Kelley School of Business

Full-time MBA Program


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Life at Kelley: Being a part of Kelley MBA clubs

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By Grady T Trela, MBA’23

When I was applying to business school, I found it difficult to picture what life as an MBA student would be like. You can read a thousand articles and talk to as many students, but there’s something to be said for experiencing business school firsthand. One thing I didn’t fully grasp was how clubs in an MBA program would work. I could remember my club experiences from undergrad, but for some reason, I imagined clubs in business school would be less fun, maybe even stodgy. Luckily for me, I was wrong. 

One of my most vivid memories from the fall of my first year was the club fair. Staff had erected a large white tent behind the business school, and the second-year leaders of the various Kelley MBA clubs sat at banquet tables underneath it signing up first-years to their club lists. Kelley divides its clubs into three types: professional clubs, affinity clubs, and interest clubs. Some of the clubs under these umbrellas include Consulting Club, Investment Club, Net Impact, Asian MBA Association, Black MBA Association, Out@Kelley, Food Club, Soccer Club, and the Adam Smith Society among several others. Having spent a year in the program, I’ve come to see the wide range of club offerings at Kelley as a direct reflection of the great diversity of backgrounds and thought within the student body.  

As a Marketing major at Kelley, I joined the Marketing Club, a professional club. The professional clubs at Kelley are a great way to network with other students interested in your career focus area and to meet second years who can share their experiences about the internship recruiting process and knowledge about different companies. The Marketing Club hosts several events throughout the year, along with casing workshops that provide tips for cracking marketing cases. It also had great guest speakers this year, some highlights for me are the CEO of Aldi, Jason Hart, and the former CMO of 3M, Paul Acito. Before business school, I couldn’t imagine that I would have access to this level of industry leadership during my MBA experience.  

In my first year, I also joined the golf club, an interest club of which I am now the VP, and the Food Club. One of the great Golf Club traditions is the Ryder Cup event that the Golf Club puts on in the fall. The event was held at Eagle Valley golf course this year and pits the first years against the second years. The cool fall weather started out overcast but warmed up in time for the second years to pull off a clear win. (If only my short game had warmed by then!)  In addition to being a fun way to spend the afternoon, the Ryder Cup is a great way for Kelleys from different class years to get to know one another. Food Club is another interest club and hosts several events throughout the year. This year, it hosted a Korean hot pot night, a Chinese buffet, a BBQ night, and organized an NCAA watch party over beer and wings. 

While I signed up for several club email lists during my first year, I did not end up attending events for all of those clubs. Still, I would advise incoming Kelley MBA students to sign up for every club they’re interested in so they can be on the email list and see which events are coming up. There are no strict attendance requirements for any clubs at Kelley, so you can attend as many or as few events as you like. My only regret so far at Kelley is that I missed some events I really wanted to attend. The good news, though, is that I have another whole year to dive deeper into the clubs I love. 

The MBA Journey as a Kelley Woman

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By Marisa Moran, MBA’23

Happy Women’s History Month! This month in the Kelley MBA program, we celebrate the many accomplishments of women in business and the Women of Kelley. This sparked my desire to share the MBA experience through the lens of one woman pursuing their MBA.

Many start their MBA journey with a clear vision of their path ahead, but I didn’t know where to start. I started my research by attending a Forté MBA Fair, where I found a program designed to solve that problem. The Forté MBA Launch program was an 8-month road map to walk you along the path through the GMAT, application, and interview process. Going through that program in 2020 helped me hold on to my sanity by surrounding me with other women who had aligned goals and visions for the future. That community followed me all the way to Kelley.

I first met Kelley through a Forté virtual conference where I connected with the Kelley Women of Business president. From the onset, they set the tone that the women of Kelley support each other for success. I don’t think it’s a shock to anyone that women are underrepresented in the MBA, and only 6.6% of Fortune 500 CEOs are women, but that is changing. It changes through supporting each other and encouraging the next class of women to pursue their career goals.

Bound together

There is something magnetic about having commonalities. During Jump Start, our one-week skills primer, we meet a hundred new people before another hundred people arrive the following week. Even at 29, something is intimidating about going in cold and making new friends. But the women at Kelley made it easy. We could talk about our goals and fears uninhibited; it helped wash away that new on-campus imposter syndrome. The ambition and vulnerability were real. During coffee chats for prospective students, someone will inevitably say, “I know this all seems fake, but we do genuinely care about each other.” We mocked interviews together, danced on top of booths, and held an iconic Galentine’s Day. The people you meet in your MBA are not just your network for life; they are friends for life.

