Indiana State University

ISU is basically what you make of it. A lot of people are complaining about how the university is going under (which I don't know where they received those statements from considering the university just met it's goal of raising 98 million dollars and is steadily raising admission standards) and how the faculty is hard to work with and so forth. But in a nutshell, you have to make this a good experience, you cannot be passive and just expect things to fall in line for you. This is a university, despite ISU's reputation if you are not proactive in your education you will not succeed.

Continuing the same concept from above, it's very important to become involved in activities on campus. A lot of people say that there's nothing to do, but honestly they have not actively searched. There's a multitude of organizations on campus that cover a very broad range of interests. For example, I'm a bass clarinetist and knew that I wanted to continue playing through college so I auditioned for the School of Music ensembles, and now I play in the Wind Orchestra. I also play in the clarinet choir, marching band, pep band, take private clarinet lessons with an absolutely fantastic clarinet professor and joined a music fraternity. So it's fairly needless to say that I am rarely bored and am involved in activities that I truly enjoy. And as a result, my experience here has been wonderful.

Side note: The School of Music is fantastic here. I mean it's definitely not the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music (one of the best music schools in the world) but all of my friends are, and they're receiving a rigorous and fantastic education. Some of them make use of it by working hard and others just do enough to get by.

To end this, I'd also say that it's important to get your eyes on the goal, which is graduating. A lot of people here get too caught up in partying or just don't take their work seriously and end up losing scholarships, dropping out, or they end up staying here a year longer than expected because they failed courses.

And there's really not much of an excuse to not do well. The Student Academic Services Center here is fantastic. I was struggling in my Econ class so I went to the services center, and asked for a tutor. The whole process took less than five minutes and ten minutes after signing up for a tutor, I got to meet and work with her. And as a result, I passed the huge Econ exam that I was so concerned about. Also, in a lot of residents halls where there are primarily freshman, such as Burford Hall, there are Academic Peer Advocates that will assist you with staying on top of your work. You could also sign up for a mentor who would also help you stay on top of your work, and learning communities in the residence halls also support academics. Plus, you should go to professor office hours to ask questions that you normally don't get the chance to ask during the class lecture. In general, the university takes academic success seriously so there are always opportunities for those who are struggling and you should really take advantage of those opportunities because you're paying for them through your tuition.

Basically, education wise, the school is fine. It doesn't have the all of the bells and whistles of IU or Purdue, but if we're talking strictly education, this school is really good. I mean it's not Harvard or anything but it's good.

1st Year Male -- Class 2015

Education Quality: A+, Social Life: F