Kelley v TAMU - As specified by current TAMU Student

[aswynz | AswinPrakash]

This is the reply I got from a current TAMU Student ( BITS Pilani
grad, Close to 2 yrs work ex in Oracle) , when I asked about Kelley v
TAMU

---------------------

Kelley has limited admit since they tend to keep the class small and
good.
The reason why i was emphasizing on Kelley was bcoz that it is the
second best reputed school next to CMU.
Since the tuition is affordable than CMU it wins. It has a great
faculty, recently few good MIS profs from Cincinnati defected to
Kelley and now the faculty offering is even more good. The curriculum
is also great. I was amazed at the list of courses they offer. Also
more flexible than the rest of the schools.
Some other aspects are that less amt. of desis gives u a good exposure
and the class known to be made of the cream of the MIS aspirants. Sad
but true that TAMU lacks these aspects that it feels like doing MS in
India with a laid back experience.

Now why TAMU scores over Kelley, i would say there are not much, which
is the reason i have been saying Kelley is better in any way. I would
say the major differentiator is the tuition which is half of what you
pay in Kelley.
Freshers find TAMU much comfortable bcoz you will not be thrusted with
anything that requires industry experience.

-----------------------------
Now, I'd disagree with the class size part.
Going by the stats TAMU have put up on the site and the numbers for
Kelley I think it is safe to say that the class sizes are not very
different.
----
Anyone with a diffferent PoV on this ?

[Surbhi Kochhar]

First, Thanks Aswin for sharing this!
I agree too the class size is the same but the number of indians in
the class differ (only my opinion)...

[Madhu Mareddy]

I'm just writing to this to see how it looks from a third eye :)

Let's take the parameters one at a time.

*) Course:

I think what really matters is what the 'flexibility' or 'inflexibility' mean to the individual? To elaborate, we already probably have an idea on what career path (atleast ones with work-ex) we like to choose post graduation. So all we have to look for is whether the school, which ever it may be, offers the courses which enables our career path. Even if 100 courses are offered, it is still inflexible if it doesn't offer courses that suit you (akin to the monster.com ropes ad) :-p

*) Junta

There is lot of buzz about majority of the cohort being Indians. Ofcourse it is and it will be. After all they are IT/IS classes and we, Indians, are vanguards in the field of Information Technology leading the world. Majority of IT is happening in India and by Indians. Who else will be in the class if not us? And I'm proud of this nation which is so crazy about higher education and education abroad. Yes, there will be increased competition but remember that competition is essential to bring out the best in individuals. It pushes us to rise to newer horizons.

*) Diversity

Look at this way. The fact we are missing is Indians are in themselves diverse. Is it not? We are known for our diverse population and culture. We are so diverse and yet unite in the name of India.

*) Tuition & Fees

Every other school as reputed as TAMU (and Mays) takes a bow when it comes to expenses. Period!

*) Placements

We must be really good at what we do and so are admitted to TAMU. I mean TAMU believed us that we bring something to the table. It [TAMU] is confident that we have the standards to get placed. All one has to do is stand up to the expectation.

Lastly, placement stats are not bad either, eh? :)

Disclaimer: I'm just talking out loud. If you feel uncomfortable please trash the email. Thanks!

Madhu

[Chaitanya]

Agree with Madhu.

I also have been hearing a lot about the course inflexibility fuss and I am unable to understand.

Hope we are not heading in a direction where we say  - course is inflexible if not much electives are given and course does not have a focus if lots of electives are provided.
This will take us nowhere .

I was discussing this with Ravi as well . Lets make an objective list of positives and negatives and then reach a conscious decision.
General gyaan and fundas might not help us. Just because some college offers more electives might not mean that the course is bad in the other.


Regards,
Chaitanya



Disclaimer: I'm just talking out loud. If you feel uncomfortable please trash the email. Thanks! Hope this is not copyrighted by madhu

[parangat mukul]

I havnt applied to Kelly..so cant differentiate much between TAMU and Kelly as I dont know much about Kelly. But I agree with the comments on inflexibility thing here...too many choices make our life more difficult anyways. :)

 

My problem is that I have pure 4 plus exp of QA/Testing. I have lost almost touch with programming stuff.Basic knowledge is fine....but you guys think it will be a problem for me selecting these courses or for assistantships and job offers ?

