IU Kelley (Direct Admit) vs UMich (LSA)

good question...mich is better, but i'm not sure if it's 100k better...

If you're a Kelley direct admit, and you already know you want to do banking, then you're smart enough to get into Ross.

I would go there as you have a better shot breaking into banking, because you will not get a good banking gig without the Investment Banking Network if you're at Kelley.

I would go to IU. I made a very similar decision between UM and a state school, although my school sends fewer kids to Wall Street than IU. I'd make the same decision all over again in a second.

Go to IU Kelley. Get into the Investment Banking Workshop.

The program has phenomenal placement: Blackstone, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Lazard, Greenhill, Barclays, Jeffries, Credit Suisse, William Blair, BofA ML, Lincoln International, Robert W. Baird, and many more.

Thanks for the amazing input guys! Apologies for not mentioning that this is for Undergrad, and not an MBA. However I shall give the information asked: I am a rising senior with excellent GPA, my own Start-up Workshop, and apprentice to my cousin who is a VP currently. I'd love to work primarily in Chicago after graduation but ill take my chance to go to NYC any day. I was thinking about going all in and investing big for my MBA. The debt that I'll incur for Undergrad would be about 100k. I'm also pretty sure I have a decent Scholarship heading my way from Kelley, but that'll be known later. Would you say it's still worth it?

60k debt*

Anyone?

@"IlliniProgrammer"

I agree with pretty much everything @"IlliniProgrammer" said above. When I was working in banking I saw tons of Kelley kids -- probably more so than Ross kids (but this can vary bank to bank). From my personal experience, just knowing how much time and effort it took to pay off all my loans (well less than $100k), I can say that if you have the drive that will be required to pay off that much debt, it is unlikely that your choice of school is going to make much of a difference in your success. Both schools have large and helpful alumni networks, so you just have to weigh the opportunity cost for yourself and figure out if going to Michigan is worth $100k to you. If it is, then go and enjoy your time there. I have a ton of friends who went to Kelley and work all over the buy side so don't worry about limiting your options with either choice. Given all the factors unless you have a strong reason otherwise, I would go with Kelley.

Current IU sophomore here, willing to offer any help I can.

I'm from out-of-state and was DA to Kelley with scholarship. Received business honors after freshman year and am now nearing IB network interviews.

My experience has been unique because I have gone through diversity recruiting, but banking is a high possibility at Kelley if you know how to network. A LOT of students end up working in finance and Kelley has a strong reputation among Chicago banks. Personally, I'm going for NYC (have been able to visit six times this past year - all paid for by banks through recruiting) and am currently working on getting an SA position this summer. If you come in motivated and ready to network you will attach yourself to students in the IB network and business honors in your first year and they will serve as mentors for you to break into the industry.

From a financial perspective and because I was impatient, Kelley was the only school I applied to. I didn't want to risk non-DA to an undergrad program and knew that the size of IU would help me find a niche. I think UMich and IU are extremely close in terms of campus culture and such.

My advice: Ross is not worth the $60k debt. IU students place in banks (a small amount, but we aren't competing against a ton of fellow students like Ross for banking at Kelley) and IU slums go onto top MBA programs (just met a HBS alum last month from Kelley).

PM me if you want anymore advice and or stories/info/perspective.

Thank You for all the input everyone! Quick update- I have also applied to UNC's Kenan Flagler and am pretty certain about my chances there. It would cost the same as IU for me! I'd personally love to go to Kelley and try for the IBW there but do advise me about how I should go about this decision! Thank you..

The IBW process is all about networking with current members. You apply second semester sophomore year and before then you should have had ample time to network with the workshop supervisor and participants.

IU for sure. Although Michigan is more prestigious I don't think it's worth the $100k difference between IU.

So long as you network and hit the ground running the moment you step foot on campus there's no reason you can't maximize your experience at IU and make it to the Street or Chicago for IB. Get into the right clubs and build up relevant work experience as soon as possible.

Best of luck.

Fellow Direct Admit here. Just be careful; it is very, VERY important to get into the IB Workshop if you want to get into banking, as first off the workshop is highly reputed, almost everyone gets really solid placements, and two (perhaps more important) you will be with other incredibly driven kids, and that competition will get you through what could be a tricky period in your life. Finally, job fairs for the other kelley students is mostly corporates and you won't have nearly as many opportunities to get into banking through the regular kelley job search.

Being a direct admit, it is very easy to kick back and relax freshman year. IU is super fun, and since you'll be staying in the dorms, you'll meet a ton of fun people, most of whom wouldn't be very driven or hard working. Me and a ton of other DA's took it a bit too easy the first year, and its quite hard to break that cycle of laziness once you're in it. Just throwing a word of caution your ways in case you go to Kelley.

Fellow Direct Admit here. Just be careful; it is very, VERY important to get into the IB Workshop if you want to get into banking, as first off the workshop is highly reputed, almost everyone gets really solid placements, and two (perhaps more important) you will be with other incredibly driven kids, and that competition will get you through what could be a tricky period in your life. Finally, job fairs for the other kelley students is mostly corporates and you won't have nearly as many opportunities to get into banking through the regular kelley job search.

Being a direct admit, it is very easy to kick back and relax freshman year. IU is super fun, and since you'll be staying in the dorms, you'll meet a ton of fun people, most of whom wouldn't be very driven or hard working. Me and a ton of other DA's took it a bit too easy the first year, and its quite hard to break that cycle of laziness once you're in it. Just throwing a word of caution your ways in case you go to Kelley.

at the same cost, UNC>Indiana is a no brainer

There is no doubt that Kelley is way beyond the IBW. Obviously, my goal is to be a part of it but I understand chances for that are slim. However, @"Frank Slaughtery", I have heard that UNC mostly places in Charlotte (A little in New York as well) but IUB's Kelley places a lot in Chicago. Is there truth to this? I realize that UNC is more reputed as a whole but do you think in terms of just placement, it holds a huge edge over Kelley? IBW included? Thanks in advance everyone! Cheers!

I think UNC tends to place more in charlotte because in state students from north carolina generally don't want to work in NYC. UNC is a better institution than Indiana and KF is a better program than kelley. At the same cost, I think UNC KF is a no brainer.

According to the jobs report the IBW released last year, I think Kelley alumni were split pretty evenly between Chicago and NYC. Also, don't forget about the ibanking seminar if you dont get into the workshop, as someone who knows people in both, I would say that the seminar is almost a better option because there's not as much of a time commitment, you get to prepare for an extra semester (Seminar interviews aren't until Junior year fall), and you still get basically all of the opportunities that the workshop kids get.

So don't fret if you're not able to get into the workshop, but as a junior that isn't in either one, I can say that most banks won't even look at you if you're not in either of these programs or the management workshop.