Indiana University-Bloomington Top Questions

IUB is a beautiful campus that hosts a wide variety of students in a quintessential college town that is the perfect mix of the quaintness of a small Indiana town and the amenities of a big city.

The best thing about IUB are the people. Everyone is so nice! Including the "townies" which you don't always find in college towns. Bloomington, IN is a fairly small place. The university and the town work very closely together in order to ensure the best situation for everyone. There are many things to do around campus or the town, and you always feel welcome wherever you go. When I tell people that I attend IUB, I have always had replies of "Oh I've been there, I have friends that go there, I love it, do you know such and such place..." or "Oh it's so beautiful in Bloomington!" IUB has one of the most beautiful campuses in the nation as well. Indiana University Bloomington is a large university with something like 50,000 students (including graduate students), but in my experience it has never seemed that large. I see many familiar faces as I walk around campus or the town. This university has the feeling and familiarity of a small university, but with the opportunities of large university.

Little 500 is something you don't want to miss out on. I didn't participate in any activities freshman year, but I took full advantage my sophomore year living off campus. Get to know other students. Make life long friends.

As far as the music scene goes, it is a mini Lincoln Center! There are literally a thousand performances to attend each year which include recitals, operas, ballets, orchestras, bands and more! Being in the music school, I don't spend much time outside of the music campus. The big controversy on campus is the smoking ban. I find it wonderful, but there are a significant amount of people who think this ban is a violation of their rights. Bloomington is definately a college town. Without IU, it would be just another small town in Indiana!

If you come to IU, you want to get season basketball tickets. The games at Assembly Hall are an experience you cannot miss out on. It's not just the basketball, it's the atmosphere and social setting. Games are the place to be. Also, check out other athletic events like wrestling matches, volleyball games, and track meets. Redline events are an awesome way to meet active students who have energy, passion, and pride. These events are a great way to get connected with the people around you, especially freshman year. If you need further information on Redline events, contact Andrew at [email protected]. Also, use the source "News You Can Use" which is through the Student Activities Office (SAO) which can be found at www.indiana.edu/~sao/new/. There are tons of cool events posted on a weekly basis and can help you find ways to get connected according to your interests. Some events include free music performances at Auer Hall, auditorium events, and student organization call-out meetings. Great resource, check it out.

Little 500. One weekend Worth a 4, 5, hopefully not 6 year college decision. A party that rivals Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Honeymoons in Vegas, and Spring Break on South Padre Island Texas. "Drinking galore--drinking tickets even more." The police get a little heavy, but that is expected when you have DMX, Three 6 Mafia, and the Ying Yang twins in town. Spectators litterally come in from all across the globe to see a bike race that blows the Tour de France out of the water; and all of your friends that made the unfortunate decision to not attend IU will be crashing on your couch with a hangover all week long. Drink up!

My plan for college was to attend a small, private college far from home. After my initial plans fell through due to costs, my fall-back was IU. My friends from high school encouraged me to look into IU seriously. In high school I did hear so many great things about different classes, professors, and opportunities. However, I just assumed that going to a big school was not for me because I would just get lost in the shuffle. I could not have been more wrong. The classes where you need more one-on-one time, such as foreign language, are small and have set limits for enrollment. Professors and AIs (assistant instructors) are very helpful and offer office hours each week. If you need further help, there are many tutors and learning centers available on campus. IU offers such a wide variety of courses, majors, and minors that I could not imagine going anywhere else. The campus is absolutely gorgeous and I love walking to and from classes every day. The public transportation you need not worry about, it provides a way for you to get all around campus, close apartment buildings off campus, and to the nearest mall.

