<p>To IWU students, alumni and parents of students:</p>
<p>Could you tell me what you like best about the school? Least?</p>
<p>I was hoping to see some students or current parents respond here as my D is considering IWU. Have you taken a visit yet? My husband and I really liked the campus. There is a small quad but very pretty. The facilities are excellent. The frosh dorms were very small, but the other dorms can be very nice. Academics seem to be excellent, with a great teacher/student ratio. My daughter’s concern is social life. She thinks there isn’t going to be much of one there. Maybe a current student or parent can give us some insights into what the original poster asked.</p>
<p>Interested in the same. Will be visiting at some point.</p>
<p>We did visit. The campus was nice. It was cozy. But not too small. The school was more politically balanced, not everyone was either liberal or conservative. D thinks there may be more of an exchange of ideas this way. The best thing about it was that the staff was very welcoming.</p>
<p>I am hoping to learn more about how serious the students are academically and how challenging the classes are. Our tour guide was very kind but probably not one driven by academic challenge.</p>
<p>My S is a senior at IWU and I can honestly say it has been an outstanding experience for him. He is a Music Theatre major so his experience in the more “academic” subjects has been a bit limited. However, the general ed. classes he has taken have been challenging, interesting and demanding. Teachers are accessible, class sizes are generally small, resources are terrific. The library is wonderful. Students are very serious about their studies. Programs abroad are extensive. The May term is also a unique way to have an abroad experience if the student doesn’t want to take a whole year or semester (S did a fabulous Japan trip). </p>
<p>He lived in Ferguson his freshman year and although the rooms were small, the camraderie was great - he made lots of friends in the dorm. He then lived in a “small hall” (Blackstock) the next two years and loved that as well. What a unique living experience! As far as social life, he has never lacked for things to do. There are many campus activities - football, basketball games, movie nights, concerts, the comedy troupe performances, theater, etc. There are the usual house parties, too, but many of them are very clever with themes and even costumes. I also can’t say enough about the administration and their willingness to work with the students and families. S took a year off to take a great performance opportunity and they held his spot in the class and his scholarship and were very encouraging of him. Any other questions, I’m more than happy to answer. Good luck with your college searches!</p>
<p>I’m glad your son has had a great experience.
Did he find that most week nights are by necessity spend studying?
Were the students interested in a lot of different things, including their classes?
Would a non-drinking student feel comfortable and have fun?</p>
<p>What did you and/or your son like least?</p>
<p>Most week nights he does spend on either studying, practice or rehearsal. His program is very rigorous. Students are interested in a lot of different things - there are a lot of student groups and attendance at events seems to be very high. S has non-drinking friends (he is not a super big drinker either) and they have just as much fun. I’ve asked him the question about feeling pressured to drink and he said among his friends there is NO pressure - people accept each other as they are. </p>
<p>As far as what he/we have liked the least -
- The high cost of tuition (and he even got a good talent scholarship). This would be true at most private schools of course.
- The city has the usual movies, restaurants, shopping, etc. but not much else in the way of entertainment
- Somewhat limited times courses are offered. This was an issue for my S because his theatre and dance classes were usually offered at just one time and it restricted his choices for his general education requirements. I think this is true with most small schools.</p>
<p>Otherwise, it’s been a great experience.</p>
<p>My D and I visited IWU again this past weekend, and we got a different perspective of the school. Yes it is small, but there are benefits to that. It seems easy to get connected with a group and it seems like they study hard during the week, but do have social lives as well. I couldn’t believe how close ISU was to IWU. It is literally a mile away, so you have the big state U nearby for more activites and social life if you choose to go off campus. The area around campus is a really nice suburban area with a great mall, restaurants, etc nearby. Bloomington Normal is a very nice area. My D just needs to decide if she wants the small school and the opportunity to participate in athletics, or a mid size or larger school. With the aid package offered, IWU is a solid option for my daughter.</p>
<p>I graduated IWU in the 1976. A niece graduated in 1997 and my best friend ('75) has a son there now.
