I would also imagine their yield for this first group of elite students accepted is going to be lower than the typical overall 30% yield
Nevermind
Oh you are asking the wrong person. I’m making guesses and just trying to figure this out as I go along too. First and last time for me.
For the pre business kids who do not make it into Kelley, is economics with a Kelley minor a next best option path? I realize it’s not the same as Kelley, but what’s the best back up plan that still reaches good employment outcomes?
First question is does the kid like economics? It is not like studying business or finance. If they find they don’t like economics (as plenty of students do), then what?
Next I would want to know the student’s career goals.
I would also want to find out what business clubs the student can participate in if they have a minor in Kelley? Can they use Kelley career services? Attend recruiting events?
Generally, direct admit options are better than secondary admit options. At least IU has an option that is guaranteed if one meets the requirements (although the hurdle is high.) Unlike some other schools that have holistic secondary admission to the business school like UVA and Wake Forest. So much is out of the student’s control in this situations.
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My son is a Direct Admit there now. He knows a few kids who are pre-business and they are all struggling to get admission to Kelley (it’s quite difficult and stressful).
He said none of the kids who will be switching to another major are switching to Econ. Most he knows are switching to a major in Luddy or Public Health.
IU has a website about alternative options.
Seeing it happen, I wouldn’t send a kid who absolutely wants to study Business to be a pre-business student unless they were absolutely comfortable with one of the alternative paths…as they are very likely to end up on one of the alternative paths. Best of luck.
Here’s the site.
https://kelley.iu.edu/undergraduate/admissions/current-iu/alternative-paths.html
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As of this current class (Fall ‘25), all pre-business students are enrolled in a 1-credit course throughout freshman year which entails a speaker series, tips from seniors, as well as additional pathway and major exploration and advising resources
There are lots and lots of options out there - between Public Financial Management in the O’Neill School, doing an Informatics degree with a Business concentration, taking the Liberal Arts and Management Honors Program (LAMP) if they have a high GPA, etc.
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adding to Mwfan’s info - the workshops are a niche offering. Don’t quote me on this but I think one of the admissions people said 1 out of 20 Kelley kids participate in workshops. My kid has applied to two different workshops and got to final round of process only to be cut. Both of these were great experiences - he learned a ton about career paths in those areas and also got more interview experience. He is applying to his 3rd workshop soon. Hopefully 3rd time is the charm. But if it isn’t, he feels confident he will be able to secure an internship and full time job through Kelley’s job boards and career fairs. I would recommend to any finance major to differentiate yourself with a co-major. There are 1600 finance majors graduating this year.
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Workshops range from 30-100 in size, and there are over 20 of them which each having different focal points (Finance, Consulting, Supply Chain, there’s even more ‘niche/specialized’ ones like Sports Management)
Some workshops are older/more established and hence harder to get into, like the Investment Banking and Consulting Workshops.
I’ve seen many comments mention the school’s nature as being competitive, but as a current student I feel the opposite - that when compared to other peer schools, Kelley is more friendly, collaborative and meritocratic.
Workshops are programs run by faculty, and they take great pains to ensure a fair process, including serious layers of checks and balances / blind resume screens etc. Comparatively, most other business schools have recruiting focused on student-run clubs which may lend itself to be more of a personality-type process (looking at Ross clubs or Mendoza’s SIBC for example)
Another point is that Kelley has a more varied student body than most schools - with a significant portion going into more ‘niche’ areas like Social Impact, Supply Chain Procurement, Healthcare, Economic Policy, as well as graduate school (Pre-Law and Pre-Med especially). While Finance is still the most popular major it does not permeate the school unless you actively seek it out (unlike, say, NYU Stern)
Finally, Kelley does not institute a forced curve. So if you get 93% in a class it will always be an A. Most professors also encourage you to do assignments and homeworks with friends and it really helps to create a collaborative environment IMO
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These are great questions and would love to hear others opinions!
Has anyone seen statistics on non-Kelley graduate outcomes (economics / international relations, etc.)? I have seen IU overall career placement outcomes but not for individual majors.
I do love the DA system at IU Kelley versus other schools, but I worry about the variance between Kelley and non-Kelley statistics at the university. While Wake Forest’s (or Emory, UVA, etc) biz school is extremely difficult to get in as sophomores, they are selecting individuals with similar high school academic credentials. This likely results in much higher graduation rates for non-biz majors, better employment outcomes, and may minimize the variance between biz and non-biz majors going into the workforce immediately after graduation.
Does IU (non-Kelley) put the appropriate resources into career outcomes for its graduates? I don’t have a good perspective on this and that would be helpful to understand.
yea, from my research, i think around 30% of kids that are pre-business get into Kelley—dont quote me on the exact % but when i did my research for my last kid 2 years ago, i recall it was around that. i agree with your sentiment.
What are these workshops mentioned?
Does anyone know about the Kelley certificates offered to non Kelley majors as noted below?
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Accounting
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Supply Chain Management
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Real Estate
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Entrepreneurship
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Financial Literacy
Thank you so much. Great insight
UVA doesn’t have an undergraduate business school. UVAs undergraduate business path is very much geared toward going to their grad school. Darden. They do have that commerce school but I don’t think it’s classified as a business school
I might be misunderstanding you but noticed you said UVA and biz school after sophomore year
UVA does have an undergrad business school, McIntire, it’s just called the school of commerce. Students apply first year second semester (the process just changed.) https://www.commerce.virginia.edu/
Here are the secondary admission statistics, the admit rate has dropped to 51% the last two years.
