<p>Since my daughter applied and was just accepted to IU, I'm curious as to why other out-of-state students have Indiana U on their list. We're from the California coast.</p>
<p>I'm not entirely sure why she applied, but I know she wants a change. Doesn't want to attend a "beachy school" in CA like a lot of other kids in her class. And, she'll probably go back East for grad. school. So, I'm assuming that the midwest was a good compromise. I know she's looking for a little less ethnic diversity than most CA schools. But, at the same time, she's fairly liberal and from a very Democratic area. She also loves the rah-rah aspect of a big sports school. And, she's expressed interest in joining a sorority. So, she's definitely looking for a traditional college experience. But, not in a super-conservative or redneck school. :-) Does IU sound like it fits the criteria?</p>
<p>I can’t really answer your questions near the end, but one big reason i applied is because they offer 9k to all students, in state or out, that have a 30 act and a 3.8 gpa. this makes it cheaper than my state flagship, uiuc. the business school is also excellent.</p>
<p>I’m from the Boston area suburbs, and I’m a freshman at IU. I’ve known since I was in middle school that I wanted to go to college outside of New England - the closest college I seriously considered close to home was in the Philly area. I ended up choosing IU because of the incredible academic opportunities available there, the strong and reputable journalism school, social and extracurricular life, the charm of Bloomington, and the affordability. I’m rushing and really excited because Greek life is so great at IU. I love the Big 10 sports atmosphere at IU. While our teams aren’t always the best, there is a surprising amount of school spirit and the tailgates are fun as hell. My parents have fallen in love with IU and I bet that my little 13 year old brother will end up attending after visiting only twice. As to the political atmosphere, I’m used to a strange mix of a conservative suburb stuck in the middle of crazy-liberal Massachusetts. IU is surprisingly liberal, but not outrageously so. College Democrats seems to be fairly active. And I have met a significant number of kids from California - lots from Calabasas and Santa Monica.</p>
<p>Thank you for your reply! My daughter originally wanted to go to Boston University for the 5 year Occupational Therapy program. But, has decided she might go there for grad school instead. Or maybe Tufts. She definitely wants to be in Boston at some point in her school career. But, I also think she wants a more traditional campus experience now. I know BU doesn’t have that. Very urban.</p>
<p>She’s not really political at all. But, she does lean toward the left. I just don’t want her in an ultra-conservative area where people are biased or narrow-minded. I’m talking more about the townspeople, I guess. I realize that a large campus like IU is bound to have all sorts of views. On the other hand, I think she’s also looking for a bit more of an old-fashioned college experience…not some school that always protests this and that. Something in the middle. We also live in a crazy-liberal town. In fact they have bumper stickers that say Keep Santa Cruz Weird. I was born and raised here and I think Bloomington sounds more like what SC used to be like before UCSC came to town. :)</p>
<p>To tell you the truth, I’m kind of happy my daughter is choosing a school/area with a little less “out there” politics. By the way, would you say Bloomington is considered “white bread”? It DOESN’T sound like it’s a boring town at all…but it definitely sounds less diverse or politically extreme than the east and west coasts.</p>
<p>Heres’ the thing: I really want my daughter to be in a “wholesome area” where family values are important. A school where she can feel the midwest congeniality. On the other hand, I definitely don’t want her to be subjected to people’s narrow-mindedness or prejudiced ideas. Guys who put girls down, etc. None of that “redneck mentality”. In other words, people who are genuine and friendly, but open-minded and able to listen to everyone’s views. Would you say that IU and Bloomington fit this description? I’ve heard some of the schools in the South and maybe parts of the midwest can be awfully conservative. </p>
<p>Thank you so much for your insight! It sounds like it’s a perfect match for your whole family! I honestly feel it would be the same for ours.</p>
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<p>ElizaB wrote:</p>
<p>ElizaB
Member</p>
<p>Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Indiana '13
Posts: 502 I’m from the Boston area suburbs, and I’m a freshman at IU. I’ve known since I was in middle school that I wanted to go to college outside of New England - the closest college I seriously considered close to home was in the Philly area. I ended up choosing IU because of the incredible academic opportunities available there, the strong and reputable journalism school, social and extracurricular life, the charm of Bloomington, and the affordability. I’m rushing and really excited because Greek life is so great at IU. I love the Big 10 sports atmosphere at IU. While our teams aren’t always the best, there is a surprising amount of school spirit and the tailgates are fun as hell. My parents have fallen in love with IU and I bet that my little 13 year old brother will end up attending after visiting only twice. As to the political atmosphere, I’m used to a strange mix of a conservative suburb stuck in the middle of crazy-liberal Massachusetts. IU is surprisingly liberal, but not outrageously so. College Democrats seems to be fairly active. And I have met a significant number of kids from California - lots from Calabasas and Santa Monica.</p>
