Indiana's Kelley School of Business is ranked 21st among the best B-schools in the U.S. by Poets&Quants.

21. Indiana University

Kelley School of Business

1275 East Tenth Street, Suite 2010
Bloomington, Indiana 47405
Admissions: 812.855.8006 or 800.994.8622
Email: mbaoffice@indiana.edu
Website: http://www.kelley.iu.edu/mba
Apply Online: https://apply.embark.com/MBAEdge/Indiana/fulltime/

Admission Deadlines for Class of 2014:
Round One: 11/1/11
Round Two: 1/5/12
Round Three: 3/1/12
Round Four: 4/15/12

The entire first semester at the Kelley School of Business is about getting the big business picture. The integrated core consists of one 15-week course (co-taught by eight faculty members) that weaves together every business discipline and gives a solid understanding of how these disciplines work together. That leaves three semesters of electives and freedom for students to chart their own career paths.

Students can choose from six majors or they can design their own. There is also the option to combine a major with a minor, joint degree, or certificate program. Kelley also has an online MBA program in which graduates get the exact same degree as full timers on campus. It’s the highest ranked school with an online MBA to date, though UNC’s Kenan-Flagler is entering this market in mid-2011.

Latest Up-To-Date MBA Rankings:

Poets&Quants (2011): 21
BusinessWeek (2010): 19
Forbes (2011): 27
U.S. News & World Report (2011): 23
Financial Times (2011): 73 (Global), 38 (U.S.)
The Economist (2011): 39 (Global), 25 (U.S.)

Ranking Analysis:

Indiana University’s Kelley School retained its rank of 21 in Poets&Quants’ second annual ranking of the top 100 MBA programs in the U.S. in 2011. But it do so while losing ground in three of the four major MBA rankings published during the year. Kelley fell two places in Forbes’ biennial 2011 rating, which measures the return-on-investment of the degree, dropping to 27th from 25th in 2009. The school also plunged 16 spots in the 2011 Financial Times’ global ranking, dipping to 73rd from 57 a year earlier. And it fell four places to 39th from 35th on The Economist’s global list in 2011. U.S. News had Kelley exactly where it was a year earlier at a rank of 23rd.

The school’s best rating came from BusinessWeek, which largely ranks schools on the basis of student and recruiter satisfaction. In 2010, the last time BW did its biennial ranking of full-time MBA programs, Kelley warranted a rank of 19, down four places from 15th in 2008. So the general ranking trend for Kelley is hardly favorable. A graduate in the Class of 2010 surveyed by BusinessWeek summed up some of the underlying issues: “While the school was top notch in terms of academic rigor and variety, graduate career services left a lot to be desired. They could have been more in tune with changing job market realities. I felt that their reaction was forced rather than proactive. Also despite the huge international population, not a lot of effort has been expended in figuring out suitable career options for them and more often than not they are left to fend for themselves. Consulting was a huge, huge disappointment. The school needs to wake up and realize that there are other functions apart from marketing which need nourishment and attention.”

One positive sign: several core quality metrics are up. Median GMAT scores for the class that entered in the fall of 2011 rose 20 points to 680, while the acceptance rate to the school improved to 38% from 42%  a year earlier. The school achieved these changes in part by lowering the number of students enrolled in the class. The stats for the outgoing class in 2011 improved, too. Some 82% of the class had job offers by graduation, up from 71% in the recession-plagued year of 2010. Median base salaries rose $5,000 to $95,000.

MBA Program Consideration Set:

Stretch Schools: Cornell, Carnegie Mellon, UCLA, USC
Match Schools: Texas, Emory, University of Southern California, Georgetown
Safe Schools: Minnesota, Notre Dame, Washington University, Rice, Vanderbilt

Tuition & Fees: $52,736 (resident)
Tuition & Fees: $90,700 (non-resident)
Recommended Two-Year Budget: $86,106 (resident)
Recommended Two-Year Budget: $126,080
Median GMAT: 680
GMAT Range (mid-80%): 560-760
Average GPA: 3.34
Acceptance Rate: 38%

Full-Time Enrollment: 419
International: 36%
Female: 32%
Minority –
African American: 7%
Asian American: 13%
Hispanic or Latino American: 4%
Mean Age: 28

Median Base Salary: $95,000
Median Signing Bonus: $15,000
Percentage of MBAs with Job Offers at Graduation: 82%
Percentage of MBAs with Job Offers Three Months Later: 94%

Estimate of Total Pay over a 20-Year Career*: $2,136,040 (only 38 other U.S. business schools had higher career pay numbers)

Where the Class of 2011 Went to Work:

Consulting — 17%
Consumer Products — 17%
Manufacturing — 17%
Financial Services — 13%
Technology — 12%
Health Care/Biotech — 9%
Non-Profit — 3%
Energy — 2%
Real Estate — 1%
Government — 1%

Notes: MBA Program Consideration Set: If you believe you’re a close match to this school–based on your GMAT and GPA scores,  your age and work experience, you should look at these other competitive full-time MBA programs as well. We list them by stretch, match and safety. These options are presented on the basis of brand image and ranking status.

* Payscale 2010 estimate for Bloomberg BusinessWeek.