Here at Menlo Coaching, we appreciate the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University for its commitment to facilitating a collaborative environment and inspiring brave leaders.
Our Founding Partner, David White sat down with Kate Smith, Assistant Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid, to discuss the admissions process as well as what it’s like to be a student at this prestigious MBA program.
In part one of this interview, David and Kate discuss Kellogg’s great new building, the school’s location benefits, and opportunities for international treks and exchanges.
Skip around to the topics that interest you most using the chapter selector, 
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Ready to start your application? Apply to Kellogg
The Kellogg Global Hub
The Kellogg MBA program at Northwestern University opened the Kellogg Global Hub in 2017, and what a building it is! The curving, glass and steel facade hides a huge atrium on the inside, with Spanish steps where students can sit and mingle, and views through one side of Lake Michigan, and views through the other side of Downtown Chicago. Even better, the building is LEED certified as Platinum because of its low environmental impact.
More importantly for you as a prospective student, the building is just as functional as it is beautiful:
- There’s a gym where you can catch a quick workout.
- There are quiet study rooms for you to meet with your classmates.
- For the parents in the crowd, there are rooms where Kellogg provides childcare during the weekly TG(IF) gatherings. While you have a drink with your classmates, your children can be eating pizza and watching a Disney movie
In short, the building supports almost everything you might want to do there.
Kellogg’s Evanston Location
The Global Hub is located in Evanston, a small suburb of Chicago that has a great mix of action and relaxation. Because Evanston is suburban rather than urban, rents on apartments will be lower than in Downtown Chicago, and if you live nearby, everything will be walkable. Furthermore, you’ll probably run into your classmates as you go about your business. Evanston has everything you’d expect of a university town, like a Whole Foods just a couple blocks from campus, more than 200 restaurants, and other amenities. Many students appreciate Evanston’s relaxed environment, and it can be especially nice for families.
However, Chicago is nearby for networking and recruiting events, and Evanston is not too far from two major airports, O’Hare and Midway, meaning that you can easily make your connections to flights for both domestic and international travel.
Kellogg’s Global Treks, Trips and Exchanges
Kellogg makes the most of Chicago’s central location and great airports by offering a large number of international programs:
- Exchanges. Around 20% of Kellogg students spend a full 10-week quarter abroad at a partner school. Kellogg maintains exchange programs with 25 partner schools covering every content (besides Antarctica!).
- Global Initiatives in Management. In this program, Kellogg students meet on-campus for 8 weeks to learn about a global region, then make a 10-day trip covering both business and cultural activities, and meet again back on campus to discuss the trip. This allows students to gain a meaningful international experience without giving up a full quarter of their program.
- Global Lab. In this course, students spend 10 weeks researching a problem for an international partner company, and then travel to an international location and spend two weeks with the sponsor company to implement their solution.
- KWEST. Nearly 85% of new students participate in this pre-term trip, in which they travel together to exotic locations to learn more about each other. We can’t say more or it would spoil the mystery!