<p>Oh, yeah—the IU Scholarship was a big factor. In fact, without it we wouldn’t be able to afford it at all. It won’t be cheaper than our UCs or CSUs, but very close to what the UCs will cost now with the fee hike coming up.</p>
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<p>Jax said:</p>
<p>I can’t really answer your questions near the end, but one big reason i applied is because they offer 9k to all students, in state or out, that have a 30 act and a 3.8 gpa. this makes it cheaper than my state flagship, uiuc. the business school is also excellent.</p>
<p>LOL, I’m getting old. Back when I went to college, the “old-fashioned college experience” was protesting every this and that. </p>
<p>Here’s my perspective of IU, my disclaimer being that S2 - a HS junior - and I visited a few months ago, (see my CC campus visit report). </p>
<p>We found campus to be absolutely gorgeous and everyone we dealt with to be extremely helpful and friendly. That included the people we interacted with in Bloomington. After Ann Arbor Michigan, Bloomington is the best college town I’ve ever visited. There are lots of small theaters, clubs and plenty of bars. The town seems to exist almost entirely as support for the University. It does have a slightly “white bread” feel but I think it’s more liberal and “out there” than the surrounding towns and countryside. But it is most certainly not Berkeley in the '60s.</p>
<p>The school has a number of very well regarded programs, especially the schools of Music and Business, (my son’s two primary areas of interest). I don’t know how they are viewed in your daughter’s particular field. </p>
<p>As far as ethnic diversity, there is virtually none. As of Fall 2008 the school was 81% White with 4% Asian and 4% African-American. In that sense, it is very “white-bred”. But I never got a redneck vibe. With 38% of the students either OOS or international, the redneck quotient gets diluted very quickly.</p>
<p>I’m not sure what you mean by “wholesome”. Your D will be on a campus of nearly 40,000 undergrads; they will most certainly be doing what undergrads do, which very rarely includes the words “wholesome” or “family values”. But that will be true no matter where she decides to attend. I live in Ann Arbor, I guarantee you that if parents saw some of the things their kids are doing, they’d have a stroke. They work hard and they most certainly play hard. The surrounding area is going to have little impact on your D’s experience.</p>
<p>Having said all that, IU is on my son’s final list. It has an almost endless list of choices (with the exception of architecture and engineering). It’s huge but manageable; if your daughter qualifies for the Honors College then she’ll also have the benefit of some very small classes very early in her college career. Finally, don’t assume you’re done hearing about FinAid. I believe you’ve only been told about the automatic scholarships, the rest of the finaid package comes out later.</p>
<p>2Leashes,
Based on your description of what your daughter is looking for, I would say IU is a very good fit. My daughter is from NY, has liberal politics and is very open minded and loves IU. I would not describe the college as having a super conservative or redneck vibe at all. There are 40,000 students so obviously there are all types of people on campus but my daughhter has had no problem meeting like minded people. Her friends are from the Chicago area, California , Cinncinatti and many international students. She enjoys the big ten sports, beautiful campus, nice college town and Greek life ( even though she is not rushing).Although I understand your concerns, I think your worries are unfounded . Good Luck.</p>
<p>LOL. I had to laugh at your paragraph. (below) I agree with you, 100%. I don’t know what I was thinking when I wrote that! I guess I was talking more about the community of Bloomington, itself. But even then, every city or town has its "UNwholesome: qualities, as well. :)</p>
<p>Thanks so much for sharing all your positive thoughts about IU and Bloomington. I really like hearing this kind of stuff! And, I’ve also been reading in various college rating books about the good things that IU has to offer. If things continue like this, we may be calling ourselves Hoosiers next year! My daughter applied to several other schools, many of them “higher rated” (for what it’s worth), but right now I can see why she is drawn toward IU. What’s the sense of attending a school like UCLA, UC Davis or Berkeley if she’s not 100% excited about being there in the first place? I’m not saying she couldn’t thrive at either of those schools…but there’s just something about Indiana University in Bloomington that sounds like her kind of place. </p>
<p>We shall see!</p>
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<p>QUOTE:</p>
<p>I’m not sure what you mean by “wholesome”. Your D will be on a campus of nearly 40,000 undergrads; they will most certainly be doing what undergrads do, which very rarely includes the words “wholesome” or “family values”. But that will be true no matter where she decides to attend. I live in Ann Arbor, I guarantee you that if parents saw some of the things their kids are doing, they’d have a stroke. They work hard and they most certainly play hard. The surrounding area is going to have little impact on your D’s experience.</p>
<p>If we fly out to visit IU in April, we’ll be staying in Columbus. I have a long time cyber friend who lives there and has already invited us out to stay. She’ll drive us to IU for a tour. So, that’s nice having someone to show us the ropes! :)</p>
