Looking at pros and cons between attending Butler vs Indiana University for business degree for fall 2019.
Will not qualify for direct admit for Kelley—so the question is risk of applying later and potentially not getting in vs pursuing Butler and Lacy School of Business.
Great programs but much higher cost.
Opinions?
I can tell you that my nephew attended Butler for business and liked it a lot. He started a business with another student and won a $5,000 prize in a contest that Butler sponsored!
How would you pay for the higher cost?
Are you an Indiana resident? If so, I’d choose IU. (ugh as a Boilermaker that was hard for me to even type)
If cost is absolutely not an issue, I think it is still a coin flip on which one is better for business.
Both are fine schools, and both have big-time basketball (if you’re into that). Yes, Kelley is well known, but I don’t know. People will disagree, but I’m not sure it is that important that you get accepted into a name program. Sure, it probably has some cachet with with people who hire, but in my experience, it’s what your able to do during your time as an undergrad in terms of internships, networking, and, yes, even being an overall good student. I attended a small LAC and a recent grad was hired at Goldman Sachs. Why? He interned with them and they were so impressed with his work ethic that they offered him a full-time job. I admit that his story is not common for the LAC I attended.
But you’re not attending an LAC (my alma mater didn’t even have a business major). You’re choosing between two well-known IN universities. I was a humanities major, though, so perhaps I’m not to be trusted as an expert. If attending Wharton or Kelley or Ross was a requirement for a successful life, then we’d have a caste system in this country, where all the successful people went to “top” schools. People who attended schools just below the “top” would be a bit less successful. Those who attended good but not great schools would go on to have good but not great lives. It doesn’t work like that.
Yes, an Indiana resident.
Thank you for that. 3.7 /4.0 GPA —so far only average + for ACT But have taken many leadership positions and been active while in high school. A doer with results but not a standardized test taker. Sigh.
IU would be mostly saved for already. Butler would require loans for the cost difference.
It is risky going to a program that has direct admission but you don’t get in thinking that you will get in later. What happens if you don’t? If you are ok with the backup degree, then with the lower cost it might be worth the risk. If you want to be an accountant, then different answer.
If IU is most affordable, go there! Kick butt and increase your odds of getting into Kelley. BTW, since I was a humanities grade and don’t know much about business majors, is Kelley the only way to be a business major if one attends a large U like IU? I was unsure if your remarks about the “much higher cost” meant IU or Butler. Most of the Ivies and “prestige” schools (Williams, Amherst) don’t even have business degrees. A third of the students at these schools study economics as the entryway into a business career or continued study, such as earning an MBA.
Have you been to Butler. It looks like a nice school, but I read that it’s in a high crime neighborhood. I don’t know if that’s true. I have seen Bloomington and it’s a great town to go to school in.
Apply to both. If you’re not direct admit at IU and are at Butler, pick Butler. If you’re direct admit it sounds like you’d go for Kelley.
Run the NPC on Butler.
You can’t borrow more than 5.5k.
Apply to more universities though not just these two. 