Michigan State University or Indiana University Bloomington?

Hi,
Just wondering what school will provide me with an unforgettable college experience. (Greek life, athletics, campus life, college town, campus itself). My intended major is Athletic Training and if I go to MSU I will choose that, but if I choose IU I will major in Kinesiology. I am completely split down the middle on which school to choose each has their own pros and cons. I prefer the athletics and the major at MSU, but I prefer the college town and the campus of IU better. Also leaning more towards MSU but hate how they get looked down upon because of UM, this is why I feel like IU might be more prestigious.

Info about me
3.5 GPA
1170 SAT
10+ Extracurriculars w/ leadership positions. Please let me know which school will provide a unforgettable experience!

I’m very familiar with each one. They have a lot of similarities. Here are the differences I can think of:

Both are pretty, with a creek running through the middle of campus. But IU is prettier.

Both are big, and have bus systems. But MSU is even more spread out than IU.

MSU is more professional…it has schools of engineering, agriculture, medicine, vet medicine, which IUB doesn’t have… IU has business, education, & optometry, but otherwise is slanted towards the liberal arts, and has a very prominent school of music & performing arts.

Slightly warmer climate at IU.

Is there a significant cost difference?

TooOld4School, MSU is 51k I believe out of state, and IU 46k

moooop, Thank you! for overall college experience what school in your opinion provides the best school spirit (Leaning towards MSU for most spirit)

Both have tons of spirit… The big difference is that in a lot of ways MSU is in the shadow of U of Mich, whereas IU and Purdue are at pretty much the same level of prestige, quality, admissions, etc. While MSU has gotten much harder to get into in recent years, I still don’t sense the same swagger that the Hoosiers have. There are a lot of people at IU who think they are at the best u. in the state, & they never considered going elsewhere.

moooop, very good point thank you!

Hmm. MSU may sometimes be in the shadow of UofM, IU is in the same shadow. Both are out of state, so I’m not sure why the MSU v. UofM or IU v. Purdue stuff matters. Sports is way better at MSU, since they have both basketball and football, whereas IU pretty much only has basketball. IU weather is actually considerably better. The state of Michigan is much prettier. Indianapolis is nice and close.

I think both will provide you with an unforgettable experience. I would question the cost involved with going out of state, but that’s just me. Good luck!

Thank You!! showmetheMAC, such a hard decision between the two how would you compare East Lansing to Bloomington??

I really like MSU but East Lansing is pretty lackluster. However, as a student you probably won’t be going off of campus very often, so it might not be a very big deal. It’s close to 2 shopping centers and has a decent amount of restaurants though. EL might be better than for example, Ann Arbor, in some aspects because the area that you’d want to be in is pretty centralized, so you wouldn’t have to do much walking around downtown. I don’t know much about Bloomington but I am very familiar with EL if you have questions!

Your best bet is to attend admitted student days before you make a decision. MSU is a short bus ride away from Lansing, and there are lots of government related internships available there. The relationship between IU and Purdue is a lot different; Purdue is known as the science and engineering school, IU is more of a liberal arts school. MSU and UM have a lot of overlap, but MSU has ag related disciplines.

Visit! And see what you like.

edegops, thank you! Would you say East Lansing is a traditional college town like Penn State? Really want that awesome college town

TooOld4School & guitar321 thank you so much for your help and suggestions much appreciated haha!

Yes MSU is a great college town! So much fun. You will probably love either of them though.

Rollout, agreed…such a hard decision!

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