Cracking Into the Kelley School

Most undergraduate students apply to the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University at the end of their freshman year. But the few who know what they want to do before arriving on campus can be directly admitted into the undergraduate program if they meet certain qualifications. Out of about 2,250 incoming freshmen who indicated business as their desired major in 2005, 340 were offered direct admission. The Kelley School admits between 1,200 and 1,400 undergraduate students in total each year.

JoAnne Namy is the director of certification at the Kelley School's undergraduate program, which means she tracks students through admissions and their semester of Integrated Core (I-Core), a third-year team project where students incorporate classroom concepts to help a local company solve a real business problem. But to earn a spot at the Kelley School, students must first impress Mary Ellen Anderson, who is director of admissions for the greater university.