Ivey AEO Essay Examples: Activity Essays for 2027

You know what you did. Explaining why it mattered in your Ivey AEO essay is harder.

Your first draft might list meetings, fundraisers, and volunteer hours without showing the decisions behind them.

That's usually where the useful story starts.

This guide walks you through two Ivey AEO essay examples. It examines how each writer explains their actions, decisions and learning. You'll also see how to improve vague passages.

These are fictional practice examples, created for teaching. They aren't essays from accepted Scholars or official Ivey sample answers.

Use the commentary to question your own draft. Keep your experiences, facts and wording your own.

1. What does Ivey ask you to write?

For 2027 entry, Ivey requires two separate activity essays, each up to 500 words.

You can also list up to five additional activities in point form.

Activity essay brief from our Ivey school guide:

Select two (2) activities that you feel demonstrate your leadership abilities best. Focus your description on elements that demonstrate: leadership, teamwork, initiative, achievement, commitment, resilience, integrity and breadth. Each description should focus on one activity only.

Both examples below respond to that activity brief. Check your portal for the applicable activity dates and current instructions.

Ivey includes paid work, volunteering, entrepreneurship, clubs and sports among eligible experiences. Activities earning academic credit, including co-op placements, aren't eligible.

Each activity needs a reference who can verify your involvement. Ivey also provides a sample activity essay inside its application portal.

Check the official AEO application instructions before you write. Your portal is the place to confirm the exact instructions you must answer.

The AEO deadline is January 15, 2027, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

For the rest of the process, read the Western Ivey AEO application guide.

This article focuses on your written activities. The required video assessment has its own Ivey interview preparation guide.

If you're comparing schools, start with the Canadian supplementary application overview to understand how their requirements differ.

2. How do you choose your two activities?

Start with the experiences you can explain in detail.

Which decisions were yours? Who depended on you? What happened when your first approach didn't work?

Those questions help you find material beneath a position title.

Being club president gives you context. It doesn't tell the reader how you handled a missed deadline or an unhappy teammate.

A Saturday job can give you those details, too.

You might have trained someone, handled a customer complaint or noticed a recurring problem nobody had time to fix.

Here's a useful exercise: write a private, rough account of three moments from each possible activity.

Include what happened, what you decided, who else contributed and what changed afterward.

Then compare your notes. Which activity gives you the clearest evidence of your contribution?

For your second essay, look for another experience that adds something useful.

If your first shows you organizing a team, your second might show you learning from feedback or taking responsibility under pressure.

Choose activities that complement each other and highlight different skills. Together, they should give a consistent, honest picture of how you contribute.

Pro Tip: Check that your reference knows the work you describe before settling on an activity.

A reference who saw your contribution is more useful than someone with a senior title who barely knows you.

Ivey identifies several qualities in its activity guidance, including leadership, teamwork, initiative, achievement, commitment, integrity and resilience.

The examples below illustrate those ideas. Their annotations are AdmissionPrep writing advice, not an official scoring rubric.

3. Ivey AEO essay example: rebuilding a school club

The events, people and figures below are invented for this exercise.

When I became Co-President of our school's Repair Club, nine people attended our first meeting. By November, only four returned regularly. I had planned demonstrations about bicycle maintenance, but members mostly watched me work. I realized I had created an audience instead of a club people could participate in.

I asked the remaining members what would make them come back. Two wanted to learn basic repairs, while another already knew more than I did. I proposed small repair stations where experienced members could teach beginners. My co-president suggested inviting classmates to bring damaged bikes, giving us practical work and a reason to meet.

Our first open session went badly. More bikes arrived than we could handle, and we had not explained which repairs were beyond our ability. A classmate waited an hour before learning we could not safely fix her brakes. I apologised and helped her find a nearby shop.

Afterward, I suggested limiting each session to six bookings and clearly listing the repairs we could offer.

I took responsibility for bookings and the equipment checklist. Another member led safety checks, and my co-president managed communication with teachers. We tested the new system for two sessions before inviting more people. I also asked each experienced member to teach one beginner, so the club wouldn't depend on the same two people doing every repair.

By spring, eleven members attended regularly. Across six sessions, our records showed twenty-three completed basic repairs. The change I valued most happened when a Grade 10 member ran a station without asking me to take over. She later taught two classmates how to patch a tyre.