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<p>OHKID wrote:</p>
<p>Bloomington and everything east to I-65 is a nice blue sea in Indiana. Very liberal, especially the city of Columbus, IN, about 45 min. east.</p>
<p>I live in Southern California, and usually when I tell people outside of my school that I’m considering IU they look at me and either say, “Why the hell would you want to go to college in Indiana?” or “Wow, that’s a great school!”</p>
<p>Like many other people who feel stifled within the confines of their small city (I’ve been living here for the past 13 years of my life), my natural instincts command that I leave the state for college. My parents raised me to be extremely independent, so I do not need to depend on people for anything. I am self-sufficient and know that I can survive in a college far away from home. That being said, I have been researching colleges for the past 2 years and I know what I want from a school. I very much crave the traditional college life with dorms (IU requires all freshmen to live on campus, which is even better), big-time sports and spirit (So I know that their sports teams aren’t the best, but that’s not my main concern, haha), a vibrant college town, a large number of undergrads, a beautiful campus, and an outstanding journalism program. IU literally represents everything I want out of a college experience, which is why it’s one of my top choice out-of-state schools.</p>
<p>I go to a public high school in Calabasas, California, where many kids who want to go out-of-state for college choose places like IU. My decision was not influenced by them- in fact, I hate my city and high school with a burning passion, which is partially why I want to leave so bad- but it kind of annoys me, since I feel that because so many of my peers are applying (AT LEAST 20-40), they’ll be less likely to accept a large amount of students from my school. Plus, I might end up at school with the people I want to escape from… oh well. At least I will be surrounded by 30,000 other potential friends. :)</p>
<p>My son wanted to go to the best business school (as defined by highest ranked on USNWR) that he could get into and yet also go to a place with really great facilities. He originally wanted to go to someplace in Boston or New York (which for business schools meant NYU, Fordham, Boston University, or Bentley), but he only got into one of these (Bentley) and I nixed him applying to BU because of its exorbitant cost. Bentley ended up as his second choice after we visited all of the places where he got in (IU-B, Bentley, Pitt, Purdue, and Oregon). Also, he didn’t want to apply to some places in the south because he was worried about a “redneck” mentality possibly being present–and because he is a bit more liberal than conservative–so a place like Texas A&M wasn’t going to work for him. Other schools considered (but where he didn’t apply) were Texas (Austin), Colorado, North Carolina, and Washington–and I think if he were to re-apply today, he probably would have included at least two of these in his application–although, based on how things have turned out for him, Indiana has worked out quite well for his college years. </p>
<p>He/we chose Indiana University for a variety of reasons:
(1) a higher ranked business program–especially in his originally planned major, which was finance
(2) it was quite a bit cheaper than Bentley
(3) Bentley isn’t all that close to Boston that you could go there all the time–and there is no real town right outside of the campus like there is at IU-B
(4) Pitt has a hospital right next to the dorms where the helicopters land with the injured all night long–plus we were very unimpressed by their career center. They do allow you to take courses at Carnegie-Mellon, right down the street–but most of CM looks like it was built during the great depression and hasn’t been upgraded since then.
(5) Purdue’s town of Lafayette seemed really boring to him–a fact validated by most people who went there and said that going to the local Wal-Mart was a major pasttime, and
(6) Oregon’s campus is very remote–so getting home and back was going to be difficult–and also a ways away from the downtown portion of Eugene</p>
<p>Most important was all that Indiana University had to offered when he visited–everyone was extremely friendly, the school was gorgeous, there was an actual town right off campus, the student union was massive and well-attended, and the student body just seemed to be everywhere–unlike other places where the students were hard to find (Pitt being the exception). </p>
<p>Lastly, I should point out that my own son thinks that UC Santa Cruz is full of too many “druggies”, and Santa Cruz has too many “hippies” and is too weird for him. He was worried that he might not get into Cal Poly SLO and would end up at UCSC. To give you an idea of his views, he refuses to even take summer classes at UC Berkeley because they are way too liberal and have too much of a “drug” mentality at that school for him. (And remember, I said he is just a bit more liberal than conservative.)</p>
<p>Feel free to write or post more here if you have any other questions on his experiences.</p>
<p>Calcrizer, you said his originally planned business major was finance. What is it now? Why did he switch? Is it working out for him well? Does it seem to matter whether this new major is ranked high in USNWR or not?</p>
<p>He is still a business major–but switched to Business–Legal Studies from Business–Finance.</p>
