The Fall semester is challenging for all, but it’s that time of year when Kelley School of Business students put in their final weeks of hard work to complete the rigorous, semester-long I-CORE program. 

The program, notorious for its challenging nature, is comprised of four exams and one CASE study. It requires students to take classes in marketing, operations, finance, and leadership irrespective of their major. Once students complete the week-long finals in the four fields, students then must collaborate in groups to pitch their business strategies in order to ‘crush’ the course.

IU junior Abby Panayi, who is in the midst of the I-CORE program, expressed that despite the intensity of the course, she has used it as an opportunity to grow her skills in the business world. “The truth is that the four [classes] combined have a lot of intersections between them and all of them are very useful for like any job you might have in the future”, said Panayi, “all that knowledge contributes to my business acumen”. 

The four specialized classes in I-CORE not only aims to educate students in different areas of business but prepare them for their final group-based CASE project. Students are assigned groups of 7-8 people to complete the final component of the program, with the project worth 20% of their grade. Students are typically placed in each group depending on their major and results from personality-type exams during their freshman and sophomore years.

Each year, the CASE focuses on promoting a fictional business. At this year’s I-CORE CASE launch’, it was announced that their CASE subject was focused on promoting a hot-sauce company. Students must be resourceful and play to their individual strengths within their respective teams when creating their product strategy for the final presentation.

While the exams are a key source of stress for Kelley students, the rewards of the program are worth the hard work. Mahek Maharaj, IU senior, expressed how her I-CORE exams taught her both content and skills that helped her secure a job position at one of the US’ top business companies – KPMG International. “It definitely helped in terms of understanding what I can do outside of my job […] I seek creative things in KPMG, I’ve worked with the social media team in KPMG” said Maharaj.

The program’s long-term benefits are clear to students like Maharaj and have helped her gain clarity in her career aspirations. “I-CORE was definitely one of the most challenging things I’ve done at Kelley and in my college career, but I definitely became the best student and the best person out of it”, said Maharaj. 

Ultimately, it helps students understand what it means to be a professional in the business world and aims to provide its students with a real-world perspective of how businesses operate and what they ask of their employees. I-CORE makes for strong, well-rounded business leaders of tomorrow and sets Kelley students apart from the rest, and has enabled them to rank among the top business schools in the country.