Kelley School of Business

Full-time MBA Program


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The Core: Separate Ways

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MBA Class of 2020 Red Cohort

 

By Rob Melick, MBA’20

The full-time MBA program at the  Kelley School of Business offers a unique learning experience called “The Core.” This 14-week intensive program is designed to give you an introduction to all the fundamental business concepts you’ll need to successfully navigate business school, your internship, and whatever career you choose after you leave Kelley. The Core is equal parts exciting, stressful, exhausting, and invigorating. Each incoming class is divided into three color-coordinated cohorts of around 60 students each and within that group of 60, you are placed on a smaller team of 4 or 5 people. You take all your classes with your cohort and do all your group projects with your smaller team.

As my time in “The Core” ends I am struck not only by the number of valuable business skills my classmates and I have picked up, but even more so by how close we have all become. The Core has certainly given us a great business toolkit to carry with us as we head into our second year at Kelley and into our future careers, but I’ll argue that the most valuable item this part of the program provides is the relationships.

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Strollering Around Business School

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Kenny Nicholas, MBA’19

When I started contemplating the idea of returning to school for an MBA and began to investigate different programs, I imagined how my life might look for those intense 22 months. As a father with three small kids I debated how my family and I would make it through the business school experience. After getting everyone on board with the idea of living the student lifestyle, we eventually found our way to Kelley. While this MBA journey has been a roller coaster ride, it has also been full of lessons in time management, teamwork, and communication. I have found there are three keys to successfully navigate the business school road with a family.

Set Priorities and Find the Perfect Balance I learned from experience in my career that if you don’t stand up for your priorities no one else will. I entered school determined to find the perfect balance and give priority to what mattered most in the moment. It was the same routine every time a new class started, being assigned to a group and synchronizing schedules to find a time when we could get together. In those meetings, I shared that I wanted to work around being home for dinner and my kids’ bedtime and that I leave one day a week for family time. Everyone respected these priorities, and I learned that one day to catch up and bond with my family made those long weeks a little shorter and kept me motivated to get through them.

Help your Family and Classmates Get to Know Each Other During Core, I spent more time with the four other members of my core team than I did with my wife and kids. When I introduced my team to my family it made all the difference. My family better understood our goals as we moved through projects. The friendship that came from these interactions made both sides more understanding when extra time was required for an emergency at home or for late nights at school. Inviting my family to be engaged in what I was doing in school helped them to feel included in the business school experience. (more…)

New Experiences, New Friendships and Great Adventure: A Kelley MBA

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Adeola Kamson, MBA’19

 

I wanted the two years I’d spend in business school to not only broaden my professional network but also broaden my friendships and personal connections. For some people, it can be daunting as an adult to make new friends, especially when you’re in an environment where you have the added pressures of academics and career planning. When you couple that with missing the comfort of friends and family back home, it can easily become more stressful. Despite those challenges, my time at Kelley has been filled with new experiences, new friendships, and great adventure. I want to share three things that have helped me during my time here at Kelley to live intentionally while pursuing my goal of making genuine friendships. (more…)

Top 3 Things I Learned During My First Year of B-School

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Chai Saeyang
MBA’19

Everyone tells you that the two years of b-school will go by quick, but you never realize how quickly until it’s over. Now, I am officially a second-year MBA student. It was like I blinked and all the late-night study sessions, interview prep, and international trips flashed before my eyes. I had a wonderful first year, and I learned a lot too. Here are the top 3 things that I took away from my first year of b-school—I hope they can help others navigate their MBA journey:


Don’t be afraid to take risks. This is the best time to take any risk. Is there a company you always wanted to pursue? Did you ever want to open your own business? Is there a country that you always wanted to see? In the past year, I have been to 5 different countries on 3 different continents. If I can do it on an MBA budget, you can too! The possibilities are endless, and it can be a little overwhelming at times. Yet, Kelley has all the resources you need and there is always a second-year student to go to for advice. You will never get this time back, so don’t be afraid—go for it.  (more…)

5 Tips to Start Business School Off Right

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Stephanie Jordan
MBA’19

Having made it through one year of business school and almost a full 12-week internship, I have definitely learned and grown a lot since I stepped foot into Kelley last July. Hindsight is 20/20, but if I could look back and do it all over again there are a few things I wish I had known from the very beginning:

 

Going back to school is tough. Attending lectures, late-night study sessions-take a little getting used to. Pick a study style that works for you early. Maybe you like to study in big groups. Maybe you don’t. There’s not a one-size-fits-all approach to studying; it’s going to take some trial and error to find what works for you. Don’t be worried when you don’t annihilate your first exam…or third. You may have been out of the classroom for a while, so be easy on yourself.