<p>My son always wanted to be a lawyer–but didn’t think that taking law courses in a business school would be rewarding–until he took his first one (an Environmental Law) course with McCreary. McCreary is one of the highest ranked professors at IU-B and, while very tough, is also very fair and very demanding. He has won the award as one of the best professors at IU-B on four occasions–and has won the award (given to only one professor nationwide per year) as the best law professor in a business school. Environmental law is his specialty and he used to work for the US Justice Department in Washington, D.C. prior to coming to IU-B.</p>
<p>Anyway, my son thoughly enjoyed that course and changed his major the same semester. He’ll be graduating in this major this coming May. (Personally, I also don’t think he liked accounting very much–so finding a business field he enjoyed was a great thing.)</p>
<p>As far as rankings, Business–Legal Studies at IU-B is ranked at #4 in the country, while Business–Finance is ranked at #7–so you can’t really go wrong choosing either concentration. The entrepreneurship program (Business–Entrepreneurship) is ranked at #2 by USNW, so as you can see–IU-B has some great choices if you plan to major in business. It is not often that you find a school where so many of the business majors are ranked as being in the top 10 (for that concentration) in the US. I think Indiana actually has more top 15 business majors than any school in the country (using the USNW rankings), with something like nine of its majors ranking in the top 15.</p>
<p>My daughter wouldn’t be going to IU or any school for those renowned programs. Actually, she could easily get the same or similar major at a number of state schools (not UCs.) Or a few privates who have these majors. So, for her it’s more about the overall college experience. Something about IU appeals to her. Again, I’m leaning toward the fact that it’s not quite as ethically diverse as the UCs. And, of course, it’s different, ie. weather, etc. But, as for her chosen major or attending because it’s famous for such and such program…that’s not the reason. I’m not even sure how the Health, Physical Education and Recreation school ranks. :)</p>
<p>I see your point. My daughter applied to IU based on the reputation of the business school. However, seeing the campus and all that it offers is what made her choose IU over many other colleges she was accepted to. You could ask about ranking of the Health and Recreation program and job placement when you visit. I would also try to speak to some students who are in this program and get their feedback.</p>
<p>2Leashes, could you clarify what you mean about liking the lack of diversity at Indiana Bloomington, and liking the lack of diversity of IU in comparison to the UC’s? Thinking of that as a reason people choose IU Bloomington is very disappointing to me and likely offensive to some of the diverse readership of College Confidential. I hope that lack of diversity is not a common reason people decide to go to IU or send their children there.</p>
<p>Remember, I said ETHICALLY, not ethnically. I may have worded it awkwardly. Sorry.
What I meant is that she might be looking for something a little more “middle-of-the-road”…and by that I mean politically. Where I live on the West coast, UCSC is known to be extremely liberal to the point of wearing their welcome out at times. Unfortunately, our city doesn’t have the wonderful relationship with ‘The City on the Hill’ (UCSC) as Bloomington does with IU. There always seems to be some friction between “Town and Gown”. A good example was this last protest about fee hikes. Major disruption and some vandalism. I know that some of the other UCs have this type of reputation, as well. I realize that not all of them are as liberal and outspoken. Nor are all the students at UCSC or Berkeley or Davis. But, kids see all of this when they’re applying to schools. At least mine did.</p>
<p>So there are all types of “diversity”. It’s not just about race, if that’s what you thought I was referring to. Again, sorry if you misunderstood. I would hope I wouldn’t offend anyone here on CC by stating that my daughter might be looking for something a bit more moderate and traditional for her college experience. I hope this explains my post. :)</p>
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<p>riguadon wrote:</p>
<p>2Leashes, could you clarify what you mean about liking the lack of diversity at Indiana Bloomington, and liking the lack of diversity of IU in comparison to the UC’s? Thinking of that as a reason people choose IU Bloomington is very disappointing to me and likely offensive to some of the diverse readership of College Confidential. I hope that lack of diversity is not a common reason people decide to go to IU or send their children there</p>
<p>2leashes, I actually was referring to the following statement from your first post. </p>
<p>“So, I’m assuming that the midwest was a good compromise. I know she’s looking for a little less ethnic diversity than most CA schools.” </p>
<p>Now I see that in a later post, you used the term less “ethically diverse” in a comparison to UC schools, but in your first post, you actually said less ETHNIC diversity. Are you saying that the first one was a typing error?</p>
By the way, would you say Bloomington is considered “white bread”? It DOESN’T sound like it’s a boring town at all…but it definitely sounds less diverse or politically extreme than the east and west coasts.</p>
In other words, people who are genuine and friendly, but open-minded and able to listen to everyone’s views. Would you say that IU and Bloomington fit this description? I’ve heard some of the schools in the South and maybe parts of the midwest can be awfully conservative. </p>