<p>Is Kelley a solid school for finance, especially if I want to get into Investment Banking? Also does the school have a good feel to it? I'm a junior now and I'm considering applying here.</p>
<p>If you’re thinking about I-Banking, Kelley has a great program called the Investment Banking Network ([The</a> Investment Banking Network at Indiana University: Index](<a href=“http://www.kelley.iu.edu/ibn]The”>http://www.kelley.iu.edu/ibn)) which includes the I-banking workshop and the investment management workshop. I know the i-banking workshop has had near perfect job placement the past few years. This year of course is an exception. Nonetheless, the i-banking workshop has talented students and banks such as Goldman, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, and boutiques recruit from IU. </p>
<p>One thing to keep in mind though is the workshop is competitive and i-banking is not for everyone. However, the workshop provides great opportunities for students who want to do it. The workshop is a 2 year program(jr. and sr., you apply in 1st semester jr. year). Furthermore, there’s an intro to investment banking class you can take during your sophomore year to see if that’s the career path you want to go. </p>
<p>On another note, Finance is pretty solid at Kelley as well. Currently, it’s the most popular major in Kelley and many students double major in accounting with finance.</p>
<p>IU’s Kelley School has usually ranked about 7th on USNW’s list of top undergraduate finance programs. The only schools that generally get ranked higher are Wharton (Penn), Virginia, Stern (NYU), Carnegie Mellon, Michigan, and MIT. Other than those, Indiana’s undergraduate finance program is the next best in the whole country (pretty good, huh?)</p>
<p>"If you’re thinking about I-Banking, Kelley has a great program called the Investment Banking Network (The Investment Banking Network at Indiana University: Index) which includes the I-banking workshop and the investment management workshop. I know the i-banking workshop has had near perfect job placement the past few years. This year of course is an exception. Nonetheless, the i-banking workshop has talented students and banks such as Goldman, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, and boutiques recruit from IU.</p>
<p>One thing to keep in mind though is the workshop is competitive and i-banking is not for everyone. However, the workshop provides great opportunities for students who want to do it. The workshop is a 2 year program(jr. and sr., you apply in 1st semester jr. year). Furthermore, there’s an intro to investment banking class you can take during your sophomore year to see if that’s the career path you want to go.</p>
<p>On another note, Finance is pretty solid at Kelley as well. Currently, it’s the most popular major in Kelley and many students double major in accounting with finance."</p>
<p>Thanks, that sounds pretty impressive actually.</p>
<p>All,</p>
<p>I understand that a 3.5 GPA and an interview are required to get into these workshops. The GPA part is clear. However, the interview part may be subjective. Are there many students with 3.5+ GPA get rejected? </p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>I believe there is slightly under a 50% acceptance rate. It is important to do well in your accounting classes and economics classes before applying (I know somebody who had a 3.85 GPA but got B’s in accounting and was rejected). Getting an A-/A in F228 would help your application as well.</p>
<p>Also, the interview is pretty important; it is supposed to mimic a typical (but condensed) investment banking interview (technical and fit questions).</p>
<p>I plan on applying to the workshop this fall, so I will know more then.</p>
<p>maxellis and All,</p>
<p>Thanks. But, that is scary. I do not know how difficult it is for this accounting course. Could there be other hidden criteria? I can understand that perhaps a student with 3.85 GPA and a C in accounting would cost him/her the career opportunity. It sounds like it is much more challenging (with only one shot) than the medical school admission since a medical school applicant gets opportunities to be reviewed by multiple medical schools. Would similarly ranked business programs (widely compared on this forum) have comparable criteria for students aiming for i-B? This could become a critical decision factor for incoming students aiming for i-B to consider! Does this student with 3.85 GPA have a second chance for the workshop? What is the chance for this student to be recruited by an i-B company w/o the workshop training?</p>
<p>No, there is only one shot to get in the Investment Banking Workshop. While getting a B may not look to good when applying, I have heard from numerous workshop members that the critical factor to get in the workshop is the interview, and whether he thinks he can place you in a bank. If you don’t get in the workshop your junior year you are allowed to apply for the Investment Banking Seminar your senior year. Anyone can get in the Seminar as long as you maintain above a 3.5 GPA. In previous years, seminar members were placed in Bear Stearns (they heavily recruited), nowadays, I would assume a few seminar members get placed in boutiques or middle market firms, placement is obviously not as good as workshop members. Without workshop or seminar training, or not previous industry connections, you have a slim chance in breaking into the industry.</p>
<p>I think Purdue would be the best choice because then you wouldn’t have to go to IU.</p>
<p>I think you are just upset because Purdon’t has a bad business school.</p>
<p>Purdue has a great business school, I think you are bitter that IU doesn’t even have an engineering school, let alone one ranked in the top 10.</p>
<p>All,</p>
<p>Please do not fight especially between IU and Purdue. Both are precious for Indiana. I am an Indiana resident and trying to find out if Kelley would be the best for my youngest son who is a freshmen in HS. I thought that I am 95% sure about IU for him until I learn about that one interview could change his career path (even with a very good GPA). This is very disturbing. I will need to dig a little more into this. In the meantime, any info would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>This is not even your thread, I will bicker as much as I feel necessary.</p>
<p>Your son is a freshman in HS? Isn’t that a bit early to consider i-banking? I understand if he’s interested, but he’s still a wee bit away from those kinds of decisions.</p>
<p>When I was a freshman in high school, I didn’t even know I’d up at IU.</p>
<p>Gpa is no doubt important, but if you look at the resumes of nearly every person who gets into the IBW, the vast majority have investment banking summer internships the summer after their sophomore year or even in the summer after their freshman year. This is no easy thing for an instate student to do, unless they are live in NW Indiana and can get a summer internship in Chicago. Many of the students in the workshop live in the NYC area and get internships through connections there, or live in suburban Chicago and work in investment banking firms there in the summer.</p>
<p>The big exception to having the summer internship prior to acceptance in IBW is overseas study. In fact, if you look at where students are from, you will see that many Indiana students had no summer internship but studied abroad their rising junior summer, and usually in London at the London School of Economics. This happens over and over.</p>
<p>So I think it is not realistic at all to expect that a high gpa alone will get you accepted into IBW. It probably won’t be nearly enough. Check the resumes and you will see many sub 3.7 gpa’s (in other words, gpa’s that won’t even get you into Kelley honors) among the members, but that they will nearly all have had ib summer internships or overseas study in econ/finance in London. The exceptions to not having an ib summer internship or London study will usually be people with really outstanding gpa’s, like 3.85+ that are also active in ib clubs at IU.
