And I am so glad I did.
The Richard Ivey School of Business is the school I belonged to during my third and fourth years at Western. It was a great experience, even though it was a lot of work. At Ivey, they use the case study method. That means that all day, every day, we use real world business cases to learn about business. Every night, we would have to prepare three cases for the next day, and they take a few hours each. Then, when you arrived in class (at 8 am EVERYDAY, might I add), it was ON. Since 30-50% of your final grade depends on your in-class participation (or "contribution", as Ivey calls it)...everyone is always fighting to get a word in. It is definitely not for everyone...but I loved every minute of it.
Another reason I chose Ivey, though, is for its Alumni Network.
Remember a few weeks ago, when I went to see Ivey's Hong Kong campus? Well, the Dean sent me (and all of Ivey's exchange students) an invitation a few weeks later, to come to her apartment for "Cocktails" (how grown up am I???) with Ivey Alumni located in the Hong Kong area. Of course, all of us were super excited!
So, on Wednesday, Lisa, Chelsie, Georginanna and I grab the subway and head to Admiralty, a very cool area in downtown Hong Kong.
By the way, I don't think you have met Georginanna yet. She goes to Ivey as well (obviously), but she is originally from Hong Kong. She speaks English, Cantonese and Mandarin fluently, plus some Korean. And in true Asian style, she can eat anything she likes and still looks like a twig. She is a great source of information about the best places to eat in Hong Kong, and she is super fun to go out with.
Anyways, we get off the subway and find the address, and what do we find? The Dean (her name is Kathleen) and her husband actually live in a serviced apartment in the Conrad Hotel.
What is a serviced hotel, you ask? Well, I wanted to know as well, so I looked it up.
Basically, it is like living in a hotel, but are usually 30-35% less expensive than doing so. The places are fully furnished. Cleaning service is provided for no extra charge daily, and the units are usually much more spacious. They also include kitchen and dining facilities. All kitchen accessories and even linens are provided. Sounds pretty great to me!
Anyways, their apartment is fabulous. They have a view of the skyline of Tsim Sha Tsui across the water, and two bedrooms (one of them has two single beds). There was delicious appetizers - shrimp, kabobs, little cracker-things. Also, there were two men in butler uniforms serving us the entire night (mostly refilling our wine glasses!). The atmosphere was amazing.
It was great talking to the Dean, her husband (a retired school teacer) and other Ivey Alumni. It was really interesting hearing everyone's stories. A lot of the people there were investment bankers. One man worked for a year in banking in Toronto, a year in New York, and then was supposed to spend only a year doing the same in Hong Kong - but he ending up loving it so much that he stayed! He now has two children, and just bought a house here. Crazy!
Here is a photo of all of Ivey's Hong Kong exchange students that we took near the end of the evening, in the hotel lobby:
I really appreciate Kathleen and her husband hosting this event for us, and I appreciate all of he Alumni who came. It really meant so much to me that Ivey Alumni were willing to take time out of their lives to come and spend a night with a bunch of 21 year-olds. When I am older, I will definitely do the same.
And that is the beauty of the Ivey Alumni Network.
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