Genuinely Do Not Understand how Kelley Is Not A Semi-Target

How is Kelley not a semi-target? USNews just updated their 2022-2023 rankings, in which IU is tied at #8 with UNC, UVA, USC, and Cornell at 8th place. For the finance major, IU is ranked #7, which is higher than UVA and UNC, which are #10 and #11 respectively. We place a ton of people in IB through the workshops and nearly 100 outside of the workshop in IB alone. If IU is ranked higher than a lot of these semi-targets and even places well, how is non-workshop Kelley still a non-target? KBGCFTW,LYRS

18 Comments
 

I don't think banks look at the U.S. News ranking. Ivy's just sound way better than IU. The only reason the workshop is a semi-target is purely because of connections. Non-workshop Kelley doesn't have the connections, and frankly, to banks, has WAY too high of an acceptance rate to be prestigious

 

I don’t know why everyone is dunking on OP. I mean, numbers don’t lie (check the scoreboard). Kelley has the same rankings of a top target school (think: Cornell, Georgetown) but the same parties and fun as a huge state school (think: Alabama, UF). 100% unmatched imho.

 

Just think about it logically. What are the other semi-targets? Vanderbilt, Emory, WashU, Hopkins, CMU, Rice, UNC, UCLA, USC. These schools except UNC(which is a T30) are all T20-T25, have acceptance rates between 6-12% average SATs close to 1500. Whereas Kelley you're literally guaranteed a spot if you have a 3.8 weighted which is like a 3.4 unweighted and a 1370 SAT. They take nearly 40% of direct admits through a petition process  even if they sometimes miss out on theses stats and then they have another 50% of the class after the first year. Those kids didn't meet the Kelley bar coming. Essentially 65% of Kelley kids did not meet the bare minimum bar of essentially a 3.4 unweighted and a 1370 SAT. To put into perspective Emory, Vandy, WashU have nearly 50% of the incoming class with a 1500+ and UCLA has like an 8% acceptance rate with 130,000 applicants. Still all of these places are just semi-targets. Given all of this why would Kelley be a semi-target? 

 

Distinctio optio ipsam quam nihil minus. Sint aut dolores dicta quia voluptatum reiciendis iusto. Id optio repellat optio omnis totam eius.

Career Advancement Opportunities

November 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 99.0%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.4%
  • Guggenheim Partners 02 97.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 06 97.4%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

November 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.5%
  • Morgan Stanley 02 99.0%
  • Evercore 01 98.4%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.9%
  • BMO Capital Markets 13 97.4%

Professional Growth Opportunities

November 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 99.0%
  • Morgan Stanley 05 98.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.9%
  • JPMorgan No 97.4%

Total Avg Compensation

November 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (57) $264
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (29) $183
  • Intern/Summer Associate (16) $161
  • 1st Year Analyst (84) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (76) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
3
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
4
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
5
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
6
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
7
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
8
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
9
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
10
Jamoldo's picture
Jamoldo
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”