<p>Are any accepted students planning on attending one of the "Purdue's for Me" days?</p>
<p>I have my son and husband signed up to attend the Feb 15 one. Of course, that was the ONLY weekend/day that we could work into the schedule for a visit, and it just happens to coincide with their accepted student event. Guess that has it's pluses and minuses.</p>
<p>But geez.....in the "you can't get there from here" category......finding decent flights/airfare was not easy! Have them going Southwest via Chicago Midway. Yuck............</p>
<p>Grcxx3, if they are flying from Chicago Midway how about taking Amtrak instead? It’s $41 round-trip per person on a departure at 5:45PM arriving in Lafayette at 9:58PM on the 14th and leaving the 16th at 8:05AM arriving at Chicago at 10:35AM. There are no trains that leave Lafayette to Chicago later in the day and everyday except for that one train at 8:05AM. The train station is right across the Wabash from West Lafayette where Borders, Scotty’s, and the movie theater is. Could just take a taxi from there to the Union Club Hotel which is inside the PMU and see if there are any student discounts during that time since it’s an admissions event for accepted students. Since it’s at the PMU you don’t have to leave so early since your basically on campus. It’s a walkable distance to all the restaurants you can dine at also during the day and night. If you need any recommendations on good places to eat food with a certain price range I’d be glad to answer that.</p>
<p>Jimgotkp - I asked my husband about doing that - but he would rather fly. They’ll get into Indianapolis about 5:30 on Sunday evening. So they’ll grab the rental car and head to West Lafayette. But - that is good info to have in case DS ends up there! Is that Amtrak station right there at Midway or do you need to get there somehow?</p>
<p>I am hoping that the Union Club Hotel will have some discounts for that weekend. The prices on their website are much higher than I would like to pay!</p>
<p>I’ll take you up on the restaurant recommendations! So - 2 questions…
1 - if you were arriving in WL about 7:30 pm and want a good but rather quick meal close to campus - where would you go?</p>
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<li> given an evening free in WL , if you wanted a nice dinner (not a chain and let’s say price is not a consideration) - where would you go?</li>
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<p>Oh - as a note - another “plus” for them actually flying into IND is that they will both be doing that again in August to attend the DCI finals. So this gives DH a little “heads up” on what to expect. But I think I can get a direct flight at a relatively decent price for that trip, so that makes it better.</p>
<p>Ah okay. Yeah it’s great in the future for your daughter if she attends Purdue this upcoming year. A LOT of students from Chicago take Amtrak since it’s easier to go home without interrupting their parents. The Amtrak station is actually at Union Station near Grant Park, not too far from Midway though. I believe there would be public transportation that she can take in the future to Union Station and do a connection there in order to go to Lafayette.</p>
<p>If I recall correctly, I remember getting a discounted room during one of those events and it wasn’t for STAR. Giving the hotel a call is the best way of knowing if there are any discounts available that day. I believe the total cost for a regular double room including all three taxes were around $110-115 if there are no discounts. Looking at a website you can get cheaper rooms at University Plaza Hotel which is across from Walmart on Northwestern Ave for $86 without the taxes. If you go a bit further away you can get a room at the Fairfield Inn for $65 without taxes. However it is quite a far drive from campus since there are quite a lot of traffic lights unless you go on I-52. </p>
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<li><p>For a quick but good meal close to campus I would recommend Lovshack(all kinds of calzones), Chipotle which is on Chauncey, Noodles & Company which is next to Chipotle, and Potbelly’s on the bottom of Chauncey for quick casual meals. Then there is Triple X which is a must go for students and parents whenever visiting since their root beers are amazing along with their burgers. The Purvis burger with peanut butter is actually really good, I had it the other time I visited! If looking for a quick bite and your staying at the Fairfield Inn on I-26 I would recommend stopping at McAllister’s Deli which is in a plaza with Chuck E Cheese. Their potato spuds and paninis are amazing along with their freshly made sweet tea. </p></li>
<li><p>For a nice dinner I would recommend Scotty’s Brewhouse which is next to Border’s and the movie theater. Nine Irish Brother’s also has really good food and great brews for your husband, I recommend him trying a SnakeBite over there too actually. It’s half Guinness with half Strongbow(hard apple cider). It is one of the best drinks ever created! I’m not going to recommend steakhouses since you get better ones up in Chicago but there is a really amazing restaurant called Mountain Jack’s on I-26(quite far from campus) however the food is superb along with the service and atmosphere. It’s really one of those “special” restaurants you go to when your daughter can’t go back home and you visit instead. </p></li>
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<p>Indy’s new airport is actually really nice. I think your family will like it very much. Security lines aren’t that bad and it’s very clean. If your daughter or husband brings their laptops, they can get free internet without any registrations while waiting for their flight.</p>
<p>Thanks! I will suggest either Chipotle or Triple X for Sunday night (assuming they are open) and either Scotty’s Brewhouse or Nine Irish Brother’s for Monday. </p>
<p>I’ll call the Union Club to check on a discout. The prices I saw on the website were about $200/night.</p>
<p>All you really need is a double double room, it is quite small but it’s just for sleeping purposes. If they do a discount during that time the $109 price tag should be lower. I remember when I had to sleep there cause dorms weren’t open I slept there once for $99.</p>
good food in the dining hall (only males would comment on this!)
