ACE
Number: 4% of direct admits.
Qualifications: 3.9+ UW and 1520+/34+ but many had GPAs in the 3.6-3.7 range with a high test score to accompany.
What about Business Honors?
Then there’s Direct Admit and non-DA and it’s not super hard to get into Kelley after the first year. Does Kelley Honors have its own recruiting?
BTW, you’re correct that the business world uses PCs. Excel mastery is a top consideration for corporate finance jobs. Set up an assumption table and minimize hard coding. 
My D has been invited to apply to the ACE program. Any advice and insight on how to best complete the application? Thank you!
Sure - last year the application was a HireVue (virtual interview) that had a few predetermined questions that it asks you. Just have in mind some relevant/important experiences from high school that you can talk about and you’ll be good.
Would you mind sharing an example of a question that you received during your process?
Are you given a few minutes to formulate an answer then a few minutes to respond? Are you able to re-record if you don’t like your answer?
Lol - I don’t remember the questions. They’re just standard behavioral interview questions from what I remember, no big surprises. You get like a minute or two to prepare.
Thank you. So, are you currently participating in ACE and HHC? Does that take a lot of extra time?
HHC itself doesn’t come with any time commitments. In fact, a lot of times honors classes are easier.
ACE was a decent amount of work because you take both of the time consuming freshman classes in the first semester (K204 and C106) but it’s very doable.
Thank you for the information
We signed up for the Kelley Direct Admit Day in March. Can you provide any information on what’s involved and what D will get to experience?
I assume this isn’t the type of program where the admitted student gets to room with a current student and get to hang out with them for the weekend.
Thank you for any input.
Currently a Kelley sophomore who went to DA day in Feb 2020. The event is structured like this:
You and your kids will go to the IU auditorium. The parents sit on the lower level, and the kids are sent to separate seating upstairs. There is a brief program where Kelley seniors talk about their accomplishments, their majors, highlights at Kelley, and where they will be working after graduation. Dean Kesner speaks for a bit too.
After this, the parents stay in the auditorium, and they can ask the dean and the seniors some questions. The Direct Admits are divided into groups and are sent to classrooms. In the classrooms, there is a group case activity where students can interact with other potential Kelley kids. This activity is led by a Kelley professor. I remember after the activity we still had some extra time, so the professor in my room opened the floor to questions and gave out his phone number to call/text him if we had more questions. They give you a folder with a coupon for items at Kelley Outfitters, some flyers, and an example Kelley resume.
Once the activity is over, the students head back to the auditorium, and the Dean and seniors from earlier make some closing remarks. A free Kelley t-shirt is given as well.
You have the option to take a tour of IU after the event. Most families typically go home after DA day. The JLLC will also be open on DA day for you to look around, and you can talk to residents there.
I hope this helps. Feel free to reach out to me if you have more questions.
How were the first year classes? Any weed out ones?
Now that you’re a sophomore, and taking some core classes like accounting, what are class sizes like?
Does it matter if you’re in business honors?
I struggled my first semester of freshman year, but by the second semester, I took on 17.5 credits and made straight As. Because I had gotten used to the workload and I had improved my studying skills, I was able to get through my second semester easily. Overall though, I’d say the first-year classes aren’t terrible (especially compared to the courses I took this year).
Weed out classes are:
A100-Basic Accounting Skills (I heard they changed the curriculum for this to no longer be a weed out course)
MATH-118 - Finite (Most people transfer this in. Finite is an easy class, but you cannot have extra credit and your grade is based on a few exams, which is why people struggle.)
MATH-119 - Calculus (I did not take this class because you get credit for AP Calc, but lots of people don’t do well. I have a super smart friend who finished this class with a C)
ECON-B251 - Microeconomics (As long as you choose a decent professor, you should be okay)
BUS-K204/K201 - Computers in Business (Not a hard class (most people get As), but the workload is intense. You’ll spend close to 15+ hours a week doing work for this class)
As a sophomore, my honors classes are typically no more than 40 students, and my non-honors classes range from 100-250 students. I believe C204 and K303 are some of the few sophomore classes where the non-honors version will also have small class sizes.
I’m not in business honors, but I was a DA to Hutton. Business honors students have reservations for honors Kelley classes. For example, when I registered for C205 (honors Business Writing), I believe 5-10 spots were reserved for Kelley Honors students, and the rest were first come first serve for Hutton kids. Business honors students also take honors I-CORE which is easier, has smaller classes, and gives good curves. Additionally, you graduate with a Business honors notation on your diploma. It definitely helps to be in Kelley Honors, but you’ll be alright even if you’re not in it because you’ll have plenty of opportunities to take advantage of in Kelley.
I hope this is helpful.
Such terrific info and it’s cool that you got on track in the second semester with a 4.0. You seem to have been well prepared for Kelley since you came in with credit for AP Calculus.
I assume you figured out your studying routine on your own. Do you have a core set of like-minded academically challenging friends? What clubs have you joined or do you recommend?
Yes, I am blessed to have many friends who take school seriously. During midterms and finals week, my roommates, neighbors, and I will work in the study room for hours. It’s very motivating to have people studying with you.
Because I have a job where I work 20 hours a week, I’m not as active in extracurriculars as I should be. I’ve really enjoyed Balance at Kelley and the Hobby Hopping Art Club. The workload at Kelley can be insane, so these two clubs are a nice escape from the stress.
^To tack onto that I have a group of classmates that we crank out work with and then I hang out with some of them in a more social group. I found the wells library to be a good place to camp out, they’ve got a great food court in the basement and plenty of study rooms.
To touch on the weed out classes again, A100 has been made significantly less work, but the final is still decently difficult and worth 45%. My friends never went to a single class and just grinded out the final for the A.
Would you share which classes had 100 to 250 students per section or per class ?
Of course! I will include both my freshman and sophomore class sizes in this list. Some classes I did not take at IU because of transfer credits so the list is somewhat incomplete
BUS-X170 - How Business Works : 1000+ students in one combined online session; A freshman class for Kelley DAs only, and you can take it the summer before first semester if you’d like.
MATH-M118- Finite : 200+ students
ECON-B251 - Microeconomics : 300 students
BUS-A100 - Basic Accounting Skills : 200+ students
BUS-D270 - Global Business Environments : 200+ students
BUS-A306 - Managerial Accounting : 200+ students (honors version will be 40 students max)
STAT-S301 - Business Statistics : 200+ students (I took the asynchronous online session, so it felt smaller, but most people take it in person)
BUS-L201 - Business Law : 200+ students (I took the honors version, L293, and we had no more than 40 people in class)
BUS-G202 - Business Government : 200+ students (Taking this in the spring)
You are a very valuable source of information. Thank you !
Very happy to help!
Hey so I haven’t heard back from kelley yet but I was just curious about how I could take the honors classes