Tell me about Purdue . . .

[Anonymous]

Especially would love to hear from non-engineering majors and non-midwesterners.

TIA.

[Anonymous]

It is my DC's #1 choice at the moment, but he is a prospective engineering major. We went to the campus last month when they had their Spend A Day program. Loved the campus. The college town is nice too. DC liked the rec facility. Very friendly campus. 1 hour from Indianapolis airport and 2? from Chicago? We also looked at Miami University, not so great for engineering but another great option- especially if considering business- they have some great scholarship opportunities too.

[Anonymous]

I am a college counselor in the DC area and I think Purdue is incredibly underrated by families in DC. It has an excellent national reputation. I have a close friend who graduated about 7 years ago and her experience was really fantastic. She had a lot of fun, landed a great job upon graduation, and was very happy with her choice - this is someone from the east coast who was in a field that was about as non-science-y as you can get.

I will say, if your child is not into Greek Life, that does seem to drive the social scene and so it may not be the right school for someone who is opposed. I did not get the sense that it was overwhelming or that there were any issues with it (no hazing, etc) but just that most students did affiliate with a greek organization and that is how they made friends and found their niche. It also seems like many of the jobs are regional and the alums end up in Chicago, so that is something to consider too for anyone looking to go down a corporate track.

[Anonymous]

Did a trip to Midwest with non-engineering DC last spring. Purdue didn't "click" - didn't think the campus was attractive and DC thought the engineering focus was very heavy (more so than at Virginia Tech and other land-grant schools that we have visited). Liked everything about U. Indiana -Bloomington and also liked Miami/Ohio campus, but not location. Ohio State just seemed too big.

[Anonymous]

I am Purdue grad (school of Business...yes, there are others besides engineers!) Great school and would highly recommend it. I have done quite well career wise (heaven forbid on this site..."its not Ivy!)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a college counselor in the DC area and I think Purdue is incredibly underrated by families in DC. It has an excellent national reputation. I have a close friend who graduated about 7 years ago and her experience was really fantastic. She had a lot of fun, landed a great job upon graduation, and was very happy with her choice - this is someone from the east coast who was in a field that was about as non-science-y as you can get.

I will say, if your child is not into Greek Life, that does seem to drive the social scene and so it may not be the right school for someone who is opposed. I did not get the sense that it was overwhelming or that there were any issues with it (no hazing, etc) but just that most students did affiliate with a greek organization and that is how they made friends and found their niche. It also seems like many of the jobs are regional and the alums end up in Chicago, so that is something to consider too for anyone looking to go down a corporate track.

Thank you! Purdue grad here but I am from the midwest. My undergrad is in Psychology. My DH got all of his degrees (BS, MS, PhD) but not in engineering. I wasn't at all involved in Greek Life and can't say that I knew many people that were. Of course, I never lived in the dorms and worked a lot. West Lafayette is a great city!

[Anonymous]

I'd be happy to contribute! I was in the College of Liberal Arts and double-majored in English and History. I'm now a corporate attorney somewhere between Maine and Virginia, and I attended a top 10 law school.

My time at Purdue was amazing! I was out of state so the Midwest was a nice change. People were friendly, rent was low, and yet I got so many great opportunities. Purdue has one of the highest proportions of international students out of all the colleges in America. For a state university in the middle of the cornfields of Indiana, it's incredibly diverse. If you walk through the college-y neighborhood of Chauncey Hill, you'll see nothing but ethnic businesses. There were 4 hookah bars alone when I was there, I think.

I met brilliant, dedicated, well-read students from all majors, not just the engineers. The liberal arts branch is actually bigger than the engineering in terms of students.

Greek life also does NOT drive the social scene at all, in my experience. I did not participate in Greek life whatsoever, but I had an incredibly active, fulfilling and fun social life. I met people in my residence hall freshman year, and then made friends in my classes every semester, and then also made friends because I was involved in 2 or 3 student clubs. There are lots of ways to get socially engaged! Fraternities and sororities are a cop out.

Jobs are hit or miss, it really depends on your field like with any school. Purdue engineers are in very high demand and some of the engineering students I knew went straight into investment banking in New York. Others were plucked up by Microsoft and Google or built their own tech-start ups.

With a liberal arts degree, it's going to be a struggle but that's no surprise to anyone I hope. You had better network for jobs. For me, I knew I wanted to go to law school because my alternative career choice (NYT bestselling author!) did not seem viable. Like I said, I went to a top ten law school where my 1L classmates were from Princeton and MIT, and I honestly did not find them more impressive, intelligent or well-rounded than my friends from Purdue.

Hope that helps!

[Anonymous]

haha - I was just going to reply with DH's (very positive) experience, but he is both an engineer and a mid-Westerner. So never mind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a college counselor in the DC area and I think Purdue is incredibly underrated by families in DC. It has an excellent national reputation. I have a close friend who graduated about 7 years ago and her experience was really fantastic. She had a lot of fun, landed a great job upon graduation, and was very happy with her choice - this is someone from the east coast who was in a field that was about as non-science-y as you can get.