I think the best thing about IUB is that the campus is beautiful. The trees and plants are very beautiful pretty much all year round, and most of the buildings are made from the limestone characteristic to the Bloomington/Brown County area. The campus and the town are a nice balance, too, I think. It isn't like the campus is a completely separate entity from the town because a lot of people walk through campus to get to town, and it's kind of like walking in a park. There are also a lot of events on campus that townspeople can attend as well, and students spend time off campus to get away from school. Campus and downtown are within walkable distance, so it's easy to get around on foot, by bus, or bike. The biggest recent controversy on campus is definitely the smoking ban. People used to be allowed to smoke within 30 feet of the entrances to buildings, and in January of this year (2008), it was limited to smoking only in designated areas, and soon there will be no smoking allowed on campus. That has pissed a lot of people off. I think there are a lot of smokers on campus: teachers, students, and staff. People think the smoking ban is ridiculous, and a lot of people still smoke where they aren't supposed to. I haven't heard anyone yelling at them to stop, either. So it will be interesting to see what happens when they try to ban smoking all over campus. One of the big things that people get excited about around here is Little 500 weekend. The bike race isn't even the main thing to get excited about anymore, I think, it's mostly just students finding another reason to get drunk, parents finding another reason to be worried, and teachers probably want to get the hell out of town. I've never actually been to the bike race because I think all the hullabaloo is really annoying bullshit, so I usually just hang out with friends and try not to get caught up in the mess of people and noise that's around town and campus. It just pisses me off.

I love everything about my school. A lot of people may think that this is a school that is too big for them, but honestly I can't make it one day without seeing at least 4 or 5 people that I know. The key is getting involved, whether that is in a varsity sport, intermurals, joing a club or by going Greek.

As I walk around IUB, I see it for what it's professionally known as. A Big Ten Univeristy, a research institution, and also a residential type of university. IUB is very accomodationg. It was quite big when I first visited. I thought I was getting a tour of a town or something, but IUB has gotten quite small as I have become more involved. The best and worst thing about IUB is that you can never run out of things to do. On one hand, you can leave here with one of the best resumes known if you take advantage of the services available to you. On the other hand, it's way too easy to become overly involved, and the opportunites are almost seti right before you. Another great thing about this institution is that networking, making connections, and opening opportunities that extend outside of the university is sooo easy! For example, in the last month, Michael Eric Dyson, Chelsea Clinton, Bill Clinton, Hilary Clinton and Barak Obama was here! We have various world traveling performances here. In addition to making connections with people who visit IUB, there are many nation or world renowned faculty members that are very personable and take time with the students and other community members that make contact with them. In my eyes, the administration can be personable, but you really have to take time to get to know them, work around their schedule, and take every formal/informal opportunity available to talk to them. At first it may seem like hard work, but it eventually pays off. Earlier I mentioned how the campus has gotten quite small. To tell you the truth, IUB still seems like a town to me. There's over ten different residence halls/apartments to live in on campus, there's cafes in some of these halls, and for some residences, all you have to do is walk right across the street to the music building or the Neal Marshall building for class. As a matter of fact, you could even go to class in your slippers if you happen to sign up for one in your building. In addition to the comfort on campus, I personally consider Bloomington a college town. IUB students get to ride the IU buses and city buses for free. The only problem is that the buses that take you to the places that are opened the latest stop running early and those places that close late have buses running pass them until midnight. Basically Bloomington shuts down at night, and for a person like myself, it's hard to find anything open except for a random pizza joint that I end up growing tired of. I'll finalize this by talking about how I spend the bulk of my time at IUB. In 2006, I believe that IUB was the 5th largest employer of Indiana. I feel bad for students who work off campus because I don't think that there's an employer more accomodating than IUB. I work in various technology labs around campus. That's one of my main spots, even after working hours. The most popular tech center for me to chill is the Information Commons. They have a few hundred computer workstations, including huge screen Macs and Multimedia stations. There's couches there too. But speaking of couches, there are about three different places for me to catch a great nap- the student union building, the IMU, one of the largest of its kind, and the Groups Students Support Services Office. In the IMU, there are two lounges with large sofas that you can stretch out on. One of the lounges even have a fireplace. The Groups office has more than just the "couch of fame," but also tutorial services, a computer area, and most importantly, staff and students that are really close. IUB means something completely different to the next person, and that's simply because it's too big of a place for me to tell it all.