[Gaurav Jaisinghani]

Ok.

 

Looks like much has been said about the "inflexibility" of the Mays program. For this sake, I've done a Mays vs Kelley course comparison. There are some things that I observed, and I'm sharing them.

 

1. There are many courses that are common to both Mays' and Kelley's curriculum. In other words, since this is a "Mays vs Kelley" comparison and NOT a "Kelley vs Mays" comparison, Most of the Mays courses were available in the kelley Program also. For those who are interested in a "Kelley vs Mays" to get a better perspective, please go ahead and share your results.

 

2. Most Important !!! All the courses in the Mays program are 3 Credit Hours i.e. 3 hours a week, whereas All the courses in the Kelley program are 1.5 credit hour each.

 

3. Both have courses that make their program unique. (Those are the courses from Mays which didn't have a common course at Kelley, and vice-versa for Kelley vs Mays).

 

Note: For Kelley, courses taken as reference were the Fall 2010 courses.

 

Finally, I'll share my analysis as below:

 

Mays		Kelley
Title	Course Code	Title	Course Code
MIS Project Management and Implementation	INFO 621	Project Management	BUS-P552
Systems Analysis and Design	INFO 629	Business Systems Analysis	BUS-S529
Business Data Communications	INFO 634
Corporate Information Planning	INFO 639
Business Database Systems	INFO 628
E-Commerce Auctions and Contracts	INFO 618
Business Computing Systems	INFO 632
Business Objects Analysis and Design	INFO 633	Object Oriented Business Programming	BUS-S528
Decision Support Systems
Data Warehousing	INFO 637	Data Warehousing: Concepts and mgmt	BUS-S523
Information Technology in Supply Chain Management	INFO 638	Supply Chain Management & Tech	BUS-P561
Customer Relationship Management Technologies	INFO 642
Business Process Design	INFO 644	Business Process Design	BUS-P550
E-Commerce Technologies	INFO 645
E-Services	INFO 646
Business Data Mining	INFO 650	An Introduction to Data Mining	BUS-K513
Logistics and Distribution Management	INFO 667	Logistics and Distribution	BUS-P506
Enterprise Resource Planning	INFO 669	Business Process Integration with ERP	BUS-S542
Business Information Security	INFO 674	Organizational Information Systems Security	BUS-S538
Professional Internship	INFO 684	Practicum/Internship	BUS-S571
Business Process Modeling	INFO 689	Business Process Design	BUS-P550

Hope it gives you an idea of the courses you're gonna take at Mays, keeping in mind the courses Kelley offers. The reason I used Kelley as a standard is because its the most popular choise for candidates and we've been having some GENERALIZED comparisons between the courses.

 

-Gaurav

[Gaurav Jaisinghani]

choice*

[aswynz | AswinPrakash]

@SK
Agree with you. More Indians in TAMU => You will have to work harder.
But that is a good thing. Will help on the long run.

@Madhu
Nice perspective presented on the common factors of comparison.

@Parangat
Not sure about it. Will let you know if I can get some info. Will ask
around.

@Gaurav
Good way of looking at the problem. Even I think I will look this way
with my interests in mind.
I think it can help everyone.

Bottomline
The pros and cons with Kelley and TAMU have been well elaborated on.
It is up to the individual to make a decision.