IMO if one is certain they want to study business, they should think carefully about taking secondary admission risk. One would need a plan B and C. Econ doesn’t appeal to many kids, especially once they start studying it. Many non-business majors (math, science, English, philosophy, etc) go into business jobs in IB, quant, and consulting roles for example. So there is competition for jobs coming from non-business majors at many schools. My D was a neuroscience major at an LAC and works in IB.
I think this is one of the more important things parents need to review with students regarding Business Schools and their different admissions processes - they are not all the same, and the differences can be significant in implications.
I used AI (ugh) for brute force and to save my time to pull the US news rankings from 2026 to provide a base list of schools and how they admit for illustration - not to spark a debate on which school should be ranked where - and word of warning, please do you own due diligence for schools on the list you are looking at - because my first run through listed the process at UNC incorrectly and I had to ask it to go back and re verify this is for illustrative purposes only, don’t rely on it;
Top 25 Undergraduate Business Schools — Admission Model Grid
| School (Business) | USNWR Rank | Admission Model | When Business Admission Happens | Primary Route |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of Pennsylvania (Wharton) | 1 | Direct Admit | Freshman admission via Common App (Wharton major) | Direct Admit |
| MIT (Sloan) | 1 | Direct Admit (major) | Declared/confirmed with first-year coursework after matriculation | Direct Admit |
| UC Berkeley (Haas) | 3 | Direct Admit/Internal / Deferred | Specific Programs Direct Admit / Apply as current student (after prerequisites; internal transfer) | Direct & Internal Admit |
| University of Michigan (Ross) | 4 | Direct Admit + Preferred Transfer | Freshman direct to Ross or later transfer options | Direct Admit |
| NYU (Stern) | 5 | Direct Admit | Freshman admission into business major | Direct Admit |
| Carnegie Mellon (Tepper) | 6 | Direct Admit | Freshman admission into Tepper (B.S. in Business) | Direct Admit |
| UT Austin (McCombs) | 6 | Direct Admit | Freshman admission into McCombs BBA | Direct Admit |
| UNC–Chapel Hill (Kenan-Flagler) | 8 | Assured Enrollment + Internal Transfer | High school assured pathway or later internal application | Assured / Pathway |
| USC (Marshall) | 8 | Direct Admit | Freshman admission into business major | Direct Admit |
| Indiana (Kelley) | 8 | Direct Admit | Freshman direct admit primarily | Direct Admit |
| Cornell (Dyson) | 8 | Direct Admit | Freshman admission to Dyson business | Direct Admit |
| Notre Dame (Mendoza) | 12 | Direct Admit | Freshman admission into business | Direct Admit |
| UVA (McIntire) | 12 | Internal / Deferred | Apply end of first year; admitted to McIntire sophomore year | Internal Admit |
| Georgetown (McDonough) | 12 | Direct Admit | Freshman via Common App – McDonough major | Direct Admit |
| Emory (Goizueta) | 12 | Internal / Deferred | Apply after first/second year | Internal Admit |
| Illinois (Gies) | 12 | Direct Admit | Freshman applied as business major | Direct Admit |
| Ohio State (Fisher) | 12 | Combination | Freshman direct or later internal application | Direct Admit favored |
| WashU (Olin) | 12 | Direct Admit | Freshman direct into business | Direct Admit |
| Georgia Tech (Scheller) | 19 | Internal / Deferred | Declare major or internal admit after first year | Internal Admit |
| Minnesota (Carlson) | 19 | Combination | Freshman direct and internal options | Direct Admit favored |
| Washington (Foster) | 19 | Internal / Deferred | Apply as current student after general admission | Internal Admit |
| Wisconsin–Madison | 19 | Internal / Deferred | Apply after first year as internal transfer | Internal Admit |
| Georgia (Terry) | 19 | Internal / Deferred | Intend business but must apply later; honors requires track | Internal Admit |
| Florida (Warrington) | 24 | Internal / Deferred | Apply as UFL student after first year | Internal Admit |
| Maryland (Smith) | 24 | Direct Admit + Internal Transfer | Freshman intended major or later transfer | Direct Admit |
| Penn State (Smeal) | 24 | Direct Admit | Freshman admitted into business | Direct Admit |
| Arizona State (Carey) | 24 | Direct Admit | Freshman direct BBA | Direct Admit |
| Purdue (Daniels) | 24 | Direct Admit | Freshman direct into business | Direct Admit |
| Michigan State (Broad) | 24 | Combination | Direct admit or internal transfer | Direct Admit favored |
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Glancing over this, pretty sure Haas is now direct admit…
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Thanks for pointing it out - I’ve attempted my own edit of an edit 
I believe they have something like 3-4 specific programs within the bschool (Spieker 4 year Program, Global Management Program, M.E.T Program) which are direct admit, and account for around 1/2 of all B-School students as sophmores, internal transfer accounts for the rest.
As said, Illustrative only - you really have to go school by school that you are applying to ensure you understand -how- these processes work for the individual school your student applies for (or as a student, you’ve got to dig in and understand it).
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