Son at Purdue - he’s a city kid and loves city life and he is still having a great time and feels totally like he picked the right place. His classes are intense and keep him very busy but when he has free time he always finds something to do. He does have a car and drives to Indianapolis every now and then and goes up to Chicago at least once a semester. It is a hard hard school if in Engineering or CS and the grading is harsh. Not for anyone who isn’t self-motivated or needs any hand holding.

Lafayette and West Lafayette have ~170,000 residents. The campus is over 40,000 students (grad and undergrad). It’s not Chicago, but it’s good size college town. Best bet for anyone is to visit if get the chance and see if it’s a fit

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Going to Indiana for college sounds miserable, but I'm biased having gone in New York.

To each their own. NY schools I would totally avoid these days. Lots of smart, studios kids at Purdue, or IU.

dp.. lots of smart kids everywhere, including in NY, MD, VA, IN, and IL.

But, Purdue is definitely in the sticks, so everything is about the college. Nothing outside of that.

West Lafayette is widely considered to be a great college town. What don't you like about it that you describe it as "nothing?" Plus, the downtown of the bigger town of Layfayette is less than a ten minute bike ride across the river from campus.

I’m so confused by this too. It’s not even remotely rural which is what I call “the sticks.”

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Going to Indiana for college sounds miserable, but I'm biased having gone in New York.

To each their own. NY schools I would totally avoid these days. Lots of smart, studios kids at Purdue, or IU.

dp.. lots of smart kids everywhere, including in NY, MD, VA, IN, and IL.

But, Purdue is definitely in the sticks, so everything is about the college. Nothing outside of that.

West Lafayette is widely considered to be a great college town. What don't you like about it that you describe it as "nothing?" Plus, the downtown of the bigger town of Layfayette is less than a ten minute bike ride across the river from campus.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Going to Indiana for college sounds miserable, but I'm biased having gone in New York.

NP. Going to New York (I assume you mean NYC?) for college sounds miserable to me! Different strokes, etc.

I would put Indiana college towns up against New York college towns any day.

Anonymous wrote:Going to Indiana for college sounds miserable, but I'm biased having gone in New York.

Thanks for sharing. This was very helpful.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS was accepted two years ago into engineering and turned it down. There is no real college town feel. It is in the middle of farm country / nowhere. Takes forever to reach from the Indianapolis airport. You’re better off going to Ohio State, UT Austin, or Berkeley.

No college town feel? Chauncy? The Levee? Come on. IND is less than two hours away. I don't actually think your DS was accepted.

IND less than two hours away isn’t the draw that you think it is…

Anonymous wrote:I love that Purdue has more traditional midwestern values without the crazy liberal bias that generates kids like the Penn murderer. Purdue rejected the DEI craze during covid and admitted kids on merit - and their students are polite, friendly and have a good time on campus. A "college town" is not required to be a great college. I rarely stepped foot off of campus in college - we partied on campus, had more than enough things to do, and did not need a "downtown".

I don’t get the no college town, it’s huge, Purdue is the college town. I live in Chapel Hill now which people rave about as a college town and Purdue has so much more going on? I do think it’s a pain to access though, so agree with that part.

I love that Purdue has more traditional midwestern values without the crazy liberal bias that generates kids like the Penn murderer. Purdue rejected the DEI craze during covid and admitted kids on merit - and their students are polite, friendly and have a good time on campus. A "college town" is not required to be a great college. I rarely stepped foot off of campus in college - we partied on campus, had more than enough things to do, and did not need a "downtown".

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Going to Indiana for college sounds miserable, but I'm biased having gone in New York.

To each their own. NY schools I would totally avoid these days. Lots of smart, studios kids at Purdue, or IU.

dp.. lots of smart kids everywhere, including in NY, MD, VA, IN, and IL.

But, Purdue is definitely in the sticks, so everything is about the college. Nothing outside of that.

Anonymous wrote:Going to Indiana for college sounds miserable, but I'm biased having gone in New York.

To each their own. NY schools I would totally avoid these days. Lots of smart, studios kids at Purdue, or IU.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I work at Purdue and know a lot of students and Purdue alums. It’s a fun campus and there is always something going on. It is stem oriented but has a strong arts side too. They are doing some amazing research there.

It has its own airport now but that’s a work in progress. The adjacent town is small and doesn’t add anything to the experience. It’s all about the university.

It's always had its own airport - I learned to fly there while attending in the late 90s. There was airline service back then (it floundered after 9/11), so service is actually returning, not beginning. Amelia Earhart was a counselor at Purdue as well, and you can find numerous photos of her flying there.

PP here. Yes, that’s right. It’s just a reopening of services. They still sound spotty but maybe will improve over time.

Anonymous wrote:I work at Purdue and know a lot of students and Purdue alums. It’s a fun campus and there is always something going on. It is stem oriented but has a strong arts side too. They are doing some amazing research there.

It has its own airport now but that’s a work in progress. The adjacent town is small and doesn’t add anything to the experience. It’s all about the university.

It's always had its own airport - I learned to fly there while attending in the late 90s. There was airline service back then (it floundered after 9/11), so service is actually returning, not beginning. Amelia Earhart was a counselor at Purdue as well, and you can find numerous photos of her flying there.

Anonymous wrote:DS was accepted two years ago into engineering and turned it down. There is no real college town feel. It is in the middle of farm country / nowhere. Takes forever to reach from the Indianapolis airport. You’re better off going to Ohio State, UT Austin, or Berkeley.

No college town feel? Chauncy? The Levee? Come on. IND is less than two hours away. I don't actually think your DS was accepted.