Sarai - MSc DM - Intro & Why Ivey

The following is an computer-generated summary of the video transcript.

okay in 3, 2, 1 Hi, everyone. So my name is Sarai Kashtan. I'm a first year MSc student at the Richard Ivey Business School in the digital management stream. So in this video will be focusing more about myself and my first few months at Ivey. In my experience, then and then the next video, we'll be focusing more on the application process. So to get to know a little bit about me, I am 24 years old. I did my undergrad at the University of Ottawa and I grew up 45 minutes outside of Toronto Mississauga area. I did my degree in the bachelors of Commerce. I specialized in marketing in both English and French because I had done a bilingualism upbringing in elementary school and secondary school. So why did I choose Ivey and what struck me about the school? So when I was looking through grad schools, I wanted to go somewhere that I would enjoy being there socially, but also academically. And by that I mean somewhere and where conversation was important and I had heard about Ivey because they had a case based method, which is something that's really, really, really cool that's a lot different from a lot of master programs. So with Case based, you focused mostly on different examples of the theory you are learning rather than just sitting there and trying to memorize the theory and then getting quizzed on it through an exam or through an assignment. You still have assignments while you're in the program, but there are a lot more collaborative. You do have individual, but it's a lot of teamwork, which there are skills that you're going to need while you're in the workplace. The question I get asked is, How did I first learned about the program? So I learned it through some friends who have done the program, but as well as I thought about doing it, and that was very important to me because I wanted somewhere in where I also knew people that, you know, could give me a good review about the place. I had many other people suggesting different schools and their experiences, and I heard what was not so good about the school. And, you know, everyone has their positives and the negatives, and that's what I wanted to understand before I applied, just so that if their negatives were very similar to what I didn't want, I didn't want to go to that school. So Ivey fit all my criteria, which is a case based learning school, a program that was pre-experience. so I didn't need to do a lot of work experience like the MBA. So that's the difference between theMBA and the MSc. MSc is pre and then MBA is post. Did I get to visit the campus currently? So we're in the middle of a pandemic, so it's kind of hard to go visit campus, and when I was applying to, I didn't get a chance to visit it before I applied. From what I've seen, the campus is very beautiful. Digitally, of course. So you may have to look for someone else's more view of campus. So what you need to know about grad school is you need to have a lot of patience because it's kind of like growing pain. So when you get started, you know you're so used to doing a certain type of things in your undergrad. You know, you're so used to cramming before the exam or you're used to, you know, studying for hours and hours on end. Depends on your program you did in your undergrad, could depend how you study in this program. So as someone who was a very person who loved to sit in the library and study all single times of the day, this is a little bit different because you have a lot of more collaborative. So you have to form your opinions, not what the book tells you are not what the case tells you, but form your own opinions of what you think the answer should be based on what you read. And so the professor is not gonna ask you to to regurgitate the information and your classmates don't wanna hear the information because they just read the paper, the case that they need to read. They want to hear your opinion. And that's what I really like about Ivey. Every class is kind of the saying of you get as much as you bring. So in every class you can contribute if you'd like, and if you wouldn't want to contribute, that's okay. There's some days, you know, you're not ready to contribute, but the days you do I feel like you learn so much more information. So my classmates, that's the cool thing about Ivey. So your classmates are not all undergrads in business. They are undergrads and science, in law, in health, in philosophy. So every class you learn something new, it's kind of like, your constant, your new fact of the day. So from an engineering perspective, they see the case differently than from someone in, let's say, in philosophy. And I think that's pretty cool, because at the end of the program, you come with so much different perspectives and you can also be able to collaborate better when you go to the workplace is because that's what happens in workplaces. You know, not everyone has a degree in business or not everyone has a degree in engineering, and being able to learn how to a way to talk to other people in different programs is important because, you know, sometimes you may not understand it. And with this program it teaches you okay to ask questions, it's okay to ask someone. Hey, can you kind of clear this up? I didn't really understand because I don't have a science background, so they'll sit down and explain it to you, and that's really cool. Okay, so the next question is, what type of students thrive at your school? Like I said before, there's no what I call a "map" of a student. There's not that perfect student at Ivey, but a perfect student, if you had to create one, is someone who's open to collaboration, open to new opinions, ready to give their all. And that's what you get, mostly in class. You know, all my classmates are so energetic and there are days that we're not energetic, but they're still willing to listen. You know, raise up their hand, disagree with opinions, which is something that can be very hard for people disagreeing with someone else. And it's a really good learning experience because it kind of sets us to, show empathy, show collaboration. Show an understanding that sometimes we may not understand it, but a lot of other people do, and we kind of have to be like, okay, if this is the consensus and this is what we kind of have to go with, and this is why you understand it. And obviously there's some days you might be frustrated because you feel like your opinion wasn't the same opinion that someone else had. But that's the way life works, and that's the way it is in the workplace. What made you select your school as your home for the next few years? It was like I said, the case based learning, but also the opportunity to get involved. So that was something really big for me because I do like being social, I like hanging out with people, and with Covid it's a little bit harder. But with extracurriculars that have gone digitally this year, I've had that opportunity to enter different clubs, get a little bit more experienced build up my portfolio, especially if I'm in marketing. What do you love about the program? So what is the program? So digital management is a combination of technology and business and hybriding it together to create the perfect synthesis. If I like to call it. so you're learning coding. You're also learning about innovation. You're learning about the digital transformation, digital absorbent capacity, so many different terms that are coming up in different magazines in different media that you're constantly hearing about. But you're never sitting to really understand it. That's what this program does, and it connects you know, almost like I would like to call it. You're right side and your left side connect perfectly in this program. So your analytical side and your creative side and it's a lot of fun in the program. So if you're more interested in learning about, like a full description, I would suggest going on to the Ivey website because I'm not the best of explaining it. But I just am very energetic about the program. That's what I really love about the school. So thank you so much for watching. So get ready to watch the next video, which will be based on the application process!