We all think it was/is a wonderful college experience, both socially and academically. I went on to graduate school up the road at Illinois State and realized quickly how fortunate I had been to get my undergraduate education at a smaller school.</p>
<p>My student is a soph. at IWU and finds classes challenging and thorough. Class sizes are wonderful (very small) and professors available 6-7 days a week! Science labs are open extra hours for additional review work and, again, professors are in those labs for questions and explanations. The program is a nice variety of liberal arts classes. May term class offers a relaxed opportunity to explore subject matter not in one’s major. All freshman live in freshman-only dorms. Each year, dorm selection is done with a lottery process per class; no one can remain in the same room year after year – (if your student gets anxious about these things, anxiety will set in). Students learn to band together and have the person with the best lottery number sign up for their desired suite. Socially, the campus has weekend entertainment events; all campus parties must be registered with the dean of students; there are hired Bloomington police who regularly patrol the campus and surrounding area along with IWU security which makes it a relatively safe environment. Bloomington has a civic center which has been bringing in celebrities for concerts. ISU is nearby and also invites IWU students to concerts and activities. There is greek life on campus and it is very well regulated by the university. Students can be involved as much as they choose to be as far as the numerous clubs, etc. IWU is a great value for the individual attention that is given to the students, no matter what major. The students all have professors as advisors and must meet with the advisor prior to registering for any class. Grades are tracked very closely and if a student is in jeopardy, notification from at least two offices is sent to the student (well before midterm or finals). I suggest you visit IWU on an open house day (usually a Saturday) and spend the day when most professors, deans, financial aid officers, etc. are present.</p>
<p>Our son is a freshman there and loves it so much that when he went back from Christmas break he said he wouldn’t be home again until the semester is over. So far this is turning out to be true and we are going to visit him later this month. He’s already made plans with a friend for spring break in Florida (supervised by friend’s parents). He’s signed up for May term and is coming home for the week break between the spring semester and May term.</p>
<p>He’s taking humanities classes and hasn’t found the work load to be unduly hard. He says biology majors are constantly studying and working very hard for their grades. He tries to get his classes in the morning and early afternoon and do his studying in the day so his evenings are free.</p>
<p>He loves sports and athletics (maybe could have made the tennis team but decided not to play a team sport in college) and has taken advantage of the myriad of athletic offerings—basketball, handball, frisbee team, climbing club.</p>
<p>He lives in Munsell which is next door to Ferguson. There is a lounge connecting the 2 buildings on every floor. It has a kitchen and couches and tables and quite an active social scene. </p>
<p>He’s gathered the information on the study abroad programs and they seem to make a study abroad experience easy. He probably won’t go until his Junior year.</p>
<p>Leslie</p>
<p>Hi everyone, I’ve been looking into this school for awhile but have yet to find anything soild in regards to admission requirements. I have seen some web sites that say don’t agree with the other site so may I ask what your son or daughter had behind them (ACT/SAT/GPA/etc) when applying.</p>
<p>Thank you for this information in advance and thank you for all the information on Wesleyan in this thread!</p>
<p>I use this site a lot when evaluating colleges. According to this site, the middle 50% of students attending IWU had ACT scores of 26-30.</p>
<p>[College</a> Search - Illinois Wesleyan University - IWU - SAT®, AP®, CLEP®](<a href=“College Search - BigFuture | College Board”>College Search - BigFuture | College Board)</p>
<p>My experience is they give scholarship money if you have a good GPA and ACT above their middle 50%</p>
<p>momoffive</p>
<p>My son has been accepted as well as to Cornell College, Creighton, Knox, Elon and Centre. And has not heard from Furman and U of Richmond to date. His interest is in secondary education. Is there anyone who has an opinion on IW program compared to these other schools.</p>
<p>I can’t comment on the specific programs or do a comparison of the schools, but I just wanted to chime in and state that one year later, my son still <em>loves</em> IWU and is actively recruiting my daughter to attend next fall (assuming she gets accepted, of course). He is extremely active on campus. He says he’s having the best time of any of his friends who went to other schools because he loves college. Maybe it’s the kid, maybe it’s the college. </p>
<p>IWU is about a mile from Illinois State University so overall the Bloomington Normal area is much bigger than Knox and has more of a college town atmosphere due to the proximity of the 2 schools. I saw on your previous post you were asking about financial aid. The final award letters come in April (from every school). Our son was fortunate enough to receive merit money (we knew this upon acceptance, as do you) and also some grant money. IWU got his net within the ballpark of our FAFSA EFC (as did most of the colleges he was accepted to. I made a spreadsheet showing net cost of each school). My son has not had any problem maintaining his GPA to keep the merit award.</p>
<p>Dh has a great-neice who attends Creighton (freshman in the honors program, I believe writing/journalism is her major). At the Thanksgiving family get-together her mother told me she liked the school. Of course, that’s an even bigger school in a bigger town.</p>
<p>hth, momoffive</p>
<p>Thank you momoffive</p>
<p>I’m a freshman at IWU this year. I live in the suburbs of Chicago so location, for me, is a great factor. I’m a biology major, and the work is difficult, but I expect it is similar at other schools. Here’s a general list of what I find to be best/worst of IWU.</p>
<p>Best:
-Social Scene is pretty decent. If you are worried about that, I would highly recommend greek life.
-Ames Library. It’s so clean and beautiful.
-Most of that faculty love to teach and are good at their jobs.
-May term is available for all students.</p>
<p>Okay:
-Dining Hall food. I’m a very picky eater. I don’t eat meat more than once a week, but there is always a vegan/vegetarian option available, but sometimes they are unappealing.</p>
<p>Worst:
-Dorms are very small, but the housing improves as you become older.</p>
<p>My son had a good social scene his freshman year. He lived in Munsell which has a connecting lounge on every floor with the dorm next door. Munsell and the other dorm alternated boy/girl floors. My son lived on an all-boy floor in Munsell and the opposite floor in the other dorm was all-girl. They could meet in the middle in the lounge. It was nice. This year he joined a fraternity.</p>
<p>We like the food at IWU as a family. We’ve students at 3 campuses eating food service and IWU is far and away the best. They have a lot of options and campus restaurants to eat at. We’re not picky eaters and like meat and vegetarian dishes. :)</p>
<p>momoffive</p>