On December 3rd, I finished my first semester for Digital Management at Ivey Business School. Looking back to the past three months, I’ve seen how much I’ve grown. As an international student who studied mathematics in undergrad, it was a huge challenge for me to build up a business mindset. Here, I would like to give some suggestions for incoming students.
Firstly, be confident and eager to communicate. I know it might be hard to step out of your comfort zone. At the beginning, I was afraid to express my ideas with people. I thought I might get laughed if I said something wrong. However, such things never happened. Exchanging ideas helped me to think in different perspectives and grow my communication skills exponentially. Even if I said something wrong, I learned from mistakes, and it helped better to memorize and reflect. I love the way that Ivey has built a culture of respect and inclusivity.
Secondly, write out your case analysis. I’m so proud of myself that for every case I’ve learned, I wrote a case analysis. It helped to organize the entire scope of what happened to the company and details that an organization leader may not want to leave out. I know it’s time-consuming and cases are long, especially for international students whose English is their second language. Ivey implemented a clear and helpful template to help students learn and prepare for each case. It also helped students whose English is their second language to learn how to express ideas in a business and professional way.
Lastly, please do not be overwhelmed. I remembered the first two weeks at Ivey were extremely overwhelming and I had many cases to read every day, pre-class assignments to complete, and orientation network events to attend. Even though it is stressful, you will learn how to balance studying, social life and your personal life. It will help you build time management skills quickly, and once you go through it, you will benefit from it.
As to prepare for the next semester, I now can say that I’m ready to do better and looking forward to future growth in 2022!