Cheers,
Ashwin

On Jan 18, 7:28 pm, Gaurav Jaisinghani <digi...@gmail.com> wrote:
> choice*
>

> On Tue, Jan 18, 2011 at 7:56 PM, Gaurav Jaisinghani <digi...@gmail.com>wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > Ok.
>
> > Looks like much has been said about the "inflexibility" of the Mays
> > program. For this sake, I've done a Mays vs Kelley course comparison. There
> > are some things that I observed, and I'm sharing them.
>
> > 1. There are many courses that are common to both Mays' and Kelley's
> > curriculum. In other words, since this is a "Mays vs Kelley" comparison and
> > NOT a "Kelley vs Mays" comparison, Most of the Mays courses were available
> > in the kelley Program also. For those who are interested in a "Kelley vs
> > Mays" to get a better perspective, please go ahead and share your results.
>
> > 2. Most Important !!! All the courses in the Mays program are 3 Credit
> > Hours i.e. 3 hours a week, whereas All the courses in the Kelley program are
> > 1.5 credit hour each.
>
> > 3. Both have courses that make their program unique. (Those are the courses
> > from Mays which didn't have a common course at Kelley, and vice-versa for
> > Kelley vs Mays).
>
> > Note: For Kelley, courses taken as reference were the Fall 2010 courses.
>
> > Finally, I'll share my analysis as below:
>

> >      *Mays* *Kelley* *Title* *Course Code* *Title* *Course Code* MIS

> > Project Management and Implementation INFO 621 Project Management BUS-P552 Systems
> > Analysis and Design INFO 629 Business Systems Analysis BUS-S529 Business
> > Data Communications INFO 634     Corporate Information Planning INFO 639
> >   Business Database Systems INFO 628     E-Commerce Auctions and Contracts INFO
> > 618     Business Computing Systems INFO 632     Business Objects Analysis
> > and Design INFO 633 Object Oriented Business Programming BUS-S528 Decision
> > Support Systems       Data Warehousing INFO 637 Data Warehousing: Concepts
> > and mgmt BUS-S523 Information Technology in Supply Chain Management INFO
> > 638 Supply Chain Management & Tech BUS-P561 Customer Relationship
> > Management Technologies INFO 642     Business Process Design INFO 644 Business
> > Process Design BUS-P550 E-Commerce Technologies INFO 645     E-Services INFO
> > 646     Business Data Mining INFO 650 An Introduction to Data Mining
> > BUS-K513 Logistics and Distribution Management INFO 667 Logistics and
> > Distribution BUS-P506 Enterprise Resource Planning INFO 669 Business
> > Process Integration with ERP BUS-S542 Business Information Security INFO
> > 674 Organizational Information Systems Security BUS-S538 Professional
> > Internship INFO 684 Practicum/Internship BUS-S571 Business Process
> > Modeling INFO 689 Business Process Design BUS-P550
>
> > Hope it gives you an idea of the courses you're gonna take at Mays, keeping
> > in mind the courses Kelley offers. The reason I used Kelley as a standard is
> > because its the most popular choise for candidates and we've been having
> > some GENERALIZED comparisons between the courses.
>
> > -Gaurav
>
> >   On Tue, Jan 18, 2011 at 1:37 PM, parangat mukul <

> > parangat.mu...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >> I havnt applied to Kelly..so cant differentiate much between TAMU and
> >> Kelly as I dont know much about Kelly. But I agree with the comments
> >> on inflexibility thing here...too many choices make our life more difficult
> >> anyways. :)
>
> >> My problem is that I have pure 4 plus exp of QA/Testing. I have lost
> >> almost touch with programming stuff.Basic knowledge is fine....but you guys
> >> think it will be a problem for me selecting these courses or for
> >> assistantships and job offers ?
>

> >>   On Tue, Jan 18, 2011 at 1:12 PM, Chaitanya <chaitanya...@gmail.com>wrote:
>
> >>> Agree with Madhu.
>
> >>> I also have been hearing a lot about the course inflexibility fuss and I
> >>> am unable to understand.
>
> >>> Hope we are not heading in a direction where we say  - course is
> >>> inflexible if not much electives are given and course does not have a focus
> >>> if lots of electives are provided.
> >>> This will take us nowhere .
>
> >>> I was discussing this with Ravi as well . Lets make an objective list of
> >>> positives and negatives and then reach a conscious decision.
> >>> General gyaan and fundas might not help us. Just because some college
> >>> offers more electives might not mean that the course is bad in the other.
>
> >>> Regards,
> >>> Chaitanya
>

> >>> *Disclaimer: I'm just talking out loud. If you feel uncomfortable please
> >>> trash the email. Thanks!* *Hope this is not copyrighted by madhu*

[ankita mistry]

Wow! great thread...

