I recently got accepted to the Kelley School of Business, but I am waiting on McCombs.
I live in Texas, but I got a generous Dean’s scholarship from Indiana, which will make both schools about the same cost.
I am looking into Finance, and would like to live somewhere on the East or West Coast.
Thoughts, opinions?
What school do you think is well regarded, better professors, etc?
Thanks
Hi!
I am from Houston and am currently a sophomore in the Kelley School of Business at IU. I have many friends who go to UT and are in McCombs, but I can assure you that Kelley is better.
Kelley is recognized across the world. If you want to live on the East coast, you will be better off with Kelley. This is the most amazing and challenging school and we BEAT out McCombs and are now the 4th best business school in the country.
From my experience, people in Texas don’t understand the grandeur and significance of the Kelley School of Business. I always felt weird telling people I was going here because it was “random” to them, but this school is amazing and I do not regret my decision at all.
Additionally, I think it is important to get out of your comfort zone and explore something new to you. By leaving Texas, I have met so many interesting people from all over the world. I know that if I had gone to UT and been in McCombs, I would not have gone beyond my comfort zone and I wouldn’t have been able to achieve the level of greatness that Kelley has helped me achieve.
This school has such an amazing reputation for a reason. It is challenging and WELL worth your time and money. You can look at Kelley statistics on where people end up after graduation, where people are from, average starting salary, and many more things here:
https://kelley.iu.edu/UCSO/Statistics/page19653.html
https://kelley.iu.edu/UCSO/Statistics/ClassProfiles/page41213.html
I highly recommend that you choose Kelley and become a student at one of the greatest universities and study in one of the best programs in the world.
Good luck!
@houstontobtown Convincing! Yes, if I do not get into McCombs, I am definitely going to Kelley. If I get accepted into the ACE program at Kelley, then I might as well just go to Kelley even after getting accepted to McCombs.
@houstontobtown
Are there any advantages you can think about that Kelley has that McCombs doesn’t?
I feel like I’m really going to have to end up picking between both
If you want to live on the East coast Kelley is 100% the better option. A ton of people end up moving to NYC and you will have an easier time getting a job on the East coast (compared to getting an East Coast job after graduating from McCombs) because the alumni base is so strong. Also, they are more familiar with Kelley than McCombs so they understand how great it is and how you must have had an amazing education. Side note- a lot of people end up in Chicago after graduation as well.
I don’t know much about McCombs because I didn’t apply to UT, but Kelley professors are amazing. A ton of them are professionals who already succeeded in life and are teaching for fun which makes them much better professors because they WANT to be here. Kelley has a ton of connections with huge companies (EY, PwC, Deloitte, Macy’s, etc.) that heavily recruit from IU so it is likely that you will end up working for a very prestigious company after graduation. Additionally, Kelley classes do a lot of case competitions with those big companies which gives you real experience and connections with the company (some students are offered internships/jobs just based off of their case competition work). If you do not know what a case competition is, it’s when a company partners with IU students and gives them a real problem they have that they want you to solve. You compete against many teams and go through multiple rounds, so if you end up winning the competition you get money and the company implements your solution. Hard but fun. If they do this at McCombs, I am sure it is not with companies that are heavily East Coast based and probably not with the Big 4 accounting firms.
I strongly suggest that you visit each school. Try to envision yourself not just living there but as a student in Kelley. Life in Kelley is definitely not easy but it is great to work along extremely smart people and to know that you will have an amazing job after graduation. Also, being a Direct Admit is incredible. I did not understand how much of an advantage it was until I saw friends struggling to get into Kelley normally. You are so lucky to be a DA- it will make your life so much easier. Freshman year is full of general education classes like Calculus and Finite (worst math class ever) which are extremely hard for no reason and it is difficult to get good grades in them, so the students trying to get into Kelley struggled because you have to have at least a B in all of your classes. I ended up with a C+ in Calculus and a C in Microeconomics, so being a DA really saved me.
Final thoughts- I did not want to go to IU. I really wanted to go to the University of Southern California and study business there, but I did not get in. I chose IU over my other options because of the status of their business school and I have to say I cannot imagine myself anywhere else but here. Thinking of the time I wanted to go to USC makes me laugh because I love it here so much. Kelley is full of so many bright people and it is such a rewarding feeling to know that you are succeeding along with them.
@houstontobtown Again, extremely convincing. Also, did you live in the KLLC your freshman year? How’s the campus scene? Weather? I love snow and if I do go to IU, I’d love that aspect. Also, do you think it would be easier to excel at IU since the acceptance rate is higher so that must mean there is less competition.
Can’t you just use AP credit to get out of Calculus.
You can’t go wrong with either school. While I don’t put a ton of stock in ratings, you are comparing schools ranked #6 (McCombs) and #9 (Kelley) in the USNWR undergraduate business school ranking which I take to mean that they are basically regarded as equals. I imagine that students/alumni of each program could rightfully tout their school’s strengths.
If you don’t get a direct admit to McCombs then I’d go to Kelley. If you get the direct admit to McCombs then I’d say to visit if possible and then go with your personal preference.
I did not live in the KLLC. Campus is beautiful. Greek life is big but if you’re not involved you will have just as much fun One thing we are missing here are bars we can actually get into underage… lol. It is in the 80s at the beginning of the year which you might think sounds nice but when you walk everywhere it is HOT (obviously not as hot as Austin, though). It started to get cold here about 2 weeks ago. Should start snowing in a few days and I’m very excited about that! Last year we had a mild winter so it wasn’t that cold but who knows how this year will go.
