My Friend Came to Kellogg for 48 Hours and Confirmed We Basically Live in a Commune

By: Jane Fraley When I was applying to Kellogg two winters ago, the thing that sold me the most was the promise of team-based learning in the classroom and a tight-knit community outside of it. Even on Kellogg’s own website, one of the school’s three strategic objectives listed is to “provide an exemplary community experience.” With Tuesday parties that feel like national holidays, the pseudo-dorm life in E2, and the constant flow of familiar faces passing through Gies Plaza, the “Kellogg community” has lived up to the hype for me, so much so that it sometimes feels like we’re all living in our own tiny country.

But what does all of this look like to someone who isn’t in the Kellogg bubble? How does it compare to the other MBA programs our friends ended up at?

Does the fabric of Kellogg really shine through the way we think it does?

According to Camilla Trapness, a second-year MBA student at London Business School (LBS), the answer is a resounding yes. Camilla is one of my best friends from undergrad at Amherst College, and she flew across the pond to visit me over Halloween weekend (a more pleasant than spooky surprise). Even though she was here for barely 48 hours, she got the full Kellogg weekend sampler: TG and the BMA Halloween party on Friday, an hour-long Uber downtown on Saturday, and a peaceful walk around the lake on Sunday to detox from the previous two days.

Camilla Trapness (London Business School '26) on her Kellogg visit

Like many of us at Kellogg, Camilla went to business school for a world-class education, a great job, and “not just a global network of contacts, but lifelong friends, too!” As soon as Camilla arrived at my apartment, we stepped into the elevator and immediately ran into two people I knew because… well, it’s E2. Camilla was surprised by the fact that I seemingly knew everyone in my building. At LBS, she explained, this doesn’t happen. “There aren't high-rise apartment buildings in the area that are dominated by LBS students,” she said. “People live in a few close neighbourhoods, but likely not in the same buildings.” Translation: there’s no E2-esque apartment (or flat) in London where half your section somehow ends up living on the same floor.

That difference in living setup really shaped how Kellogg felt to Camilla. “I think this lends itself to a more communal feeling,” she hypothesized. “At LBS, you may feel that on campus, but you can easily escape it when you go home. That does not seem to be the case as much at Kellogg as you will likely run into classmates in your building lobby or elevator. The whole town feels like a community.”

Indeed, living together does make planning frequent social events incredibly easy since “everyone is in the same place,” as Camilla put it. At this point, we’ve all been to plenty of last-minute SGDs purely because we live so close to each other, or received a Partiful invite for a Friday night event happening somewhere within E2’s walls. This same convenience carries over to the more official events, too. Reflecting on the BMA Halloween party, Camilla noted, “It does seem like the clubs at Kellogg put on more events than those at LBS. The Student Association and clubs [at LBS] don't necessarily plan many social events, maybe one or two per year, if at all.”

Having Camilla here for the weekend reminded me how easy it is to take all of this for granted, especially as a second-year. After a year and a half in the Kellogg bubble, it starts to feel normal to bump into close friends in the elevator or walking through Gies at any given moment. Seeing Kellogg through her eyes made our little ecosystem feel rare, almost impossible to replicate in a big city or a more spread-out program. It turns out the community we talk about so much isn’t just the marketing language on Kellogg’s website. It really is ingrained into how we live, learn, and basically trip over each other every single day.

As for Camilla’s final thoughts on the Kellogg experience: “The walk by the water was really pretty!” Lake Michigan remains undefeated, even against the River Thames.