As a person with both TAMU and Kelley admits one of the biggest reason I would want to join TAMU is the cost..

I have about 3 yrs of SAP-HR work-ex.I would really appreciate if someone could let me know how these two schools compare in terms of thier placements.

--
Regards,

Ankita Mistry,

Software Engineer,

Accenture, India.

Mobile: +91 9819543394

[Gaurav Jaisinghani]

@Ankita,

Check out the file attached. It gives comprehensive information on placements@TAMU.

-Gaurav

[ankita mistry]

Thanks Gaurav.. The stats look awesome.. The highest salary being 103K! 

Im assuming here that a university won't bloat up its stats..

[Madhu Mareddy]

Gaurav - Good work with the courses man. Thanks!

[Gaurav Jaisinghani]

@Madhu,

 

My Pleasure, mate.

@Ankita,

 

You're welcome too. I confirmed those stats with an edulix senior(onahigh) and he confirms those stats. You can check out the Mays thread for more information on it and other details that we've been asking about.

[Ravi Dhanwani]

My opinion on PLACEMENTS on Kelley VS TAMU for MIS


Lets understand what we are talking about

TAMU - which is mostly indians & all are versatile in the way they know technologies - some would be Data warehousing, web, SAP or Analytics so that makes a good class BUT the jobs get difficult

Kelley - they have a even more diverse class, in terms of people 'beyond' IT .. beyond a specific nationality and most of all 'beyond' the typical jobs.

Lets understand what are the KIND of placements that Kelley has -

The way I see kelley placements is - they have a home-bread way of placing people, like it happens in Indian colleges/universities. The employers basically walk into the campus, they interview people for positons and if they get the jobs, they are notified soon. The good part is kelley has GREAT reputation among its consulting and IT clients - they have a 'ongoing' relationship with many of the companies mentioned in their website - so its like the Chairman of MS-IS department at Kelley Prof. Ramesh ( with whom I and Karthik and Vivek had a 3 hour discussion) has basically made a great reputation and relationship with consulting companies. These consulting companies come to campus and give away the jobs. Of-course, the placements are not only limited in this Indian way. The career fairs etc. i.e. the usual way of placements in the US are anyways there - and I believe when people in US say that the jobs are dependent on a 'person' they mean .. a person can basically make it to a job if he impresses the representative from the company in job fairs or networking etc. etc. BUT this is there kelley stands tall  - their indian way of placements to MS-IS students and a chairman Prof. Ramesh who is a man of vision and he knows waht to do to attract the best of people from India.
DISCLAIMER: these are my person and individual opinions, but these are based on discussions with Current MS-IS students, passouts and Prof. Ramesh in that 3 hour discussion. kelley's curriculum is very different and unique than others for MIS.. the thing is Prof. Ramesh looks for more 'real' consulting kind of opportunities like what is offered by ernst and young or may be mickensey kind of companies(please note that mickensey is not a partner of kelley and they dont come there anyway .. )..

Lets understand what are the KIND of placements that TAMU has :

The indian way of placing the people - the campus interviews are very rare and I am not sure if it happens with that particular way. It is like this many times when the companies are looking for a specific resource they send their representatives in so called job fairs and since these companies have a urgent opening - they might recruit a person very very soon - WHICH normally does not happen. the recruitment process is quite slow in the US, they take 1 day to 3 months in giving the final offer to an individual.
The ways in which TAMU stands taller that kelley are - its international reputation in US and abroad. TAMU however, sadly is not THAT MUCH known for MIS. The course is 'just made' in a factory model and people who go there take it with little flexibilty and thats just the way it is.. while speaking to many many seniors from TAMU  - I still remain confused. I will tell you all of what I finally think - TAMU has comparitively less classes - meaining you can go about making more relationships and socializing in Texas( which again is FULL of indians and indians help indians ( which inspite of the fact that we want to go to a place where indians are less, is true) NOW, lets understand there are companies like Valero and some others which frequently take people from TAMU for MIS, but the point is they are lesser than what we have for Kelley, much lesser indeed. Again, everything boils down to what people can do in MIS batch for themselves. TAMU's best bets are - i its location ( which is much better than bloomington), the no. of job fairs that happen there, the much developed CS department at TAMU ( which helps us coz we are related to computer science anyway, when we go for MIS.


