Kelley ACE Program

Accelerate your success with the Kelley Advanced Curricular Experience (ACE) Program.

While most students in the Kelley Business Honors Program enter as sophomores, the Kelley Advanced Curricular Experience (ACE) Program provides a business honors experience for top students in their first year. This unique opportunity is offered to fewer than 100 Kelley Direct Admit freshman students. Participants in the ACE program will:

  • Be challenged academically through their first-year course block of BUS-C106 Business Presentations: Honors and BUS-K204 Honors: The Computer in Business
  • Receive mentoring from Kelley Business Honors senior students and advising from Kelley Business Honors advisors
  • Develop their leadership and professional skills with faculty and guest speakers through Workshops, luncheons, and an ACE section of BUS-T175 Kelley Compass 1: The Individual
  • Be invited to participate in an annual trip to Chicago to visit local companies

Application Criteria

The ACE Program is designed specifically for a small group of well-rounded, high-performing first-year students. Application for the ACE Program is by invitation only and includes approximately three percent of the incoming Kelley Direct Admit class. Students are invited to apply via email in February and are selected based on a variety of factors including GPA and a thorough high school transcript review, along with a review of SAT/ACT scores, if available. Invited students will submit an online application of pre-recorded video interview questions.

Students eligible to apply often demonstrate the following criteria:

  • a completed IU application submitted by November 1
  • a 3.9 unweighted GPA in high school
  • a composite ACT score of 34+ and/or an SAT score of 1520+, if available

Application Deadline: February 28
Applicants will be notified of admission by the end of March.

For more info, contact ksbhonor@@indiana.edu.

Outcomes

The Kelley ACE Program is a rigorous one-year program. After their year in ACE, students will have successfully completed six credits of honors coursework. While all Hutton Honors College students are invited to take these honors courses, the ACE sections are designed to be smaller and are exclusive to Kelley ACE students. These unique versions of two of our hallmark first-year courses are designed to give ACE students a leg up in networking, faculty relationships, and professionalism.

Successful completion of the ACE Program and a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.7 will result in an offer of admission to the Kelley Business Honors Program, which runs sophomore through senior year.

Interested in Kelley Honors?

Students who do not participate in the ACE Program but want an honors experience should consider applying for the Kelley Business Honors Program spring of freshman year. 

 

The ACE Program was the primary reason that I chose to attend the IU Kelley School of Business, and it couldn't have worked out better for my personal development. With an immediate group of friends from my ACE cohort and professors who were invested in my individual success, I quickly began to feel like IU was my home.Kaitlyn West, BS'18, Finance and Accounting

Meet the future of business

If you’d like to become a partner or plan a visit to learn more about the Advanced Curricular Experience (ACE) Program and its exceptional students, visit our Office of Development and Engagement.