Daughter applied. On paper we love the town, great poli sci and Intl relations programs, and she thinks she wants the big 10 (ish) rah rah feel.
She’s a little wary of Indiana in general, coming from Oregon she’s liberal (albeit a in a mainstream Taylor swift loving way). She wants a diverse set of students, in both demographics and ideology and a campus that is supportive of lgbt, climate and social Justice. Is IU going to be a fit for her? Not trying to start drama, to each his own…I just want a feel before we book any travel etc.
So the flagship universities and immediate surroundings in Big 10 country are basically well-known for being among the most liberal areas in those states. If you pull up recent voting maps for Indiana, you will almost surely be able to easily spot Bloomington/Monroe County (a couple counties southwest of Indianapolis).
So unless you decide you want to get out and about in rural Indiana a lot, your experience as a college student at IU is going to be pretty much the same as at any standard liberal-leaning college in the US. Like, a few colleges actually specialize in being conservative, and a few in being very left, but the vast majority are in a pretty standard range which includes IU.
Thanks, she is also concerned about the state wide reproductive laws, but that’s another can of worms….but if the college kids are open minded and not too far right that’s what is most important to her day to day
We are also from Oregon and your senior is welcome to communicate with mine who did visit if it would be helpful. If you want to understand IU go visit UWashington and picture limestone instead of brick. Both schools are pretty similar in campus vibe IMO. Then its just city or very traditional college town around you. IU’s campus footprint is like 3x UW with the same amount of students. Greek life is way bigger at IU than UW and because its a college town most people live near/on campus. But just as Washington the State is really liberal - it does not really impact student experience and same with Indiana at IU. The main difference in UW vs IU is that UW most of the kids are west coast and 70% in-state and IU’s student population is more like the UO with half from out of State. Regardless of all of that I think the most comfort our senior found was seeing a Raising Canes and Chipotle on Kirkwood next to campus. Good luck.
Great feedback thanks. We’ve been to UW so that makes sense. Kid doesn’t want to go to UW though (claims there’s too many Bend kids there ). I find it hard to believe that 30 or so kids from Bend would be noticeable amongst the 30k at UW lol.
My impression regarding the University of Washington differs from that stated in a post above.
U Washington is more liberal than is IU-Bloomington. Indiana has a more visible mix of liberal, moderate, and conservative students than does U Washington. Nevertheless, both are large schools and there seems to be a place for everyone, but a conservative at U Washington should keep a low profile in order to avoid random confrontations.
Seattle is a very liberal city and the University of Washington main campus is in Seattle.
Not a big difference, at least per Niche. Given the small samples sizes, I would guess this is all not statistically significant in terms of differences.
That said, I think there is a Midwestern ethos of being nice/non-confrontational that plausibly might make Indiana feel a bit different to some conservative students.
My daughter’s concerns on vibe going to IU was would it be in the middle of nowhere like Field of Dreams in a corn field, would everyone be from Indiana and know each other, and would it be really conservative leaning in social interactions due to State politics compared to Oregon where she attends an extremely liberal high school. And she learned Bloomington is an amazing town, the campus is huge and vibrant, and almost everyone she met was from a different state than Indiana. And the vibe on campus on campus events, greek life, class opportunities, student union felt most like UW of any of the Northwest campuses she had been to. Just us - I hope you get to visit Bloomington. It’s worth a trip and easier to get to than we thought from West Coast cities. Wasn’t meant to be a comparison of political leanings at UW vs IU or to apply to UW. Just campus vibes of being a prospective student for an Oregon student who might have been to UW, WSU, UO and/or OSU as we have.
I’ll often mention schools in a blue area - but purple state - for lgbtq. But people say it’s the state laws that matter.
So it’s an individual call but IU is very liberal I’d say. It has a huge Hillel - you may not be Jewish but that’s a sign of liberalness. It’s hugely popular with the Jewish community.
