Surprised by beauty, size if Indiana
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Anonymous
Just insecurities and it does get silly. |
Anonymous
I'll bet the souvlaki is fantastic. |
Anonymous
I went to IU and so did my nephew (he’s only three years out). Greek life is an option, but it’s there or it’s not. I was heavily involved in the student newspaper, that was my “thing.” Nephew was into theater and intramural swimming; those were his “things.” There are lots of options on a big campus like IU, and if you’re into Greek life, great, if not, great. I don’t see that it’s any more important than any other club, activity, team, or focus any other student has. |
Anonymous
| It’s consistently on the Most Beautiful Campuses list. It’s my kid’s #1 |
Anonymous
| DC has applied and we are waiting to hear back in mid January. It’s a strong option. |
Anonymous
| DC landed at reach ED but was very excited about IU Kelly! The school has a lot to offer. |
Anonymous
| Indiana is a good school. Not sure it is enough better to justify OOS attendance. |
Anonymous
They do give OOS merit. |
Anonymous
+1 My high stats OOS kid would only consider with HC and merit. But the beauty of the campus is one big reason it wound up on our list. |
Anonymous
| My DC is waiting on a decision and may well go there and I think it’s a great choice. That said, I really didn’t think the campus was all that beautiful. It was perfectly fine - I don’t think the aesthetics should be too much of a consideration in college choice anyway - but I didn’t think the campus or town were anything different/better than other big state schools we toured. |
Anonymous
What else did you tour? |
Anonymous
+1. The Kelly school is frequently discussed but Indiana has amazing programs for foreign language (Lugar school), music and dance! I was also pleasantly surprised during our visit. |
Anonymous
| My daughter loved Indiana last year. She got direct admit to Kelly and decent merit aid, but at the end of the day, it was still too expensive. However, the campus is beautiful and I would have been thrilled had she attended. |
Anonymous
I'm the person who spent a week there about 4 years ago. I have attended PSU, Pitt, and Michigan. Indiana seemed better-looking than PSU because it has more nice looking monumental and new buildings than PSU. And a lovely central green space that is like a park with creeks and bridges. The student part of town blends into a city center that has municipal buildings, boutique shops, and higher end grocery stores. PSU has Old Main (which I don't remember ever going inside) and a few nice older buildings that were boring inside like an old 1950s high school. When I was there, the undergrad library was kind of creepy inside (there was a famous murder in the stacks). The rest of the buildings were boring. The student town near the school was just bars and college kid shops. It doesn't really blend into where local adults live with families. Pitt has the Cathedral of Learning, Heinz Chapel, the William Pitt Student Union (former architecturally significant hotel), and an architecturally significant music building. And an Art Deco science building that looks nice outside. And it's got other architecturally-significant non-Pitt buildings around it, including an art museum and a botanical conservatory next to it. The collegetown area is a bit ratty with fast food, indie restaurants, shops, and unrenovated older private buildings. The housing is mostly student-oriented with a few exceptions (Schenley Farms old subdivision). So Pitt has a great core where the liberal arts students spend most of their time. But outside that periphery, it's less attractive and more urban. Michigan has a really pretty Law Quad and the Michigan Union and Michigan League buildings are very nice. The oldest dorms have nice lobbies, study spaces, and amenities. There are some cool individual buildings on North Campus as well. Overall I'd say Michigan has a strong layout and it benefits from having interesting things on all sides of Central Campus. The downtown of Ann Arbor appeals to grownups as well as students, the South U. area covers undergrad fun the same way that State College does for PSU, there's an arboretum near campus, and in several directions there are residential neighborhoods where grownups live. I visited Illinois Champaign-Urbana with my kids. It's a family school but I've only been there twice. It has a nice brick quad but it looks kind of generic. And the grounds are flat. The student town seemed to be flowing from just one corner near the giant Alma Mater statue. So the school seemed a bit separate from the town. It was hot as heck when we were there. So we didn't explore much. My kids still talk humorously about "the oldest experimental cornfield" which is indeed a campus feature not far from the quad. I recently visited Wisconsin - Madison. But only spent a few hours there and it was on a rainy evening. I did get a favorable impression and would have liked to spend some time dining by the lake outside their student union had the weather been better. I hadn't realized the impact of the size of Madison itself until I visited. I think that's a plus. I can see why it's often compared to Michigan and has its own strengths. So...back to what Indiana does well...in sum, I think the central campus has a good variety of aesthetically-appealing vistas and the student town and municipal parts of Bloomington are close and well-integrated. I don't think people should choose their school based on aesthetics but it can subtly add to your experience. That's why the market for campus memorabilia includes so many products centered around campus landmarks. I know that I'm tremendously sentimental about Pitt's Cathedral of Learning because it's both a landmark and a symbol. But I don't have much feeling about any particular building at Michigan. And disliked PSU's campus. |
Anonymous
| IU is fine. Really. But let's not go overboard. |