Hello! We just attended a Red Carpet Day at IU yesterday. Overall, we were very impressed with the university, especially the faculty and multitude of opportunities. The one thing that really surprised us was how empty the campus felt in the middle of the week, on a fairly nice day. We did notice that there were more students around in the afternoon as compared to morning, guess early classes aren’t popular, but even then it was not what we expected at a university with ~40,000 students. Is the IU campus always pretty low-key and low-traffic during the week? Does this vary with season?
Also, is the campus active on weekends or do students venture out into Bloomington more?
Many classes end just before the hour or on the quarters. 10th Street in front of Hodge Hall (business school) can be quite crowded mid-day during those times with traffic at a standstill.
Morning classes are not popular anywhere that I know of, and IU is no exception.
Since people can take classes from 8:00am right up to 8:00pm, that spreads out the volume of people you’ll see at any given time. The campus has many many paths so choke points are few. All that combined may lead you to believe the place is quiet when in fact there’s a whole lot of people doing a whole lot of things.
The dorms have the same feel with people up at dawn, sleeping till noon, or napping at odd times.
Summer is he only dead time with few current students, but lots of people touring.
That makes sense, thanks for the response! So you would say that there is plenty to do on campus in general?
D3 attended IU for her undergrad degree and is not finishing a graduate degree there. She never complained about not having anything to do on campus.
@Candlewoodgal You’re welcome.
If anything, there is too much to do on campus. Lots of ways to get involved, have fun, be distracted, make friends, you name it. Over 750 clubs/organizations all waiting for you to sign up during welcome week.
@Candlewoodgal my daughter graduates in May and is both excited (she has a great job lined up) but so sad about leaving IU…it has been a great experience!
I think it is all in the timing…I had wondered the same thing earlier on campus until I visited my daughter last February - I was there on a weekday and drove and picked up my daughter from her classes. I often felt (especially near the Hodge Hall spot) that I had to stop and wait for a full building to empty in front of me while I was stopped in the car. It was very crowded during the change of class but not at other times. And yes, plenty to be involved in!
Thanks for all the responses!!!