IU Kelley vs UMD Smith - Thoughts?

Hi,

I’ll be posting this in the UMD discussion thread too. What are your guys’ thoughts on IU Kelley vs UMD Smith?

Here’s some background
IU Kelley:

  • Direct Admit
    -$11k Dean’s Scholarship (applying for more)

UMD Smith:

  • In state
  • Did not get into business school, got spring admission so would have to do freshman connection

Both are fantastic schools but I worry about if IU is worth it. Even after scholarship, it’s still $11k more expensive ($37k vs $26k). I am also applying to SSA but it isn’t a guarantee I’ll get more money. With UMD, I didn’t get into Smith and although I think I would get standard admit (I am extremely business oriented with practical business application majority of students don’t have), I’m not sure.

After college, I’d like to live in the D.C. - Maryland area. I am most likely majoring in some combination of entrepreneurship/corporate innovation, marketing, and information systems.

Please give me thoughts on what I should do - thank you!!

First of all, congrats on your stats - they have to be good to get what you got at IU.

I am not familiar with Maryland’s admissions process to the business school at all. If it would be very easy for you to get into Maryland’s business school, I would definitely go there. Both schools are very good and Maryland is probably better if you want to work in DC/Maryland. In my opinion, direct admission is the only advantage Kelley has for you. Obviously, this is your decision to make, but I can’t tell you what I would do without knowing your chances of getting into Smith.

In general, I think that if you are sure you want to study business that having a direct admit to a b-school program is a huge plus.

The questions you should ask are:
– Is IU Kelly comfortably affordable for your family? If so, I’d probably chose that, go the the guaranteed admit to a very well regarded b-school, and start in the fall with the other incoming freshmen.
– If cost is an issue and you want to still consider UMD I’d ask: 1) what are the odds of getting into the b-school, what steps have to be taken to apply to the b-school etc. and 2) would spring admission negatively impact my college experience and/or my chance to get into the b-school.

I’ve heard IU is better for Chicago and NYC (I’m okay with NYC but prefer DMV area). Although, a few have told me alumni connections are opening up in this area. What also worries me is even if UMD is clearly linked to DC, we have many highly ranked competitive schools so job market will be tough.

@happy1 I haven’t checked stats for getting into the b-school, thank you!!