<p>We received a letter yesterday (addressed to parents of incoming students) requesting a photo and info on our student for inclusion in something called "The Freshman Record." We had something similar when I was a freshman at ND but in this age of Facebook, I find it hard to believe that this book is still relevant. Can current students/or parents of/ let me know your opinion of this and the yearbook? Thanks!</p>
<p>Good question! We received the mailing yesterday too and tossed it. It seemed to me to be a ploy to get $28 (or whatever it was) for something fairly worthless. But if it truly is a “proud tradition” at IU as they positioned it I’d like to know if I made a mistake.</p>
<p>I was wondering the very same thing.</p>
<p>**The Arbutus IS legit, and something officially from the IU campus.
You don’t get the yearbook until the next year though, because they
spend the year filling it out with events. Like me, I’m going to get my
freshman yearbook this coming fall…hahahah.</p>
<p>I guess it can be useful. Once i get it, i’ll report back to you guys.</p>
<p>Just my .02</p>
<p>P.S. Unexpected secret’s gonna happen in a few hours ;)**</p>
<p>I was intensely pouring over every word of radonOmega’s amazing “unexpected secret” and it suddenly disappeared. WHAT!!!</p>
<p>What is the Secret???</p>
<p>He wrote this incredible “manual” (for lack of a better description) of how to succeed at IU – what classes to take, how to approach studying, how to figure out which professors are the best, how to get around campus, etc. It had something like 7 different “chapters” and I was just getting started reading it. I hit the back button and the entire thing was gone. It seems to have been removed from the site. Either that, or I was hallucinating the whole thing…</p>
<p>I was reading that post too and it was very interesting radonOMega can you send me the information. I did not get to read it all.</p>
<p>Bah! The whole thing is gone!</p>
<p>The Freshman Record is something they put out in the summer that shows you the other members of the freshman class. My son didn’t originally participate in this either (kind of wishes he had), but it was fun to see the document because it only had about 300 people in it (out of the approximately 5,000+ or so who will be enrolling), but it did seem to really make you feel like you were joining a great group.</p>
<p>As far as Arbutus, I guess it all depends on how much you do or don’t want to be in the yearbook (or buy one). With so many students, it tends to have at most one to two pictures of everyone, but it does tend to try to give you a feel for a cohesive student group (but it is very similar to a high school yearbook, in my view).</p>
<p>My oldest sister was supposed to go to Texas A&M and since it’s a big school, like IU, they have a similar booklet. Sister didn’t go, though. Middle sister went to Dartmouth where they have a freshman book too. Just head shots and brief facts (high school, hometown) but she enjoyed the book freshman year and then it came home.</p>
<p>I think the book sounds good for incoming freshmen at a school the size of IU.</p>