Diverse POV

In our core semester, we are in teams of 4 or 5 that challenge us to think and contribute in new ways. As the only woman on my team, I was not just able to add a women’s voice to the conversation, but I thought differently than my teammates. I came from a marketing and creative background and had the opportunity to work with a group of men with experience in operations and finance. We each had something unique to contribute from different industries, nationalities, and backgrounds. We valued each other’s thoughts and opinions. The men of my cohort are some of my biggest supporters and friends

Job Search

I don’t think it’s ever been a better time for a woman in their career. Yes, there are still a lot of uphill battles, but the conversations are happening. Companies are seeking to balance their workforce and challenge the status quo. This has created a lot of opportunities for women during recruiting. The misconception is that the measuring stick moves; it does not. It just opens some doors. I worked incredibly hard to prepare for recruiting season with weekly meetings with my career coach and mass volumes of networking calls. My coach told me ten plus times to have confidence in my abilities and expertise. But I didn’t believe it. The upside of being afraid was that I put in the work. I honed my interviewing style with rounds of feedback from all of my peers, and the message eventually sunk in that I did deserve these incredible jobs. I walked away with my pick of internships and confidence that my actions would define my career.

I am blown away when I look at the woman around me from where we started eight months ago. We have an impressive roster of internships from P&G, Deloitte, Nestle, PWC, Danone, Amazon, General Mills, and more. We are leading clubs, curriculum councils, and sporting events. I could not be more impressed with my class and excited to see the second years successfully forge on into their careers. If you have any questions about the Kelley MBA, please feel free to reach out to the Hoosier Hosts or a Kelley Woman in Business!

Intimidating Yet Irresistible

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By Bhaskar Mishra, MBA’23

The Kelley full-time MBA has been one of the best experiences in my life. It was a dream come true for me as I had a long-time wish to formally learn business in the company of talented and humble people. I was blown away by the talent as well as the humility of people around me at Kelley. Being an engineer by education and profession, I wanted to learn business, holistically, to grow in my career. I decided to study in the US, away from my home country, India, to gain international experience to build a global perspective of doing business.

India to Indiana: When I arrived in Bloomington, Indiana, in the summer of 2021, the transition wasn’t easy. The way of life in the US is very different from that in India. There is no auto-rickshaw in every street to take me to faraway places for a couple of dollars. There is no grocery shop in front of my house that can home deliver at a phone call. There is no affordable domestic help that can take care of my household chores. But, I was surprised by the frequent Indian faces on the campus of Indiana University and in general, in Bloomington. I often joke that before applying to IU, Indians probably didn’t read the address of the University close enough to effectively distinguish between Indiana and India. There is a common experience among international students coming to Bloomington – we get extraordinary support from the 2nd years, MBA staff and faculty, and alumni. They are available to help in any way they can. Obviously, they cannot do the household chores for me 😊. So, I learned to do them on my own to become a self-dependent person. Gradually, I figured out the way of life here. Bloomington is a lovely global college town where I feel perfectly at home now. I am yet to try the wide array of global cuisines available in the restaurants of Bloomington. As a vegetarian, I feel proud of the restaurants that often have lacto-vegetarian, ovo-vegetarian and vegan options.

Intimidating Yet Irresistible: While the change of location was challenging, the academics at Kelley are rigorous, especially The Core Semester (the first semester in MBA). You will hear several anecdotes of core semester from current students and alumni. There are many things that students try to achieve simultaneously – mandatory courses, career development, networking events, club events, and much more. For several weeks, I felt that I was always on the run and felt down for not being able to be perfect at anything. But, the support of peers, faculty and staff was amazing. I never felt alone in the journey. My Core Team members were always there to help me be successful. The quality of the academic experience is extraordinary at Kelley. Even when I am tired and have many other things to do, I make it a point to attend classes as they energize me and hence, I learn a lot from them. The professors are amazing at facilitating discussions on complex cases and theoretical topics. Peers from around the world and with diverse professional backgrounds enrich the experience of every activity. I am always awed by the talent and enthusiasm of anyone I come across at Kelley. As a part of our final Core Semester consulting project, everyone came up with innovative recommendations for Sacred Serve, a plant-based gelato brand created by a Kelley MBA alum, Kailey Donewald.

