Kelley experience in the words of a current student

Kelley:
(The student would like to remain anonymous. Hence I am posting the following on the student's behalf)

Cost of Attendance:
Tuition (international): ~90K for 2 years
Housing (2BHK): ~20K for 2 years
Additional (Social outings, cabs, ordering food, cost to settle in town): 4-5K for 2 years
Scholarship: On average ~15K-20K per year
 
Academics: Each year is divided into 2 semesters, which in turn are divided into 2 7-week sub-semesters. The first semester at Kelley (called the Kelley core) is rigorous. After that, it is the choice of the student to design their academic experience, select the desired major, and choose from a wide range of electives. There are specialized centres for certain fields. For example, for those interested in innovation, there is a dedicated centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation that organizes events and competitions. There are also specialized certifications such as the one in product management.

Three flagship programs that Kelley MBA provides are:
Me. Inc (mandatory): With Kelley’s Me, Inc., one can develop an in-depth understanding of your personal story and how it connects to the next steps in the MBA career even before classes begin. It allows you to build a personal brand and understand how that connects your past experiences to your future goals in a way that resonates with employers. Me Inc helps to build mentorship relationships through collaboration and teamwork—a hallmark of your Kelley education. Personally, I did not benefit much from this program, but many in the class found it useful.

Academies (mandatory): During the first year at Kelley, a student joins one of the six career foundation Academies- business or consumer marketing, consulting, capital markets, strategic finance, or supply chain. Academies help to learn about and visit companies in the field, network with industry veterans, and to familiarize themselves with industry trends. Students have opportunities to be mentored by Academy directors, work with a career coach, and do a consulting project for a company as part of Academy work.

GLOBASE (optional): An opportunity to work with a company and gain international leadership experience. Teams usually work with non-profit organizations and help to identify future growth opportunities.

When it comes to courses, everyone takes K507- Spreadsheet Modelling, as it helps in doing internship projects. Classes with Prof Rockney Walters are case-based, highly engaging, and very interesting. He makes MBA classes super fun! 

Culture: People in the mid-west are generally warm and approachable, and so is true for Bloomington. People in town understand the problems international students face and are very kind and helpful. 
The school encourages students to meet people from different cultures, and one way it does so is by assigning everyone to a 4–5-member CORE team for the first semester. Each CORE team has people from diverse backgrounds and demographics, and you get to work with your team on multiple projects. I still am closest to my CORE teammates.

Outside school, there are social events happening in bars every weekend. These are sometimes organized by school clubs- with the focus being to engage in meaningful conversations with peers in a mostly non-competitive setting.
Student bodies and clubs are not very active (compared to those in top B-schools) but ultimately it boils down to how active a student is to participate in club events. 
 
Recruiting: Tech and Consulting are two big industries students recruit in. In tech, firms such as Amazon and Dell hire the most students. When it comes to tech recruitment, I have seen that past education and experience play a big role. Example- Many people who got invited for Prod Management were from a CS background. In consulting, it is very rare to get into MBB from Kelley. However, EY, PWC, and boutique firms hire many students- typically 15-20 internationals as well. For internationals, it is very hard to get into IB or CPG- not many companies sponsor H1B. Few people move to entrepreneurship or venture capital. Recently, there has been an increased interest in Healthcare, Strategy, and General Management. Overall, the Kelley/Indiana University brand is strong in the US and large alumni help to find links and network. 
 
Financing: Kelley is generous when it comes to scholarships. Most students get a decent scholarship- full rides are rare unless the GMAT score is 740+. As much as I have observed, every 10-score improvement in GMAT results in 5K/year more scholarship. If in year 1, a student does well academically and demonstrates leadership abilities, then there is a very high probability to get an additional scholarship for year 2 (usually 4K-8K). International students are eligible for private loans but expect most private loan companies to require a US citizen or permanent resident to act as a cosigner to secure the loan.
 
Why should you choose Kelley: 
• If you want a high ROI MBA- the reasonable cost of living but a highly valued university
• Want to make big in the marketing domain- Kelley is one the best for marketing
• Value group work, making connections, and want to be part of a 120K+ alumni
• Like to live in a college town (peaceful, friendly, and helpful people, quality valued over quantity).
• Bloomington is great for married students with kids, and Kelley provides a lot of activities and guidance for parents and partners.
 
Why you should not choose Kelley: 
• Not many folks in tech or consulting traditionally- but over the recent years this has changed and more than 40% of the class goes into consulting and 50% in tech.
• Prior to Covid, most networking events happened in person. Not many big firms visited Bloomington as it is not on either east or west coast. Again, since covid, companies have seen the advantages of virtual meetups and the situation has improved for Kelley.
• Bloomington is essentially a college town- suburban. There is literally nothing after 5-6 miles from Bloomington. The closest domestic airport is in Indianapolis (a 1-hour drive) and the international airport is in Chicago (a 5-hour drive from Bloomington).