Kelley School of Business

Full-time MBA Program


We empower you to create the future you want

Becoming MBA Leaders

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Sam Yoder, MBA’22

Student Body President * | Forté Fellow*

When I was deciding to go back to school, a few knowledge gaps ultimately clinched the decision: I knew I needed better financial understanding as well as data analysis skills. Three-fourths of the way through my first year, Kelley is more than delivering on both of those things. However, what I didn’t know I would be getting was a crash course in leadership.

About a month ago, my classmates elected me and a group of eight other students to our MBA Association’s leadership team, putting me at the head as Student Body President.  I’m about 10 days into my term, and I cannot begin to tell you everything I’ve already learned. I’m making mistakes most days but I’m also figuring out how to lead with the support of my team. I can feel myself growing and learning to take on the challenges set before me. (more…)

The Kelley Community: Stability Amongst Uncertainty

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by Joe Metts, MBA Candidate Class of 2022

The decision to pursue graduate education is one of the most life-altering choices you can make. Doing so in the midst of a global pandemic makes it even more daunting. When prospective students evaluate programs, they often do so while considering rankings, career outcomes, and program reputation, all of which are valuable metrics to assess. During these uncertain times, one criterion emerged as my deciding factor in choosing Kelley, community – and it’s something I believe every prospective should consider.

What do I mean by community? It encompasses the friends and colleagues you will make as a member of the program, the faculty and staff that make Kelley a world-class school to pursue a graduate business education and life in Bloomington – a college town unlike any other.

Friends and colleagues: Every MBA program touts their holistic decision-making process and they use “diversity” as a buzzword to generate interest among prospective students. In my MBA application journey, I found those topics to be sincere at the Kelley School of Business. In this program, you will find individuals from all walks of life, which includes race, ethnicity, gender, sex, socioeconomic status, work experience, academic performance, etc. There is truly no typical “Kelley” student profile, and it makes the program an exceptional place to learn both inside and outside of the classroom. The friendships and relationships I’ve made in a short time have made this one of the most enjoyable times of my life and I’ve had the privilege of meeting hundreds of incredible people and future business leaders as a member of the Kelley MBA program. (more…)

Finding my MBA path

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Rohit Raman, MBA/MSIS Candidate Class of 2022

“I want to be a Product Manager in Fintech Industry”- Source unknown.

Disclaimer: This is not my dream and frankly, when I was starting my MBA, I had no idea what either Product Manager or Fintech meant.

Before joining the Kelley family, I served in the Indian Navy for 10 years. I am second-generation Military personnel and military life is all I had experienced before. I had no idea what happened in the Corporate world, or what I wanted to do post completing my graduation. I thought two years was a long time to figure out what I enjoyed doing and then find a job that let me do that. During Me, Inc, the Cohort was split into smaller groups and then asked by a career coach what we wanted to do with our MBA. Everyone in the group except me was so sure what they wanted. Some wanted to be product managers in Fintech, others wanted to be consultants in technology or investment bankers. I freaked out and started to wonder what I had gotten myself into.

 

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Alumni Spotlight: Udit Joshi, MBA’19

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Udit Joshi, MBA’19 shares how his experience as a Kelley full-time MBA student enabled him to build momentum in his career and take him all the way to Google as a Global Product Lead. From gaining coaching experience with 1Kelley Consulting to building his confidence and giving him an edge in his career with Me, Inc, hear from Udit on his time at Kelley:

Kelley MBA Alumni Spotlight Udit Joshi, MBA’2019 from Kelley School of Business on Vimeo.

Ready to create the future you want like Udit? Learn more about why the Kelley MBA is right for you.

Alumni Spotlight Alejandro Guerrero Canal, Class of 2015

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Where are you from, and where were you living before you came to Kelley?

I’m from Bogota, Colombia, and was living there before beginning my MBA at Kelley.

You had worked in several different corporate financial roles before you joined the MBA program. What motivated you to return to graduate school for your MBA?

I spent a significant amount of time working in my family’s business right before Kelley. When I started thinking about continuing my career elsewhere, I realized I was missing something in my background and an MBA seemed to be the right next step.

I wasn’t really sure about what I wanted to do after graduation but I knew an MBA would open doors in different directions, so for me, it was also about learning about what drives me and understanding where my skills can be a differentiating factor. Two years at Kelley helped me gain perspective to be able to make better career choices. (more…)

Alumni Spotlight Catalina Silva, Class of 2017

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You had worked in several different engineering and supply chain roles before you joined the MBA program. What motivated you to return to graduate school—and to come to the United States—for your MBA?

Part of me always wanted to attend graduate school as I think it is important to never stop learning. My brother had gotten his MBA in the US and through some discussions with him thought this would be a good move for me in order to take my career to the next level. I knew there were many excellent universities in the US that I could look into and I also wanted to have the experience of living here.

What factors led you to choose Kelley over other MBA programs?

