IU Kelley vs UIUC Gies

College Search & Selection
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My daughter has been directly admitted to Kelley school of business at IU and also accepted at Gies college of business at UIUC. We visited both schools and she loves Kelley. We live in IL so the cost difference is considerable.

She was offered a $9k per year scholarship at Kelley (does everyone get this as a direct admit?) and an invitation to the SSA (I can’t seem to get a clear answer from IU on what this award amount could be). She will be financing most of her college through loans (not eligible for grants) and Kelley is out of state tuition so considerably more than Gies.

Kelley really wowed us and the campus is beautiful. Gies visit was underwhelming compared to Kelley visit and is a much smaller business school (which I can’t decide if that’s better? Less alumni in companies but maybe less competition for opportunities within Gies?) She’s been so focused on going to Kelley that admittedly we do not know as much about Gies yet. Do undergrads from Kelley land higher paying jobs right out of school than Gies? Could anyone share the advantages/disadvantages that Kelley has compared to Gies?

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What discipline - if for example, it’s accounting, Illinios is top notch.

When you do the SSA with Indiana, you can (not will) get more. It’s tough because you have to get more recommendations - vs. why won’t they just use the recs into the Common App.

Both are fine schools. Jobs are typically going to pay based on where they are, not necessarily where you go - and the difference between these schools is discernible. Yes, Kelley is big and will have more recruiting but as you said more kids. Example - my son goes to Alabama and interned with Ga Tech kids last summer - same salary. When I got my MBA, I turned down IU for ASU - I started with a UCLA and Dartmouth MBA - same salary.

I would boil it down to:

  1. Where you can afford - that always matters. Sounds like UIUC.

  2. Where you feel best - sounds like IU - you want to be “happy”.

Only you can decide is it worth spending - I don’t know the difference. But I did a little work.

I did a little math - I put business undeclared into UIUC (in state) - and total COA came to $19,300 - so near $39K.

Indiana will be $30K tuition with $9K off - so will it be much more??

UIUC is known to be pricey for in-state.

I would dig to the major and feel - and maybe you’ll get some SSA money.

Good luck.

Tuition, Undergraduate Admissions, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Gies College of Business | University of Illinois Business College

3

This is partially unrelated but your daughter will likely get more from IU from filling out the SSA––I believe Hutton Honors Scholarships range from 1-3k. They should come out with those soon…at the latest it would be the end of the month.

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Need the actual numbers in order to make any recommendation.

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I agree that we need the bottom line net COA comparison as it stands now, before any SSA $.

The two schools are ranked similarly by poets and quants with similar outcomes. I agree IU campus shows better, and I am pretty sure @tsbna44 agrees with that :wink:

Regarding loans, your D will only be able to take out $27k in total over the 4 undergrad years ($5.5k year one, then $6.5/$7.5/$7.5). Any loans above that will be on the parents, either directly or as a co-signer. Does she have any more affordable acceptances?

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Not to go there because everyone gets mad - but the last few commenters that talked about UIUC for engineering and business - doesn’t show well, under resourced - I’m not wrong :slight_smile:

But in fairness to UIUC - it’s a fine school.

Your point on outcomes is interesting - because few overall are going into I Banking or Consulting, etc. and most - if you want to look at an association - most Big 10 schools are going to have similar outcomes - with maybe the exception of Northwestern and Michigan - but if you take out the I Bankers and Consultants - you’d likely find similar.

And similar to ASU and CU and any number of national schools.

Everyone is worried about the “top ranked” but 90% of people aren’t in those top jobs and will work with people from all sorts of well known schools, regional schools, and even tiny private schools they never heard of…similar to the jobs I’ve always had (just regular corporate sales, marketing, and product management jobs).

In the end, it could be that UIUC and IU have a negligible price difference - especially after the SSA monies come (if they come) - the fact that OP is giddy for IU and not UIUC tells me, short of just not being able to afford it, there’s a much better chance of success for the student by going to IU. After all, you need to spend four years there, day after day after day.

