<p>My son is a rising senior in Fort Lauderdale, FL. He has started to look at Indiana-Bloomington for their English department. He plans to major in creative writing with an eye to go to graduate Film school.</p>
<p>What can you tell me about the English department at IU-B? Does this large State school provide a good Liberal Arts experience? With an interest in Theater, especially Imrov Comedy, will there be enough to keep him entertained?</p>
<p>I’m not sure if the entertainment he is seeking is as an audience member or as a participant. Either way I think he will find plenty to keep him busy. </p>
<p>Although the stories are a bit old, both of these groups existed in the fall of 2008.</p>
<p>[Bloomington</a> a center for comedy, new acts and old | The Bloomington Alternative](<a href=“http://www.bloomingtonalternative.com/node/8965]Bloomington”>http://www.bloomingtonalternative.com/node/8965)</p>
<p>[idsnews.com</a> | Indiana Daily Student |](<a href=“http://www.idsnews.com/news/story.aspx?id=34659&comview=1]idsnews.com”>http://www.idsnews.com/news/story.aspx?id=34659&comview=1)</p>
<p>IU also offers a few classes in film production through the communications department. Search for Film and Media studies on the iub.edu site </p>
<p>Virtually every graduate of IU (maybe nursing is an exception and there are probably a few others) is required to take at least 27 hours of credit in the College of Arts and Sciences. My spouse graduated with a degree in English years ago and also had an interest in film at that time. He found things to keep himself busy. Your question about a liberal arts experience can be interpreted a number of ways, but if you mean will he have lots of liberal arts options the answer is a resounding “yes.”</p>
<p>rrah,</p>
<p>Thank you for the links. That is exactly what my son is looking for. He has been in a high school imrov comedy group for four years. </p>
<p>By a Liberal Arts experience, I mean:</p>
<p>1 Do professors spend time with their students? Do they challenge students and make them think critically? Do they invite motivated undergrads to participate in projects?<br>
2 Do students take the liberal arts seriously? Do they grow intellectually? Do they work well together or do they adopt a pre-professional cut throat attitude?
3 Is there a place (coffee house, frat house, diner, cafeteria or study hall) where LA students can socialize and talk about the great questions of life?
4 Does the school support the arts with abundant music, theater and studio art exhibitions?</p>
<p>In other words, does IU-B provide an environment conducive to developing well-rounded, thinking men and women? Most colleges quickly answer “of course.” But in reality, they fall very short. In some such places, the jocks dominate all social interactions. Football and B-ball games foster great school spirit and are a lot of fun for the masses, but they do very little to expand horizons. </p>
<p>From the little that I have read about IU-B, I get the feeling that the arts are a strong part of daily life. If that is the case, I would like for my son to visit the campus.</p>
<p>Oh, you should definitely go visit. My daughter will be a freshman at IU in the fall. While she chose IU primarily for one of its pre-professional “cut throat” programs, the overall campus environment felt wonderfully diverse and stimulating to her. For example, the art museum on campus was designed by I.M Pei and is filled with incredible exhibits. The Jacobs School of Music is one of the very best programs in the country. The town of Bloomington is full of cute coffee houses and ethnic restaurants. The cultural opportunities are wide and vast and our impression was that students take advantage of them in addition to all of the sports activities.</p>
<p>I know this is probably too personal, but just to show you how student’s do take advantage of the various events at IU-B, I have to let you know how my own son (who hates to leave his apartment for almost any reason except to meet with friends at a local bar or restaurant) attended at least three interesting college events last year (these are the ones he told me about–there may have been others):
(1) A lecture on the “science of star trek” with a visiting professor from Harvard
(2) A special nighttime “chocolate festival” with visiting chefs from the Chicago and Indianapolis areas in the art museum that featured classical music performances by Indiana University music students (he told me he took his girlfriend and he and she actually dressed up (suits and fancy dress).–I almost passed out when he told me this; and
(3) A lecture from one of the US Supreme Court justices (don’t remember which one) that featured the justice acting as the presiding judge over a mock court competition between some of the Indiana University law school students).</p>
<p>There is an “events” listing on the IU-B website. I’m sure it is pretty empty right now–but during the school year, there are at least 3 to 4 events per day.</p>
<p>Thank you Calcruzer. Those are the sort of things that would interest my son. I’ll pass the info to him.</p>
<p>etherdome, I saw from one of you previous posts that your son visited a college during an Hispanic scholars event. I don’t know if he is Hispanic, but IU has a difficult time recruiting Hispanic students even though they have a tremendous program that provides $20,000 over a four-year period for liberal arts and business students, plus bonuses of up to $2,000 annually for gpa of 3.7+ at the end of each school year. Also, the students enroll in a special class with small sections divided by major their first semester at IU. This program is supportive in many ways and makes the school much more intimate for the students involved. Last year, the program had about 170 new students. Here is a link to the program.</p>
<p>[url=<a href=“http://www.indiana.edu/~hhsp/]index[/url”>http://www.indiana.edu/~hhsp/]index[/url</a>]</p>
<p>Thank you bthomp1. I’ll send that link to my son. </p>
<p>We were at the U of Florida’s Hispanic Scholars program this weekend. UF sounds like a great school for pre-med, but looks very mediocre for liberal arts. Indiana is suddenly looking better and better.</p>