Calling all 2011 Kelley Applicants!

Certainly. On my visit to Kelley I chatted with several who were going into consulting. It is all about odds and averages. I went to law school at Indiana and if you wanted to work for the large law firms paying top dollar, then you pretty much had to be in the top 10% of the graduating class. If you went to Northwestern you probably had to be in the top 40-50%. If you went to Harvard you pretty much just needed a diploma. IMHO, it is similar for those looking to get into ibanking/consulting.

I'm certainly not discounting those who want to go into i-banking or consulting from IU. I just think that if one had a chance to go to the schools with deep connections at tons of those top firms, one should usually play the odds. That is especially true in consulting/ibanking as with generally higher salaries than other career paths the difference in education costs will be less of a factor. For career switchers I think it is likely even more important to get those added connections, whereas if you were previously an i-banker, have a 750 GMAT perhaps and want to stay in i-banking, it is probably less of a concern.

If one wants to work in industry, whether that is corp fin or marketing, the playing field opens up considerably.