too afraid of what you see below.
Here’s a look at my schedule of activities for a typical day during the August elective period:
7:30am – alarm
7:45 – 8:15am – Read news and technology and financial publications
8:45am – Tim Horton’s stop for breakfast pickup
9:00 to 11:15 – Meet with my learning team to discuss cases (core courses) for that day’s classes as well as review case for the day’s elective (the awesome Financial Strategies course)
11:30 -2:30 – Financial Strategies Class
2:30 – 3:00pm – Lunch (Wolf it down fast; it’s almost time for class!)
3:05 – 6:00pm – Core Courses
There’re usually events after class, clubs, sports teams, group meetings, etc. that run until about 8 or so.
8:00 – 9:00pm – Dinner and some TV
9:00pm – 1:00am – Case prep for the following day and reply to email. Most days I aim for 1am and I can get to bed by then, but sometimes I’ll have to work until my hard cut off at 2am and get up at little earlier to finish off my cases.
Rinse and repeat.
Hopefully this is helpful for those readers wondering what the schedule at Ivey is like. One thing to remember is that it varies for everyone (outside of the scheduled class time) and so each person has significant flexibility with regards to time spent on clubs etc and time spent prepping cases. One thing I will say though is that with cases what you get out is directly proportional to the time spent prepping.
Well, its 10pm and I’ve got cases to prep.
Adrian grew up and worked in Barbados before moving to Toronto to pursue a Bachelor of Commerce Degree in Telecommunications Management and Marketing. While at Ryerson University Adrian managed the Ryerson Consulting Group, the undergraduate student run consulting firm. Upon graduation Adrian moved to Ottawa to join Nortel’s Optical Planning team, where he worked until coming to Ivey to pursue his MBA. Adrian’s personal interests include a great passion for food and wine.