Parents and current california IUB students...please help!

Colleges and Universities A-Z Indiana University - Bloomington
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<p>My son will be a fall 2010 freshman at IU. I would say this is the last place he expected to be, but as he did not get into his top choices, IU now seems to be the best fit.</p>

<p>S has lived all his life in San Francisco and is terrified about not being in a major city. We did visit last weekend and he was impressed with the campus and especially the theater department...he is an actor.</p>

<p>I was hoping those of you from California as well as New York and other big cities could offer some 'solace' and some thoughts on being a cosmopolitan, far away oos student at IU.</p>

<p>By the way, he applied there (as a safety) because his grandmother is an alum, and still involved in the school. She was the 1954 Editor of the Daily Student, so I have heard about how great IU is all my life. I am hoping my son will eventually feel that it is a good fit and feel at home there and happy with his college experience. Anybody have advice on how to help him turn this into a positive and exciting opportunity?</p>

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<p>Hi, I am not a California parent, but my D recently selected IU, choosing it over a number of other options. We live in an urban area in the midwest, several hours away from IUB. Initially she thought she wanted a city campus and all the cultural diversions a city offers. However, one of the reasons she decided on IU was that it is a classic campus in an absolutely beautiful setting. She figured she would live in a big city the rest of her life and this was her one chance to really experience a more ‘country’ setting.</p>

<p>That said, she ruled out small liberal arts schools in the middle of beautiful country settings, as she knew she’d go crazy in that setting (like I said, she’s a city girl at heart). What IU offered was the beautiful country feel with the tremendous energy of a large campus. The range of international restaurants and the amazing music, dance and theater offerings really appealed to her. There’s always something to do. Add in a study abroad or two, trips to Indianapolis and Chicago on occasional weekends (Indy is very close)…and she feels like IU offers everything she could want.</p>

<p>The son of a friend wound up at IUB after his top schools didn’t pan out. He didn’t plan on staying, figured he’d transfer out. Turns out, he loves it, and has no plan to transfer now.</p>

<p>So I’d say to your son to approach it with an open mind. The funny thing about IU is I know a number of families who have sent kids there–really different kids, ranging from preppy/Greek types to serious scholars to back-to-nature sorts. And they have all found their niche at IU.</p>

<p>Hope he enjoys it!</p>

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<p>I think most people learn to love both rural and city. Manhattanites run to the country on weekends when they can. Farm lovers travel to the city for dinner, theatre. </p>

<p>It’s nice he can have both. Live summer in the city, study in the traditional campus. Indy is far from a “big” city, but it’s only an hour away and Chicago is less than 4 hours. Air fare from Indy to NYC is as low as $165 round trip right now! He can spend summer sessions at colleges in “big cities”. </p>

<p>I am from Indiana, but LOVE the city. My child didn’t get aid at her (big city) preferred college. IU was also a back up/safety. But that’s where she’ll matriculate. So, I understand your feelings. </p>

<p>But this area does send PHENOMENAL music and arts (drama) kids to IU. I won’t go into detail so as not to “define” my child’s school…but you can bet he WILL be happy with these departments. There is a TON of talent, especially music. </p>

<p>And he’ll come home often, right? So he’ll be getting the best of both worlds. And, yes…my D is considering a 2 year transfer (thinking maybe we can afford 2 years at her top choice…but not 4). So…maybe your child and my D will both end up staying. </p>

<p>It’s going to be in the hands of these kids to make it worthwhile for themselves. If they set their minds to it…they will. My daughter is disappointed, but is forging on and FINDING ways to get excited. IU does have a LOT to offer. But, these days, many of us are not only accepting less than what we’d hoped for…but trying to embrace it. Otherwise…a very important 4 years of their lives is sort of “lost”. Good luck.</p>

