Happy Thanksgiving!

Its Thanksgiving weekend and I’m sitting in a coffee shop in downtown London called Coffee Culture. It’s one of my favourite spots to chill out at on a Sunday. I often come here to prep my cases for Monday’s class, or just to catch up on email etc. It’s become a bit of a habit and its one of the things I’ve come to really appreciate while living in downtown London. Of course tomorrow is a holiday and I’m exploiting my time off to the fullest; 10 hours of sleep per night baby!

When Geeta and I took the plunge to accept the Ivey MBA admission and make the move to London, Ontario, Canada we came down twice to scope out locations to live at. Neither one of us had ever lived in a downtown core before. We are both more of your suburban goers and taking the decision to live in downtown wasn’t an easy one. Coming into the MBA, Geeta and I decided that we wanted to live out of our characters; to take more risks, and to try out new things/experiences. As part of the motto we decided to take up an apartment downtown and we love it. If you’re considering Ivey for your MBA and if you have a car, be sure to consider living downtown. Most of our social events are downtown and you rarely need to drive anywhere except for class! Furthermore, its quieter then typical downtowns in bigger cities and you are privileged to be within walking distance of a number of great restaurants, bars, entertainment venues, and food markets. While we’re on the topic of ‘living outside our character,’ I guess it’s fair to mention that the two of us have become far more outgoing this year. For example, Geeta and I grew out of the clubbing/partying scene many years ago and were more of the hang out at home with friends/dinner/occasional drink type of people. With 70 new friends in the MBA program, we find ourselves clubbing it up, attending theme parties, and doing things we stopped doing so long ago. We realized that when you have so many good friends, things that we didn’t typically like doing become super fun! We are already worrying about the end of the program when this fantastic experience will come to an end. Since over half the class will end up in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) post-MBA, there is definitely a huge incentive for us to move to Toronto so we can continue living it up.

The last week has been really interesting. I’ve been interviewing outside Nortel and I’m faced with some tough decisions on whether to leave Nortel and go elsewhere. Moreover, I’m being faced with a dilemma’s around $$ versus passions/interests versus job security. The stock market crash and pending economic crisis are weighing heavily on my mind. I’m finding it increasingly difficult to hold out for that perfect post-MBA position. I’m a believer that the perfect job lies in the intersection of where one’s passions intersect with one’s strengths. If you find a job in that sweet spot, the $$ will surely follow. Considering that unemployment is likely to rise, and wages will thereafter fall (thanks to my recent macro-economic training at school), I’m thinking that I maybe better off financially locking into a job earlier rather than later. Couple that with the fact that Geeta is in the midst of a career switch (it will take a bit of time for her to bring in income), I’m thinking I ought to sacrifice and compromise a bit on my post-MBA passions. Wow…who knew it would be so hard not to sell out. Keep you posted.

About a month ago, I had an opportunity to attend the World MBA Fair in Toronto with some of my student ambassador colleagues. We were representing Ivey, and what an experience it was! The Ivey booth was by far the most popular at the fair (including many prominent U.S. schools). The sheer volume of interest in Ivey reconfirmed the power of the Ivey brand and I think we all felt proud to represent the school. There were approximately 15 of us there representing Ivey (students, admissions staff, faculty, dean), and I don’t think any of us had more then 10 minutes to rest our voices over a six hour period as there were constant line ups of prospective students looking to talk to us. Pretty awesome experience! The next one is in Toronto on Nov 8 at the Convention Centre (downtown) for those that are interested; http://www.ivey.uwo.ca/mba/contact/fairs.htm .

On a side note, Slice TV has been filming a reality show at Ivey for the last few weeks and will continue to do so for a few more weeks. Its not The Apprentice, but it’s still kind of cool being able to tell your friends that they are filming a show at your school (although despite numerous attempts I haven’t been able to get into the background while filming….;)). The annoying part is that they are using our gym and common room for six weeks during the daytime hours. It’s put a bit of a damper in my workout schedule since the showers and workout equipment aren’t available 8-5pm daily. What’s impressive is that the school has been quick to listen to the student complaints and have made amends by setting up some treadmills in an alternative room with shower facilities….definitely makes me happy!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sacha