Preparation

In order to be eligible for exchange as a Software Engineering/HBA student, you need to complete all your engineering courses by the fall semester of your final year and all mandatory Ivey courses: MAC, C&S, and GMM. To fulfill the engineering requirements, this means that you need to take Cloud Computing 4455B in your 4th year as it is only offered in the winter semester.

It is recommended to take one of the three required Ivey courses (MAC, C&S, or GMM) during year 3 intersession to reduce the year 5 course load. I chose to take MAC but you can choose any of the three. If for some reason you don't take one of the three during year 3 intersession, you might be able to take it during year 4 intersession depending on your exam schedule for your engineering courses. If you don't take any of the three during intersession, you will just need to take three Ivey courses in addition to your engineering courses during the first semester of year 5.

This is what I did:

The Software Engineering/HBA academic calendar is really useful. Reference this often to make sure you can graduate! Also note that, while the academic calendar states that you need 1.5 Ivey elective credits in your fifth year, the exchange program actually requires 2.0 credits. For most schools, this translates to four courses. Just something to keep in mind as you won't have to deal with this until you begin the course registration process for your exchange school.

Overloading in year 4 requires special permission. I submitted a "Special Permission Form" on July 12, 2021 requesting to take Cloud Computing in year 4 instead of year 5. This was followed up with a "Course Conflict Registration Request Form" which I submitted on July 16, 2021. The second form was only necessary because Cloud Computing conflicted with another course. All of the online forms can be found here.

Capstone Considerations

Capstone is a year long project-based course that runs throughout the fifth year. There aren't any special provisions for exchange students. Email the professor in charge of capstone and notify them that you will be going on exchange. When picking a capstone group, make sure your group knows that you will be abroad for the tail end of the capstone project.

I think this email from Professor Capretz sums it up well:

Graduation Considerations

Participating in the exchange program at Ivey will delay your official graduation from May to October. This is because Ivey won't receive your transcripts from your destination school in time for the May convocation. Ivey is able to issue a letter of completion which indicates that you have completed all the program requirements and are eligible for graduation once they have received transcripts.

Why does this matter? If your employment is dependent on an official graduation or a work visa, you may not be eligible for a early summer start date even if your exchange semester ends in time for it. If you have a full time offer, communicate with your employer about your graduation status to see if the start date can be moved. For some employers, the letter of completion may be enough. I've also heard of people applying for a pre-approved work visa.

Applying for Exchange

Ivey

You will need to complete two applications. The first is an application into Ivey's exchange program. This application should be completed in the academic year prior to going on exchange. As a dual degree student, the exchange semester would be in the winter of the fifth year, this application should be completed in the fourth year. This application includes several short answer responses and is also the time to indicate a list of your preferred destinations. For my year, applications opened on December 17th, 2021 and were due by January 31st, 2022.

Ivey notifies you if you have been accepted into the exchange program and for which school in late February. If you didn't get an offer for your most preferred school, you have the option to accept the exchange offer and be added to the waitlist for your preferred school. However, you can only request to be waitlisted after accepting your exchange offer. This means that, in the event that you do not get your waitlisted school, you must participate in the exchange program to the school you were initially accepted for. Here is Ivey's official wording on it:

I'll share my exact experience just to illustrate the waitlist process. My rankings looked something like this:

1. South Korea
2. Japan
3. Taiwan
4. Hong Kong
5. Singapore

The offer that I received was for National Chengchi University in Taiwan. I chose to accept the offer but requested to be waitlisted for Korea University by emailing the exchange coordinator.

On March 10th, 2022, I was notified that a spot became available at Korea University.

Destination School

Most schools will require a direct application for their exchange program. The destination school will reach out directly with details regarding their application process. These applications are usually sent out 3-4 months prior to the start of the semester.

I can't speak to other institutions, but Korea University Business School sent out their application on October 19, 2022 with a deadline of November 9th, 2022. The application asked for passport information, health certificates, proof of insurance, bank statements, etc.