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I was meticulously browsing through the Student Awards forums (yeah, I know what you’re thinking — bear with me), reading through some Ivey-bashing threads and seeing some prospective-AEO’s duke it out with Schulich and Queens’ Commerce fanboys. You’ve probably read some of them yourself — about how Ivey has some slick marketing schemes, or how these job rankings are from way back. Or how Ivey is losing its advantage. And in all these hundreds of posts I’ve read on this topic, I found one guy that actually made sense.

“…the individual makes the degree, and the degree doesn’t make the individual.”

Recruitment and job prospects are serious concerns. And sure, it would be great to land that investment banking job that starts at $98,000 and flies you out to California. But at the end of the day, an HBA degree/iBBA degree/BBA degree will only get you so far. It will get you a good start. (Assuming you kill interviews and impress co-op supervisors.) But what happens after that?

It’s going to take more than just a degree to move up the ladder. It takes qualities that you value, like determination and perseverance and consistency, and it takes hunger, passion, fire. It takes enthusiasm. It takes excellence. It takes technical and general knowledge. It takes an almost Rocky-like attitude to constantly stepping into the ring, and finishing the job.

My point is that a degree usually does embody some of these values. The HBA degree/iBBA degree/BBA degree will trigger some of these qualities in an employers’ mind. (You decide which ones.) This is why the degree is useful; not because of the three letters, but because they signify something much greater. So at the end of the day, it’s alright if you don’t make it into Ivey or HBA. It’s OK to enjoy studying Arts (in fact, more power to you). You just have to figure out the qualities that your employer will value, and demonstrate them using some other method.

So don’t do things “for the sake of putting it on your resume” — do it because you want to improve yourself, do it because you want to learn more and excel.

Q: Are you trying to say that the type of degree won’t matter? Not at all; the start you get can drastically alter your future. For example, reputable marketing company Firm X recruits often from Ivey — if you do want to go into marketing, then Firm X  can be a great place to start your career and gain some field experience. However, I am trying to say that it wouldn’t be impossible to do well in your field without Ivey: for example, you can get into Firm X using alternate methods (starting somewhere else, and constantly checking for employment opportunities) or even skip Firm X and head over to a competing firm. Although this alternate method takes more work and time, it’s still quite plausible.

Q: Do we need another one of these annoying posts? I feel that people often lose track of why they need to do well at university, and bring on unneeded stress. Lord knows it’s happened to me.

Best of luck with the present, and the future,

Herbert H. Lui