Kelley Experience Weekend

There seemed to be a couple of factors that were most prominent in decision making...

1. Industry or region choice... gopher from this forum is going to Kelley, despite a good offer from Ross. Why? Aside from the fact that he just liked Kelley and got a great offer... he wants to work in Corporate finance in the Twin Cities. For this field and area of the nation both schools are very highly rated and will open up similar opportunities. The same seems to be true of marketing in the Midwest, an area in which Kelley is very strong.

2. Fit... Kelley is a very friendly and collegial environment where arrogance and cut-throat competition is not looked highly upon. During the first semester core curriculum one is assigned a team for required intial courses, (corp finance, marketing, mangerial econ, accounting, etc). The workload and the intensity is great and said to be of a level that without the expertise of your team mates who have experience in areas that you might not... you would be unable to cope. They do not want the sort of experience that you hear about in some top b-schools... Someone finds your portable drive and steals your homework and then destroys it, or tells you the assignment is due on the wrong date so you don't get it in on time, and they end up doing better than you. While obviously at Kelley people are firmly career minded and are trying their best to advance themselves, they want to build an enviroment where that is not at the expense of your classmates. Some love insane and bitter competition... and for those perhaps a different school is better. One woman I met who had spent the last few years in a very "rat race" sort of consulting gig was wary of Chicago as she though that she would like a break from that sort of competition during b-school, not a continuation of it which she thought she might find at Chicago. (I should say that she still is very seriously considering Chicago due to rank)

3. Individual attention... One student I met was fairly concerned that she would not get the sort of attention that she desires at Ross being as it is a much bigger school. She felt that she would fit in better at a smaller school such as Kelley. She was a UPenn undergrad and a consultant currently. She wants to go into consumer marketing, an area in which Kelley has a good reputation. After the weekend she was firmly decided on Kelley. I should also mention she had friends who had gone to IU undergrad and current friends at IU Law.
Individual attention was also a concern for a student evaluating Kelley for Investment Management v. Chicago. While Chicago is the superior school on rank and placements in this field, she was not currently in IM. She is currently in custodial client services. She has not done any of the CFA as of yet either. There would be a big learning curve for her and she felt given this fact a smaller school might be better for her.

4. Arrogance - While I am honestly kinda arrogant myself, most of the students at Kelley seem not to be so. This came up in a number of discussion on school choice. A second year who had decided Kelley rather than UNC felt the students he had met there were a bit too arrogant for his taste and went to Kelley. This was also mentioned very strongly by a student making the Chicago v. Kelley decision.

5. Faculty - Kelley's profs seem to be really caring people. They are not just strong intellectuals, but they are very dedicated to teaching and their students ambitions.

These were the sentiments I heard and felt this weekend rather accutely. That being said... Some schools will have different strengths and might appeal differently to different people. Some schools might have better placements in career interest areas and therefore might be more appealing. Go to the school that is the best fit. And I personally have never been to Ross or Chicago so I don't know about any of these assessments that I have heard. Equally I liked UNC better than the student who didn't go there for what he precieved as arrogance. It is a personal decision about feel.

And all of this being said Kelley is still a highly ranked institution. #18 by Businessweek and actually ahead of Yale by their count. Though many in evaluating gopher's decision felt that Ross was a "no-brainer," I feel that many here do not know appreciate the strength of some schools outside the traditional big names. This is true generally but even more true in a field specific or regional sense. When I applied to Kelley I was never expecting to go there. I applied mostly because I was upset about Cornell denying me and thought that I might apply to a school I would have strong opportunity with. I was admitted with a good package and as I came to learn more about the school I unexpectedly came to really appreciate Indiana. I had not been to visit until this admitted students weekend. My visit blew me away. I was not just impressed by Kelley, I was more impressed by Kelley then Cornell and was equally impressed with Kelley and many of the "higher ranked institutions" I visited. Do your research before making a decision. You might find value where may not intially have been leaning.