If you are someone like me who is constantly on the search for more varied experiences, there are organizations and departments in IU, outside Kelley, that you can get involved with. In the beginning of fall semester, when everyone arrives on the campus, IU-wide organizations come together at Student Involvement Fair to create awareness about opportunities to get involved in activities. Clubs and organizations in all dimensions of activities – arts, sciences, culture, activism, athletics, recreation, and many more – set up kiosks at the fair to help us decide whether to join them. Subsequently, I found that The Media School allows students from any school at IU to be a part of animation work done by the animation students as a part of their coursework. I applied for this opportunity and was fortunate to assist animation students as an actor for Facial Capture and Motion Capture. I acted even though I am not a trained actor because experiences like these help me be comfortable in the uncomfortable and ambiguous situations in life. I met with new people and heard their interesting stories that I may have never heard otherwise. Also, they help me broaden my perception of this world, invoking a sense of respect for everyone’s unique qualities and work.

Since, the time I have arrived in Bloomington, I am in love with the beauty of this place. Whatever time is left after doing everything I explained above (which means, almost no spare time), I try to slow down to observe the natural and architectural beauty of the campus and other places in B-town (another name for Bloomington). The views are breathtakingly beautiful during rain, fall, and snow. I have yet to experience spring in Bloomington. But, I have been told that the flower blooms on the campus look lovely. And yes, no one can miss the iconic Sample Gates, the adjacent Dunn Woods, Eskenazi Museum, and Showalter Fountain.

Life at Kelley and in Bloomington is full of learnings, fun, and invaluable connections. Do reach out to a Hoosier Host to know more about the Kelley MBA program and life in Bloomington. Go Hoosiers!

A couple plan and pursue career changes with MBA degrees

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Photo of Sadia Tanveer and Zach Weisman in Hawaii during their honeymoon in 2018When Sadia Tanveer and Zach Weisman discussed dreams for their future together, they realized they wanted to live in a well-rounded city; a place with good jobs, people their age, and things to do, and that career changes—and MBAs—provided the options they were seeking. That future, both geographically and upwardly mobile, is now in sight for the married couple—with two Kelley MBAs and two new careers in Chicago on the horizon.

“As a couple, this is one of the best decisions we have made,” Zach said. “Kelley gave us a medium to reach our goals. Everything that we had dreams for in the last five years, we have worked toward and helped each other along as a couple.”

“Consulting gave us the flexibility of going anywhere we desire.”

Zach and Sadia had successful careers in eastern Pennsylvania in business operations and software engineering. Still, they understood that higher education, an MBA, would enable them to maximize their potential as young working professionals and provide them with endless opportunities in the long run.

They sought education from a top business school at a cost that would not be a burden to them moving forward. Zach was set on a part-time program so he could continue working full-time, but that changed after an in-person discussion at a recruiting event made him and Sadia feel warmly welcomed by Kelley’s full-time program. The Kelley MBA also included the attractive combination of scholarships and Bloomington’s lower cost of living compared to other areas they considered.

“The return on our investment is much higher coming to Kelley,” Sadia said.

They came to Kelley set on careers in consulting because they knew it would give them the flexibility they desired. Their first year, they joined the Consulting Club and dove into the demanding Consulting Academy, which exposed them to a variety of consulting firms and executives and prepared them well for their summer internships.  (more…)

Where You Belong

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By Farrah Bhimani, MBA’22

When I was researching which full-time MBA programs to apply to, I started with the list of The Consortium member schools. Diversity, equity, and inclusion have always been strong values of mine, and I wanted to spend two years in a program that shared that value. This narrowed down my search to a few schools, and truthfully, I hadn’t considered Kelley at first. I had lived in Dallas, Atlanta, New York, and Austin previously. I wasn’t sure in the beginning if Bloomington, Indiana would be the right fit for me. But in the spirit of doing extensive research before committing to a program, I spoke with Kelley students and alumni about their experiences. I discovered that everyone I spoke with at Kelley was kind, helpful, and hardworking. It was truly striking.

My journey then became one of introspection. Did I want to go to a larger school or a smaller school? What kind of leadership opportunities would I want to pursue? What would I want my major to be? Every school offered an abundance of data online, to an overwhelming degree. The problem wasn’t finding a good program; it was choosing the right program for me. In order to make that decision without any regrets, I had to look internally first. I needed to know what I wanted the next two years of my life to look like, and then choose the program that would support that vision.

Ultimately, I realized Kelley was the perfect match for me. I wanted camaraderie among my peers and a tight-knit community, and Bloomington became more appealing than any other city. I wanted some structure to learn business foundations rather than two years of choose-your-own-adventure, so CORE became the perfect fit. I wanted multiple leadership opportunities that matched my long-term interests – Consulting Club, Consulting Academy, Leadership Academy, and Hoosier Hosts offer a range of extracurricular ways for me to build skills I wouldn’t necessarily get in a classroom setting. I wanted a close Consortium Family, and my Kelley C-Fam has offered support in every step of my journey.

