Should I attend Direct Admit Weekend for Kelley?

@JerseDad We are attending the February 2-3 weekend and are staying till Sunday morning. Our initial visit to IU last August was about 24 hours and my daughter felt it was rushed and not enough to really get a feel for the place. It is a big sprawling campus! She requested a little more time on this visit so she could see a bit more of the area surrounding the campus and get a better look at the housing neighborhoods. We will fly home just in time to plop on the couch to catch the Superbowl.

Not just the campus, but hit the town as well. Even head out to the mall if time permits.

@yourmomma Yes! We are going to squeeze in all we can. Staying on Kirkwood so we can wander and have a car rental. Maybe not the mall? :-? My D likes to shop. I might let her find that on her own if she chooses to attend…

Reporting from Kelley Direct admit weekend here at IU. It has been a terrific and impressive event. They are very polished and confident in their product, but also warm and engaging with opportunities to speak with faculty, administration and current students. If anyone is attending next weekend, I hope you enjoy it as much as we did. We have seen more of Bloomington, exploring some shops and restaurants. The Hyatt Place, where we are staying, is well located and and comfortable.

We visited with a family friend who is a first year and pre-business. We first visited her last August when we were doing a quick tour. At that time she was finishing her first week of classes and was wide-eyed and unsure. Today she was full of stories of classes, professors and successes on exams, tips on great places to study, and surviving rush and pledging a sorority. She confidently directed us to a favorite spot for lunch. She was a joy to be with and we are so grateful for the opportunity to see IU through her eyes.

The combination of the program we attended today and the charming and relatable “ambassador” for IU is moving the needle in IU’s favor for my D. I will be interested to see how she feels after digesting this visit. My H and DD are now at the IU vs Mich State basketball game, checking out the Big 10 spirit.

Man it looked like a great game to be at, even thought the result wasn’t great.

So do you have any details on the Direct admit presentations? We are headed down next week. May or may not make the Friday night reception depending on arrival. What is can’t miss and what is a pass?

@yourmomma Friday night was mostly a reception with a very great opening talk given by the Dean of Kelley. She tells her story and starts the conversation about “why choose Kelley”. The reception is held in an interesting space that is on one side of the football stadium, we enjoyed seeing the space. We went to the 8pm reception and there was sweets and beverages provided. During the first half hour, there was an opportunity to mingle with other families, as well as faculty available at different spots throughout the room to chat with. There were representatives from most majors-accounting, marketing, international business, finance etc. They were also circulating and introducing themselves. This was a smaller event as three are offered Friday evening, so easier to chat with Kelley admins and faculty than on Saturday, but the main event is really the Saturday program.

Saturday they had rolls, muffins, fruit and beverages available during the check in time and some more mingling time with the large group of attendees, followed by a series of speakers in the auditorium. This included the Dean, faculty members, moderated panels with former students now in the work field, and currents students. The admitted students are pulled out after the first part of the morning and attend a group session on various subjects and do a mini case study in even smaller groups. They rejoin in the auditorium for the last part of program. When it is over, they have shuttle buses to take groups on tours of either hodge hall, a camps tour or a tour of the Kelley LLC. I think you can do as many as you like or none. If you have been on a tour of campus before, you can miss that. There is a new building open behind Hodge Hall that you may have not seen. We did the LLC tour for the opportunity to see McNutt dorm andmore of the Northwest neighborhood. Friendly students running the tours. We saw an actual student room in KLLC, not a model, which we always appreciate. We then had lunch with the student we already knew there and shopped around on Kirkwood.

My kid loved the basketball game and watching the student section. My husband ate an enormous hot dog. We took uber around to events mostly as it was a cold weekend and easier than driving. Have a great time! Feel free to PM me if you have any more questions or want to debrief after your weekend.