As a BA student, these first few months have been a rollercoaster – from learning new things to meeting new people and adapting to the “Ivey” lifestyle. If there’s one thing that can be agreed on by every Ivey student, it’s the Ivey lifestyle that you can’t help but assume yourself in, whether its strategically booking breakout rooms to keep them for longer than two hours, contemplating to purchase yet another Ivey sweater, or spilling your heart out to the Starbucks barista, who at this point, has memorized my coffee order, my exam schedule and my personal life goals and struggles. After a few short months, here is what I have gathered for anyone to be able to adopt this lifestyle – to surv-IVEY.
1) FIND YOUR STUDY BUDDIES
In the first three days, you find yourself surrounded and intimidated by some of the world’s smartest people. A week or two in, you find those that you just naturally work well with and you know that one day, if you forgot to finish your assignment, or left your suit at home on a business formal day, one of your friends will come through and save you from embarrassment. Shout out to the “BAabes” for helping each other out to get through the first term.
2) R & R ? MORE LIKE R, SQL, SAS, TABLEAU…..
Sometimes, if you feel like you’ve earned a rest day, you just have to ask yourself… What would Abdul do? The rare occasion where you find some free time, improve your skills in the many new coding languages you’re exposed to this Term. Why not score extra points on your assignments and contribution with an inventive method? It also comes in handy when your first question during your IAL interview is to describe your favourite R package.
3) BOOK THE ODD NUMBERED BREAKOUT ROOMS
Ivey students are no stranger to the war zone on Learn to try and find an available room to study. When you have a choice, the odd numbered rooms face the inside of the building, where you can treat yourself to natural light and the view of the atrium. It may seem like no big deal right now, but when you’ve spent 7 days with 6 of the same people, trying to hack your way through 5 million data records, you’ll appreciate the view as motivation to leave the room.
4) DOMINO’S DELIVERS. ANYTIME.
When you have you're Competing with Analytics exam the next day and you’ve crammed 8 people in a breakout room, while frantically covering the table and walls with the little notes that you all took in class and make some sense of what to write the next day, you deserve a pizza break. Look out for Domino’s coupons for 3 medium pizzas with unlimited toppings delivered right to the front doors of Ivey. Our favourite? Chicken, hot peppers, and feta cheese.
5) THURSDAY’S ARE YOUR MOST STRESSFUL DAY.
From the minute you start your 8:00 AM class, it’s a race to present your executive summary and hope you please your professor enough with your insight and finish all your cases for Friday at a reasonable time because there’s no way you’re missing a Thursday night out with your MSc classmates. It just doesn’t feel like Thursday if we’re not evaluating how short the Ceeps line is from Will’s apartment.
6) ENJOY EVERY SECOND
I’m done 25% of my Master’s degree here and I’m already feeling like time is running out. Amongst the high-stress times and piles of work, take every opportunity to make memories with your class. Take advantage of the diversity you are exposed to with this program and collaborate with whoever you can to learn from them. From our group assignments to late night study sessions, and most recently, Hack the Case, we’ve all learned we have something unique to bring to the table. Good luck to everyone on their IAL and IGL journeys this summer, and can’t wait to hear how they all went in the coming months!
Until next time,
Afshin
