method wrote:
I keep hearing really good things about Indiana for CPG
I will be studying consumer marketing at Kelley starting this August.
One of the good things is there are typically about 75 or so folks who pursue marketing (consumer and B2B) every year so there is a critical mass of potential MBA hires. This provides a strong incentives for companies to actively recruit from Kelley.
A lot of it depends on what type of target company one is looking for.
In particular, Kelley seems to have the strongest connections in:
CPG -- Kelley has about the deepest connections to brand positions at the major CPG companies than any other school. Plus, there are a lot of people going there from Kelley, so you have the critical mass for the CPG companies to want to push hard to have a presence with Kelley students and the school.
Midwest-based Retail Companies -- Deep connections with most of the large retailers in the Midwest, including the likes of Target, Sears and Best Buy.
Durables -- Deep connections with Whirlpool (people go there every year and a top exec is a Kelley grad) and I know there are Kelley people at the major US auto companies as well as Toyota.
Services -- Deep connections with Nationwide (Columbus, OH) and (lately) GM OnStar (Meto Detroit), among others
Pharma/Nutritionals -- Places students every year at Eli Lilly (no surprise there), Abbott (it has several different US locations that marketing folks go to, depending on the industry within Abbott), Mead Johnson Nutritionals, Pfizer, and a few others.
As already noted, if your GMAT is up to par, I would think 2 years of WE would still be doable at Kelley, provided that it is a solid 2 years with good leadership experience, etc.
Cheers,
Tom