Zhaomeng (Victoria) Dou

Briefly describe your background and profile. Think about how Ivey is/will complement your own personal background and experience.

I started having interests in business when I found the magic of business to not only earn profits for companies but also make progress to improve people’s life. To explore deeper and help others in the future, I finished my undergraduate degree in finance at Western. During last three years, I worked at different industries such as finance, marketing, telecom, technology, and now retail industry to understand business from different perspectives. By working in different companies and industries, I found my passions for data analysis. Analyzing data can transfer data to information that provides insightful ideas and solutions, the process engages me to delve into details of data and continue my study to be more professional about data analysis while combining my undergraduate business knowledge to provide useful solutions for companies. Ivey complemented my personal background to not only help me improve hard skills for data analysis such as statistics and programming, but also strengthen my business skills to work effectively in different teams and structure the ways to generate useful business solutions. The Ivey Analytic Lab also enriches my experience as a data analyst to be more professional and competitive in future job markets.

Think back to when you were researching business schools. What did Ivey offer you that other schools did not? What made it a good fit for you?

First, Ivey analytic lab in MSc program attracted me because business need to operate in the real world. No matter how good we learned in class, we can never get the high-level insights without practical experience. In addition, Ivey provides courses that focused on both technical skills and business skills. Business analytics requires technical skills to explore data and gain insights for companies; however, we also need business soft skills and hard skills to work in a team effectively and use business information appropriately. Finally, Ivey is the only business school in Canada that uses case-study methods for all courses. Although case study and contribution increase stress level for me at first, I attained a deep understanding of the knowledge behind cases and understood the logic process and methods to solve problems by myself in the real working environment. I believe that all those benefits will boost my abilities, help me to better understand myself and achieve my goals.

What advice would you give to prospective students considering Ivey?

• Preparing before class. The study process will help to provide meaningful insights in class and understand knowledge and skills comprehensively.
• Participating in class: help quickly adapt to case-study.
• Jumping out of comfort zone. Ivey will push us jump out of comfort zone, but only when we’re willing to participate, we can achieve a better one in Ivey.
• Networking with alumni: the great resource for all Ivey students.