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| Indiana University Kelley School of Business |
OVERALL 1998 RANK: 21 BW corporate rank: 20 BW graduate rank: 25 BW 1996 rank: 15 |
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1999 Profile Update School Profile School Statistics Graduates' Comments: The responsiveness of the administration and faculty is second to none. The administration listens to student input and acts quickly to meet student needs. The administration practices continuous improvement in a manner that many corporations can only dream of. The new chairperson, Dan Smith, will help take this program to new heights. The Kelley School of Business MBA Program is in great hands between Dan Smith and Dean Dan Dalton. Students are active and involved. I could not imagine a better group of people to surround myself with in a graduate program. The faculty are also active and involved. They listen to you inside and outside of class. Whether it is in office hours, out for lunch, or at a bar for a social beer. The Business Placement Office continues to meet our demands and get stronger. Great companies in large numbers show up in Bloomington to recruit. I interviewed with all of the companies in which I was interested. --Consulting As a undergraduate history major, the program's Foundation and Functional cores were fantastic at providing basic general management skills and an excellent functional survey. However, the school may need to consider compressing the two core semesters down to 24 weeks so that students may take major electives in their first year prior to beginning an internship. --Unknown Nevertheless, the 'core' concept is terrific and the faculty continues to work on making it more integrative across subjects and functions. Nearly every professor is always accessible and dedicates a great deal of time to ensure that students are adequately prepared. The school's willingness to affect change is simply amazing. This dedication is indicated by the school's actions regarding a new second year policy core which incorporates ethics, macro-economics, and business law. When it became evident that, despite the best intentions of the faculty, there were problems with the curriculum, the school held a town hall meeting with second year MBAs and faculty to figure out what could be done to improve the program at that moment instead of one or two semesters down the road. --Consulting The faculty at Indiana were amazingly flexible and always willing to listen to student concerns or suggestions. Also, the MBA faculty always make an effort to actively participate in activities outside of the academic curriculum, further enhancing student-faculty relations. Because of this interaction, students have an active role in the ongoing change process of the program while developing the skills needed to be successful in the business world. In addition to the dynamic student body and competent faculty, this MBA program provides unlimited opportunities for extra-curricular involvement. The numerous clubs, academies, workshops, and support groups provide a wide array of activities for all interests. It is these activities that create a well rounded MBA, as it is imperative for one to develop additional skills which can only be learned outside of a core academic curriculum. I have truly enjoyed my experience at the Kelly School of Business, and have gained much more than the technical and communication skills I sought two years ago. --Finance The quality of teaching at Indiana is greatly enhanced by the professors' active work with companies outside of IU. The faculty and administration are very responsive to students' concerns and opinions regarding coursework and the program. Even when those concerns are in the middle of a class term, the faculty and administrator will implement improvements midstream. --Finance The faculty at IU truly cares about not only what the students learn in the classroom but how this material will be applied in the workplace. They are always striving to bring the latest tools to the classroom that are being implemented by businesses. This is not just theory but how the theory is applied to real life scenarios. For example Black-Scholes, for all its importance to the finance world, is based on a number of assumptions that do not always hold true. Thus, the faculty teaches us how to work with the model and understand how variations in inputs will effect our values. --Consulting Before entering Indiana University, I practiced law for three years. Many people have asked me to compare the two experiences (educated in law at University of Illinois). Law emphasized critical thinking skills and the importance of communication skills. Business school has emphasized quantitative skills and the ability to work in teams. Indiana has structured the program to take advantage of the respective talents of the students. The only students who do not enter the program with significant work experience are joint degree candidates. The classroom discussion is always lead in a manner so students can offer analogies of case problems with life experiences. --Unknown Furthermore, the classroom competitiveness that exists in a legal education does not exist at Indiana. This is due in large part to the integrated "team" based concept to learning. The individual at Indiana will only receive an exceptional grade if they learn how to trust and support their fellow classmates. Dean Dalton replaced a popular dean (Rau). However, I was pleasantly surprised to see Dean Dalton take an aggressive approach toward improving the program. He treats the students as customer and will hold a "town meeting" to hear complaints. These town meetings are not a political exercise to keep the natives quiet but serve as a means of making continual changes to improve the program. After one of these meeting a class was revamped within 48 hours after the students concerns were heard. --Finance I believe that Indiana has created a unique learning atmosphere. From day one of orientation all the way through the last assignment, a significant amount of learning is accomplished through teamwork. Because of the emphasis placed on teamwork in and out of the classroom, students are more interested in learning than outdoing each other for a better grade. Students freely gave of their time to conduct review sessions for fellow classmates in difficult subjects such as Finance and Quantitative Analysis. Both the faculty and the administration are superb. The faculty is able to balance the delicate task of caring for their students while conducting research that is at the forefront of their field. The administration will actually listen to and implement students' suggestions