I used to judge leadership by how much work I could finish myself. Running the club taught me to pay attention to whether other people could contribute. I still had to make decisions, especially around safety and capacity. But asking for ideas, giving people clear responsibilities and leaving room for them to practise made the club stronger than my original demonstrations had.

Why this example works as a piece of writing

The opening gives you a problem quickly. Attendance fell. The writer noticed that members had little to do. You can understand the situation without knowing the club's history.

The first explanation also leaves room for personal responsibility. The writer doesn't blame classmates for their lack of commitment. They recognize a flaw in their own meeting format. That's a useful choice when you describe a setback.

Next, the essay shows a decision developing through conversation.

The co-president suggests bringing damaged bikes. Other members help teach. The writer's own responsibilities remain clear. You can see collaboration without losing track of individual contributions.

The failed open session adds another layer. The writer faces a practical limit, apologizes, and changes the booking process. That moment makes the safety and capacity decisions meaningful.

The ending includes recorded outcomes, then returns to a specific person taking responsibility. Twenty-three repairs tells you something about the work completed. A younger member teaching others shows how the club began to sustain itself.

Your essay doesn't need this exact kind of result, but it needs an outcome you can describe honestly.

What could you improve further?

If this were your draft, you could add the duration of your involvement and make the reference relationship clear where required.

You might also explain how you checked repair safety with an appropriate adult or qualified supervisor.

Those details should come from what happened. Don't insert a precaution you never took because it improves the story.

The example also sits below the maximum word limit.

Use remaining space when it adds useful evidence or reflection. Repeating your conclusion in different words won't help.

4. Ivey AEO essay example: responsibility in a part-time job

This is a fictional workplace, not a client success story.

I worked at a neighbourhood grocery store on weekends during Grades 11 and 12. During busy shifts, newer cashiers often called the supervisor for the same problems: missing price labels, coupon questions and returns. I had needed that help when I started, too. Once I knew the procedures, I began writing down the questions I heard most often.

I asked my supervisor whether a short reference sheet would be useful. She agreed, provided she checked every instruction before anyone used it. I drafted a one-page guide with the correct steps and situations that still required a supervisor. Two experienced cashiers reviewed it and pointed out details I had missed, including an exception for damaged items.

The first version was too dense. A new cashier told me she could not find the answer while customers were waiting. I had organised the guide by policy name, which made sense to me but not to someone learning the job. I changed the headings to describe situations, such as a customer bringing an item without a receipt, and tested the revised sheet with her during a quieter shift.

My supervisor then asked me to help introduce the guide to three new cashiers. I walked through common situations, let them explain the next step and checked where they were unsure. I also made clear that the sheet didn't replace asking for help. If a situation involved a safety concern or an exception, we called the supervisor.

We did not formally measure the number of interruptions, so I cannot claim the guide reduced them by a percentage. My supervisor did choose to keep it beside both tills, and the cashiers used it during subsequent shifts. When a procedure changed, I updated the sheet and asked for another review.

This experience changed how I approach explaining something I understand well. I had assumed accurate instructions would automatically be useful. Watching someone try to use them showed me why format, timing and uncertainty matter. I learned to ask for feedback early and to recognise when a decision belonged to someone with more authority.

What should you notice here?

The writer starts with ordinary work and a recurring problem. There is no attempt to turn a grocery shift into a corporate leadership role. That restraint helps you trust the account.

The essay distinguishes initiative from authority. The writer proposes a guide, while the supervisor approves the instructions.

A cashier's feedback changes the second version. These details show the writer responding to people who actually use the work.

The outcome is modest and specific: the supervisor keeps the guide, colleagues use it, and the writer maintains it. There's no invented efficiency percentage; if your activity wasn't measured, describe what you observed and what someone can verify.

The reflection also stays close to the experience. It explains a changed assumption about teaching, rather than announcing a lifelong passion for leadership. That gives you a useful test for your own ending.

Could your reflection belong to almost any activity? If so, return to the particular decision that taught you something.

If choosing between experiences is slowing you down, you can join AdmissionPrep's program waitlist to explore individual preparation support.

5. How can you turn a vague passage into useful evidence?

Here's the editing process in a few short examples.

Each rewrite illustrates an approach. Use it only when the underlying facts match your experience.

1. Replace a claim with an action

Before: “I demonstrated excellent leadership and communication throughout the year.”

