Ivey AEO Application 2027: Essays and Video

Ivey AEO Application 2027: Activity Essays, Video Interview and Deadline

Ivey's Advanced Entry Opportunity (AEO) is not a program you choose on OUAC. It is a conditional status that reserves a place in Ivey's Honours Business Administration (HBA) program in third year, while you spend your first two years in any faculty at Western, Huron or King's.

Getting it takes two separate applications. Here is the structure Ivey publishes, checked on October 27, 2026 for students starting university in September 2027:

1. Apply to Western or an affiliate through OUAC, in any program, and click “yes” to “Ivey Advanced Entry Opportunity” on the OUAC form. That click only tells Western you intend to apply. It is not the AEO application.
2. Complete the Ivey AEO supplemental application on Ivey's own portal. It has three parts:
   • non-academic awards;
   • activities: two in essay format, maximum 500 words each, plus up to five more in point form, each with a reference who can verify it;
   • a video interview on Kira Talent: five questions, each with preparation time and a timed response, done in one sitting.

The AEO deadline is January 15, 2027 at 11:59 p.m. EST. Ivey can only grant AEO status once Western or an affiliate has offered you admission. The first AEO offers go out at the end of March, and most are made in April and May.

What Ivey Says It Weighs

Ivey describes a 50/50 split: “We evaluate applicants based on both academic performance and leadership experience, with each component weighed equally.”

On the academic side, Ivey describes a competitive application as having:

• “A low 90% average in your best Grade 12 high school courses, including English.”
• “One Grade 12 university-prep math course or provincial equivalent.”

It also says “Ivey does not have a cut off average to apply. We will assess all applications regardless of the overall average.” Western's central admissions office calculates the average, not Ivey.

The other half is “Demonstrated leadership in extracurricular activities, community involvement, and work experience.” The supplemental application is where that half is judged, which is why the activities section carries so much weight.

Part 1: Non-Academic Awards

You list and briefly describe “any non-academic awards, certificates, or distinctions you have received during secondary school.” Ivey's examples are community service or leadership awards, competition placements, and recognitions such as the Duke of Edinburgh Award.

Ivey is explicit: “Do not list academic awards here.” Honour roll and subject awards belong to the grades half of the file, not this section.

If you have few non-academic awards, list what you have and move on. Ivey describes the activities section, not the awards list, as “a key part of the supplemental application.”

Part 2: Activities — The Part to Plan First

Ivey calls this “a key part of the supplemental application.” The rules:

• Two activities in essay format, maximum 500 words each.
• Up to five additional activities in point form, for a total of up to seven.
• Eligible activities include volunteer work, paid employment, entrepreneurial ventures, and clubs, sports or other organized groups.
• Not eligible: “Activities that earn academic credit, such as co-op placements”.
• Every activity needs a reference who can verify your involvement: their name, role or position, phone number and email. “Applications without verified references will not be considered.”

Ivey says each activity “should demonstrate qualities such as leadership, teamwork, initiative, achievement, commitment, integrity, resilience, and breadth of involvement,” and it encourages you “to use the full word limit to provide a thoughtful and detailed reflection.” That is a different instruction from forms that reward brevity, such as Waterloo's 150-word AIF answers.

Choosing the two essay activities

First, a gate for any listing: Ivey requires a verifying reference for every activity, essay or point form. An activity no one can confirm can't be listed at all.

The two essays get the space, so they should go to the activities where you have the most to explain, not necessarily the most impressive titles. A simple test is to score each remaining activity on four questions:

1. Did you make decisions or changes, beyond showing up?
2. Is there a specific problem, setback or turning point you could describe?
3. Can you fill 500 words with decisions and results? Ivey asks you to use the full word limit.
4. Does it show a different quality from the other essay?

This is a constructed example of that test for an imaginary applicant:

In this example, the job and the tutoring group become the essays. Basketball and student council go into point form, where a short entry is enough.

What a 500-word activity essay needs

Ivey publishes no fixed structure, and a sample activity essay is available inside the application portal. Ivey's admissions team also explains what it looks for in its December 8 essay workshop (see the dates below). Whatever shape you choose, a reader should finish able to answer:

• What is the activity, and how long have you done it? One or two sentences.
• What was your role? Separate your part from the group's.
• What did you decide or change? This is the centre of the essay.
• What happened as a result? Concrete outcomes, numbers where honest.
• What does it show about you? One of the qualities Ivey lists, shown through what you did rather than named in a closing line.

A constructed example of the centre of an essay, written for this guide:

When two of our six weekend staff quit in the same week, the manager asked who could cover. I offered to rebuild the schedule instead. I asked everyone for the three shifts they could never work, put those in a shared sheet, and found the gaps were all Sunday mornings. I proposed splitting Sunday into two shorter shifts so students could cover them before lunch. We filled every shift for the next two months, and the manager still uses the sheet.