Regarding the acceptance rate, I feel like it doesn’t apply to the Kelley students. The university itself is easy to get into but Kelley is very hard to get into so I would say the competition is higher. That being said, I was scared by the intelligence of my peers at first but this year I have used it more as motivation and I have seen myself excel.
You can get out of classes through AP credits. I got out of English. You will have to take Finite, however. I don’t even know how to explain what it is but it is hard (I took it online over the summer through a local community college).
It seems like every credible site has their own ranking of which business schools they deem the best, but Bloomberg ranked us #4 above McComb’s #6. We have been tied in the past but we surpassed them last school year. http://www.bloomberg.com/features/2016-best-undergrad-business-schools/
Here’s a link to all of the courses you have to take as a business student at IU: https://ud.indiana.edu/files/pdfs/fall_2015_bus_tab_sheet_master_update.pdf
I suggest you start talking to people on Facebook who are planning on going to either school. There are official pages like “Indiana University Class of 2021” and I’m sure UT has the same. That way, you can get to know the types of people you could potentially be classmates with.
@TheAvidSeeker This is actually crazy, because I was in almost the same situation as you a year ago. I’m currently a freshman at IU and I was directly admitted into the Kelley School of Business with a nice out-of-state scholarship from the dean’s office as well. McCombs at UT was also on the table for me. I decided to go to Kelley, even though I was less than excited. I figured I was going to transfer to a city school like UT after my freshman year, so I saved some money going to IU.
This whole year, it had been my goal to transfer. I’m a city guy. I love the hustle and bustle and the liveliness of living in a city. Indiana wasn’t exactly the setting I was looking for. However, in the past week I’ve been reaching out to students in Kelley. They’ve all played a part in convincing me to stay for good.
Already being admitted, you are at an advantage. It is hard to work into Kelley. Many can’t do it. Kelley is so far ahead of anything another business school can offer you. These students I talked to described their experiences. One young woman had an internship in San Francisco after her freshman year. She went on to intern in New York City the following summer. Another man from Brazil recently landed a future job with Under Armour, and he was only a junior. It seemed like all of them (the 15 or so I talked to) had at least one experience working somewhere they wished or had already secured a job after college.
I later asked about the experiences themselves. There were students from other reputable business schools in these intern classes, such as Illinois, Wisconsin, Mendoza (Notre Dame), Ross (Michigan), McCombs, and even Wharton at Penn. The students from Kelley said that they were astonished at how far behind everyone else was in their knowledge and skill sets. It actually wasn’t their being behind; Kelley students are AHEAD. Kelley offers classes that seem like basic skill courses to help with classes down the road. But, every single course at Kelley is directly applicable to the business world right after you learn them. Freshman year we are required to take a Microsoft Office class, a personal branding course, and even a presentation course. Upon hearing more of the internships, no other students had these skills, at least so early. This made them super valuable as interns, and their impact on the businesses were so great that the majority of them were invited back for another round, this time paid.
Experiences like these are what make the Kelley name so renowned throughout the world of Business. Classes are extremely difficult at Kelley, but the students who pull through know how to grind when it comes to real life work. The skills that we learn here are so advanced, that I impress business people when I describe my coursework to them. Kelley is worth commitment if you’re on the fence. I was tentative at first, but I realized I’m exactly where I need to be to accomplish my goals.
If your looking into Finance, the program here is great. Additionally, they don’t necessarily encourage settling on a major early. The advisors here are brilliant, and fit your needs and personality exactly. The school is so flexible, that you have the option to CREATE your own major. That’s right. If they don’t have your field of study here, they know how to bend the course schedule to give you the knowledge to attack that career. You’ll get your custom certification on the diploma as well. I came into the school wanting to study marketing. I have now added Entrepreneurship and Corporate innovation (Mark Cuban went here, so it is a good choice for entrepreneurs) and Spanish. Kelley makes you the best you.
That being said, I hope you choose Kelley. If you find another school, I’m sure they’d be ecstatic to have you. Good luck with your search.
@JNBach2020 You said it all so perfectly. I also want to point out how similar our stories are- D.A., Dean’s Scholarship, city person, didn’t want to go to IU… but it looks like we’ve both fallen in love with the school.
I don’t know if I mentioned this before, but you declare your major after you complete iCore your first semester of Junior year. iCore is supposed to expose you to all aspects of business so you can choose which field you want to be in.
@JNBach2020 @houstontobtown
I know I may get a biased response, but if I got accepted to an ivy league school for Economics, would you guys still say that going to Kelley is a better choice? I guess what I am trying to ask is, how prestigious is Kelley given that the general university is not so high up on the national list? Why would a top 5 undergrad business school have a direct admit if it is so prestigious?
Many business schools, including Wharton and stern (to name only a couple) have direct admits into the program.
But I’d strongly consider the Ivy econ major route if you are willing to go with a liberal arts based curriculum. Spend some time researching - look at the coursework you’d have to take as a business major and an econ major (a good sense of the courses can be found on most school’s websites) and see if you have any strong preference.
houstontobtown:
Only Kelly students would quote Bloomberg’s ranking which puts Wharton way below Kelly, LOL.
I would trust USNEWs ranking much more than Bloomberg’s. An ACT 32 can secure a spot in Kelly, there is no way it can secure a spot in any other top ten business schools. I bet any Wharton students can get into Kelly, not the other way around. The quality of the student body already can tell which school is truly better. So trying to use Bloomberg’s ranking to promote Kelly is laughable.
"There were students from other reputable business schools in these intern classes, such as Illinois, Wisconsin, Mendoza (Notre Dame), Ross (Michigan), McCombs, and even Wharton at Penn. The students from Kelley said that they were astonished at how far behind everyone else was in their knowledge and skill sets. "
Lol