Kelley Direct In-Person Sessions

While most of the Kelley Direct Online MBA program is online, our curriculum requires two in-person courses. Often lauded by alumni as the most impactful, memorable parts of the Kelley Direct program, these two experiences enable you to build lifelong connections and discover new pathways and opportunities for your future:

BUKD-X503: Kelley On Campus is an intensive introduction to the Kelley Direct program and your MBA coursework. Held on Indiana University’s beautiful Bloomington campus, this course is required near the start of the program.
BUKD-X513: Kelley On Location enables you to take a deep dive into an industry, geographic region, or emerging challenge shaping today's business landscape. Uniquely designed each year to ensure a cutting-edge learning experience, Kelley On Location takes place during your second year following completion of the foundational prerequisite courses.

During both sessions, you will build lifelong connections and discover new pathways and opportunities for your future. Kelley On Campus and Kelley On Location experiences are part of the Kelley Direct curriculum and are required for graduation.

Kelley On Campus: A defining in-person student experience for the #1 online MBA

Follow a team of Kelley Direct Online MBA students through Kelley On Campus as they work together to solve a corporate client's real-world problem.

Description of the video:

Networking

Guru Lakshmi Narasimhan, Kelley Direct Online MBA student: "Kelley On Campus is five days of five members of a team putting their heads together toward achieving a common goal. It's a great opportunity for a student to actually take a real-world company situation with constant interaction from Kelley faculty while at the same time also working with the CEO of the company that we're dealing with as well."

Mark Salmon, Kelley Direct Online MBA student: "My impression so far, I've been blown away by the caliber of everybody that I've met. I am thrilled to be a part of this program and to have met them."

Sue Chung, Kelley Direct Online MBA student: "Our initial cocktail hour, so many people to meet, so many new faces. And then sitting down and having dinner together was amazing."

Christian Jimenez, Kelley Direct Online MBA student: "You get to be here with some of the top talent business professionals, people who are pursuing something to take them to a higher level."

Hope Housman, Kelley Direct Online MBA student: "I'm definitely more proud than I've ever been to be a Kelley and be a Kelley Direct. I've never been more ready to jump into a program like this before."

Business consulting

Christian Jimenez: "I love the fact that we're dealing with a real world scenario with a real company. And it's exciting when you're solving an actual problem as opposed to a static problem on paper."

Michelle Braun, Kelley Direct Online MBA student: "It's just a great platform to level up. I mean, that's what we're after is becoming the best version of ourselves. We're given tools in an intensive format to do that. It's really clear we feel like after this weekend, we're different people. We've really curated a set of skills that we may not have even known we had."

Faculty

Torlando Hakes, Kelley Direct Online MBA student: "I was very impressed by the professors here. What's really nice about it is that you get a little sampling of the professors in short doses so you can see the different dynamics, the different personalities. The online classes are awesome and they fit perfectly into my life. But there is a level of energy and vibrance that comes with being in person and getting to see their personalities, their sense of humor, their energy. They really bring it here."

Michelle Braun: "It's very clear that when we are in those classes in the auditorium that we're in the presence of fantastic professors."

Presentations

Torlando Hakes: "All right. Here we are on presentation day. It was a late night, but we're ready to go."

Michelle Braun: "There was a lot of excitement, collective joy, and energy coming together as we were sitting in front of the CEO and the national CEO, the entire audience and Kelley faculty, ready to deliver what we had worked so hard on.

Sue Chung: "I'm just so happy to be ending on our last night here in this stadium. This is an epic place to end our evening.

Hope Housman: "I'm really sad to be leaving KOC. I think I've made such strong connections and it's been probably one of the best experiences I've ever had."

Michelle Braun: "I can't wait to see my classmates again soon and now have these really strong relationships that we can really count on and that bond us going forward."

Sue Chung: "For being a number one online MBA program, I wasn't expecting this intimate feel and the stories that I'm experiencing here. I'm going to be going home and talking about the Mill, the Kelley clap, the campus, and all the people that I've met. I feel like there's a family feel here, and I think that there's a sense of pride and a sense of nostalgia and a sense of community that I will bring back home with me."

“Kelley On Campus connected me to my fellow students, who are so diverse in where they live or have come from, and the work they do. The connections I’ve made with my classmates during these experiences are ones that I will take with me for years to come.”

Jenica Acome, MBA’20

Online MBA program, authentic connections

In this video, Kelley Direct Online MBA students share how they create real connections within the top-ranked program. The students were interviewed during Kelley On Location: Chicago, an in-person experience for second-year MBA students.

Description of the video:

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(piano music)

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- The great thing about Kelley Connect

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and Kelley Direct Program is

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almost everyone in the
program already has a job.

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- There's a lot of limitations
of my time availability.

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- I don't know where we're
going to be next year this time,

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so the online program definitely offers

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that flexibility factor.

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- Hi, I'm John Byrne,
with Poets and Quants.

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Welcome to the Kelley School of Business

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at Indiana University.

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We're here for a special week,

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it's called Kelley Connect Week.

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It's when online MBA students
converge on the campus.

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Bonding occurs, case studies,

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presentations to company executives.