[The</a> Investment Banking Network at Indiana University: IBA Index](<a href=“http://www.kelley.iu.edu/ibn/IBW/workshop.cfm]The”>The Investment Banking Network at Indiana University)</p>
<p>mactonycw, bthomp1, and All, </p>
<p>Thanks for the valid questions and the helpful insight. My youngest son has the benefit of tagging along with his older brothers. He has started reading The Economist earlier this year and also the posts in CC. It seemed a little early until I clicked on the names of the IBW students in the link to glance at some of the resumes (I did not realize that IU would make students’ resumes open to the public until I read bthomp1’s post). I noticed that most of them were high achievers in their HS years. I would believe that they probably started early. Involvement in the business clubs is a must. Getting an internship after freshmen year is not likely w/o connections. (Would IBW’s success somewhat inflated since some of the members had prior connections anyway?) Studying abroad is definitely a possibility after sophomore year if internship is not possible. Would doing research with a professor be an acceptable substitute to work experience? </p>
<p>What would be the success rate of getting into IBW for a student with a GPA of 3.85 and all of these credentials? Would he or she still get rejected after the interview? I am afraid that the answer is still yes. If that is true, I would certainly hope that all students aiming for IB understand the risk of not being admitted into IBW at Kelley possibly due to the interview. One’s career may be impacted by it. I’m not sure about you but I think that is scary.</p>
<p>A 3.85 GPA and having all those extra-curricular still don’t guarantee a spot in the workshop. You have to understand that he basis his decisions on whether or not he thinks HE can place you in IB. There is no sure “resume” or profile. Of course applicants know of the risk of being rejected from the workshop, but its a risk many are willing to take. Not getting in doesn’t mean the end of the world, the investment banking seminar still places students in reputable banks. In the end if your SON and not you wants the job bad enough, I’m sure he could get it, with or without the help of the workshop. Persistence is key.</p>
<p>There were a handful of students that placed into i-banking jobs who weren’t in the workshop. Also, the placement is probably not inflated (only a couple of the people in the workshop had prior experiences in investment banking before applying). I have gotten the impression he looks for people who are dedicated to breaking into the industry. If you can’t land an investment banking internship the summer after sophomore year, it is relatively easy to land a PWM internship that summer (however it may or may not be paid), and that would still look good on your application.</p>
<p>Thank you all for the helpful discussion and insight. I did go through 2011 members’ resumes in more details. Here is a summary:</p>
<p>1) Average GPA: 3.81 with stdev of 0.139
2) IS students ~ 6 ; OOS students ~ 23
3) One Kelley scholar, one Cox research scholar, one varsity member (football)
4) SAT - unfortunately, not listed.
5) Study abroad - about 10. As pointed out by bthomp1 that if one’s GPA is really high, this may be sufficient. My colleague spent almost $10K on his daughter the past summer.
6) Special Awards - 10 related to case studies, Kelley 500, case competition, etc. Very difficult I think.
7) Internship - 10 in various foreign companies, around Chicago or the East Coast, as stated by bthomp1 with even a few starting right after their HS senior year(2007 summer)!!! I doubt many could do it w/o prior connections.
8) Activities - various
9) One MBA and one with Economics major</p>
<p>Overall, it is extremely impressive. These are the students who would be successful regardless where they went for UG. I am not sure if IBW helped them or they helped IBW. But, I am no longer sorry for the student with 3.85 since it is about average. I do hope that there were no rejected applicants with 3.95 GPA (+1 stdev) and adequate EC’s. If there were, they could try for a 175 in LSAT and have a shot at HLS.</p>
<p>maxellis, Good luck!</p>
<p>I am hoping to study abroad the summer between junior and senior year. Would that interfere with participation in the IBW?</p>