When I first came to Kelley, I knew I would want to take on a minor outside of business. That way, I could supplement my Kelley education and take classes that were interesting to me right away.
Your underclassmen years are filled with prerequisites for I-core, a Kelley “rite of passage” typically taken during junior year. So before junior years, most Kelley kids’ schedules look the same. We all take Intro to Accounting, Business Presentations, and Business Law for example. These core classes are filled with knowledge that can help you in whatever career path you choose to follow. For example, Business presentations helped me fine tune my public speaking skills and put together effective PowerPoint presentations. Still, not everyone enjoys accounting. That’s why your first few semesters are a great opportunity to take on a minor that you are passionate about so you can take classes you enjoy.
The iconic Sample Gates are a familiar Indiana University landmark for many Kelley School students
MY MINOR: POLITICAL SCIENCE
Coming into Kelley, I knew Political Science would be my minor. I had applied to most other universities with Political science as my major but knew that public policy would be a better fit for me at Kelley specifically. In all transparency, I chose it at first because Political Science was the top answer when I looked up “What to major in to get into Law School.” This is because the material is closely linked to a legal career.
Many pre-law students, like myself, are interested in a career in politics, so taking classes like Modern Political Thought or Constitutional Rights and Liberties gave me a glimpse into what a political path might look like. Taking on this minor gave me a chance to take classes that fueled my passion for social justice and enacting change early on as I looked towards law school. As for the workload, it is completely manageable. I have one main major, Public Policy Analysis, and a Kelley Co-Major, Law Ethics and Decision Making (which is akin to a minor with 12 credit hours). While my semesters have been full, with an average of 16 credit hours per semester, I enjoy pushing myself with my course load, especially with classes I enjoy and know will benefit my future. If adding a minor sounds like too much time or commitment, I would recommend taking a class or two your first semester and seeing if it’s something you can handle.
Woodburn Hall, built in 1940 originally to house the business school, today is home to IU’s political science department.
BUILDING YOUR NETWORK
Another overlooked aspect of taking on a major or minor outside of Kelley is the opportunity to meet a whole new group of students. During your first semesters on campus, your biggest hurdle may be meeting people and making friends. Kelley provides wonderful opportunities for you to network with your peers and form connections. However, you may feel limited staying within the business school. After a while, you start to see the same group of people in your classes, especially as you take major classes. This has its benefits, seeing as you are forming a strong network early on that you can call on later in life. It is also reassuring to enter a class and see familiar faces and know some names. If there is one thing that I’ve learned from being at Kelley for three-and-a-half years now, it is that our community, while tight, can sometimes feel small.
Branching out into the rest of the IU community can help you in so many ways. For starters, you’ll meet new people with similar interests and aspirations…or people you may have expected to connect with. For example, during my freshman year, I met a girl in my Intro to Law class. I knew I had met her before, but just couldn’t remember where. Speaking after class one day, we realized that we been friends in elementary school, but had lost touch when I moved out of state. We reconnected and found out we have similar career goals, both of us wanting to go to law school. This is a perfect example of a wonderful addition to my network whom I wouldn’t have met if I hadn’t branched out.
Meera Iver
MEERA’S STORY
I got a chance to talk to Meera Iyer, who is a sophomore double majoring in Marketing in the Kelley School and Computer Science in the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing and Engineering. She chose computer science because she is interested in how technology plays a key role in the world of marketing. She specifically noted her interest in the software development sector in computer science and its use in developing products that consumers want and need. One area that has become a hot topic in the tech industry recently — and one that interests her — is the way companies collect consumer data on websites and applications to enhance the user experience. Meera describes the workload for both majors as “manageable with very strong time management skills.” With her semesters already reaching up to 20 credit hours, this approach is not for everyone; it requires planning out your semesters class-by-class to ensure an on-time graduation, or at least a manageable timeline for your own college career.
Meera became interested in Computer Science because of her parents. They both started their own tech consulting firm at home, so she was already fairly familiar with the industry. It wasn’t until her senior year in high school that she took a computer science class that sparked her own interest in the subject. It prompted her to tack on this major the following fall. Meera wants to eventually start her own company, either software-based, or product-based, with the goal of using her diverse backgrounds from both Kelley and Luddy to research and deploy applications and products to a wide range of consumers. She is actively enhancing her Kelley degree with her Informatics major. Her knowledge in this area will be an asset to every team she joins and every internship she applies for, making her both marketable and versatile. Her story is proof that you can combine your passions and strengths into choosing an outside major and I personally can’t wait to see her growth in the future!
Fall foliage frames Woodburn Hall’s central tower and Collegiate Gothic building features
SOME FINAL THOUGHTS
I encourage all high school students to not only find the Kelley major that fits you best but look outside of Kelley as well. To the current business school students, don’t get too caught up in the Kelley bubble and explore what else IU has to offer, whether that’s picking up a major or minor, taking a few classes here-and-there, or joining an extracurricular activity. It will only benefit you. Finding time to diversify my Kelley experience has been an asset to me and will continue to benefit me in the future.
So, I leave you with this question: What is your passion and have you found a supplemental experience to fuel it?
Vivienne Monger is a senior at Indiana University Bloomington. She is double majoring in public policy and law, ethics and decision making, with a minor in political science. She has aspirations of attending law school after undergraduate school. She has always been a passionate leader, taking on leadership positions whenever she can. Throughout her life, she has always believed in helping those less fortunate than her, as an obligation and not a choice. She has embodied this through her volunteer work and further through her future career aspirations.
DON’T MISS: KELLEY CONVERSATIONS: HOW I EARNED A SCHOLARSHIP
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