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<p>We live in San Mateo (20 minutes south of SF), and D was born and spent her early years in SF. She too is a big city/coastal girl and fully intends to live and work in NYC or SF in the future. In the meantime she is getting a HUGE life experience at IU where she is currently a freshman. I won’t tell you it’s all been easy. She’s discovered not everyone is as liberal as people in SF tend to be, that it can be really, really cold in some parts of the country, and that she values diversity more than she realized. These are lessons that will turn her into the person she will be forever, and she will be better for it. She loves the campus and town of Bloomington so much that she became a tour guide this year (which is unpaid at IU). She has taken fabulous classes with inspiring teachers and hasn’t had any problems getting those classes (unlike CA schools which are in big trouble financially). She has met wonderful people from all over the country because IU has a large OOS population. And she has grown and matured in a way that makes me truly proud. It has been a big adjustment and there were some bumps in the road, especially in January and February when the weather was a real shock to her system, but she’s looking forward to next year with excitement and eager to continue to grow at IU. I’m sure she’d be happy to talk to your son directly if that would help. PM me if you’d like to talk more.</p>

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<p>Thank you all for your responses and encouragment. It really helps!
By the way, what is the latest information on dorms/neighborhoods? Does anyone know which Learning communities will be in which dorms next year?
My son thought Teter looked pretty good and we have heard it is best to apply to LLC in order to get into preferred neighboorhood or dorm. Any thoughts on this?</p>

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<p>^ All I know is that KLLC will be in the North part of McNutt.</p>

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<p>We live near Santa Cruz, California–and my son very much wanted two things out of his college experience: (1) to go to the best (as defined by highest rank in the USNWR rankings) business school possible (because he wanted to be “challenged”), and (2) to go somewhere outside of California where he would be truly independent and able to “live his own life”.</p>

<p>His original plan was to go to either NYU (big city of NYC) or Bentley (outside of Boston), but he was rejected from NYU–and after visiting, he decided Bentley was too “preppy” for him and not as highly ranked as he wanted–and possibly not challenging enough. </p>

<p>He got to Indiana and realized: that (1) being independent also means having to do everything for yourself (like laundry, getting groceries, etc.), and (2) he didn’t know a single person in the entire state. By the end of the first week he was thinking, “What did I get myself into?–I’ll never survive 4 years alone here.”</p>

<p>During the first year, he threw himself into his studies so that he could transfer somewhere else–and because it was a way to escape the “loneliness”. He also found that he had to–since some of his classes were tougher than he thought they’d be, and also because he enjoyed some of them so much it wasn’t a problem to get more involved. For example, he became a close friend with his public speaking professor and started meeting him for coffee three days a week to discuss public speaking advanced techniques once he finished the original class. At the end of this year, he did so well, he decided to apply to the Hutton Honors college, but his GPA turned out to be .014 too low for acceptance. Since he still planned to transfer, he sent transfer applications to USC and Emory. At USC, they put him on the finalist list for their Marshall business school. </p>

<p>Then, in the early part of the second year a few things happened. First, he found that some of the friendships he had made during year 1 at IUB resulted in him being in a regular clique of smart and funny friends that he started hanging out with on a regular basis–and second, he formed a very special relationship with a lady friend who was as serious about her studies as he was–but who wanted to do a lot of social stuff around campus with him and his friends since hey never got drunk or stoned. Thirdly, he took a business class on environmental law from Marty McCrory, and even though he was, as he put it “working much harder than he ever thought possible”, he loved the class and the subject area. Also, he moved out of the college dorms–and had his own apartment. By the end of his second year, transferring was of absolutely no interest to him, and he had changed his major to Business Law (in the Kelley School). </p>

<p>Well, the third year just sped by–and, even though this final fourth year has been a bit “slower”–he has his plans all done for what comes next–and guess what?–he plans to move back to the SF Bay area to work for 3 years–but then wants to go to a midwestern school (preferably Michigan or Vanderbilt) to get his MBA degree. He and his girlfriend are “engaged to be engaged” after she finishes her final year of college.</p>