It names a problem, a decision the applicant made, how they made it, and a result a reference could confirm.

Point-form entries

The five point-form activities are shorter, but the same rule applies: say what you did, not only what the group is. A constructed example:

Basketball, junior and senior teams (Grades 9–12). Starting guard until a knee injury in Grade 11; then team manager: ran practice drills for first-year players and kept game stats. Reference: head coach.

References

Every activity needs one. Before you submit:

• ask each person first, and tell them which activity and dates you listed;
• use contact details they actually check;
• make sure your essay doesn't claim something they would describe differently.

Ivey says unverified references mean the application won't be considered, so this is not a formality.

Part 3: The Kira Video Interview

All applicants complete a video interview on Kira Talent. What Ivey publishes:

• Five questions, “each with preparation time and a timed response.”
• 20 to 30 minutes in total, “completed in one sitting.”
• Practice as often as you like before starting. Once you begin, all five questions must be completed in one attempt.
• Any time before the deadline, with no scheduling.
• Equipment: a desktop or laptop, a working webcam and microphone, and a stable internet connection.

Ivey's public page does not publish the interview questions or the exact preparation and response times. We don't list questions from forums or earlier cycles; they may not match yours.

What Ivey does say is the purpose: the interview helps it “better understand your personality, communication skills, and experiences that may not be captured in the written portion.” In practice that means:

• Don't repeat your two essays. Have other examples ready, including from the point-form activities.
• Practise speaking about an experience for a timed stretch until you can give the situation, your action and the result without notes.
• Do the practice round on the same computer, camera and connection you'll use.

If you need accommodations for any part of the application, Ivey asks you to contact hba@ivey.ca.

Ivey's Own Sessions and the Dates to Plan Around

Ivey's HBA events pages list these upcoming AEO events for high school students, checked October 27, 2026. All three are online; Ivey emails a Zoom link after you register.

Registration for each information session closes at 12 p.m. EST on the day.

Ivey describes the essay workshop this way: “we will walk you through what we look for in strong AEO essays, share strategies for showcasing your experiences effectively, and provide real examples to illustrate what works.” It adds, “We only offer this workshop once a year.” It falls more than five weeks before the deadline, so plan to have your activity choices made, and ideally a first draft, by then.

How the AEO Application Differs From Your Western Application

Ivey says it does not make offers on Grade 11 grades alone, but it does make some offers on competitive first-term Grade 12 grades with a strong application.

Rules on Help and AI

The public Ivey AEO pages we checked, including the three event pages above, publish no rule about outside help or AI for the supplemental application. The Ivey portal instructions are the place to check for one.

One related fact: the December 8 workshop description says, “For those willing to share, we will also offer live feedback to help strengthen your writing.” That is feedback from Ivey's own admissions team at its own event. It is not a published rule about help from other people, tools or AI, and it does not change what the portal instructions say.

What Ivey does require makes the practical boundary clear anyway: every activity is checked against a named reference, and the video is answered live in one sitting. Your essays need to describe what you actually did, in a way your references and your own interview will match. For how other Canadian programs word these rules, see our comparison of Canadian application feedback rules.

Common Mistakes

1. Checking the OUAC box and stopping. The separate Ivey application is the real application.
2. Choosing essay activities by title. Pick the ones where you made decisions you can explain for 500 words.
3. Listing academic awards in the awards section, or a co-op placement as an activity.
4. A reference who can't confirm the claim, or who wasn't asked.
5. Leaving the video to January 15. It must be finished in one sitting, and technical problems take time to fix.

If You Get AEO Status

AEO status is conditional. To move into HBA in third year, Ivey's progression requirements include an overall two-year average of at least 80.0% across 10.0 full university credits (78.0% for students in Western Engineering), an AEO Activity Report at the end of first year, and the AEO2 Intent to Register application in second year. Ivey's AEO program page lists the requirements and links the AEO Student Handbook.

Get a Free Review of Your Ivey AEO Activity Essays

Get a free Quick Review of your Ivey AEO activity essay: paste the activity instructions above your draft, and the review checks whether your role and actual work are clear. To check that every part of the prompt gets an answer, run the Prompt Coverage Check too.

Also applying to UBC Sauder? Its two extra Personal Profile questions and video interview run on a different format. For other Ontario forms, see the Waterloo AIF questions and McMaster's supplementary applications.

Official Sources

Checked October 27, 2026.

• Ivey HBA: AEO for secondary school students
• Ivey HBA: Advanced Entry Opportunity, admission average and progression
• Ivey HBA: AEO Essay Writing Workshop, December 8, 2026
• Ivey HBA: AEO Application Information Session, November 17, 2026
• Ivey HBA: AEO Application Information Session, December 1, 2026