in areas such as curriculum and placement. --Unknown Finally, among the top 20 business schools in the country, there may not be a better place where you can attend an excellent program and raise a family. There is such a feeling of camaraderie and support amongst the MBA families that the stress of returning to and attending school with small children in tow is lessened considerably. --Consulting (Information Systems) The school's willingness and ability to quickly respond to student concerns is tremendous. However, one area that has been slow to change has been the number of required classes -- significantly higher than other top 20 schools. The emphasis on teamwork is great and really seems to be what employers are looking for. The friends and acquaintances I've made here are people I'll definitely keep in contact with throughout my career. The past two years have been an experience I wouldn't trade, and have opened the doors to a new experience (working in Kiev, Ukraine) that otherwise would have never been possible. --Consulting Indiana University provides solid foundations in the area of ethics, technical analysis and team work. The school has been very responsive to the needs of students. However, like most business programs, the school has largely skirted the issue of diversity in business. Although there are positive signs of progress, until now, Indiana has deftly dodged a major issue that managers of the future must deal with in domestic and global businesses. --Finance It was very difficult to choose just two professors as favorites. The faculty is excellent, committed, and generous in sharing time with MBAs outside of class. The heavy emphasis on teamwork has allowed me to develop wonderful relationships with a diverse group of students from around the world. I now have good friends going to work in Korea, Thailand, Venezuela, Japan, and across the United States who will be great contacts throughout my career. Additionally, Bloomington has been a great place to live for two years. It's a very liveable town with most of the ammenities of a bigger city thanks to the University. My wife and I came here with one daughter and are leaving with two. It has been a great place for a young family with lots of parks and a close group of MBA partners for my wife to socialize with. --Finance The school is in need of a stronger alumni network. The administration is implementing new technology and class agents to promote networking after the MBA. New alumni chapters are currently under development. --Finance The placement office needs improvement. There were not enough jobs for international students, who form 20% of the population. The required/core classes are too rigid and inflexible. Perhaps they could be broken down into required electives. Also, the program should allow first years to take electives. --Marketing Indiana's MBA program has an excellent integrated first year of studies. At times it seems like bootcamp. There is a strong emphasis on teaching over research. The facilities need to be upgraded and this will occur with the new building in two years. There is a lot emphasis on teamwork to the point where you are slightly burned out from it. --Finance Overall, the IU MBA Program continues to offer an exceptional value -- outstanding teaching at 2/3 of the cost of most other programs. An outstanding marketing faculty, led by new MBA Program Chairperson Dan Smith, has done a first-rate job in revamping the entire marketing curriculum to make it more strategic, quantitative, and practical in nature, and not solely based on some old-school theories. The teaching in the first year is exceptional with newer professors constantly being integrated into the mix. By and large, there is a solid nucleus of young professors in all departments, but at the moment, they aren't teaching enough electives in the second year. As a result, there is a slight imbalance in the quality of teaching between the first and second years. One thing that could bring more value to the MBA Program would be more outside speakers. While the ones we had were excellent and added greatly to the topics being covered in class, more high-profile speakers of a CEO/CFO -- or even VP-caliber -- would enhance the program. --Marketing The Investment Management Academy really helped me focus on what I needed to learn and do to get a job in that field. I probably had to work harder learning things outside of the curriculum than if I had gone to one of the traditional finance schools. However, I feel like I may have gotten more out of my education because of that extra work. --Finance I was involved in the Investment Management Academy, a specialized program that focuses on students committed to the investment industry. This highly selective program includes specialized courses and projects during our second year. The highlight of this program is the Applied Portfolio Seclection course (The Reese Fund course) in which students are required to write a research report on a stock that they chose and then present the stock to alumni from Wall Street firms. If the board approves the stock we invest in it with our $500,000 portfolio. We have beaten the S&P for the past three years and are currently beating the S&P this year as well. This "real life" experience was the highlight of my MBA career. --Finance (Sales & Trading) Indiana University made it possible or me to make the career transition from public accounting to brand management. The biggest factor in what allowed me to accomplish this was the time given by professors outside the classroom to help me first obtain an internship and then a full-time position. At IU the students come first, and I can't put enough emphasis on that. IU also allowed me to teach an undergraduate accouting class. I not only learned what it is like to teach but improved my leadership and presentation skills on a weekly basis. --Marketing The needs of the students were clearly paramount and were addressed quickly and effectively. The Marketing program, recently revamped by Dan Smith, is incredible. The information covered is clear, relevant, challenging and specific. He has incorporated the use of cutting-edge modeling and research software programs and not surprisingly, the marketing program is being benchmarked all over the country. Recruiters love IU grads because not only do they come out of the program with all the skills needed to really excel in the market, but they are extremely hard workers, and there is not a prima donna in the bunch. That can be attributed to the team emphasis in the program. --Marketing (Advertising) Back to Top 1999 Profile Update School Profile School Statistics |
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