I will say, if your child is not into Greek Life, that does seem to drive the social scene and so it may not be the right school for someone who is opposed. I did not get the sense that it was overwhelming or that there were any issues with it (no hazing, etc) but just that most students did affiliate with a greek organization and that is how they made friends and found their niche. It also seems like many of the jobs are regional and the alums end up in Chicago, so that is something to consider too for anyone looking to go down a corporate track.

Thanks for your input. Very helpful. What is your theory on why Purdue might not currently have cachet with the DC crowd? Do you think that may change soon?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a college counselor in the DC area and I think Purdue is incredibly underrated by families in DC. It has an excellent national reputation. I have a close friend who graduated about 7 years ago and her experience was really fantastic. She had a lot of fun, landed a great job upon graduation, and was very happy with her choice - this is someone from the east coast who was in a field that was about as non-science-y as you can get.

I will say, if your child is not into Greek Life, that does seem to drive the social scene and so it may not be the right school for someone who is opposed. I did not get the sense that it was overwhelming or that there were any issues with it (no hazing, etc) but just that most students did affiliate with a greek organization and that is how they made friends and found their niche. It also seems like many of the jobs are regional and the alums end up in Chicago, so that is something to consider too for anyone looking to go down a corporate track.

Thanks for your input. Very helpful. What is your theory on why Purdue might not currently have cachet with the DC crowd? Do you think that may change soon?

Not he P, but I think they have a problem with in being in the middle of Indiana and do not have any experience in the mid-west.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am Purdue grad (school of Business...yes, there are others besides engineers!) Great school and would highly recommend it. I have done quite well career wise (heaven forbid on this site..."its not Ivy!)

You go Boilermaker!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd be happy to contribute! I was in the College of Liberal Arts and double-majored in English and History. I'm now a corporate attorney somewhere between Maine and Virginia, and I attended a top 10 law school.

My time at Purdue was amazing! I was out of state so the Midwest was a nice change. People were friendly, rent was low, and yet I got so many great opportunities. Purdue has one of the highest proportions of international students out of all the colleges in America. For a state university in the middle of the cornfields of Indiana, it's incredibly diverse. If you walk through the college-y neighborhood of Chauncey Hill, you'll see nothing but ethnic businesses. There were 4 hookah bars alone when I was there, I think.

I met brilliant, dedicated, well-read students from all majors, not just the engineers. The liberal arts branch is actually bigger than the engineering in terms of students.

Greek life also does NOT drive the social scene at all, in my experience. I did not participate in Greek life whatsoever, but I had an incredibly active, fulfilling and fun social life. I met people in my residence hall freshman year, and then made friends in my classes every semester, and then also made friends because I was involved in 2 or 3 student clubs. There are lots of ways to get socially engaged! Fraternities and sororities are a cop out.

Jobs are hit or miss, it really depends on your field like with any school. Purdue engineers are in very high demand and some of the engineering students I knew went straight into investment banking in New York. Others were plucked up by Microsoft and Google or built their own tech-start ups.

With a liberal arts degree, it's going to be a struggle but that's no surprise to anyone I hope. You had better network for jobs. For me, I knew I wanted to go to law school because my alternative career choice (NYT bestselling author!) did not seem viable. Like I said, I went to a top ten law school where my 1L classmates were from Princeton and MIT, and I honestly did not find them more impressive, intelligent or well-rounded than my friends from Purdue.

Hope that helps!

I like you! Thank you for such a nice post. It is refreshing when people from out of state speak so positively about going to school at either Indiana or Purdue - both great places.

[Anonymous]

As a UMD grad. I am thrilled with our move to the Big 10 conference. It is undoubtedly the best and richest conference in the country. The schools are so much more cooperative and nurturing of each other. The CIC is amazing with it's resources and muscle. The best thing is how pleasant and polite the fans are. The Ohio State game and Iowa game at UMD had many alumni from those institutions and it was impossible to get angry at them. They are a far cry from the obnoxious ACC crowd (which we were unfortunately a big part of).

[Anonymous]

OP, my niece was a Chemical Engineering major at Purdue and has an awesome job at P+G in Cincy. My nephew was an electrical engineering major at Purdue and has an awesome job with GE. They both said they enjoyed their time at Purdue and they were from a big city.

[Anonymous]

I was an international student at Purdue when Drew Brees was QB. Loved my 4 years at Purdue. I come from a big city (population density 17K people/square mile) and I loved the pace of life there. It's considered rude to honk your horn unless in an emergency (I learned the hard way!) People are friendly and you'll find a lot of cars parked at Walmart with their windows down (a shock to me when I arrived). I miss living in an area when 60 miles of travel meant 60 minutes of driving.