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Has your daughter made her decision yet? If not, can you share her aspirations for both her college experience and post-graduation plans?

Both of my kids graduated with degrees from Gies and I could share some points your daughter may not have considered yet.

8

Hi, could you please share their/your experience and recommendations?

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I’d be happy to share our experience, though I’m unsure what would be of interest/helpful to you.

I’ll start with a brief introduction. I’m a mom of two UIUC Gies graduates…my DD graduated in 2017, my DS in 2019. DD graduated with a double major of finance and supply chain management. DS graduated with a double major of finance and accounting, a Hoeft Technology and Management minor and studied/passed the CPA exams.

Both (like a lot of their friends) had full-time job offers the fall semester of their senior year. DD got a job with a Big 3 Consulting firm based in Chicago. She is currently a full-time MBA student at an M7 business school and will be returning to her firm after graduation. DS got a job based in Chicago with a global consulting firm.

Now, having kids who graduated almost 5 and 3 yrs ago, my knowledge about admissions is a little dated. However, I can say with confidence that both DD and DS are very happy they chose UIUC Gies.

My kids didn’t have a specific goal in mind when they were freshman. All they knew was that they needed to apply themselves so they could be self-supporting upon graduation. We stressed “hitting the ground running” and building useful skills. Both were good students in high school so I assume they weren’t very nervous about academics.

Lower level classes are typically larger than the upper level ones, so hopefully a student comes prepared and is disciplined enough to prioritize for success. Fortunately my kids’ high school prepped them well - attend classes, do all the assignments, work and study without a lot of procrastination.

Extra curricular activities are abundant, but a student must show some initiative. A lot of the ECs have some sort of selective application/interview process, as I would believe most colleges do. At UIUC/Gies there are a lot of opportunities and the competition among business students seems fair/comfortable in my opinion compared to a school like IU.

Both of my kids were very involved in their (co-ed) business frats. I strongly recommend trying to join one first semester. I believe both kids learned just as much from that as they did their classes. It also helped them form friendships with both older and younger people. However I would encourage your son or daughter to seek out something that interests them…whether it’s business related or not.

It helps to keep in mind that your DS or DD will need to build their resume. Many business students depend on summer internships, especially the one between junior and senior yr…and that one is usually acquired fall of junior yr. That translates to some fairly hard work the first 2 yrs…don’t waste a single semester. Getting a strong GPA and possibly some meaningful leadership experience is definitely doable but it takes focus and work.

Sorry, I feel like I’m rambling so I’ll just finish with my opinion that Gies is a wonderful college of business that seems more collaborative than competitive and provides a nice balance between academics and ECs. Feel free to ask me questions.

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10

I thought of one more thing…study abroad. I know Covid messed with a lot of study abroad plans, however who knows where we’ll be in a couple of years.

Studying abroad for a semester was a high priority for my kids. (FYI Both of my kids went abroad to Europe during the spring semester of sophomore year.) When comparing the study abroad programs between Kelley and Gies, we found Gies to be superior for what we desired. It was confirmed as my kids made friends with some Kelley kids while abroad.

So if study abroad is important to your DS/DD I would compare the programs, as well as their practical implementation. Be mindful that what your kid wants may not sync up with what can be done. This is one area where Kelley’s size probably would’ve been detrimental to my kids’ goals.

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We are in the same predicament but my daughter is wanting to go to UIUC. She was on the waitlist for DA to Kelley and just received admissions last week. She set her mind prior to knowing for sure even though Kelley was a first choice initially, because she didn’t want to wait so last minute. I’d say egotistically she thought if they didn’t want her initially then go with who does. UIUC is closer and cheaper even though they didn’t give her any merit money and IU did. Just looking for more experiences and specifically about majors in Marketing and Information Systems with maybe a minor in Computer Science or the Hoeft minor. She also wants to study abroad so sounds like UIUC is good with fitting that in. Was there any issue with studying abroad and getting classes done for Hoeft? Did your son have to take summer classes? Did he finish in four years?