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And we're gonna give you
a little bit of sense

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of who the students are,

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and what they are in fact
experiencing in this program.

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Let's go meet some.

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- Pita J. Cruz, right?

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- Yes, you got it
perfectly, I'm impressed.

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- And Zach, you're
based in Chicago, right?

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- Right, Washington, DC.

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- Why do you want an MBA?

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- I didn't want my brain to stagnate.

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I wanted to keep getting
better outside of my own job.

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- To work with real small
business, not a made up case.

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- You can actually do something to impact

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small businesses in America,
and make a difference.

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- To take an online program,

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and bring it back to the real world,

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it's using today's technology
and tradition learning

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and really fusing them into something new.

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- Now, obviously we're on the campus

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of Indiana University in Bloomington.

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But much of your study,
in fact most of it,

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is online in the virtual world.

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So what is it like to learn online

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and to work with other
students all over the world

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when you're not really there
in a classroom setting?

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- In terms of classmates, I'm next to

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and entrepreneur and an
astrophysicist with a PhD.

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And everyone's working
towards the same goal.

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And just because you're
virtually in a classroom

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and it's over conference calls,

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you still get that mentality of a team.

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You still get that drive to really push

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and be better every time.

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- When you actually go
out to the business world,

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so much of that is virtual now.

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So, in a lot of cases,
you're not all meeting

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together in a conference room.

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You're meeting with people
from all over the country

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and then having that experience,

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doing that in your online MBA program,

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I think really helps you.

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It not seem so strange to
work with people remotely.

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- Thank God for mobile technology.

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(laughter)

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- We have an opportunity for you to engage

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young Chinese consumers
in an innovative way.

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You do a week of very intensive coursework

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while simultaneously doing
a very competitive case

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along with colleagues that are fantastic.

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- So having spent some time in China,

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I understand the vast risks
that a lot of businesses face.

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This year I was much more at ease,

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and much more comfortable with
the presentation as whole.

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- It's been a wonderful experience.

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It's been able to kind of
look at a real business idea,

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and look at a real business company,

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and see the problems that they're facing.

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And being able to address those problems.

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- Accounting is accounting.

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It doesn't matter what text
book you get it out from.

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But this is a program
that offers so much more

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in terms of flexibility,
faculty, classmates.

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- They really work to expose us to

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a wide variety of educational experiences.

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- They didn't want MBA answers,

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they wanted some more creativity.

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They wanted us to think about things

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that have never been done before.

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- How did you find the
quality of the faculty,

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and their dedication to the program?

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- It's amazing, they're
not only professionals

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and great how they are as teachers,

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they're great online teachers.

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- I've worked with over 10
or 12 various professors

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from the in residence program,

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and that's something you don't get

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in a lot of other online programs.

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(piano music)

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- What are you gonna do with
your MBA when you get it?

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- What am I gonna do with this MBA?

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I think it's whatever I want to do.

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- It just opens up so much
once you get that degree.

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- And how long, start to finish,

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will it have taken you to get the MBA?

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- I was able to finish
in less than two years.

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- Don't put off doing it. Get into it.

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Get it done. Get a lot out of it

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and you'll have your entire
life to reap the benefits of it.

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- Great. Well listen, thank you so much.

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Good luck to all of you.

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You are at the start of
a magnificent adventure.

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You're already taken care of with a job.

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Unilever's gonna give you a big promotion.

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You're gonna go off on your
honeymoon with an MBA, right?

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- That's right.

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- Did your wife require that of you?

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(laughter)

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Good luck to you, and thank
you for participating.

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- Thank you very much, John.

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- This is John Byrne with Poets and Quants

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at the Kelley School of
Business at Indiana University

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on the Bloomington, Indiana campus.

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Thanks for watching.

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(piano music)

“Meeting my classmates in person made the online classes so much better. We would get to see each other via Zoom video conferencing, and chat about work or family. It made the online program feel like it was not online, and that was incredible.”

Carrie Hoefer, MBA’19

In your Kelley On Campus session, at the beginning of your MBA degree program, you will:

Work in a team to develop a solution to a business challenge facing a real company
Learn critical business concepts as you address the needs of your case competition client
Build relationships with faculty and classmates at receptions throughout the week and connect with members of the Kelley Direct Student Leadership Association
Meet with your career coach and explore Kelley Direct Professional Advancement

Kelley On Location: Your second-year in-person experience

During your second year of the program, you’ll connect with your classmates in person again—this time in a chosen US city. Each year, a Kelley Direct faculty member designs a unique experience to connect a geographic location with a modern business topic. This innovative format allows you to immerse yourself into a specific business context and put your coursework from the first year into action.

“One of the most rewarding aspects of any MBA program is the opportunity to network with your peers. While the Kelley Direct program is taught online, there are an abundance of opportunities for students to build personal connections with both current students and alumni.”

Joseph Hwalek, MBA’19

Kelley On Campus: A defining in-person student experience for the #1 online MBA

Online MBA program, authentic connections

In your Kelley On Campus session, at the beginning of your MBA degree program, you will:

Kelley On Location: Your second-year in-person experience

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