<p>Ummmm, I would say that Bloomington is definitely smaller and less diverse than Ann Arbor. It reminds me more of East Lansing, the city itself, rather than Ann Arbor. You don't have the large minority population of asians and internationals at Indiana that you do at Michigan. I would say that the school spirit is probably better at Indiana, everyone is into the school and happy to be there. You see tons of IU apparel everywhere you go. Basketball is pretty ridiculous here, people all the way up in Ft. Wayne saw my IU Basketball shirt, and made comments about "If you go there, tell coach Sampson to wins us the Big 10 this year." Ann Arbor has more to offer in terms of restaurants, culture, and in the city itself, because it's much larger.</p>
<p>Another comment about Northern Indiana. I was listening to the radio, and they were like "We're getting a Walmart! Call in and voice your excitement!" Then they were playing Outkast, and tried saying that the station was "New hip jams". Wow, that was like 5 years ago. Oh well, if you're flying into Indianapolis, you'll avoid the farms all together.</p>
<p>Oh, and i'm also considering Michigan State (visiting Monday, missing school, score!) and potentially Ohio U and Syracuse, but it's pretty much down to IU or MSU right now.</p>
<p>Susan, bummer that it wasn't your son, but it was fun while it lasted...lol. I guess the odds of it being him weren't too great, but it would have made for a great story.</p>
<p>nolesraiders2002, the greenness of Indiana is similar to western Oregon. The vegetation is very lush and green there, even in August. However, there are more differences than similarities, according to my son. Indiana has that awful summer humidity, and it is much colder in the winter. Also of importance to my son, the snowboarder, Indiana has no mountains. He was able to go snowboarding once there, but he said it was just a little hill, nothing to compare with Mt. Hood, that's for sure. And, of course, Indiana also has nasty things like tornadoes, although my son says these tend to bypass Bloomington and thunderstorms that keep the whole sky lit up for hours sometimes--fun to watch, but not to be out in. My son loves the university, but doesn't much care for the state.</p>
<p>A2Wolves
Glad I found you and great pictures!Sounds like you had a fruitful trip and learned much about the SM program and Kelly.We visited (for D +music) in the dead of winter and the campus really looks alot better in the spring.My best friends S graduated last year from Kelly and managed to get out w/o any internship..be careful there you have to keep track of your opportunities yourself.Other than that he loved the school.We enjoyed Bloomington even in February,there's more to the town than you probably were able to see.We even found a Tibetan restaurant.Friends S worked at some Irish bar in the oldest building in town,someones bound to know the name of it.
Good luck in your search and narrowing down your options in the next week or so.What happened with you and Miami?Send me a PM when you finally decide!
Cathy</p>
<p>that is a great review. thanks! for anyone else who (like me) can't visit all their colleges, try The U dvds. you get a great idea of what the schools are like from them.</p>