<p>I am a high school senior and have my college choices down to 2- Illinois Wesleyan and 1 other. Both are fairly similar, with IWU being more prestigious overall and where I think I would like to go. Not that this issue I'm going to bring up is how I choose a college, but it's something that I need more information on- I came across a thing that mentioned that the IWU campus gets a swarm of aphids/gnats in late summer/early fall, and that they are just plain horrible...is this true for every year, or was this one year where it was horrible (2009 was the information I saw, a video by some students at the campus on YouTube describing the situation)? I'm wondering if they're exaggerating it...Any thoughts on this?</p>
<p>My son is attending IWU. I asked him this question after reading your post. He said the gnats were swarming in the fall of 2009 but they did not appear in the fall of 2010. We live 2 hours south of IWU so weather is about the same and any gnat swarms that appear disappear quickly. I don’t even really notice them. </p>
<p>momoffive</p>
<p>To momoffive: OK, thank you, that does help a lot to hear from someone who lives in IL. I live in MN, so I haven’t spent a lot of time in IL. I did visit IWU in January of this year for my audition for the School of Music, and had also visited in early August of 2009 (around the 7th, 8th, somewhere in there, dont’ remember), and there wasn’t any problem, so is it around late August or September when this gnat problem occurs, if at all? When they do come, is it maybe for a week or so that’s the bad time of it, and then disappears to just be a normal bug population? Where I live, we sometimes have swarms of boxelder bugs, like we’ve had a lot that hang around our house, although they generally don’t get inside the house. Also, lots of ladybugs/asian beetles here, so I’ve dealt with that…so gnats/aphids are IL’s possible problem maybe? So I’d be trading boxelder issues for that maybe it sounds like? The 2009 info scares me, but it sounds like they come really badly only once every several years- does that sound about right? Is it true that they got in everything in 2009? Like in your clothes, books, bed, all of it? I heard people got them swarming into their mouth and eyes…is that true, or just if you don’t pay attention where you’re walking? Sorry for all the questions…but it is helpful to know you’re from that area!!! Oh, I would be attending IWU starting this fall, and I might take 5 years because of wanting to double major, with one of those majors being piano performance, so I’d be there fall of 2011 through spring of 2016. So, from that, statistically, or from your experience of living in IL and from anything your son has seen/heard from people, it could be really bad maybe 1 of those years, but generally would just be normal bug issues? It seems like there would be something anywhere you go (Like i mentioned what we have here in MN a lot), and most years it shouldn’t be too bad. I really want to go to IWU, so I’m kind of checking into everything! Like I mentioned before, I won’t choose not to go there because of bugs; if I don’t go, it would be for another reason. I just want to be prepared/know what to expect for problems anywhere I go! Thank you for the information already, and I hope you reply to this too!!!</p>
<p>-iluvpiano</p>
<p>From all I’ve experienced with “gnat swarms”, they might be about the size of a big pumpkin, but you can see them hanging in the air and just wave them away or don’t walk through them. I see them occasionally but it’s really no big deal. Occasionally in really hot weather around here you might have a couple fly around your face but you just wave them away. They don’t get into bedding or clothes. I don’t think they live very long. They sure don’t hang around like ladybugs or bedbugs. I don’t get them in the house.
Have you checked to see if there is a Facebook site for admitted students? (there was the year my son was admitted). There will be some IWU students on the facebook site, plus lots of kids from around the IWU geographical area. In fact, here you go:
[Illinois</a> Wesleyan University Class of 2015 | Facebook](<a href=“Facebook”>Redirecting...)</p>
<p>to momoffive: thanks for the facebook link. Ok, so it’s not a big deal then. How long does it last whenever they do come? Also, what is the typical chance of a huge swarm of them coming any year between 2011-2016 when I’ll be there? What is your son majoring in at IWU by the way? What does he like/dislike the most?</p>