good presentation by the College of Engineering (a little corny at times, but good)
good, enthusiastic presentation by the Civil Engr students
enjoyed listening to one of the bands practicing - thought they were very good
relaxed feel of the band hall area - with students studying, hanging out, etc
the high % of students participating in internships/coop opportunities</p>
<p>Cons -
the residence hall they saw was the oldest on campus and the rooms were teeny tiny
the information session was held in a room/hall that was too small, which made it difficult to maneuver around and get to all the tables they wanted to visit</p>
<p>Surprises -
There was not a single mention of the #4 (??) ranked basketball team (again - a male thing, made worse because DH graduated from Duke!)
The students “manning” the Study Abroad table didn’t have a handle on the variety of opportunities available (or a brochure or list or something). They stressed English-speaking and major European locations and didn’t know anything about opportunities in the Middle East, Asia, or South America.<br>
Even tho we had requested a special meeting with a Civil Engr adviser/faculty member many, many weeks ago, neither person had a copy of my son’s information/application/file. So they knew nothing about him - where he came from, courses taken, scores, interests, the fact that he basically grew up overseas…nada. </p>
<p>Major Concern -
The adviser and faculty member they met with in Civil Engr were quite nice, but seemed very surprised that DH and son knew so much about the curriculum/program and so much about similar programs at other universities. </p>
<p>As a result, it was an awkward discussion because they kept talking about things DH and DS already knew, and when DH tried to get them to talk about something that made this particular program (a concentration within CE) special or unique - they didn’t really have an answer. </p>
<p>DH and DS came away feeling that while the CE program is quite strong, this particular concentration (architectural engineering) is too new and still “finding its way.” DH felt that it will probably be fine in 5-6 years, but not so much now. </p>
<p>A note: The reaction of the adviser and faculty member to my husband’s and son’s knowledge of the program/curriculum surprised me. I understand that most people don’t have the experience in this area that I do (my mother was a college counselor and I have been a counselor/adviser/faculty member at both the undergrad and graduate level) - but I would think that when someone walks in with a strong understanding of your program/curriculum - then that is the time to pull out all the “extra stuff” to really sell your program. That just didn’t happen.</p>
<p>So, overall a good visit (and some great food!), but there wasn’t enough “wow” to make him move it up to his #1 choice (Penn State).</p>
<p>Thanks for the info Grcxx3! My son’s interest is in Aerospace Engineering, and Purdue is ranked 4th in the Nation in that respect. When we visited Michigan, they even mentioned Purdue’s Aerospace Engineering program as boasting about having the most astronauts, so the department’s reputation is out there in the ether. Purdue, with the Trustee’s scholarship is affordable, but Michigan at an estimated 49K per year … not so much. I’ll look into setting up a one-on-one with the Aerospace people, and I hope they perform a bit better than the CE people did for you.</p>
<p>The program looks like it starts about 9:45-10:00am, so I might be able to rent a car the morning of the event, and hit the road from Chicago for the 2.5 hour trip early instead of staying at the union club. We’ll see. About what time did things begin to wind down?</p>
<p>Balthezar - I have a friend whose son is leaning toward Purdue for Aerospace Engr. I’m not sure they have visited, so I’ll be interested in your impressions. </p>
<p>The program my son is interested in (Architectural Engr) is pretty limited. There are only 19 accredited programs (BS in Arch Engr) in the US and a handful of Civil Engr programs with a concentration in Arch Engr (like Purdue and Duke). I haven’t seen a formal ranking of schools, but from all the folks we’ve talked to (and comparing curricula) Penn State and UT-Austin have the 2 top programs. Of course, he didn’t even apply to UT because the chances of getting in are so slim, and the cost - in the grand scheme of life - just isn’t that much cheaper even tho we would be in-state. </p>
<p>For us, with no scholarship money from Purdue or Penn State (well, maybe a little from the Honors College), we’re looking at full OOS costs, but they’re still not $49K - more like $37K. It’s painful, but do-able. Okay, DH isn’t HAPPY about it -but has almost accepted it!</p>
<p>I think the College of Engr presentation started around 9:30. Before that was an open session to hit all the information tables (Financial Aid, fraternities/sororities, Study Abroad, etc). My son called me from the hotel about 4 pm (their time), so I guess they were done by 3:30.</p>
<p>Grcxx u are seriously too demanding for the amount of information they are allowed to give like they have time to pull up your sons file and be like wow he’s a huge nerd we should pay more attention to him. Seriously Purdue is a well respected engineering school. You are simply way too demanding. I myself got accepted to fye for aero engineering and hoping to go visit. I really am not expecting a personalized thing just for me because they have a ton of students! So when you come here and demand detailed information seriously…like who the heck cares about basketball when they are talking about engineering. Like they got time for u and ur husband, i bet ur sons a huge nerd and just demands everything to be perfect. Penn state is #1 party school and their engineering program is no where as good as Purdues…</p>