Anonymous wrote:OP I have two kids there too. They love it and I am anticipating a 3rd there shortly. Neither of mine are greek and have found their own crowd independent of each other. One in Kelley and one doing a International Relations and foreign language (which is one of the specialties which I didn't know). Both have had great classes. Kids are studious or at least the crowds my kids are in. Lots of kids from IN and IL but also plenty of OOS. Travel is really easy. One of the hotels has a shuttle from the airport hourly which most of the kids grab. Mine also go home with friends on breaks or weekend which is nice also.

Bloomington is a great college town. A ton to do for everyone and the campus is definitely one of the most beautiful around. It can be a party school or it isn't. I will tell you that the fakes DO NOT work more most of the college bars. Huge crackdown on those. Obviously kids still party but you won't find underaged at the bars. I love that fact that there is a lot of live music there too. My kids are really into catching shows both here and there.

Sports are huge. Yes the football team has sucked the last few years but basketball is huge. Kids need to get a sports pass ($500ish) for the year then you can get into the lottery for men'sbasketball games. No gurantee you will get a ticket but there is a lot of swapping that happens at the last minue. Assembly Hall is packed for every game. Mine love going to the women's basketball games and my DS has friends on the rugby team so he goes to those.

Mine have come back to DCand gone abroad for summers. One is off to Chicago for an internship this summer and the other will be back here. Plenty of DMV kids there who they now hang out with when home.

Really just a great school. We have been really please.

Anonymous wrote:Someone mentioned the not being able to get into the bars is a negative...

Following. Does anyone know how campus life compares to Virginia Tech?

I wonder if you're aware how gross this entire paragraph is. Like, OMG, they aren't backwards hicks in Indiana! They've actually left the state and some even vote Democrat!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Any surprises? Her best friends are from Indiana and they are smart and hardworking and well-travelled (because we didn't know what to expect). The IU campus and Bloomington absolutely seem like a typical university town (or small city) bubble consumed by the usual student passions and insulated from a lot of state- and national-level politics (because she wasn't sure if going to school in a pretty red state would feel different from the blue states she's more familiar with).

I wonder if you're aware how gross this entire paragraph is. Like, OMG, they aren't backwards hicks in Indiana! They've actually left the state and some even vote Democrat!

You must be the same idiot that abuses the word "gross" all the time. 99% of us know exactly what PP was thinking and are happy for the perspective.

Please, stop calling everything "gross"...it really does make you sound like a fool.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Any surprises? Her best friends are from Indiana and they are smart and hardworking and well-travelled (because we didn't know what to expect). The IU campus and Bloomington absolutely seem like a typical university town (or small city) bubble consumed by the usual student passions and insulated from a lot of state- and national-level politics (because she wasn't sure if going to school in a pretty red state would feel different from the blue states she's more familiar with).

I wonder if you're aware how gross this entire paragraph is. Like, OMG, they aren't backwards hicks in Indiana! They've actually left the state and some even vote Democrat!

Anonymous wrote:

Any surprises? Her best friends are from Indiana and they are smart and hardworking and well-travelled (because we didn't know what to expect). The IU campus and Bloomington absolutely seem like a typical university town (or small city) bubble consumed by the usual student passions and insulated from a lot of state- and national-level politics (because she wasn't sure if going to school in a pretty red state would feel different from the blue states she's more familiar with).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD is junior there. From OOS, into progressive politics and sustainability, not into Greek life (and before choosing IU she checked with some recent alums to confirm Greeks orgs aren't the dominant force of social life there -- and they haven't been). She liked the campus, liked the programs in her fields, liked the range of options. She's having a fantastic time. It's a huge school and it seems like to offset that they have a lot of smaller-sized groups and clubs as an initial way to meet people. She opted to live in a "living/learning" dorm that focuses on sustainability and that's provided many of her closest friends (but she's made friends outside that too -- in the Kelley business school, in some sororities and fraternities, etc). She also joined a few clubs freshman year - isn't as active in them now but again it was a good way to meet people. Bloomington is wonderful and offers a lot of dining and entertainment options; the performing arts programs bring a lot of inexpensive events to campus; Big Ten sports are not really a primary focus for her but she likes the energy it brings to the campus and she and friends attends a couple of times a semester. She and friends get up to Indianapolis for concerts from time to time, and have road-tripped to places like Chicago and Cincinnati and Nashville. Her friends are serious students (okay, one exception) and she is too -- actually, she's probably more serious about her studies than she ever was before. Over five semesters she's has had one meh professor and has liked or loved all the others. She studied in Europe last semester - not in a generic "Americans abroad" drinking and sightseeing program but in an honors exchange program IU has with a leading European uni (which I mention only to underscore that IU has some great programs that smaller schools won't).

