What are some good strategies for having the best chance of being admitted into Kelley honors as a non-ACE DA student?
Don’t take too many credits / too hard of a schedule. You can take harder classes sophomore year after Business Honors admission period is over. There is no way to avoid all difficult classes, but don’t take 18 credits of all ICORE prereqs one semester. They would rather see a higher GPA and fewer credits than a lower GPA and entirely business classes / tons of credits.
Get involved on campus because that is taken into consideration as well.
My daughter is non-Ace, DA. She was a freshman last year and she has been admitted to honors. She got very involved in activities she was excited about. She joined many groups early on to see what she liked and then dropped some as the year progressed. She was her floor’s rep, she peer tutored K201 (or k204, I’m not sure which), she worked 13 hours/week, she chaired something related to Kelley (i don’t remember what she told me it was, sorry, she was so involved in things, I couldn’t keep track). Most of all, though, because she loves IU sports so much, she got involved in the Student Athletic Board. She was a chairperson, so she got to spend the night outside of Assembly Hall with other chairs before the start of basketball season, she mopped the floors at games, so she got in free, she attended more sporting events last year than anyone at IU except for two others and won an iPad for that. Next year she will be a director of SAB. She did take mostly icore prerequisites for her classes, 6 classes each semester, and got a 4.0. So, bottom line, I would say find something you really love and get very involved in that.
I got in Kelley as a Standard Admit and into the honors program this year. If you want to get into the honors program you should join 2-3 clubs during your first semester and get 2-3 leadership positions by second semester. Furthermore, you must maintain a 3.7+ GPA. Most of my friends who didn’t get into the program, had higher GPA than me but had only one or none leadership positions. Make that a priority because they want to see your leadership potential. Lastly, I would advise you to plan how you are going to get involved on campus and be confident in your abilities.
A wise man once said- “Failing to plan, is planning to fail”. Always remember that.
@salami809 what kinds of leadership opportunities are available to freshman? Are there any clubs/activities that Kelley seems to prefer? What kinds of things can freshman get involved with?
Leadership spots are plentiful in just about every club/org regardless of class standing. It is up to you to step up and lead. You’ll be amazed how many people won’t due to fear or apathy. I get the impression that Kelley favors roles that actually require work or are elected.
Easy things to get involved in right off the bat for freshmen are RHA (student government for dorms) and special interest clubs. The RHA President or building manager for your dorm will likely stop by and meet you during welcone week, so ask to help. They’ll definitely take you up on it. Clubs always need people to lead and take over roles vacated every year by upperclassmen.
It’s really not too hard to get involved, but does separate the leaders from the herd. That’s why Kelley Honors places such importance on leadership.
@Briarcliff4 At the start of the fall there are clubs and student organization fairs. Go to the fair and write down 3-4 clubs you found most interesting. Most of the clubs offer leadership positions to freshman, however, make sure you ask before you join any club.
I’ve actually talked to the Honors adviser a couple of days ago and we happened to talk about this year’s application process. And here’s my two cent.
Apparently they had 367 applicants this year, so beside the typical good GPA and leadership positions, they had to look at professor recommendations and interviews more closely than before to select people for this year’s program. Many of the applicants qualified for the GPA requirement and were in a lot of leadership positions, but their professor’s recommendations were not great. The advisor told me about how they would ask a professor (and it was also a C104 prof) about a certain student who was definitely a strong candidate in terms of GPA and leadership positions, but the professor had no memory of the student.
As for the interviews, my advisor told me that the real decision makers were the senior honors student. They would tell the senior students to ask themselves one question about every applicant: would they want to work with this person in honors i-core? And a lot of the applicants forget that this is a group interview, so it is not just about personal qualities, but the ability to work well in groups too.
Honestly, I think it will only get harder and harder to get accepted into the program as Kelley gets more prestigious and attracts even more ambitious students to the honors program. So future applicants will really have to be a lot more well rounded than just having good GPAs and leadership positions, but also having to make sure that the professors have a good enough impression of them to write them stunning recommendations; and also be able to demonstrate group work quality well during the interviews.
In conclusion:
GPA: 3.7+ (3.8+ would be even better)
Extracurricular: floor government, club leaders (something you actually enjoy), part-time jobs, peer tutor…etc.
Recommendation Letters: Make sure your C104/106 and K201/204 profs like you. Get involved with them, such as asking them lots of questions, and give them a good impression that you are a hard working student (even if you only have a B in the class). As for the supervisor’s recommendation, just make sure you don’t do a poor job at your job, whether it’s tutoring or a part-time job.
Interview: Don’t forget it’s a group interview, so stand out to the interviewers in a way that showcases your group work qualities; and make the seniors want to work with you in honors i-core.
Essays: Write interesting topics, don’t give a cliched answer (but I think this part is really not that important IMO)
Sorry for the long post. But this is just my experience and what I’ve heard from the advisors. Hopefully this will help the future applicants.
PS. Sorry for my English. I am an international student, so writing is really not my strongest suit
A few thoughts:
C104/106 is an extremely interactive, small class. You speak in front of the class almost every single day and work individually with the professor to improve. People’s C104/6 professors still recognize them as seniors. If a professor said they didn’t recognize a student who just took the class that year, I would have concerns about how involved that student is in his/her education. K201/204 on the other hand is basically a lecture class where it’s much more challenging to have professor interaction. I would recommend focusing on C104/106.
Group interviews: I was a senior evaluator this year. I won’t speak to the interviews specifically, but for group interviews in general keep in mind that you don’t want to the person dominating the conversation nor the person who says nothing. My impression is that the group interviews are more about identifying the extremes in terms of people who really can’t effectively work in groups rather than distinguishing people in the middle. As long as you don’t perform poorly, I can’t see them really being a large factor in the selection process. I did some people perform very poorly though.
Something else: Some student organizations are better than others. Get involved in the good ones immediately in the Fall semester. Talk to older students about what are good ones to join. Social Fraternities can be good if that’s your thing, but only if you can demonstrate how you contributed above and beyond the average Brother. If Business Fraternities are of more interest to you then the same thing applies. The reason I believe in both business and social fraternities/sororities is that they give you defined group of students who can help you get ahead. But if you’re not contributing to them then the value certainly diminishes.
There are other strong organizations, you just have to find them.
I definitely agree with @hkem123 and I apologize for exaggerating on the “professors having no memory of a student” part. What I meant was don’t be a “just another student in the class” and try to interact more with the professors, instead of just doing the routine class work. While I understand that K201/4 classes are typically large and is more challenging to interact with the professors, I still think it’s possible. Just ask a lot of questions on the side or something. Having another good recommendation certainly wouldn’t hurt. I mean, even sending them an e-mail after you apply to the program will help them remember you better.
And thank you @hkem123 for providing a better insight on the interview process. I could only speculate based on what my advisor told me.