What exactly is difference is there between direct admits to Kelley and people who have to apply for standard admission at Uni Div pre-business? What opportunities do direct admits get that people doing div pre-business do not get? Are there courses that direct admits can take freshman year that standard admits cannot take?
I’ve heard that direct admits are basically the exact same as standard admits other than the fact that they do not have to apply to Kelley later on. Is this true or are there other opportunities that direct admits get that uni div pre-business people do not get? I’m wondering how exactly my experience in uni div pre-business will be different from that of a direct admit.
Please post any info if you know anything, I’m kinda having an anxiety attack rn.
This is not all true. Kelley direct admits don’t have to apply to Kelley, they are already in. Standard admits also have to take all Kelley Pre-Requirements just like Direct Admits but they have to get a B in every class which can be nearly impossible. I could be wrong, but I don’t think you can be a standard admit and take classes like Finite and Macro/Micro at a community college, and those three classes are some of the hardest classes for Kelley kids. Finite is notorious for being one of the hardest classes and most people get a C even if they are really good at math. My roommate took BC Calc and got a 5 on the AP, slaved everyday on finite and got a B-. Because of this hard B requirement for classes, so many standard admit students are always stressed out, and honestly, I cannot say I know a single kid who was standard admit who got into Kelley because of how stressed out they were. If you are not too pressed on getting into Kelley, I would say go for it and be a standard admit, but if you really want to get into Kelley, I wouldn’t go in as a standard.
As someone who was accepted as a standard admit based on my freshman performance in the 2019/2020 school year I can add a lot of insight on this topic. Standard admits and Kelley DA are NOT the same thing, at least your freshman year.
The main difference between Kelley DA and a SA will be in the weight that you hold to each of your individual classes. You will feel a lot more pressure taking the same classes as a DA because of having to apply to bschool in the spring and because you won’t have the added backstop of being able to take a W in a class if things don’t go as planned.
Along with the added pressure felt as a SA you will also have limited resources compared to a DA. When I say limited resources I don’t mean literally in terms of tutors or anything like that but the network of people at Kelley that I didn’t really feel apart of my freshman year that supplies a lot of extremely useful insider information that will be extremely beneficial to you when/if you are accepted. In my case, I was a student interested in finance and expressed that to my advisor (you get a general advisor instead of a Kelley advisor as a SA who probably thinks you won’t get into Kelley. This switches sophomore year if you get in) and he failed to mention the assortment of workshops in Kelley that I had no previous knowledge of (yes maybe I should have been aware beforehand but cmon that’s the mans job). This has caused me to have to play catchup going into my sophomore year to get more exposure to the field of study that I’m interested in.
Overall those are my main concerns with the SA program. In terms of workload, I didn’t think it was that bad (I came from an extremely competitive public HS didn’t apply myself so I’m playing catchup). Yes the classes can be relatively time-consuming but getting a 3.8 gpa and a 30 act in HS also seems pretty time consuming so I am context with this trade-off. I didn’t need to go to office hours one-time last semester… As long as you actually apply yourself you will get in, don’t let the internet steer you away if Kelley and business align with your dreams and goals.
My understanding is that SA is not a sure shot into Kelley. There are are stringent GPA requirements you need to meet to make into Kelley.