Personally I wouldn’t worry about IU or really most flagships in regards to on campus issues. Most ‘go to school’ and the on campus politics are often overplayed …ie the south. People in general are not concerned with how others think.
It’s strong in your daughter’s areas and well worth a visit if it checks your boxes. Hamilton Lugar is very well respected.
I don’t see a UW parallel in environment - but that’s me.
Off topic, but Penn State is certainly an exception to this rule. While the specifically immediate campus may not be as conservative, everywhere around it in Centre County is.
IU has become a very hot choice from our liberal NJ town. I think 10 or more students from our diverse, LGBTQ-friendly, social justice-marching high school were freshmen this year. Business is a popular choice of major, but also sports management and dance. The students I know are very nice, strong academically and also like to have fun. Hear a lot about the beautiful campus.
We flew PDX-SEA-Indy on Alaska. Then 45 minutes down the highway from Indy. Went in on Thursday and left Sat AM back in PDX by like 10am with Friday on campus. Definitely a lot of New Jersey kids and felt kindred spirit in nobody knowing how to pump their own gas.
Assuming by your username that you live in Oregon (plus your statement that you are from Oregon), IU-Bloomington is less liberal than Western Oregon and much more liberal than Eastern Oregon.
Adding to what others have said - IU also offers an amazing number of foreign languages which just adds to the diversity and global feel of the small town. I hope your kid gets to visit!
Late to reply on this, but we’re quite familiar with IU and will likely have an S25 applying to Kelley next year. I think it would be worth a visit (depending on where else your D gets in, time/travel/cost, etc.). Keep in mind that winter doesn’t show any Midwestern campus in its best light, though!
campus is beautiful with lots of open spaces and consistent limestone buildings. Also very few roadways bisecting it, so it feels enclosed, quiet and almost bucolic.
10% of students are international, which inherently increases diversity in a couple of senses
as others have noted, the school and Bloomington are much more liberal than the rest of the state, but certainly less so than Madison, Ann Arbor or Champaign. I would imagine less so than Eugene or most other college towns in the PNW or California, too. [Aside: Indiana’s an interesting place, politically. Indy is known as more of an old school, moderate Republican kind of town than most cities of its size (think Mitch Daniels, Dick Lugar and similar types of politicians now apostate in the GOP). NW Indiana is economically and politically Chicago, so much bluer. Most of the rest of the state trends rural and pretty red, with Bloomington and South Bend notable exceptions. It’s occasionally called “the Mississippi of the Midwest.”] All that said, I think your daughter would be perfectly fine. She’d probably never venture south of Bloomington, anyway.
IU has a large and socially prominent Greek scene, about a quarter of undergrads. That of course tends to be a bit more socially conservative, if not politically. But the school’s big enough that that leaves 20k+ independents
It’s only half Indianans. Lots and lots of Illinoisans and predominantly Midwestern overall, but it’s not like some southeastern schools with 80% or more from in-state. So there’s not as much social mapping based on high schools as at UVA or UGA, etc.
As you mentioned, IU may seem a little bit Big Ten Lite in terms of the rah rah aspects to a non-Midwesterner, but I’d only say that compared to half a dozen other schools in the conference that get all the national media attention. It’s got just as much (or more) school spirit/sports culture as NW, Illinois, Purdue, Rutgers, Minnesota, Maryland and Iowa, for instance. IU is foremost a basketball school, even though shockingly their hoops team hasn’t been nationally relevant in 20 years. But Assembly Hall is one of those legendary places and the team’s very well supported. Football tailgating scene is great, but the percentage of tailgaters who actually go into the games is often disappointingly low. IU football may benefit from the Big Ten expansion in that they won’t have 3 losses to the same 3 teams every.single.year. They could end up with USC and Oregon and just as difficult a schedule, but fans are bored chalking up L’s to OSU/PSU/UM the minute the schedule comes out (it’s been a decade since they beat any of them), so the novelty of new teams might help.
). I find it hard to believe that 30 or so kids from Bend would be noticeable amongst the 30k at UW lol.