I often get questions from prospective online mba students about our in-residence requirement. I want to take a moment to talk about the in-residence and its importance to a student's learning experience.
All of our degree programs require an in-residence experience. The Kelley Direct in-residence takes place over the span of one week (5 days) on the Bloomington, Indiana campus. During this week students are oriented into Kelley Direct and Indiana University, learn about our course delivery technology and meet with other students.
The in-residence is the students’ opportunity to connect with Indiana University as a whole. Although students are usually pursuing a distance MBA program this week allows them the chance to visit the campus and attend on campus events. All students receive IU identification cards and have full access to the IU bookstore.
This week is not just a week-long orientation; students take a 1.5 credit course toward their degree. The basis of the course is about organizational change, and students are put into groups to complete assignments and compete in a case competition. In actuality, the week is pretty intense and many students stay up into the early morning hours working on course work.
I think the in-residence is a great benefit for individuals considering their local part time MBA program. The in-residence helps to bridge the gap between those two experiences.
The biggest advantage of in-residence is the networking opportunities. Each evening students are provided an opportunity to network with the entire incoming class. Many strong relationships have been built during in-residence and many students team up with other students to take classes together throughout their MBA/MS experience.
Overall, the in-residence is a way to bring people together who are considering distance MBA programs or an online MBA school.
Learn more about In-residence here: http://kd.iu.edu/aboutkd/inresidence.htm
