<p>I'm not finding this school coming up on CC much, so I thought I'd go fishing.</p>
<p>My D is interested in theater, and we're going to take a trip down to Bloomington/Normal (about a 3 hour drive for us), to look at ISU and Illinois Wesleyan. From the websites, she's more interested in ISU - the theater curriculum, the size, plus a few other reasons. She's got good stats, higher than the average ISU applicant (3.6 UW/~3.8WGPA, 27 ACT), a little lower than what IWU takes. She's not a party kid at all, is much more on the artsy/indie film/obscure comedian kind of end of the scale. </p>
<p>Any comments about the atmosphere or experience there would be very helpful, especially as it pertains to their arts programs.</p>
<p>I am a high-school student, but I attend Wesleyan for music lessons. I would definitely recommend Wesleyan over ISU for theater unless she doesn’t want an LAC.</p>
<p>I think they’re both pretty terrific for theater. I don’t think the party atmosphere at ISU has to be a huge factor for a theater student; you can immerse yourself in that crowd. This is one where it’s all about student preference. IWU has a better academic reputation, but if a motivated student chose it, I’d feel good about that.</p>
<p>Thank you both! We’ll visit both schools in July, and see a Shakespeare play at ISU.</p>
<p>I’m glad to hear ISU has a student body with various interests. She does have some LACs on her list; it all depends on the school and the program. </p>
<p>I attended UIUC (a while ago now), but people I knew liked ISU. I think it is often overlooked. Nice campus, surrounding town, etc. I have no data on IWU. </p>
<p>Have you considered DePaul, Iowa, and Indiana? – all have fairly strong fine arts programs, I believe (not an expert on the subject, just my impression). </p>
<p>Eh, that’s not completely my impression. Most of my teachers went there, and for the most part they are not too positive about it. I haven’t heard any specific complaints, though.</p>
<p>Unlike a student majoring in liberal arts or education, a student whose main academic interest is theater will likely be immersed with a lot of like-minded people. It keeps you busy with that group day, night, and weekends. It’s a kind of insulation from the rest of the university, though of course it’s there if they want to take advantage of it.</p>
<p>Thank you! That is a benefit of these specialized programs anywhere. </p>
<p>Silverturtle, I presume you live pretty nearby. How’s the town? How’s the access to Chicago (especially by train)? We’re familiar with that 1-39 corridor, but we spend more time near Joliet, where my in-laws live. Is there a funky college-town feel at all? Are things pretty much dead on Sundays? (In some WI state-school towns people are mostly just “sleeping it off”, ugh.)</p>
<p>We’ll look into the Educ. school, too, as that is a possible “day job” interest for my D. We found it interesting that there are elementary and secondary lab schools on campus.</p>
<p>I used to live in Orlando; so compared to my previous experience, it is quite boring. But I don’t think that this is too big of an issue for the college students here.</p>
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<p>Access to Chicago is very good. I regularly go up by train. As for the college-town feel, you’ll definitely strongly get that sense in certain isolated areas. For the most part, though, I would say no.</p>
<p>Thanks - you are very helpful. Wow, Orlando-Illinois … hm. I, too, am a transplant. We go back and forth a lot between the Boston area and WI, and spend time in Chicago. My D is keeping an open mind; we all know that in college you sometimes think you’ll do more in town than you actually do, and theater programs are notorious for keeping people busy 24/7. She would love city access, maybe less than the 2 hours it takes to get from B/N to Chicago, but we’ll see what she thinks when she sees the town. A couple of good resale shops, a good vegetarian restaurant, and an available arts scene (which could be provided by the 2 schools there) may be just fine. She’s not into sports, but doesn’t mind cheering once in a while for fun.</p>
<p>I live near Illinois State University, We went on a visit there recently, I thought the school was a little dirty, The dorms are filthy even off season, and when we had questions about curriculum, they acted as if they could care less. The way the student counselor answered us was, everything we need to know is on the website.
We will not be choosing Illinois State University for our Sons.</p>
<p>A good amount of kids from my school go to ISU every year, usually to go into education or just to party. I wouldn’t really recommend it to anyone with such high credentials or isn’t into partying, although I’m sure your DD would be able to find a niche within the theater department and be fine. Good luck.</p>