Personal Connections at a Very Large School

<p>Son just completed his first year as a Kelly direct admit. Arrived home last week and received a letter from his economics professor congratulating him on his accomplishment and encouraging him to consider a major or minor in the subject due to his success in the class. He also encouraged my son to come in and speak to him about his future plans.
My other son attends a much smaller private university in California and has never received such a letter. Although I was concerned initially about Indiana's size, the staff at the school has proven to be remarkable. Good luck to all those beginning in the fall.</p>

<p>Great story, idylldancer–and congratulations to your son.</p>

<p>Congrats Idylldancer. My daughter will be a freshman Kelly direct admit in fall. When we visited the IU campus I could not believe the personal attention my daughter received from several members of the staff she met while at a reception in NY. I was very impressed, glad to hear others have had similar experiences.</p>

<p>Thanks for the wonderful story, idylldancer. My daughter going all the way across the country to attend IU in the fall and it’s reassuring to know that she’ll be in such a supportive environment.</p>

<p>IU recruits heavily from NY. Here is a good article that has been here before</p>

<p>[From</a> Bloomingdale’s to Bloomington - WSJ.com](<a href=“http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122057234017401625.html?mod=googlenews_wsj]From”>http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122057234017401625.html?mod=googlenews_wsj)</p>

<p>Tulare,
My son is also attending IU from across the country( Pacific Northwest) and is thrilled by the school and the friendliness of the midwest people. The cold weather was a bit harsh for him at first but after a while he was fine. Each time I visit Bloomington I am secure in my sons decision to study there.</p>

<p>Thanks for sharing that story, idylldancer.:)</p>

<p>bthomp1, I remember reading that WSJ article several months ago. IIRC, you’re a parent of a current IU student…? If so, do you think (from what you’ve heard) that the article is accurate or exaggerated in the way that it portrayed the polarization between the east coast and midwest students?</p>

<p>I grew up in Salem, OR and went to University of Oregon and then moved to San Francisco. I’m happy to hear a fellow Northwesterner speak highly of Bloomington and the IU experience! My daughter and I both loved it when we visited, and it even made me okay with her rejecting UO to go to IU. It will be fun for her to experience an entirely new part of the US.</p>

<p>I have a couple friends at IU so I asked about this and they laughed. This is very exaggerated. Like any group there may be a few that live together because they are from the same area or know each other. Such as those in article</p>

<p>But there is certainly no problems they said between east coast and midwest! Based on what they said there are many people from all over world and you don’t even talk about where your from. They also said there are groups of people but it based on interests, majors, sports, and frats. Not on where you came from.</p>

<p>I hope that article is not accurate. I am coming to IU from NY and I am nothing like the east coast students described in the article. One of the reasons I choose IU over NY state schools is that I am interested in meeting people from all over the country ,including the midwest. If I just wanted to be around New Yorkers I would have stayed in NY.</p>

<p>You will be fine, just be yourself.</p>

<p>You can get a good idea of where IU students are from by looking at the dean’s list. Here is the list from Spring 2008. Illinois students vastly outnumber any state but Indiana, and by far the majority of these are from the Chicago suburbs. They make up a disproportionately large number of business honors students. A huge pool of smart kids that did not go to UIUC for whatever reason. 785 Illinois students on the Spring 2008 dean’s list; 275 from Ohio; 98 from Michigan; 115 New Yorkers on the list. Only 57 from Kentucky, despite Louisville being only 105 miles from Bloomington.</p>

<p>[url=<a href=“http://www.indiana.edu/~iunews/2008/2008springhonors.htm]Indiana*University*2008*Honor*Students[/url”>http://www.indiana.edu/~iunews/2008/2008springhonors.htm]IndianaUniversity2008HonorStudents[/url</a>]</p>

<p>Thanks for the additional link, bthomp1. It looks like there’s a decent number of students from my state, Pennsylvania–particularly from western PA. </p>

<p>Thanks, also, cheesewhiz, for your response, which was reassuring. D and I visited IU last month and were really impressed with, among other things, the friendliness of the students that we met; she’s planning to apply there this fall.</p>

<p>Thanks cheezwhiz, I am not worried i don’t take Zanax or drive a Lexus with vanity plates so i should be fine.</p>