It’s counterintuitive to think asking yourself a million questions will offer more clarity. But introspection forces you to answer those questions and be decisive about your priorities. It helps you discover the distinction between an MBA Program that sounds great versus the one that will unequivocally help you reach your personal goals. Reflection gave me confidence in my decision, in knowing that Kelley is more than a great MBA program. Kelley has helped me thrive because it’s where I belong.

What Next?

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By Manish Jha, MBA’22

In my career, at various points, I always found myself asking the question, “What next?” My quest to answer this question has helped me make decisions outside my comfort zone and the decision to pursue MBA at Kelley was also an outcome of this question. I kept pondering over this question, even after I started business school and this helped me shape my MBA the way I wanted to, a true sandbox experience.

My MBA journey started in 2017 when I took the GMAT, but I sent in my applications only in 2019. Before that, the primordial question was, What Next – continue in my current organization and grow my career there, change jobs for better pay, or forego two years of earnings to invest in myself and pursue MBA? I was never the one to find myself confined in a comfort zone and so I decided to take the risk of letting go of a thriving career and go back to the drawing board to redefine myself and my career.

This did not come without its own set of challenges. For starters, I was going back to school after 8 years and so was not used to being in a classroom. Second, the MBA experience for my class was seriously blighted by COVID, especially as an international student as we were not sure if we would be able to start our MBA in person or not. Third, the time zone difference and challenges it brought in working with core teams, etc. When we started our Me, Inc. remotely and were making the best of our altered reality, albeit unwillingly, the US embassy in India announced their decision to issue student visas. The next 3 weeks were obtaining a visa, moving my entire household to two different cities, a crazy road trip, flying to the US, and appearing for an exam and a quiz literally the same day I arrived in America.  All this, coupled with a highly intense “Core” semester, sent me in a whirlwind and I freaked out, thinking what did I sign up for?

Fast forward one year, I have very much survived the program and in many ways, navigated successfully. At the end of my first year, I won two extra scholarships reducing my second-year loan burden by 25% and a Kelley coin for positive contributions to the Kelley community. I kept asking “What Next” and spent my summer at two places I never thought I would be: healthcare and internal strategy. None of this would have been possible without the biggest support structure I found at Kelley: the incredible Hoosiers – classmates who all have been such high achievers in their own aspects, always willing to extend a helping hand, and a really approachable program office, who on several occasions went out of their way to help me succeed

Do I still ask myself, “What next?” In my second year, I am working as an Admission Counselor, 1Kelley student leader, and as VP in the current MBA association as well as looking for a career that will again help me push my boundaries. Does it scare me, maybe? But I am excited to see where my constant quest to find answers to the primordial question leads, and I know I will always have the support of lifelong connections I have made at Kelley.

You are welcome here!

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Blake Richardson By Blake Richardson, MBA’22

Like many people setting out on my Kelley MBA journey, I had so many questions about my ‘place’ in the business world. I wasn’t coming from a job at Deloitte or as a mid-level manager at a Fortune 500 company. I had no prior business degrees, had never held a job that involved any meaningful business practices, and hadn’t enrolled in a math course since I’d graduated from high school. Would I be able to handle the coursework? Would employers take me seriously? How would I fit in with my classmates, and did the program really have the tools to help me exit the other side with the skills, confidence, and experience I needed to succeed?

When I arrived on campus last summer, I felt a sense of comfort having previously completed a master’s degree at IU’s wonderful Jacobs School of Music several years back. I knew my way around town and was able to visit some of my old haunts and reconnect with friends from my previous stint. Once I entered the halls of Kelley, I started to get to know my classmates and was immediately impressed by their poise and their wealth of knowledge. Honestly, it was intimidating given the newness for me of the business world, but I was so glad to be amongst a group of people that I could look to for guidance and support during what I knew would be a challenging two years. Having been a professional musician in my prior career, I’d dealt with the typical self-doubt most performers face and had learned well how to mask it and put on an air of confidence. However, what I realized along the way was that whatever uncertainty I was feeling at the time, many of my classmates were dealing with similar issues. Nevertheless, we all jumped head-first into our core curriculum and I started to understand that I’d made one of the best decisions of my life in coming here. Kelley felt like it was designed to help students like me who were looking to make drastic professional changes, and I realized that I was beginning to carve a clear path toward a successful career in business. (more…)

5 tips to prepare for MBA recruiting

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By Bri Taylor, MBA’22

Making the transition from employee to MBA student is a journey in and of itself. Now add the pressure of having to secure an internship by the end of your first year, while navigating core and maintaining some sort of social life, and one can become extremely overwhelmed.