Any surprises? Her best friends are from Indiana and they are smart and hardworking and well-travelled (because we didn't know what to expect). The IU campus and Bloomington absolutely seem like a typical university town (or small city) bubble consumed by the usual student passions and insulated from a lot of state- and national-level politics (because she wasn't sure if going to school in a pretty red state would feel different from the blue states she's more familiar with). IU doesn't feel isolated (Bloomington is an hour from Indianapolis, which isn't NY but is a real city). 'Midwest nice' is actually a thing, not just hype -- with the kids, with the administration, with the people in town.

We really hadn't known what to expect - had no prior connection with the school except some grown family friends whose eyes would tear up whenever they talked about their time in Bloomington. But she liked the programs and loved the campus when she visited, and that IU seems to look for reasons to accept rather than reject applicants. It's vastly surpassed her expectations (and ours to the extent that matters). I obviously can't categorically promise every student will have a great time and find their niche there, but it seems to offer as good a shot at that as anywhere, and DD's experience (since she's definitely not a sorority/business school 'type' of IU cliches) tends to confirm that. Hope this helps.

OP here. Thank you for taking the time to write this! This was such a helpful post.

Anonymous wrote:DD is junior there. From OOS, into progressive politics and sustainability, not into Greek life (and before choosing IU she checked with some recent alums to confirm Greeks orgs aren't the dominant force of social life there -- and they haven't been). She liked the campus, liked the programs in her fields, liked the range of options. She's having a fantastic time. It's a huge school and it seems like to offset that they have a lot of smaller-sized groups and clubs as an initial way to meet people. She opted to live in a "living/learning" dorm that focuses on sustainability and that's provided many of her closest friends (but she's made friends outside that too -- in the Kelley business school, in some sororities and fraternities, etc). She also joined a few clubs freshman year - isn't as active in them now but again it was a good way to meet people. Bloomington is wonderful and offers a lot of dining and entertainment options; the performing arts programs bring a lot of inexpensive events to campus; Big Ten sports are not really a primary focus for her but she likes the energy it brings to the campus and she and friends attends a couple of times a semester. She and friends get up to Indianapolis for concerts from time to time, and have road-tripped to places like Chicago and Cincinnati and Nashville. Her friends are serious students (okay, one exception) and she is too -- actually, she's probably more serious about her studies than she ever was before. Over five semesters she's has had one meh professor and has liked or loved all the others. She studied in Europe last semester - not in a generic "Americans abroad" drinking and sightseeing program but in an honors exchange program IU has with a leading European uni (which I mention only to underscore that IU has some great programs that smaller schools won't).

Any surprises? Her best friends are from Indiana and they are smart and hardworking and well-travelled (because we didn't know what to expect). The IU campus and Bloomington absolutely seem like a typical university town (or small city) bubble consumed by the usual student passions and insulated from a lot of state- and national-level politics (because she wasn't sure if going to school in a pretty red state would feel different from the blue states she's more familiar with). IU doesn't feel isolated (Bloomington is an hour from Indianapolis, which isn't NY but is a real city). 'Midwest nice' is actually a thing, not just hype -- with the kids, with the administration, with the people in town.

We really hadn't known what to expect - had no prior connection with the school except some grown family friends whose eyes would tear up whenever they talked about their time in Bloomington. But she liked the programs and loved the campus when she visited, and that IU seems to look for reasons to accept rather than reject applicants. It's vastly surpassed her expectations (and ours to the extent that matters). I obviously can't categorically promise every student will have a great time and find their niche there, but it seems to offer as good a shot at that as anywhere, and DD's experience (since she's definitely not a sorority/business school 'type' of IU cliches) tends to confirm that. Hope this helps.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have kids who go to IU? We just visited and loved the beautiful campus and would love some feedback on student life. Do kids regularly attend sporting events? Are there fun things to do for under 21 kids who don’t join Greek life? Is coursework challenging, and are academics a priority for most students?

OP, did you go to the Kelley DA day? If so, how was it?