About

The Kelley Women's Leadership Institute is a free one-day program at Indiana University's Kelley School of Business in Bloomington, designed to introduce high school women to business education and career pathways. Kelley is consistently ranked among the top undergraduate business programs in the country — #4 in accounting, management, and marketing in U.S. News 2026 rankings — which gives the program an institutional context that distinguishes it from generic pre-college business workshops. Students spend the day at Hodge Hall attending faculty-led workshops, working through a real-world business case project, and interacting with current Kelley students and alumni. An optional IU campus tour is available. The virtual format — two evenings in April — covers similar content in a condensed schedule and is open to current sophomores, juniors, and seniors.

The application is intentionally light: a 100-word statement of interest and a 250-word essay on a personal passion, plus a GPA confirmation. No recommendations are required. Multiple sessions across the summer reduce pressure on any single cohort and increase total access, though seats remain limited and selective.

For students seriously considering Kelley as an undergraduate destination, KWLI functions as a meaningful form of demonstrated interest — Kelley admissions staff and faculty are present, relationships are built, and the program explicitly situates students within the Kelley applicant community. This is not guaranteed to affect admissions outcomes, but it is a documented reason families target the program beyond its single-day educational value. For students earlier in their high school careers exploring business as a field, it offers a low-cost, credible first encounter with one of the field's strongest undergraduate programs.