Kelley v. Ross v. McIntire

My S accepted direct admit to Kelley and also accepted into Ace program as a freshman. OOS and received sizable merit scholarships from IU and Hutton (1/2 of tuition). Was accepted into Michigan and Virginia but won’t receive any merit or financial aid from either school. Was denied preferred-admit to Ross, having difficult decision which school to attend this fall. Know they are all great schools but wondering which is best for future career in finance. Tuition/expenses is a consideration but not as important as reputation of biz school and career goals.

Given that your son is not only a direct admit into Kelley, but also into the ACE program which will lead into Kelley Business Honors, I think it would be wise to go with Kelley than to take a chance with Ross next year. Both are excellent programs, but given the cost difference and having the certainty of being accepted into Kelley and the Honors program, I would pick IU

@college516- my DS has same options as yours- IU, Kelley direct, ACE, merit $ etc, but also accepted direct to Ross. Finances are definitely an issue for us- we are not eligible for any financial aid, but have to stick to a budget. I believe DS will get a great education at any of the schools but the opportunities and cost effectiveness at IU may make it hard to beat.

My S has a similar choice to make- IU, Kelley direct, ACE, merit $ etc, but also accepted direct to Mendoza at ND which would be significantly more expensive. If he had not been invited to the ACE program, it would probably be a tougher choice. Unless we get a big surprise in ND’s financial aid package, he is most likely headed to IU in the fall.

Problem with UVA in your case is it is very expensive oos and application to McIntire is not until before third year with about a 50% acceptance rate (Here is an article from two years ago http://www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2014/03/commerce-school-admissions-2015) - there is definitely no guarantees. On the other hand, it is an absolutely amazing school but if you can’t afford it, it is definitely not worth it. Good luck with your choices but sounds like Kelley is your best one.

Here is this year’s McIntire acceptance article… http://www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2016/03/mcintire-releases-admissions-decisions

Thanks all for your input, have heard that Kelley places the vast majority of its grads in the Chicago area and generally the Midwest. Is this true? We are from the Northeast and believe my son wants to return to the East Coast-should this be considered if my son choose Kelley?

@college516 You can get a job anywhere after graduating Kelley. There are just a lot of students from Chicago and Indiana, so Chicago and Indianapolis are logically going to be the places where most of the grads go.

Info below is from the 2015 annual report for Kelley which I’ve linked below.

The greatest concentration of hires (69%) was in the Midwestern states of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Missouri, Iowa, and Nebraska.The top states were Illinois (38%), Indiana (18%), New York (10%), California (4%), and Ohio (4%). The most popular city was Chicago, followed by Indianapolis, New York City,
and Minneapolis.

http://kelley.iu.edu/UCSO/files/2015%20Annual%20Report-ONLINE.pdf

Obviously a greater number of people attending Kelley are from the Midwest and contributes to a greater placement in Chicago. I can’t speak to whether the 10% figure for New York is good or bad because we don’t know how many people wanted to be placed into New York.