Kelley is ranked higher than Wisconsin but both are top 20 (Kelley is 11. Wisconsin is 15)
In same situation and leaning towards Wisconsin. HS guidance counselor put it in perspective for me by saying that outside of Kelley, the university is not the same caliber as Wisconsin and Iâd be in classes with students who coasted their way through high school in any non-business classes. The overall rigor and reputation of Indiana is not up to par with Wisconsin. Kelley is a big business brand- with some better overall national recognition- but it is also a big business factory. Big decisions.
I think you both should go to the school where you feel like youâd be most at home. Youâre not deciding between Harvard and your local community college. IU and Wisconsin are both good schools and both have good business schools. Youâre going to be surrounded by students of all types at either of these schools. College is what you make of it. Plenty of opportunities to excel at either school! Good luck!
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Thank you for your kind words-
Itâs difficult to choose the school where Iâd feel most at home due to COVID and travel restrictions preventing visiting campuses. Unfortunately, Iâll be making a blind decision, I have to go by information and gut instinct.
I completely disagree with you that IU students have âcoasted their way through high schoolâ outside of the school of business.
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That was the opinion of guidance counselor that compared me to other students from my OOS high school that attend IU -not Kelley. I have taken 10APâs through high school and was told that most OOS students at IU- coming from my high school do not have that rigor of honors or AP courses on their transcripts.
There is a big difference between taking less AP classes than another student vs âcoasting through high schoolâ. It is really insulting to the kids who go to IU non-business to make such blanket statements based on such a small sample size. Iâd also question the integrity of any college counselor who so openly discusses kids transcripts with other students when thatâs such easily identifying information.
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@skkm0906 I couldnât agree more! You said exactly what I was thinking.
If not for Kelley donât go to IU but otherwise Kelley over Wisconsin Business. You WILL absolutely get a job from Kelley as it has a national reputation. Taking some gened classes with other students is not a big deal at all. Afterall, youâll be doing the same at UW also. Reputation wise in the Midwest IU business far exceeds UW. UIUC as well. Also UW is known as a huge party school. For the $ go to Kelley.
This site is a forum for discussion. My comments were not meant to insult you or anyone else. I am interested in both schools, applied to them and am still considering both. But, with that being said, taking in and digesting all of the information to make an informed decision regarding both schools. My high school guidance counselor compared me to other student profiles of students at my school that are headed to IU. He also compared me to those headed to Ivy leagues and told me I wasnât in that cohort. I apologize if my comments were insulting or misconstrued in any way.
Yeah no kidding! I know plenty of top kids that go to IU for Kelley Honors or other programs there that are top students OOS for various reasons. Some could be financial or the merit they received and they all love it. Many go because itâs a better fit.
Not your fault but your schoolâs GC has no business discussing any other student with you and If I were a parent at that school and found out that someone was discussing that with or about my kid I would be livid!
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We live in Indiana, know many, many IU kids, and my own kid graduated from UW. There is no difference in party level at IU and UW and a student can ignore party life, as well as greek life, at both schools. Big 10 sports is generally a bigger deal at UW largely because it has generally fielded competitive teams across more sports, though obviously IU football changed that conversation.
For what itâs worth â and I donât think that gpa/test scores says a whole lot about what happens once students are on campus â test scores of enrolled students at UW are higher than at IU. You canât really compare gpas at the two schools because IU takes weighted gpas and UW unweights everything, so IU may look higher, but thatâs not apples to apples.
You will find intense, serious students at both schools, across all kinds of disciplines. You will also find kids at both schools who party hard and wind up transferring to a satellite campus close to home and finish up there. In 1st and 2nd year, lots of gen ed classes will have a mix of both kinds of students at both schools.
If it were just IU vs. UW, I would say UW wins hands down for the academics, the city, the physical setting on Lake Mendota, the internships, the food etc. However, throw in Kelley school and it gets trickier. As a B school student, your life will quickly shrink to that community so I suggest digging deeper into the opportunities, specialties etc. at each school. Kelley offers a lot of impressive opportunities, so that could be hard to turn down, no matter how much âbetterâ an overall experience someone might conclude UW offers.
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Thank you for your informative post. I appreciate all the perspectives and information that I can get to help me make the best decision.
@Midwestmomofboys interesting read. My D was direct admit to both Kelley and Wisconsin Business. IU gave her a very generous scholarship. We have heard conflicting info about scholarships for direct admit freshman, if you have info it would be greatly appreciated.
She was excited about Kelley until a number of her friends appealed and got in, so now leaning towards Wisconsin because she was direct admit and they are pre business. I am trying to help her make a decision. Sooooo
As a Wisconsin direct admit will she be in classes with the pre business students? What is the difference? IU is pretty clear about Kelley direct admit.
At both Wisco and Kelley, both DAs and pre-business students are in the same pre-req classes. Unless you get out through AP credit.
I appreciate @Midwestmomofboysâ perspective. My DS has been fortunate in getting Direct Admit at Kelley, UW and UIUC Gies. He is having a huge problem trying to choose. UW wins hand down for sports and everything that Madison brings. His impression at this point is that Kelley and Gies will be better for Finance - his intended area. Kelley is huge and is a âfactoryâ but produces a great product. We are in-state for Gies and have great connections there. Giesâ placement numbers are stellar. I have no idea how he is going to choose. I will say that Kelley admissions has been very rude to him when he has reached out with questions so he is now more concerned about the âfactoryâ reputation at Kelley. I am interested to hear if anyone has a take on how well the administrations treat students at UW business school or Gies.
I have heard that Kelley factory comment several times, in several threads. D also got into Terry direct at UGA and waiting for UF (we are from the South) I feel like IU and Wisconsin are the same as comparing UGA to UF you are splitting hairs at this point.
Your daughter doesnât want to go to Kelley because her friends are going? It might be nice at such a big school to have a few friendly faces.
At any school pre-business and business will be in the same classes. Iâm not sure why thatâs an issue?
I tried and tried and tried to get my S to apply to UGA and UF. But all heâs known in recent memory is mild midwest wintersâŠuntil this past month. He told me last week that he wished heâd applied to both schools and was going somewhere warm!