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I'm an Asian planning to attend Indiana State University. Yes, i know my grades suck and since the Student visa to go to college is hard to get anyway, please gimme some good advice.
If you can, someone please tell me how the university is. And if im screwing my life up by going there for an undergraduate business degree.
I've heard Indiana is a really boring place, and also that Bloomington became party school of the year. Whats happening?
Oh and also, will i be able to transfer to a better school in a year or so if i pull up my grades a bit or is that really hard to do? I need to get myself into a decent university!
Help needed. Reply please.

By Interesteddad (Interesteddad) on Wednesday, June 04, 2003 - 04:54 pm: Edit

Indiana is actually quite a nice place. Very friendly, steady growth.

I'm not sure which college you are talking about. Indiana University is the main state university in Bloomington. Indiana State is a smaller state university (about a third the size) with lower overall stats (like SATs) than Indiana University. For example, 90% of IU freshman graduated in the top half of their high school class compared to 54% at ISU. ISU is located in Terre Haute, Indiana.

IU would offer the same pros and cons as any large state university. No reason at all that you couldn't have a great experience and get a wonderful education there. ISU probably doesn't offer the same range of academic challenges, but I'm sure that there is opportunity for a good education. It's probably a bit more geared toward getting a degree for specific vocations.

The biggest downside of large state universities is that more of the responsibility for seeking out the good professors and programs is up to the student. Whether you get a great education or a mediocre education is totally up to you. Both paths are available.

The biggest upside is the large student populations make for a very vibrant community with lots of things going on. Nobody what your interests, you will find other people who share them. Bloomington is a classic large college town, like Athens, Georgia, Ann Arbor, Michigan, etc.

You will also get true diversity as opposed to a quota-driven numbers excercise. For example, at IU, you are going to have students who grew up on farms, students from affluent suburbs of Indianapolis, students from inner city neighborhoods. There will be smart kids, not so smart kids, and everything in between -- a much wider spectrum than you would find at some of the colleges that tout their diversity stats but really end up with a pretty homogeneous student body.

For example, an African-American student from Harvard-Westlake Prep school in Bel Air, Calif. contributes to the the minority quota at a place like Yale. But, does that person really bring the same degree of diversity to a student body as a kid who was raised by his grandmother and graduated first in his class at an inner-city public school in Gary, Indiana?

By Elite (Elite) on Wednesday, June 04, 2003 - 05:51 pm: Edit

Thanks a lot for the reply Interesteddad. I got into ISU and i was really confused about what to do. Your reply clears out a lot. Its good to hear that the people there are friendly and students are from diverse social, financial and cultural backgrouds.. Specially since im an asian myself and I'd like to attend a university where its easy for international students to settle down.
Thanks again. Anyone else with views about Indiana State and nearby universities?

By Drusba (Drusba) on Wednesday, June 04, 2003 - 06:50 pm: Edit

ISU is in Terra Haute, which is located in the western part of Indiana about midway down the state. Not a very exciting town. School itself is fine, about 11,000 students with multiple schools and majors. Its biggest claim to fame is that Larry Bird, a former professional basketball star for the Boston Celtics went there (and actually turned down IU to go there). Typical state school with possibility of very large numbers in freshman classes and then smaller numbers as you progress into your major. Also in Terra Haute and nearby ISU is Rose-Hulman Instutute of Technolgy, which is considered the MIT of the central part of the country.

Most students will be from Indiana which has a large populous industrial area in the northwest that is near Chicago, a number of other fairly large cities, and then mostly small towns and farmland. As noted above you can do very well there as long as you motivate yourself. Hoosiers as an overall group are friendly, somewhat conservative in their thinking, and many live and die high school and college basketball, the most popular sport in the state.

Not sure what you are used to, but if you have not experienced a midwest winter, prepare yourself for the worst -- very cold, very snowy, and from December to March, most days are overcast.

As to whether you can transfer to another school, the answer is yes but to which ones will depend highly on college grades.

By Elite (Elite) on Thursday, June 05, 2003 - 04:15 am: Edit

The cold weather is going to kill me. Where i come from, its 43 Degrees centigrate right now. So damn, the winters there are going to be horrible. How are the summers?
Secondly, i dont really mind a town which isnt VERY exciting since i'd like to finally get down to studying and make something outta my life.. but then again, a really dull place wouldnt help either. Is there an average sized international student population at ISU (like say maybe 3-4%)?
anyway, thanx a lot Drusba.. ive got my fingers crossed

By Drusba (Drusba) on Thursday, June 05, 2003 - 09:04 am: Edit

International student population is small, more like 2% and likely close to the same for Asian, combined international and US. Note, the school and campus life and parties is not dull by any means.

Summers are generally warm and you get days over 90 particularly in July and August. However, it can be a mixed bag. Example, right now it is June and we have had a cold spring in the midwest and we are still struggling just to get to 70 (Fahrenheit), last weekend night time temperatures were in the 30's. However, that will likely change to very warm soon.

By Elite (Elite) on Thursday, June 05, 2003 - 03:47 pm: Edit

Right, but i guess the summers are alright since I'll be coming back home for vacations in the summers most probably. Alright that sounds good, since ure saying campus life and parties are pretty okay. Thanks again