What were your initial thoughts? Did it convince you or your kid to go there?
Let me start the discussions with few thoughts (parent here!):
Really was impressed with the students I spoke to and felt that the students really liked going to Kelley! In fact, one of the tour guides was a freshman and he really was helpful about the class sizes, competition etc.
Really liked how the faculty and Dean are concentrating on Placement --after all, if you do business and cannot get a job, it would be a real downer!
Huge Concern – even though I knew it is the biggest Undergrad business school, I was NOT prepared mentally for the number of students and parents!! Whatever the administration and faculty tried to allay the fears, I am still concerned that if any Kelley faculty will know anybody in the class unless you go out of the way to make sure to introduce and participate in the class etc. The tour guide (freshman) said that classes could have a maximum of 150 students but immediately mentioned that the faculty knows him? Is this something that they were asked to tell the parents and incoming students…or is it real? Would like current Kelley student to chime in too --how they handle so many students?
From OOS students in Kelley, has the experience been worth the OOS tuition?
Thank you for all your feedback.
Some professors know everyone in the class regardless of participation level. In business presentations and other communication classes, the professor knows all of the students.
In other small classes, many professors will make an effort to at least learn everyone’s name. But if you don’t go out of your way to talk to them, they probably won’t know much else about you. In large classes, the professor will not know names, and it’s definitely possible to go the entire semester without interacting with the professor at all if you choose to do so. I have 6 classes right now, and I’d guess 1 of my 6 professors knows my name. Though that’s probably a lower rate than a typical semester, and also partially due to the choices I have made.
However, I can 100% guarantee you that a professor with 150 students in a class does not know most of them.
Kid is at Kelley. Kelley is the size of a mid-sized college. Classes will be mixed between large (150+), medium (75 ish), and small (30 ish). Many times there are different sections available with different sizes. So my kid had a choice between 200+ for calc or about 80. As you get down with the general classes and movie into major classes, the numbers get smaller.
Like any larger school, you get out what you put in. If you reach out, the professors will get to know you. If you sit in the back of class and sleep, they wont. There really is an over abundance of resources. The kids just need to engage and take advantage of them.
Agree with this ^^^^, I’m a Kelley grad from long ago. I’d say that relationships with professors are definitely available but completely up to the student…or at least it was then. They are accessible, and there, and very helpful, if you go to them. As a large school with larger classes, or even in the smaller sections, they wouldn’t necessarily reach out to you…you had to take the initiative as a student. Is this an issue? I don’t know…even though I could have done a lot more, don’t you really only need a personal relationship with a couple, in terms of finding internships, having a mentor, job recommendations?
Thinking back to my big business lecture classes, I doubt that the professors really knew hardly any of those students. It happens later, in the upper levels, and in what was in my time was A/B Core, now I Core. Yes, these big lecture classes are very different from the smaller schools with an average class size of say 20, but again, at IU you’ll get those small classes too. So I guess I’m saying what everyone else in this thread is saying!
I was out of state and yes it was worth it, especially compared to the other high ranking business schools.
My kid was pretty set on going to IU, got 2 good scholarships (OOS). Unfortunately felt overwhelmed by the DA day. It was too crowded, we went to another Big 10 DA day and they made the students feel special. Limited to one guest of student. Sat in a ballroom, assigned seats, got to know other DA students, did the tour of the business school then went back to same seats for lunch, felt a connection to other DA students. We felt IU wanted it to seem fun there, with cute videos, a prof singing the fight song,
So in other words they “lied.” Other than Northwestern, Big 10 schools aren’t “small.” Kelley is a mid sized college in and of itself. Lots of students. During the day it is a “zoo” with lots going on.
@yourmomma - agree all Big 10 schools are really big…used to live Columbus, OH and visited the campus many times…much bigger than IU
But, Kelley is the biggest business undergrad program in the country …am sure, even people who knew it is a big program probably were taken aback by so many people! wondering how the Kelley building has space for so many students being there at the same time (let us just say juniors, seniors and some sophomores)…it will be like Grand Central NYC!!!
hope @buyiu88 did not think was lied to…probably was overwhelmed?
My oldest son is a junior @ OSU’s Fisher business school. I also have a son who is a senior in high school who is a direct admit to Kelley and will be attending IU in the fall. I have personally attended Visit Fisher day and Kelley Direct Admit day twice. The direct admit programs are different but both effective. I would say OSU has more Visit Fisher days and has less students at each event as opposed to Kelley’s DA day which brings in very large groups to two weekends. Despite their different approaches, I don’t think the direct admit event settings are indicative of how “small” the school will be once attending. Both business schools and universities in general are very large and require the student to engage to get the most out of it. My oldest son loves Fisher and my senior felt IU was a better fit for him.
thanks for the feedback…is interesting the experiences, my son felt OSU was more chaotic and larger than IU when we visited, and again like you suggest is likely a function on what was going on that particular day…both great schools and options…
One thing to consider about IU is that while it is a large Big “10” school, the campus is relatively compact. The other schools we visited (wisconsin, michigan, illlinois), the campus was all spread out, with a whole other “____ quad.” IU is basically 1 square mile across, with a few buildings on the the outside of the square. Makes it seem much smaller, imo.
@kg2013 and @yourmomma I didn’t mean to imply being lied to, it was just a bit overwhelming with the size of the group and prob as someone above posted that they only have 2 days of DA students so the groups are larger. The school is lovely, Kelley is a fabulous program, it has a very defined program that seems great to me. The entire college app process is overwhelming and I think my son is under stress to decide. IU puts a tremendous amount of $ into their business school, so as a business student it is an excellent option. But as I said to my son, if you want to go to a big 10 you can’t complain that it feels big!
I know I’m late but I was pretty unimpressed as a student who went to Direct Admit Day. IU has a great campus and Bloomington is a fine town, but I mean the event of Direct Admit Day itself. It’s all marketing, and to me very soulless. It seemed to me like the admission staff would rather cast a gill net of generic inspirational music and all that than do something meaningful. Like, I really don’t remember a thing they said. If anything it made me question my choice to apply to colleges as a business major. They seemed most interested in finding you a spot as a cog in one of those huge insurance companies or something, which is very sad to me. I suppose those spots need to be filled, and having a conference where you tell everyone they can transform the world is a bit romantic, but I felt really alienated that day. To me the event was just like “We swear it’s a good school and you’ll make money now put down that deposit.”
In terms of big school, it’s not just about the physical footprint. It’s about how well you will be treated and how well you can navigate for support or anything you might need, especially if things don’t go as planned or as sold to you. That is more of a key feature that a parent and student need to be realistic about. When you have 48,000 students on campus, even simple thing like getting an appt with the CAPS counselors at the health clinic has been a point of concern for some. The bigger school can give someone some valid life lessons to prepare for what’s outside the gates but those who attend need to be realistic about what to expect and if they are go-getter independent enough to get the most out of the experience or deal with problems in that type of setting. Any school has to be able to impress not only when everything is going well, but how well do they respond or assist when things do not go well.
@CEDEotE Interesting observations. My son picked tOSU over Kelley and a few other strong business school options because he felt Fisher would give him a more well rounded experience, to avoid the experience you’re describing.