I will give you people some real time statistics of Kelley once i speak to my kelley people, i guess the TAMU things are anyway known to you, but I have gathered info for fall 2011 class and fall 2012 class, which also i will tell you people..

Please - all people - tell me about these things that I have written. whether or not you agree or disagree about this.

Please ignore my typo mistakes. :P

--
Success,
Ravi Dhanwani
Business Development Analyst,
IBM India

Cell: +91-9884059550

[sakshi chauhan]

hey ravi thanx for all the Info..

I had chat with one of my office seniors who is going to Stanford for MBA..and he is very well versed with MIS curriculum and job prospects..am quoting him..

"MIS is well known from CMU,Eller,Kelley and TAMU..so if you study in any of these.. you will get a job.. and the initial salaries dont matter that much.. one ought to ponder more  over what one really wants to do instead of starting salaries and more importantly  money itself..US is not like India.. its full of opportunities..you will require your own aptitude and skills ti get a job than the brand or the course itself.. it will only equip you with better understanding.. but getting a job is totally different thing.. go to a university without thinking of initial salaries..think about where you will be in next 10 yrs...all these universities are very good..job depends totally on you.. "

[Madhu Mareddy]

>>>>>indians help indians ( which inspite of the fact that we want to go to a place where indians are less, is true)

100% true to my knowledge. Good work Ravi!

>>>>>go to a university without thinking of initial salaries..hink about where you will be in next 10 yrs...
Take away point. Nice info Sakhsi. Thanks!

[Gaurav Jaisinghani]

@Rahul,

Great Summary.

@Sakshi,

You've put forth a really good point here. We should not go to a university keeping "initial salaries" in mind.

That way, TAMU has to be the best bet here. Cheap college means the biggest return on investment.

So, for people who're looking for ROI, look no further.

@All the people in this discussion,

I think we should not discuss this "Kelley vs TAMU" thing anymore.

Placements: By now we all know that Kelley really takes care of your placements (although they won't admit that). It isn't only the Kelley Brand name that takes care, it is the people and their connections that work the magic here.

TAMU on the other hand, is a different place. Looking at the statistics, out of 22 internationals, 19 are placed. It's a really good statistic, not ignoring the efforts that students at TAMU might have had to put in; students at Kelley may not have had to work that hard. But in the end, people have been placed in both the colleges.

Course: Kelley has tailored the course to fit the industry needs. Since it has very good industry connections, I think they've possibly consulted the people from the industry and made their course suit the industry's needs. TAMU doesn't have that edge. I won't say the course is bad, though. It is pretty well stacked up to Kelley's. You'll have to take your own initiative in getting the most out of the course. Preparation can only take you so far; after that you need to take a few leaps of faith.

Fees: If you manage to get a waiver, TAMU's fees become 40% of Kelley's (approximate figure, considering the living expenses in both the places). On that Front, TAMU wins hands down.

Summarizing,

Fees- Win: TAMU

Course- Win: Kelley

Placement- Almost tied, although, Kelley outshines TAMU.

Choose your pick. Period.

-Gaurav

[Madhu Mareddy]

@Hello All, Please have at look at this.

http://www.edulix.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=48085&pid=721860#pid721860

Let's come up with courses which we have concerns about. Like, what the course teaches? Is it case based? such stuff. We;ll get to know more insider opinions on courses and help clarify the misconceptions about flexibility/inflexibility thing.

On the other hand, we can network with current students and seniors.

Cheers,

Madhu