Indiana is not just a "safety" school. They are drawing kids form every school in the area, even Saint Albans.

Great school for foreign languages, public administration, business, music, journalism and library science. As PP alluded to, Bloomington is a bit of a liberal oasis and a very nice little college town. Not just Indiana kids--there is a large contingent from the Chicago area. Beautiful campus.

I went to IU as did the rest of my family, but none of us recently. Bloomington is a great college town. The campus is beautiful, and if this matters to you, the attitudes, politics, whatever you want to call it, are very liberal/progressive. The rest of Southern Indiana is not so Bloomington is an oasis. Indianapolis doesn't have much to offer but the airport is pretty easy to get in and out of. It is a good school with some very strong departments. Also, because IU has a nationally recognized School of Music, there are many opportunities to attend concerts and other theater right on campus.

I grew up in Illinois, and I consider IU and Bloomington to be absolutely the most beautiful of the Big 10 campuses. There is a loveliness, and folksiness, a verdant splendor, and warmth to that particular region of the Heartland.

My daughter's camp counselor is a sophomore in the Kelley School of Business there. He loves it!

Some applicants are admitted directly into their major of choice, and others aren't. It can be a huge advantage to be - esp, say the the business school, and know she's in.

It was one on my DDs list. She got in but did not visit. They gave her a little money. Apply early - there is some deadline for merit aid -which a few years ago was quite early. I would have been happy for her to go there.

I visited my nephew when he was there. He did well, getting into several PhD programs. Bloomington seemed to be a great college town.

I went there (not recently) and had a great experience. Lots to do, fun town, nice campus, lots of opportunities.

I went there for grad school, but in the early 90s. It is pretty, but kind of a culture shock after living in the DC area. Most of the undergrad students were from Indiana, so I felt I didn't have as much of geographic context as they did, knowing where Carmel or Brown County was. Still, not a bad choice.

Good music, journalism and folklore (!) departments when I was there.

Be warned, the winters are colder than DC, but the summers (if DD stays) are just as hot.

I'm a native Hoosier, didn't go to IU myself but my parents and everyone else in my family did, as well as half of my high school class. My mom lives in Bloomington now so I'm there several times a year. It's a terrific school! Many strong departments like business, music, info science, policy. The town itself is a great college town - a bright spot of blue in a very red state - I'd move there myself in a heartbeat if they had jobs in my field. Anything specific I can answer?

My Catholic school DD is considering it. We don't know much about it at all.

My WASP kid is considering it. Doesn't think he can get in to U.Va or W&M and not interested in VT, JMU, etc.

Popular among Jewish kids from this area.

So my recent experience was limited to a Conference I attended last April and was very pleasantly surprised. The campus was quite nice, lovely architecture, and the town was very much a college town. From what I saw, could be a very nice place to attend, and not far from Indianapolis which has lots of flights in and out (don't think Indianapolis itself has much to offer). Was quite impressed.

DD is considering Indiana as her "safety" school. Generally she (thinks she) likes the big college big sports atmosphere. I was wondering if others had some relatively recent experience with the school, the town, the people, anything else etc. Thanks.