Kelley School of Business - First Year

Experience during the program

What the Kelley School of Business Full-time MBA Program lacks in terms of size it most definitely makes up for in terms of quality of relationships. This school is a very tight knit community of talented and humble people. This years class consisted of ~134 students and 3 cohorts for core classes. The small classes ensure that you really do get to know your colleagues and develop great relationships.

Kelley has met my expectations in terms of academic competition and the amount of time required to complete assigned tasks. Professors are very approachable and typically fair in their grading policies. With rare exception, professors make themselves available to students and treat the class as a broader discussion as opposed to lecture or death by Powerpoint.

The level of collaboration between students at Kelley is unprecedented. All throughout the internship recruitment process I have leaned on my fellow classmates for support and feedback. In many instances, those of us who were directly completing for an internship against one another worked together to address our individual flaws and increase the chances that at least on of us would secure the role. It is a great feeling to be able to count on your classmates to build you up as opposed to tearing you down. If you tend to advance yourself by pushing others aside, you most definitely will not enjoy Kelley.

About job placement process

If you are looking to do investment banking or top 3 consulting you will have a tough time at Kelley. Kelley is a pipeline school for CPG companies, mid to upper tier consulting firms (Deloitte, EY, PWC) but seldomly places students at Bain, McKinsey or BCG. Students looking to go into investment banking also find they have to do a lot of leg work to establish their own connections in that industry as Kelley typically does not funnel into that industry.

Overall BSchool experience (5.0)
Schools contribution (5.0)
Classmates rating (5.0)

Strengths of the program:

Culture & Student Support
Specialization in a particular area (e.g. Finance, Consulting, Healthcare, etc)
Career Service Coaches and Staff

Best fit at this program:

Consulting
Marketing
Management

Can be improved:

Location
Facilities