Don't go to IU Kelley*

*In many cases

I'm a long time lurker and this is my first post. This might get downvoted to shit since so many people here are IU shills (see that one dude who made posts on like 5 separate accounts promoting Kelley) but some of you need to hear this.

I've seen some crazy comparison posts on here and people are waaayyy overrating Kelley. Since I started working, I've met a ton of Kelley kids, but I've also met a ton of kids from every other school in existence. You can make it from anywhere. Yes, the IB Workshop program is great, but not everyone gets in. To see kids here comparing schools like UNC to Kelley is just stupid. Go to the best school you are accepted to, and can afford.

For those of you who have Indiana as their only option, ignore this. For those of you who are deciding between one of your top choice state schools and Indiana, go to your state school. If you work hard you will still make it. Don't throw hundreds of thousands away because some spam accounts on WSO told you that Indiana is a top target. (Hint, it isn't)

TL;DR WSO high schoolers with 3.3 GPAs love saying that Indiana is better than it is since it is the best school they have gotten into. While it is good, don't fall for the hype.

86 Comments
 

They are pretty much the same. The social scene, education and the types of kids who go (at least from my experience) They get kids who are smart with like 3.8s but couldn’t make the UVA/UMich cut.

 

The IBW is so overrated it’s unbelievable. Kelley is a fun school that produces solid bankers that are pretty good at modeling from day 1. However, the IBW’s placements over the last few years have not been stellar. Sure, they have the handful of people that place into PWP and MoCo every year, but they only get a couple that place into top BBs or EBs. That placement is very far below the semi-target that I went to where people from any club could place into top BBs/EBs. Additionally, you are seeing more and more members of the IBW place into LMM banks whereas if you’re at a target or even a semi-target, the only people going to LMM banks are people with very low GPAs, or who were late on the networking game. 
TLDR: Kelley is far from even being a semi-target, it’s a nice Big10 school that is fun. 

 

This is false, I'm currently in the IBW and can give a little bit of data if anyone is looking to make their college decision. This year so far we placed two at Evercore, five at Moelis, five at Rothschild, five at RBC, BofA MD says that they are taking five (spoke with him), four at Guggenheim, five at William Blair, one at Goldman Sachs, three at Perella Weinberg, and other places. We are also a target and have firm presentations for Liontree, Morgan Stanley, Barclays, Jefferies Greenhill, Lincoln, FT Partners, Cain BrothersBaird, BMO, Greenhill, GTCR, Ares (we had firm presentations with Ares and GTCR but they are not necessarily hiring for summer analysts from IU). In the class above us, top candidates also placed in Qatalyst, Centerview, PJT Restructuring, Lazard Restructuring, Goldman Sachs TMT. I name-dropped all of these firms to show that as a member of the IBW, you will have a good chance of breaking into EBs and BBs if you are a top candidate. Even though there aren't as plenty of seats for IU kids at EBs or BBs as targets like Uchicago or UNC, you still have a good chance of making it. For kids that didn't get into Ivys or other true targets, don't be discouraged. IU Kelley is still a great school and the IBW recruiting process is very thorough. If you are a good candidate, you will most likely make it. One perk (if not the biggest) of being in the IBW is that you have access to information of recruiting cycle, since we have pipelines to many banks and the recruiters work very closely with the heads of the IBW, you will not miss out on opportunities and know when to move on from a bank or keep grinding.

Also, in terms of diversity recruiting within the IBW or for getting into the IBW itself. It will always be easier as a diverse candidate to break into IB/ any high finance jobs and in this case, the IBW itself. However, only around 30 - 35 girls (not 100 lol) were actually applying to the IBW this year, and 21 got in. It is definitely easier to get accepted as a diversity candidate, however, many of my male, non-diversity friends also broke in (this year there are 67 males, 21 females if I recall correctly). Hope this helps!

 

As someone who went to a regional, no-name liberal arts mother of all non-targets and still ended up at an EB, I find this sort of dick measuring based on where you went to school to be kind of strange. This just screams "I peaked in college".

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