Hey everyone. I am an eighteen year older senior in high school and have gotten into both Kelley and Carlson direct admit. It's my understanding that Kelley has a better reputation in terms of IB, but I'd like to hear your thoughts. I also got a scholarship and admittance into the Hutton honors program at IU, if that makes any difference. And I'm wondering if Minnesota's Minneapolis location is at all advantageous.
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Both are great programs for the cost, but ultimately I believe it depends where you want to be geographically post-grad and where you feel more comfortable.
IU places well in NYC given their "IB workshop" and that they have some OCR (someone please correct me if I am wrong). Overall it is a strong undergrad program ranked 10th for undergrad program by U.S. News (Carlson is #15 for reference).
Carlson doesn't have a large amount of alumni in NYC, but does have NYC I-Banking "Treks" that give undergrads the opportunity to meet and network at all of the BBs. Carlson also has a fairly strong alumni network in the Bay area, and of course it is well-positioned if you want to work in MM in the Midwest.
Not to say a strong candidate who networks well from either school can't end up in any geography. Just wanted to layout generalized feelings on both schools with IU being the relatively easier road to NYC. Most importantly, it is up to you to pick the best atmosphere. IU is more college town, while UMN is more college neighborhood within a bigger city. Happy to provide more details on both.
Kelley is the better choice.
Carlson is strong, but more so in the local market. If you don't mind working in MM IB in Minneapolis post-grad, then the Minneapolis location is ideal (HW, HL, Piper, Lazard all recruit from Carlson).
If you prefer a wider range of options including NYC and Chicago, IU is the right choice.
I'm an IU grad that spent some time in Minneapolis. Minneapolis is a great, underrated city. However, for undergrad, the college town atmosphere is better than the Tier 2 city atmosphere. IU career services are also better than Carlson and I witnessed that first-hand as we recruited from each and worked with each.
Just my take.
Carlson does pretty well in the Midwest for recruiting, particularly in Mpls, but Kelley has the better overall rep and placement into NYC and even Chicago probably.
In the end it probably comes down to location preference and costs difference.
Kelley hands down - especially if you'd like to end up in Chi or NYC.
Dirty secret: Hutton rarely gives below a "B" grade for students taking honors classes to boost their overall "Honors GPA" metrics.
Keep in mind freshman year GPA is of paramount importance at Kelley if you'd like to enter the IB workshops as a sophomore.
Kelley gives you more direct access to NYC/Chi shops and you'll graduate with a padded GPA and honors diploma to boot. Bloomington is the quintessential college town and the social scene is outstanding.
Unless you're targeting Minneapolis, it's a no-brainer.
From Chicago, I see a lot of IU guys in finance but haven't seen any Minnesota grads (at least not in IB), so I would go for IU and try to get into the workshop.
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