When looking back at my recruiting journey, the tips I received from my second years, Kelley alumni, and the Graduate Career Services team were extremely helpful as I prepared for recruiting season and ultimately secured my product marketing internship offer from Microsoft. As future Kelleys are preparing themselves for their first year and the upcoming recruiting season, I thought I would share a few tips that were passed down to me.

Spend time reflecting on the types of problems you enjoy solving, what areas you’d like to grow in, and what your strengths are. While I was preparing for the Consortium Orientation Program and the Forté MBA Women’s Leadership Conference, I was paired with an alumnus and a second-year mentor who challenged me to think about the types of problems I like to solve and the key strengths I would bring to my internship. Identifying those problem types helped me pinpoint my growth opportunities, which came in handy as I narrowed down the list of roles and companies I would apply to and began developing my CAR statements (mentioned in tip #4). To circle back to the pre-MBA recruiting conferences I mentioned above – the Consortium Orientation Program is an annual conference hosted by the Consortium for Graduate Study in Management and Forté MBA Women’s Leadership Conference is an annual conference hosted by the Forte Foundation. The purpose of these conferences is to provide incoming MBAs with career development advice and early exposure to corporations as they prepare to begin their business school journey. Other pre-MBA recruiting conferences and opportunities available to future Kelleys are Poets & Quants Pre-MBA Networking Festival, Jumpstart Advisory Group Career Forums, and Management Leadership for Tomorrow MBA Professional Development. (more…)

The journey you chose

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Linh Nhan, MBA’21 

“What was the most meaningful decision you have made?” If someone asks me this question, no matter now or 50 years later, I will still say that pursuing MBA at the age of 25 is one of the most life-changing decisions that I made.

Perhaps, my MBA journey began back in 2018 when I first jotted the very first plan of preparing for my higher education. When I told my friends and family about my decision, there were a lot of questions that got me thinking about whether this will be the right choice. Sometimes, the fear of making mistakes clouds our minds and inhibits us from breaking out of our comfort zone. The fear that making the wrong choice would take us backward from our career and the peer pressure doesn’t allow us to do the difference. At the time, I kept asking myself self-doubt questions like “Would it be the right time for me, given the financial investment and career pause that I must make at 25?”, “What if I couldn’t find a job afterward?”. If there’s something I learned from my career as a supply chain specialist, it is “put it on the paper first”. I remembered it was so much clearer when I started to write my thoughts down. Besides all the pros and cons I made, right at that moment, I realized that my gut had always told me what to do and the answer had always been there. Yes, I will do it no matter what happens.

Looking back a year earlier, I am proud that I have made the right decision. I have learned and grown so much in both professional and personal aspects. I was able to take a huge leap in my networking skills and take on several roles to sharpen my leadership. However, friendship has been the most valuable gift during my MBA journey so far. In the last year, I got a chance to know many bright-minded and kind fellows. They are not just classmates but also are the 2nd years, and the alumni, who really embrace Kelley’s community and provide insurmountable supports. They are my core groupmates, who offered to do the work when one of us was busy recruiting or networking. They are the 2nd years, who spared their busy schedules and did mock interviews with us. They are also the alumni, who actively walked with me during my recruiting journey and didn’t hesitate to do mock interviews with me at 8 pm after their long day at work. Without all of those supports, I wouldn’t be where I am today, preparing for the summer internship at my favorite consulting firm. Kelley might not be the only MBA program to choose from; however, I believe that the community at Kelley is unique and irreplaceable.

To future Kelleys, I’m looking forward to seeing you on campus. Have I also told you that IU is considered one of the most beautiful college campuses in the U.S?  This is the journey you chose, so make it yours! Recruiting is important but your social life also matters. Don’t forget to spend some weekends hanging out with your classmates and explore B-town. Lastly, don’t hesitate to ask! You never know if you never ask. I wouldn’t have made it without the support and guidance I received from this community. Take care and I’ll see you all very soon!

Looking back at my first year as a Kelley MBA

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By Daniel Kim, MBA’22

As I finish the first year of my MBA journey, I am overcome with mixed feelings. Feelings of relief, joy, sadness, excitement, fear, and as much as I hate to admit it, some regret.

I thought about last August when I was just beginning the program and meeting my core teammates for the first time, and before I know it, it is summer break! (it really is not a break though)

As a big introvert, I felt like a kid who just transferred to a new school. I had a lot of uncertainties, questions, anxieties, and adjustments I had to deal with in the next few months. (more…)

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