Meet Indiana Kelley’s MBA Class Of 2021

University of Indiana campus

P&Q: Kelley is known as a program that fosters career transitions. How do you infuse coaching and mentoring into your full-time program? How does your top-ranked career center play a part?

GGN: “Coaching and mentoring begins for some students months before they actually arrive in Bloomington as they prepare for summer conferences and boot camps. It proceeds through our award-winning Me, Inc. program and continues throughout each student’s two years at Kelley. Each student is paired with a professional coach from our Graduate Career Services office, along with a second-year peer coach, who helps guide the student through their professional development and job search process. We also offer an exceptional second-year Leadership Academy that teaches students how to effectively coach others. Our GCS team consists of a group of seasoned business professionals who are also certified coaches; they are fantastic resources for our students.”

IT’S ALL ABOUT ME…IN A GOOD WAY

In fact, these coaches complete hundreds of hours of training, passing exams from both the CTI (the Coaches Training Institute) and ICF (International Coaching Federation). Not only that, but coaches work with students on personal and professional growth throughout the two-year program. Better still, there are no limits to how many times or how long students can meet one-on-one with their coaches.

This personalized approach kicks off at orientation with Me, Inc. During this two-week program, students look inward to better identify their drivers and values, always focusing on the why before the how. Following a four-step framework, students gain self-awareness through intensive feedback from coaches, faculty, peers, and second-year students. They also take tests to better understand their leadership profile and personality type. From there, they mine their experiences, talents, and goals to craft a narrative that reflects who they are and where they hope to end up.

A student team collaboration

Admittedly, Me, Inc. is an uncomfortable process, one designed to force first-years to confront their shortcomings. That’s exactly what these students need to change careers. The programming is a means to gain the self-awareness and practice the communication and teamwork needed to make the most of their two years in Bloomington. Even more, Me, Inc. demands purposeful planning, the kind that prepares students for the recruiting frenzy to come.

“What makes the program so special is how it is tailored to fit each individual differently,” explains Aditi Sharma. “Everyone would have a different takeaway from the program. It breaks you down to build you again. Such a rediscovery would prepare me well for the course ahead and help me make the most of our time at Kelley.”

ACADEMIES DELIVER HANDS-ON EXPERIENCE

Me, Inc. is just one of the signature experiences of a truly distinctive curriculum. For example, the core courses are integrated, with all the business disciplines intertwined across a 15-week bloc. Working in four-member teams, students are exposed to how areas like marketing, finance, and general management connect with each other – and how decisions made in one area can reverberate across the others. Not only does this give them a broader view of business operations, but hones their ability to find more holistic solutions to issues they encounter.

With the fundamentals in place, first-years spend the second half of the year in Academies. Think of Academies as a resume-builder, where students can apply core learnings in field projects. To start, students choose one Academy related to their long-term career paths. These Academies include Business Marketing, Consumer Marketing, Capital Markets, Strategic Finance, Supply Chains and Digital Enterprise, Consulting, and Life Sciences (i.e. Healthcare). Along with gaining on-the-job experience, MBAs visit top companies in their fields to learn cutting edge techniques and network with prospective employers, experts, and champions. The Academies also come with regular observation and feedback from career coaches and second-year peer mentors to add perspective and polish.

“Academies serve to connect classroom knowledge with experiential learning to prepare students for their summer internships and, ultimately, their full-time career,” explains Danielle VeZolles. “As a career-switcher, participating in Academies is important because I want the opportunity to gain practical knowledge that will support me when it comes time to perform in a role. Through the Consumer Marketing Academy, I will participate in group projects and develop marketing recommendations, network with top CPG companies, and learn consumer marketing skills and industry best practices.”

Kelley MBA students hanging out after class.

HEADING OVERSEAS TO SERVE

After their summer internship, students can also return to complete a second Academy, with a menu that includes Leadership, Entrepreneurship Innovation, and Life Sciences. For example, Jennifer Solomon, a 2019 Best & Brightest MBA, signed up for the Leadership Academy. Along with a culminating project, she says, the course was supplemented by coursework that covered areas like servant leadership and coaching fundamentals. Ashley Emerole, currently a Kelley second-year, adds that the Academies’ experiential bent extended far beyond field projects.

