What You Should Know About Honors I-Core

I have had several juniors in the Business Honors program (who are friends of mine) approach me over the past few weeks with dozens of questions about Honors I-Core. I hope I haven't scared them too much with how intense it sounds to the naked ear, but I promise my experiences sound worse in stories than they actually were. Granted, Honors I-Core is a LOT of hard work over the course of an entire semester, and it is not for the faint of heart.

Honors I-Core defined: I-Core stands for the "integrative core" at IU taken during one's junior year. It is a block of four honors classes (marketing, finance, strategy, and operations) taken all at once during the same semester. There are three blocks of time when Honors I-Core meets, and each honors student is assigned to one block. I was assigned to the 2:30 block, so I only had class from 2:30-5:15 every Monday-Thursday and then a Career Perspectives class every Friday morning. On Mondays and Wednesdays I would have Operations from 2:30 - 3:45 and Finance from 4 - 5:15. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I would have Strategy from 2:30 - 3:45 and Marketing from 4 - 5:15. The professors who teach Honors I-Core are some of the best in the Kelley school, and my strategy professor from last fall was promoted this year to the position of Undergraduate Dean of Kelley. It is considered very prestigious to be part of Honors I-Core, and every member from my year had a GPA of 3.7 or higher upon acceptance.

When I took Honors I-Core last fall, the program had undergone a lot of change over the previous summer. While I was a sophomore, I heard from older friends that Honors I-Core "was easier than regular I-Core" - as did many other 2010 students in the program. However, when we came to school in September 2008, we found the program had added many new group projects to the total work load to combat the "easy" rumor, thus creating the need to develop extreme time management skills. Every other member of my group (you are assigned to the same group throughout the entire semester, spanning every class in Honors I-Core) had outside activities and classes that they were also juggling. In order to feel more organized, I volunteered to maintain the entire group's schedules throughout the semester, and I would input group meetings into any free block of time I could find.

Along with learning how to manage your time as well as work around four or five group member's schedules during Honors I-Core, you have many assignments to tackle throughout the semester along with quizzes and midterms. In Operations, you are given a group project where you digitally simulate a manufacturing process. In Marketing, your group chooses a company with a current marketing problem and you then perform a market research analysis in order to write up/present a marketing plan for the organization based on your findings. In Finance, there are four individual quizzes throughout the semester that cover your readings and class lectures. Finally, in Strategy, your group is given the assignment to write up an industry analysis using the analysis techniques you learn during class. (Strategy class consisted entirely of lectures about industry analysis models and then discussions of case studies from the Harvard Business Review.) The career class on Fridays taught by the UCSO would involve listening to guest speakers and/or the development of personal resumes, cover letters, potential employer research, and mock interview sessions.

I hope this gave a brief but informative overview of Honors I-Core in the Kelley School. If you have a further question about the program or want my opinion about a certain aspect of an Honors I-Core class, feel free to ask. I've already answered five current honors juniors' questions, and I don't mind answering more!

P.S. I have nothing but nice things to say about the two honors advisers at the Kelley School - Gary Raad and Alyson Kvetko. They are both very good at their jobs, and have been extremely helpful to me throughout my career in the Business Honors program. Gary was very influential in helping me figure out how I could study abroad, double-major, and still graduate in four years, and I am very lucky to have him as an asset. I promise I don't work for them - what I just said is sincere.