Ball State University

I attended BSU for three semesters, Fall 2013 being the most recent. I did not enjoy my time there, but I will say being a Muncie native and having a few individual problems slants my view negatively, but I'll only post thoughts that aren't influenced by my bias.

I started in Fall 2012 as an undecided major. If you're wanting to use freshman year as a time to explore your interests by taking different classes to pick a major, this is not the school for you. The programs are set up for students to start taking major classes first or second semester of freshman year, which is great if you're firm on a major but puts you behind if you're not (like 75% of students at BSU). There are in-depth career assessments available that are helpful once you find them, but those can only do so much. Also, most of the majors are very generic in their course offerings with little room for exploring your own interests, whereas IU for example offers far more flexibility. I spent my time considering mainly social science majors, which focus far too much on research and theories that most people won't use unless they go to grad school.

The core curriculum requires way too many irrelevant classes, though that's true of all schools. Aside from public speaking, personal finance and the English sequence, the requirements are pointless other than getting the credits. I wasn't there long enough to take program courses but the core classes are filled with a lot of busy work.

Also, don't expect to graduate in 4 years unless you come in with at least a semester's worth of credits. Between prerequisites for several classes or not having a major right away or some people just don't graduate until their 9th or 10th semester.

Being from Muncie, I chose to commute instead of living on campus to save money. While there is a program to help commuters and give them something like an RA, ultimately living in the residence halls is crucial to having a social life at this school. BSU has invested A TON into their residence halls, there's always an ongoing project to build or rebuild a residence hall, and lots of sophomores and even upperclassmen will choose to stay in them. People boast about which hall they live in as if it's the best, some of the halls are very clique-y for no reason.

There are roughly 400 student groups on campus. I joined 3 of them, 2 of which didn't fulfill their intended purpose that well and were very clique-y between leaders and members. (Clique-y describes a lot at this school). Some of these groups have a great presence and are great for those interested while others you wouldn't know existed, with every level in between. I did make good friends in one group that helped me make it as long as I did at BSU. Regardless of where you live, groups are the best way to meet people outside of dorms.

BSU is very much a party school. As in I've found parties every day of the week. I know people drink at every school, but very few people have the "work hard, play hard" attitude to look responsible. And other than the State Excise Police when the year starts up, parties only get busted if someone calls UPD about it, otherwise they just see one, drive by to look and go on.

There's about 50% of students at BSU who are mature and do what they need to without being obnoxious and those people are great, but there's the other 50% that to be blunt are students who wanted to go to IU or Purdue but were rejected, and act snobby for no valid reason while competing with each other to see who can "ball so hard", BSU slang for how much can you party.

To say some positive things, you do get a free health center, rec center and counseling center with your tuition, plus football games are free for students. The city bus is also free for students and makes having a car unnecessary. I would recommend BSU for education, architecture and telecommunications majors, otherwise you'll probably find a better program in your field elsewhere. Ball State is a good fit for some people, I'm just not one of them. BSU is growing and getting students with higher GPAs and moving up a few spots in the rankings, but overall they just don't give most students what they need to be very successful.

1st Year Male -- Class 2013

Campus Maintenance: A, Useful Schoolwork: F