While IU certainly captures a lot of hype for many of its non-academic achievements – an undefeated tailgating record, the greatest college weekend in America (Little 500), and five basketball championships to name a few – it is also home to some of the nation’s top academic programs. One such program is the Kelley School of Business (currently ranked 4th by Bloomberg and 9th by US News Week). Anyone who knows me – or has even talked to me for five minutes – knows that I’m a die-hard Kelley faithful. For students not in Kelley, however, there are certain things that don’t seem to quite make sense about people like myself who inhabit Hodge Hall.
Suits
Many people wonder why anyone would want to spend the entirety of their four-year college experience wearing suits on a regular basis when its arguably the last opportunity they’ll have to show up to their obligations in sweat pants and crusty eyes with no repercussions. However, whether it’s for interviews, career fairs, networking events, or just class presentations, Kelley students are all too familiar with wearing suits on a regular basis - even to the point of giving Barney Stinson a run for his money. Suit up, bro?
Fridays
For most students at IU, Friday represents trudging through one or two final classes – hangover from Sports optional – before kicking off a long awaited weekend. However, walk through Kelley on a Friday and you’ll find that the place is practically a ghost town. With Friday classes being rare, “Friday After Class” starts Thursday nights for most Kelley students. Certainly puzzling considering these will be many of the same people who will be working 60-70 hours/week right out of college.
Debits and Credits
Chances are that if you’re not in Kelley, you have no idea what the hell Kelley kids are talking about half the time. To you, the only difference between a debit and a credit is whether or not you have to prepare yourself for a phone call from mom and dad when the bill comes at the end of the month. Risk-adjusted returns, cost of capital, return on equity, and an infinite list of other words and phrases carry no meaning to you. But don’t worry, the feeling is mutual; I still don’t have the first clue what the hell a covalent bond is.
I-Core
To students not in Kelley, I-Core seems to be a Dante’s Inferno like experience where – through a combination of blood, sweat, and tears – students manage to write a 100+ page report in just 10 days, all for the sake of getting a t-shirt at the end that says they did it. Yes, it’s true, I still have mine. But while certainly grueling, I-Core is just one of many team-based projects students work on as they progress through the Kelley curriculum. Surprisingly, it’s also one of the few that doesn’t require students to put on a suit.
Fall Recruitment
For many students at IU, Fall is a time for tailgates, changing colors, and pumpkin spice lattes. However, for students in Kelley, the weeks leading into fall are a time in which students are fine-tuning their resumes, waiting in long lines to talk to recruiters, and spending hours preparing for interviews. At its peak, recruitment can easily take more time that class and homework combined, and can leave non-business students scratching their heads as to why their Kelley friends have suddenly gone MIA from the bars and social functions. Being in the midst of recruiting myself, I can only imagine it must be what a professional athlete feels like on draft day, hoping he gets signed by a good team after years of hard work.