I attended “The Grad School”, an institute in Bogota that helps with training for the GMAT and school application counseling, and they gave me a list of potential schools that fit my interests and Kelley was one of them. I did some research on the school and the MBA program and it captured my interest, as I was looking for a school in a small to mid-sized city, with a strong supply chain MBA concentration, and a medium-sized class. After meeting in Bogota with Regina Lee, associate director of admissions, at an MBA conference and with current students during a winter break coffee chat, I decided to apply to the Kelley along with two other business schools that also met my criteria. I was accepted into all three but ultimately made my decision after I traveled and toured each of the campuses and met with people in each school. There is a magic to Bloomington and the culture that Kelley has that is undeniable and made me feel at home as soon as I got there. It is truly a collaborative, fun environment.

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Alumni Spotlight: Seann Kim, MBA 2018

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Seann Kim, MBA’18, joined the Kelley full-time MBA program after a decade of military service. Seann is now an investment banking associate-Global Industrials Group at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in Chicago, IL

Where are you from, and where were you living before you came to Kelley?
I’m originally from Palatine, IL. Pre-Kelley, I was stationed at Joint-Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state. While there, my family lived in beautiful Tacoma, WA, where we fell in love with the Pacific Northwest.

Before coming to Kelley, you graduated from West Point and served as an Army Special Forces Detachment Commander. What motivated you to return to graduate school for an MBA?
After a decade of rigorous military training and deployments around the world, my wife and I decided that we needed to transition to a different lifestyle. At the time, I wasn’t confident or fully prepared to pursue a specific and new career directly from the military, especially with a wife and three young kids. I believed that a full-time MBA experience would be the perfect transition for a vet back to the civilian sector. That said, I had an amazing experience as a Green Beret and wouldn’t trade it for the world.

What led you to choose Kelley over other MBA programs?
When I was exploring different programs, my sister’s boyfriend was in his 2nd year at Kelley. During his time in Bloomington, he routinely kept me up to date with his MBA experience. I eventually attended Experience Weekend. That validated a lot of the views he shared with me about Kelley’s culture, academic experience, network, and potential to maneuver my way into sought-after careers. That weekend, I officially committed to Kelley and since I did it in person, I got some cool Kelley swag! (more…)

The Power of the Kelley Alumni Network

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When Daniel de Moura Bernardes lost a job offer after graduating from the Kelley full-time MBA program due to the global pandemic, he could have never known that a tennis lesson would lead to an offer for his dream job. Listen in as Daniel discusses his last semester as a Kelley MBA in unprecedented times and how the power of the Kelley alumni network connected him to the perfect opportunity.
Ready to create the future you want like Daniel? Learn more about why the Kelley MBA is right for you.

Finding a new family at Kelley

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Siafa Hage
MBA Candidate | Class of 2021 | CGSM

The Kelley Consortium

Attending the Kelley School of Business Full-Time MBA Program is one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Being taught by eager and world-class faculty and having the support of Graduate Career Services are two reasons why. But nothing has been more enriching than my membership into the Consortium for Graduate Study in Management (CGSM) family. There are definite admission awards specific to being a Kelley School CGSM member: merit scholarship, free health care during your two years of study, and dedicated faculty-led study sessions during the Core semester, to name a few. The admissions package is the outcome of not only gaining admission to Kelley but also successfully completing an independent Consortium admissions process. It represents Kelley’s commitment to eliminating the barriers that prevent many underrepresented minorities from seeking an MBA degree.

We are Family
But there is an even greater benefit that I gained through Kelley Consortium membership – family. Even before my CGSM ’21 cohort started our first class, we had bonded. We spent the summer before school preparing for and attending the Consortium Orientation Program, which gave us early recruiting access to some of the most sought-after companies. When we finally arrived on campus, we were welcomed by the CGSM class of ’20, who hosted small group dinners for us at their homes. They also planned community service activities, a Thanksgiving potluck to show off our culinary skills (or lack thereof), and a white elephant Christmas party (can you believe someone gift wrapped bacon?!). But most of all, it’s the marathon study sessions in the Kelley MBA Lounge and impromptu get-togethers at each other’s homes that I cherish the most. These were the moments where we fretted, struggled, and laughed until we cried. These were the moments when we strengthened already unbreakable bonds.

Leadership at Kelley

While we are a close-knit group, we are equally proud to be members of the overall Kelley community. This is demonstrated by our collective leadership. Of the 31 official clubs for MBA students, a third are led by Consortium members: Innovators Club, Food Club, Beer Club, Marketing Club, Luxury Marketing Club, Out@Kelley, Diversity Champions, Latino MBA Association, and Black MBA Association. The student body president is also a CGSM member and the president of the Partners Club is the spouse of a Consortium student. Additionally, we serve as graduate assistants in many areas, including two of us serving on the Admissions Committee. Proudly, we are integrated into the fabric of the Kelley community in diverse ways.

Join Us!
The 2021 and 2022 Consortium cohorts self-identify as Black, white, Latino, and Asian. We are citizens of 3 different countries. Our professional experiences, reasons for attending business school, and post-Kelley career goals vary widely. But what we have in common is a commitment to diversity and inclusion. Specifically, we are committed to the mission of the Consortium, which is to increase the representation of African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Native Americans in business schools, corporate America, the non-profit sector, government, and entrepreneurship. All U.S. citizens and permanent residents committed to this mission are encouraged to apply to Kelley through the Consortium. As a Consortium Liaison for the 2020-2021 academic year, I look forward to welcoming you into the Kelley Consortium family.

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