Rest assured though, there will come a time in your internship when you’re combing through data and something from class will click in your brain and help you solve the problem. That’s when you’ll realize it was all worth it. (more…)

Lessons from the Field: My Top 5 from Internship Week 5

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Tyler Yoder
MBA’19

Year 1 is in the books and your mind has finally decompressed during your brief summer break. You said your goodbyes to classmates-now some of your closest friends-and finally re-enter the world of the employed, at least for the summer. By this point, you’re used to being flung into the unknown. How different could a new internship really be?

 

I walked through the doors for Day 1 at 3M and felt a healthy balance of confidence and anxiety. I had binders full of frameworks and several consulting projects under my belt. I had also fallen on my face several times-oh, that Effective Communication class-and knew that I still had a long way to go.

If the focus of MBA classes is equipping, the internship is the proving ground where the rubber meets the road. No more case studies. No more templates or projects nicely teed up. This is the real world with ambiguous projects and real opportunities to serve your clients and business partners.

One month into my internship, I decided to take a step back and ask myself, “If you could talk to your pre-internship self, what advice would you give?”

Here is my answer—my Top 5 by Internship Week 5. (more…)

Last exam completed, first year done… now what?

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Mike Strus
MBA’19

Last exam completed, the first year done… now what? The answer to this is straightforward – celebrate!  While this is probably the most obvious answer, the bigger question came next-how was I going to spend my few weeks before my internship started?  I wanted to make the most of it because my next break lasting this long might not come until retirement.

Catching up
The time commitment required to succeed during my first year at the Kelley MBA program-at times-was quite overwhelming.  I made sure to prioritize school which led to some extracurriculars being put on the backburner. Catching up, for me, took on various forms:

  • Family, Friends, and Former Colleagues – Balancing school with keeping in touch with family, friends, and former colleagues was a difficult task for me.  I wanted to make sure I caught up and connected with those important to me.  Building a network of supporters is great but maintaining these relationships is paramount. (more…)

End of an Era: Celebrating 30 Years with Allyn Curry

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Over the past month, we have celebrated Allyn Curry in his upcoming retirement. Allyn Curry has been a staple in the Kelley School of Business for 30 years by creating and enhancing countless diversity initiatives at Kelley. His commitment to The Consortium for Graduate Study in Management, its alumni, and current students go unmatched and we are honored to have had the opportunity to have him. You can view Allyn’s montage video here.

 

In early April, we shared with the Consortium Alumni and current students how much it would mean to Allyn to honor his retirement by making a gift to the Allyn Curry MBA Fellowship Fund. This Fellowship supports underrepresented MBA students who demonstrate a financial need and remain in good academic standing. (more…)

Life with a Kelley Canine

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Stephen Schenk
MBA’19

Last Valentine’s Day, I received something I had been wanting for years… the go-ahead from my wife to get a puppy. The excitement of finding the right breed and reserving the pick of a future litter came with some reservations. I would soon be starting my first year at Kelley and had no idea what life would be like with a postgraduate pup. Now, I can look back on my first year at Kelley and provide the following guidance on bringing a dog to Bloomington:

Outsource the walking
Our new dog’s first month in Bloomington was right in the middle of finals and internship recruiting season, and it was difficult to get home regularly for walks. I suggest utilizing one of the many dog-walking services in Bloomington. Rover and Wag! are smartphone apps which allowed us to quickly and easily get a trustworthy dog walker (ours ended up being an IU student herself). Daycare is also available near campus. We take Grizzly to BloomingPaws a few times a week to get his puppy energy out and to allow for extended time on campus for classes and meetings. The costs for these services range from $10-$15 for a walker and only a few bucks more for a full day at daycare. The cost is well worth the freedom and peace of mind. (more…)

Spring 2018 Program Update for Kelley MBA Alumni

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Rebecca Cook
Executive Director

I’ve been the Executive Director of the Kelley School of Business’ MBA program for the past 18 months, and I’m thrilled for this opportunity. Since my graduation from the MBA program in 1996, I worked in investment management for about 14 years at a variety of sell-side and buy-side firms. I came back to Kelley in late 2009 and worked in Graduate Career Services for the seven years prior to my current role. I am grateful to Kelley for how it shaped my career and provided me the skills and networks to excel, and it’s been awesome to be back working here.

The past 18 months have been an exciting time of investment and change in the program. This fall we welcomed 204 new students with the highest average GMAT and GPA scores we’ve ever had. Of course, as always, we admit students based not only on their strong GMAT scores and high GPAs, but also on their interpersonal skills and their projected employability. Our students are exceptionally talented and it is a great honor to work with them. I hope you get the chance to meet them—and of course, I hope that you look for opportunities to hire them! If you have any opportunities (internship or full-time), please email Nina Camfield at ecamfiel@indiana.edu.
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