Kelley In Focus weekend at Indiana University

This is a recap of my experience at Kelley In Focus, the recruiting event directed toward perspective minority applicants.

My Kelley In Focus experience started on Friday, October 12th at 10am with an interview. Definitely a nerve-racking way to start my weekend! I decided to make this my official Consortium (I’ll talk more about this in another post) interview, so I was especially anxious. My interviewer put me at ease, though, and I think the interview went well. It was a blind interview (I hadn’t even applied yet) but he did have my resume. The rest of the day included a tour, and a Career Leader session. By the way, Career Leader is an assessment tool used to help individuals find the career that suits them best. Apparently I’m supposed to be a marketer.

The first day concluded with a nice reception and the start of the free food, lol. This was also my first chance to meet some of the faculty and student body. Most of these interactions were positive; actually the conversation I had that stuck out the most was with a professor who kept asking, “What more can I tell you?” Her openness gave me a good feeling about the rest of the weekend.

Saturday began with a mentor breakfast. Our mentors were student volunteers who answered our questions from a student perspective. Mine was great and we actually kept in touch after In Focus.

Next up was “The Kelley Advantage”. The Chair of the MBA Program told us all about the program. There was a lot of ‘internet stuff’ discussed, but I definitely learned about the program. Besides that, the Chair is an interesting guy so that made it enjoyable.

The next event was “The Kelley Classroom Experience”. The Dean of the program walked us through the (apparently) famous chicken contact lens case. This was the highlight of the weekend for me. Dean Smith is a GREAT teacher, and he made me really excited about Kelley and business school in general. Case-based learning is new to me but I think it will really help me learn because it’s contextual. I’m sure I won’t be asking myself “When will I ever use this crap?” as I sleep through class, lol.

After lunch, we headed to the “Graduate Career Service Roundtables”. This event was split into a talk by members of the career service office and a miniature version of a similar event that the school puts on for their full time students. We spoke with representatives, all Kelley grads, from Proctor & Gamble, Delloitte, and Sears. The reps told us about their jobs, how Kelley prepared them for their careers, and about their experience at the school. I learned a lot and I got free stuff…. that’s a win/win.

After a talk with Financial Aid, we had our closing dinner. I continued my conversations with some of the faculty, and I was impressed that many remembered me and even brought some literature for me to keep. Plus, Dean Smith gave one of the best speeches I’ve heard in a while.

Overall, I had a great time (if you couldn’t tell). At one point I even asked a student to tell me something he didn’t like about the school. He struggled with an answer. Please use the comments to ask any questions you may have. Because I’m sure I left something out. Thanks for reading, and I’ll keep you updated with my MBA progress!