“I did the capital markets academy,” she told P&Q in an October interview. “That prepared me in terms of what a financial services career would look like. As a first-year MBA, you’re able to meet with a lot of alums who work in different financial service capacities. You travel during your academy week to New York and Chicago and visit different firms, and you get a lot of hands-on training that ranged from stock pitch competitions to a case on whether Amazon should divest an asset. It was a lot of hands-on learning.”

While the Class of 2021 is looking forward to the Academies, they can’t wait for GLOBASE. Another institutional staple, GLOBASE mixes international consulting with social impact. Here, student teams head to locations like China, Brazil, and Vietnam to partner with small businesses and non-profits. Their goal: help them overcome business barriers and stimulate growth.

“I want the opportunity to gain international leadership experience and help change someone’s life forever,” says Justin Speller. “With the Globase program, I will be able to gain exposure to working abroad.”

NOT TOO BIG…OR TOO SMALL

For Tyler Yoder, GLOBASE ranked among the highlights of this Kelley MBA experience. “Happy Horizons Trust (HHT) is a non-profit/NGO that partners with schools in the rural Indian state of Bihar to lead educational activities ranging from storytelling to career development. Their team then equips young Indian women to lead those educational activities, many of whom have become teachers after their work with HHT. It was such an inspiration to work with their leadership team and hear stories of their impact on communities in this rural state. I was honored to help them take the next steps toward expansion and furthering their mission.”

Faculty leaving as fall approaches in Indiana

Perhaps the most underrated aspect of the Kelley School is career services. In the most recent student surveys conducted by the Financial Times and The Economist, Kelley ranked 3rd and 5th respectively in this area. How seriously does Kelley take career preparation? For one, Miguel Klee Roldan notes that he had three coaches – “a peer coach, an alumni coach, and a career services coach” – during his time at the school. For another, Kelley’s Career Services Center that operates out of a separate building – a testament to its importance. Last year, the school invested in a business team of four staffers – each covering a different region of the U.S. – who are focused on growing the number of prospective employers and opportunities available to students. The effort has already yielded results, with 1,200 employers hiring Kelley students in 2019.

“We don’t like the idea of bringing students in without the certainty that we can find our students jobs,” Dean Kesner told P&Q in December. “We owe an obligation to our students. We feel very committed to that.”

It is a commitment that Kelley MBAs reciprocate by going out of their way to make workload a little easier and the world a little friendlier – a little thing called Hoosier Hospitality. “I wanted a small program where I wouldn’t get lost in the numbers and where I could develop a close relationship with my classmates, professors, and the program staff,” adds Nate Zimmerly. “The Kelley program was just that. Kelley is big enough to always meet new people but small enough to never go unnoticed.”

What led these professionals to enter business schools? Which programs did they also consider? What strategies did they use to choose their MBA program? What was the major event that defined them? Find the answers to these questions and many more in the in-depth profiles of these incoming MBA candidates.

DON’T MISS: MEET THE MBA CLASS OF 2021: THE GO-GETTERS

MBA Student Hometown Undergraduate Alma Mater Last Employer
Kyle Bender Delphi, IN Wabash College Teach For America
Cassie Deguzman Ferndale, WA Western Washington University Darigold
Jake Frego Hudson, OH University of Notre Dame Eli Lilly and Company
Caitlin Jones Austin, TX The University of Texas at Austin South by Southwest (SXSW)
Cameron Johnson Springfield, VT University of Maryland U.S. Air Force
Conchita Linares Cicero, IL University of Illinois Rolls-Royce
Tyler Patrick Ray San Diego, CA San Francisco State University Gap Japan
Aditi Sharma Chandigarh, India Panjab University Ernst & Young
Justin M. Speller Chicago, IL Emory University Bank of America
Danielle VeZolles Charlotte, NC Xavier University (OH) Stanley Black & Decker
Rong Xue Liaocheng, China Shandong University PPG
Nate Zimmerly Greenwood, IN Bradley University U.S. Army

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