After: “When two volunteers missed the event briefing, I arranged a shorter session and checked that they understood their roles.”

The second sentence shows what the writer did by describing specific evidence.

2. Separate your work from the team's result

Before: “I raised $4,000 for our fundraiser.”

After: “Our team raised $4,000. I contacted local shops for raffle donations and tracked the items we received.”

The result still matters. The contribution now belongs to the right person.

3. Explain what changed after a setback

Before: “Despite many challenges, I persevered and achieved success.”

After: “Our first sign-up form confused families. I replaced the school-specific questions with appointment times and tested it with two parents.”

You can follow the problem, response, and reason for the change.

4. Make the reflection personal

Before: “This taught me the importance of teamwork.”

After: “I stopped assigning tasks before asking which ones people felt confident doing. Our next meeting gave quieter members more room to contribute.”

A changed habit tells you more than a familiar lesson.

For broader editing advice, read how to write university admissions essays.

6. A practical way to build your first draft

Use STAR as a planning tool: Situation, Task, Action, Result.

Then add reflection. What do you understand now that you didn't understand before?

You don't need to label those parts in your essay.

1. Write the facts before the opening

Record your role, dates, responsibilities and the people involved.

Add the decisions you remember, including the uncomfortable ones. Check figures against records when you have them.

This gives you material to work with before you worry about sounding polished.

2. Choose a manageable focus

Five hundred words can't carry every meeting from two years of involvement.

Pick a central problem or responsibility, then use a few moments to show how you handled it. You can establish sustained commitment through dates and ongoing work without recounting every week.

3. Give your actions room

If half your draft describes the organization, trim that background.

The reader needs enough context to understand your choices. Spend the remaining space explaining those choices and their consequences.

4. Read your essay aloud

Listen for sentences you would never say in conversation.

“I facilitated the implementation of a collaborative initiative” usually hides something simpler and more useful.

Tell the reader who you spoke to, what you proposed and how the work changed.

5. Check facts with your reference

Confirm contact details and make sure your reference can verify your involvement.

Don't ask them to validate inflated responsibility or numbers you cannot support.

Pro Tip: Save a version before each major edit. That way, you can recover a good detail that disappears during trimming.

7. What can parents do without taking over?

Your child might sound hesitant when describing their work.

Ask about a particular moment rather than supplying a better-sounding answer.

“What did you do when the plan changed?” gives them room to remember.

“You should say you showed resilience” supplies a conclusion before you have the evidence.

You can help check dates, arrange quiet writing time and listen to a draft read aloud.

Leave the wording and account of the experience with your child.

If they need help finding a clear structure, AdmissionPrep's program waitlist is a place to explore support from an Educator.

The useful goal is a draft that your child understands and can explain naturally.

8. Ivey AEO essay FAQs

How many Ivey AEO activity essays do you write?

You write two separate activity essays. Each is limited to 500 words, plus up to five additional point-form activities.

Can you write an Ivey essay about a part-time job?

Paid employment is an eligible activity under Ivey's published guidance. Choose work that gives you specific decisions, responsibilities and learning to describe.

Do you need a president or captain title?

A title can explain your role, but your writing still needs to show your contribution. Focus on the decisions you made and the responsibility you held.

Should you copy the structure of an Ivey essay example?

You can use an example to understand pacing and evidence. Build your own account from your experiences, then follow your application instructions and authorship requirements.

How do you write about an activity without big numbers?

Describe a change you observed, a responsibility you sustained or a skill someone else developed. Use figures only when you can explain and support them.

What should your second Ivey essay add?

Choose another activity that gives the reader useful evidence about you. Avoid repeating the same story with a different organization name.

What is the Ivey AEO application deadline for 2027?

The published deadline is January 15, 2027, at 11:59 p.m. EST. Leave time to check your essays, references and required video assessment before submitting.

9. Your next step

Here's where to start: choose one activity and write down a decision you remember clearly.

Explain what led to it, what you did and what happened afterward.

Your application will sit alongside other thoughtful accounts. Give the reader something concrete to understand about yours.

If you'd like individual preparation support, complete the Program Assessment and explore the program waitlist.

An Advisor can help you understand fit and available support. Individual mentorship depends on Educator capacity.

Keep your essay close to the work you actually did. That's a useful habit to take with you to Western's campus.