Current Freshman at Purdue - Got Questions About Purdue except Admissions?

<p>^^^
Purdue has one of the best agricultural programs in the country. (especially agricultural engineering)</p>

<p>Yes bowerss7, purdue's agecon is actually quite good....</p>

<p>"My D is applying so I have some "Mom" questions!
Have you meet a lot of people from NY/NJ? What part of NJ are you from? How was the travel home? What did you do over Thanksgiving? Are there lots of kids that stay over the Thanksgiving holiday? What would you say is the actual travel time for you to get home?"</p>

<p>I'm from Northeastern top part of bergen county in NJ. near the border of NJ and upstate NY and minutes from GWB. Travelling home ain't that bad I came for fall break, thanksgiving and winter. The prices of taking a flight from Indy to Newark is quite expensive if its non-stop and Continental is the only airline that does a nonstop from indy to EWR, but I take that so I wouldnt be a hassle to my parents to pick me up. Flying to JFK/LGA you can have a nonstop flight with different carriers such as United or USAirways and the price is slightly the same as that to EWR. Average price is around 300-450 roundtrip. Winter break however, prices for a nonstop from indy to ewr were 1007 bucks which is ridiculous and thank god i have alot of mileage so I have an award ticket. The flight back home is around 2.5 hrs for nonstop, unless you get a one stop usually either at NC Charlotte, O'Hare or Pittsburgh. Basically if people say taking the plane from Indy to NY is the same as driving from NY to VA or wherever then they are wrong since its ALOT shorter. For thanksgiving I just spent time with the family and really didn't want to see anyone from town since its more of a family spending time break. Winter beak is more of a seeing friends and spend time with family break though. Alot of kids went home for thanksgiving since Lafayette Limo was crowded 24.7. and its a family holiday. The dorms were literally empty from what I heard so basically alot of kids go back home except for international students who cant afford going back home and since its short. They usually go to like Chicago or something, or just stay at the dorms with friends.</p>

<p>Purdue Ag is excellent. Some of the Ag Econ professors guest lectured in my Dean's Scholars class. They're really interesting people that have some amazing things to say.</p>

<p>I'm new to joining CC, though I have looked here a lot especially when I was looking at schools. I'm currently a sophomore in mechanical engineering. I could possibly help with any questions that Jim might not have an answer for or add to his answers.</p>

<p>Mad Mushroom cheesy bread is a must as far as food goes. The dining halls are quite good, though, you can get a bit tired of it towards the end of the semester. That will happen with any type of food, no matter how good. A possible plus for some is the fact that all of the dining halls are all-you-can-eat buffets. It's not like some schools where you have $5 to spend on a meal. There's also "On-The-Go" where you can use a meal swipe on a "sack lunch". It's convenient if you have a little break but not enough time to eat in the dining court. You can also use it to get rid of unused meal swipes at the end of the week. I use it to stack up on snack food for my room.</p>

<p>If you're interested in sports, I'd definitely suggest getting the VIP card. It's a great deal to see Big Ten sports. The game day experience is awesome. I'm in Paint Crew, the men's basketball student section, and camping out for the Duke game was an experience, even if the game didn't live up to the hype. Even if you're not into sports, you have to go to at least one big game. Tickets are decently cheap for any game, though the bigger games are a little bit more.</p>

<p>I noticed someone asking about a car. In case you weren't given a heads up, freshmen living on campus can't have a car. They built a new parking garage, and they do have a freshman parking permit lottery before the second semester. So there's a possibility of getting a permit if you live on campus, but it's slim.</p>

<p>It wasn't too bad not having a car. There's a couple of on campus convenience stores that are pricey, but you can use up Dining Dollars there. If you need to go to Wal-Mart or somewhere else, there's the bus system, or you can try to talk your RA into taking you.</p>

<p>Also, do Boiler Gold Rush. It's a week-long orientation program the week before classes start. It really gets you acquainted with campus and helps you get settled in before you have to worry about classes. If you do go to BGR, actually go to BGR. Some people will just stay in their rooms, but you'll get more out of going to the different activities. They have comedians, games, midnight Meijer and Target runs, etc. I enjoyed it.</p>

<p>boiler/
I am applying for COE..
I called the ME department and they said internaitonal students can apply for scholarship/FA from the department. can you give me some details on the scholarship/FA from the department? Like how many can get how much and where is their GPA or any special requirement.
Thanks.</p>

<p>I believe that most, if not all, of the ME scholarships are typically given when you are in/entering ME, i.e. sophomore year/second semester freshman year. In the ME building by the advisers' offices, there is a bulletin board that has fliers and information about scholarships. Also, the advisers are great about sending out e-mails about opportunities for not just financial aid but also club call outs, internship positions, etc. Some scholarships are just given to students without them applying or having any prior knowledge of said scholarship.</p>

<p>I'm looking around the ME and CoE websites looking for financial aid info in the department/college, but I'm not seeing much.</p>

