Are you majoring in liberal arts, but worried about marketing your skills to employers? Are your favorite courses discussion-based? Have any Kelley credits under your belt, but not sure what to do with them?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, LAMP might be for you.
LAMP stands for the Liberal Arts and Management Program, an honors program for students who are passionate about the liberal arts who also want a solid foundation in business.
As a LAMP student you’ll take a mix of LAMP classes and Kelley business classes. The LAMP courses are focused on improving critical thinking and discussing relevant issues with topics ranging from “Black Markets: Supply and Demand” to “The Meat We Eat.” You’ll soon get to know all of your fellow LAMPers since there are usually only about 20 students give or take in classes. The professors are also some of the best I’ve ever had; they’re knowledgeable, funny and I’ve even been invited to attend a class dinner at a professor’s house. How often does that happen in regular classes?
The brilliant and wise LAMP staff
As for the Kelley courses, you’ll take the fundamentals like economics, K201, A200, L201 and management courses. A lot of LAMPers already have credits from being a previous business minor or major, but if you haven’t taken any Kelley classes that’s fine as well! Please don't let that deter you from applying.The LAMP website has a full list of courses you’ll need to take to graduate with the LAMP certificate.
Besides the well-balanced curriculum, there are many other reasons that you should consider applying for the LAMP program. First off, LAMP is unique to Indiana University (so far, we hope to take over the world eventually) and employers love LAMP students! More and more studies show that companies value the skills that liberal arts grads bring to the office. LAMP students can read and write critically, have excellent communications skills AND they’ve taken enough business classes to know the fundamentals. Companies love hiring LAMP grads so much, that many of them reach out to LAMP professors with internship postings and networking events that are only available to students in the program. As a LAMP student, you can also apply to opportunities that are otherwise exclusive to business majors such as the Kelley Consulting Workshop. LAMP alum can be found working at companies like Procter & Gamble, Deloitte Consulting and even Google.
There are also scholarship opportunities specifically for LAMP students that can cover your educational expenses and even fund studying abroad. LAMP has a great motto "One Perspective is Never Enough." It’s a saying that encompasses the heart of liberal arts education; being able to approach an issue by looking at it through multiple lenses. LAMP encourages all of its students to consider studying abroad during their college career.
LAMPers also have a lot of fun! We know basically everyone in our cohorts because of the small classes and we even have a yearly team-building event at Bradford Woods called LAMP camp (as you can probably tell we love catchy sayings). LAMP students can also participate in the Virtu project, an investing club with a philanthropy twist that donates to the Timmy Global Health organization.
Last year's LAMP camp at Bradford Woods
As you can see there are many benefits to becoming a LAMPer. I feel privileged to be in classes surrounded by so many gifted and passionate students that I never would have met otherwise.
To succeed in LAMP you need to be majoring in the College of Arts and Sciences (the new Media School is included in this!), have an open mind, an eagerness to learn and be committed to maintaining at least a 3.3 GPA. If you aren't sure if LAMP is for you, feel free to meet with advisor Mark Fraley (great guy) and you can have a wonderful discussion about whether LAMP may be for you. Sophomores keep an eye out for fall applications starting September 1st. Freshman, you can apply spring semester on February 1st. Visit the admissions page of the website to learn more and begin planning for a future that is anything but business as usual.