<p>His grades ended up a little lower than he would have liked (about a 3.4 GPA overall), but hopefully will be good enough to get into the MBA programs at the schools mentioned–and he certainly has grown up in terms of expectations of life and improving his own “skill sets”. Would he have done better somewhere else?–Who knows? What I do know is that I used to be a “helicopter parent” since I always felt I had to be one since he wasn’t mature enough to handle his own affairs. That belief of mine went away about two and a half years ago–and he’s been just fine. And I do know that we are better friends than we were when he left for college. So all in all, I’m not disappointed in the IUB experience–and I don’t think he is either. And I’m looking forward to his graduation on May 8th.</p>

<p>P.S. Just today, he called and let us know that he had finished his final course paper. He was quite proud of his group’s 88-page manuscript which is currently being printed and bound for presentation.</p>

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<p>Calcruzer, I am a bit sad that your son is graduating as that means you may not be a regular on this forum! But perhaps out of nostalgia, and wanting to share your insight with others, we’ll still see you - hope so! Good luck to your son and congratulations on his achievements. It sounds like he’s got a good future in store.</p>

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<p>Thanks, Donna101. I still plan to come on the forum a bit–although I’ll limit my comments since I think the forum should be mostly for those whose sons and daughters are either at the school or thinking of attending. (But I will answer questions on accessing Indiana University information or overall college statistics–after all I do work in school finance, so it’s difficult for me not to throw in my two cents on some subjects.)</p>

<p>P.S. Good luck to all of the current and future IU-B students–as well as those students graduating from IU-B this year along with my son.</p>

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<p>Thanks for your info! We are from Southern California, and my son was hoping to attend Northwestern or USC. He was rejected from both, and decided on IU, over UCSB. IU has the journalism program that he wanted, as well as all the sports. He is looking forward to living in the midwest, and experiencing life outside of California. I have to say that leaving California has been a tough process for him, as he is really not one to make risky decisions, and going to IU is more riskier than going to UCSB. He has thought long and hard about going to Indiana, and I think he is excited about the possibilities. Transfering is always an option, but I dont think he wants to go into IU with that thinking. I am proud of him for taking a risk, and hope that it works out for him. IU has everything that he wants in a school…journalism, sports, college town. He can take trips to Indy or Chicago and learn about living in the midwest. This will give him a chance to spread his wings and experience life outside of California.</p>

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<p>Fran,</p>

<p>Best of luck to your son. I hope he enjoys his time at IUB.</p>

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<p>Calcruzer,
Thanks for your reply. I have to tell you that I have really enjoyed your posts, not only informative for us ‘newbies’ to IU, but very encouraging to both students and parents. Sounds like IU was a wonderful place for your son, and he is ready to graduate and move on to life after IU. Congratulations to him and to you! Keep us posted on his plans for life after IU!</p>

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<p>I also wanted to offer your son some “solace”, even though I know he will not need it!</p>

<p>While Bloomington is not by any means a large (or even medium sized) city, I have found (as a theatre major myself) that it offers the exceptional cultural opportunities of a much larger city. The community is very arts oriented with great local theatre groups such as the Bloomington Playwrights Project and Cardinal Stage that complement campus theatre. The campus itself is thriving with a GREAT department and bustling student theatre and improv comedy groups. Just this semester alone, I have seen fabulous operas and ballets through the Jacobs School and fun major touring productions coming through the IU Auditorium. The performing arts forms only a small part of the very strong arts community in Bloomington.</p>

<p>I had originally hoped to attend Northwestern but, even though I was accepted, chose IU theatre. It was the first school I had attended where the new construction on campus was not just on a multi-million dollar science building—it was ALSO on the theatre! Speaking of which, that construction will be completed by the time your son is here.</p>

<p>So tell him not to worry–IU Bloomington is an exceptional school on an incredibly beautiful campus in the heart of a very exciting and foward-thinking town.</p>

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<p>Thanks so much for your thoughtful post; my son is getting very excited!
By the way, he has been told that show auditions happen in the first couple of days of fall semester; do you know how he can get connected to the latest details and also get prepared?
Thanks!</p>