<p>Aha! <a href="https://engineering.purdue.edu/ENE/InfoFor/ProspectiveStudents/scholarship%5B/url%5D"&gt;https://engineering.purdue.edu/ENE/InfoFor/ProspectiveStudents/scholarship&lt;/a>
Purdue</a> University Division of Financial Aid</p>

<p>That's not a ton of help, but it's something.</p>

<p>Also, if you have the opportunity to do Honors in First-Year Engineering, I'd recommend it. It was more work than regular FYE, but I feel that I'm better off now in ME having that early work. Even if you don't though, don't worry about ME too much. Just work hard, and you should be fine.</p>

<p>Found this: <a href="https://engineering.purdue.edu/ENE/InfoFor/InfoFor/FutureStudents/undergrad/scholarship/%5B/url%5D"&gt;https://engineering.purdue.edu/ENE/InfoFor/InfoFor/FutureStudents/undergrad/scholarship/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

<p>do any of you guys know anything about the sororities at purdue or their reputations?</p>

<p>i think i posted something about the sororities in a past post.. oh well. but you will most likely go through this rush event where you pay money and go to every sorority house and learn about them. the more popular sororities are DZs, Alpha Phis, Tri Delts, and Phi Mu. All of them except Phi Mu is in Tower Acres. Alpha Phi's pledgeship i heard is that you take all your clothes off except your underwear and sit on a washer or dryer machine and since it shakes alot it makes your areas that is abit chubby to jiggle. then they circle that area with a marker and if you dont lose the fat then you cant pledge anymore or something. Its just a rumor, but you should still at least look at the sororities. AGDs have a reputation of being bad, but I know some of the sisters there and they arent that bad. It's just that they arent that good looking physically.</p>

<p>lol..if that alpha phi thing is true then that would explain why they have the hottest girls on campus....</p>

<p>yup exactly. but they are overrated, however they do have a nice house... and a nice damn chandalier or however you spell it in their living room. but good luck.</p>

<p>yeah i've heard horror stories similar to that one you just posted. i really hope that stuff isn't true but..girls are girls. haha enough said.
so is greek life pretty big at purdue?</p>

<p>yes it's like top 5 biggest in the nation...</p>

<p>i have a question....in a lot of the other threads on this website, people have said Purdue is in the middle of nowhere, boring, and nothing to do.. could u give me your view on these comments?</p>

<p>that all depends on what your definition of boring is....i mean it's not like there's any major attractions anywhere close b/c it's in a college town but if you like to just go out and chill with ur friends or whatnot, college towns are perfect for that...so please be more specific as to what you mean. college is what you make of it in my opinion....</p>

<p>okay...well in my opinion "boring" is when u sit in ur dorm on the computer all the time lol. this is just from what i have read from other posts so i have no idea what purdue is like because i havent visited it yet. i just hear comments like west lafayette is a crappy town...how would u rate the party life, social life in general, does west lafayette have any clubs or good hangout spots for college ppl??</p>

<p>I have a question. I am a International student from India. I have heard that international students (indians) are treated very badly over there and are given last prefernce for everything (job, housing, greek house, etc.) and plus ths students(americans) over there do not like to mix with the asians and it is a very racist place. Further I heard hat Indians aren't allowed in any of the frat parties or the house parties and usually a very segragated group. So what do u have to say about that ? </p>

<p>My frinds studied there but she didnt like it and eventually transferred to UT Austin and she told me all this.</p>

<p>kentnek32, i think the party life is pretty good. you have one of the largest greek campuses in the nation and especially the first few weeks of school parties will be happening everywhere...as for bars and clubs, sadly you can't get in until you're 21...i'd say make some upperclassmen friends and then u can party hardy all the time....as for good hangout spots...i dun really care for any...i usually just went to a friend's house/apartment and chilled there. but if u wanna have fun i'd say u definitely should be outgoing and make friends cuz they will determine if ur college experience is good or bad...</p>

<p>shiva, i find it funny that u say indians are treated badly and given last preference. if they are, it could be b/c for jobs they have money, greek house b/c they don't fit in the house they're going for, and in general like to stick with themselves. oftentimes i see international indian students only hangout with other indian students and speak their own language. if you do that, how do you expect people to welcome you with open arms into parties and the such. as for frat parties or house parties, the reason indians aren't allowed could be a few reasons and these happen everywhere not just purdue: from what i've seen (and i am asian myself), indians usually come in large groups of ALL GUYS!...no one will let a group of all guys in a party b/c that will just make the party more of a sausagefest and no one wants that.</p>

<p>in my opinion, like i said before, college is entirely what you make of it. shiva, if you are the stereotypical international indian student who studies all the time and has no social life, how do you expect people to let you into parties when you show up with a bunch of equally socially inept guys? college is no different then everywhere else...if you don't belong to a certain group, you're going to have a hard time...i hope that helps...if you have other questions please ask and i'll try to give you my honest opinion...</p>

<p>btw...there are asian fraternities on campus too but they aren't "mainstream"....</p>