Valparaiso University

This school is great if you aren't into the outdoors. I should have never come to NW Indiana, it was a huge mistake. I am on a sports team and love the people I have met but this place is a drag. Nw Indiana is ugly, tha land has been destroyed. The campus is small and does not offer and the city has no parks with miles of trails only pavement. I will be transferring, glad to have the experience though.

1st Year Male -- Class 2018

Perceived Campus Safety: A+, Useful Schoolwork: D

First of all, I should say that I am one of the rare "townies" who also lives on campus. I grew up in Valparaiso and only applied to two other schools, both of which i didn't get into. Valpo was my last option. I had a C+ average in high school, but was accepted to valpo because i got a perfect on my reading and writing SAT scores. my math score was horrible, but they don't really care about that at valpo, unless you're going into engineering. Valpo is incredibly easy to get into, and my theory is that this is why they have the CORE program. CORE is a 10 credit, year long required class that you take your freshman year. I think it's used as a means of getting away with accepting as many people as possible, attempting to get them ready for the rest of college, and then keeping them at VU because those 10 credits are SUPER hard to transfer. you get like 2 credits for philosophy and 2 credits for english at other schools and that's it. I have consistently been one of the smartest kids in all of my classes, (which are almost ALL discussion based, which i really enjoy - except it means you can't really miss class which i HATE) and that can get irritating when you're going to a school that supposedly is so great and is also like 40K a year.

speaking of cost, they definitely give out really great financial aid. I think out of pocket I pay like 5k a year and in the past two years i've acquired about 5k in loans, so it's definitely manageable.

VUPD is no longer a threat like all the older reviews say it is. Now, if you live in Valpo and you're being followed by a VALPO cop, not VUPD, you drive onto VU campus and the cops stop following you. The problem with partying arises when you leave what is technically VU campus and go to party at some of the houses that are still within walking distance. VALPO cops are TERRIBLE. They are notorious for harassing anyone under the age of like 30 or anyone who might be a minority or who has an "alternative" style of dress.

Speaking of parties, there are usually at least one or two frat parties on the weekends, but most parties happen at private residences on "the hill." There are actually only two frats now I believe that have recognized houses. There's another house up on the hill that used to be a frat that is now the football house that definitely has the wildest parties, and there are a few other houses that are technically off campus that have pretty decent parties. your best bet if you're trying to find a party is to just walk down union street or make friends with townies, because we all have drinking problems and really like drugs.

most of the teachers at VU are excellent. they care a lot and will go to extreme lengths to help you succeed, and i've found this to be especially true in the history and political science departments. It's definitely easy to get away with doing mediocre/very little work if you're constantly contributing to discussions or the work you DO turn in is of substance.

The dorms are terrible, but I think they're on a schedule of building a new one and knocking one down for the next three or four years - for every new building they put up, they tear down an old one. The food used to be good but this year it's pretty awful and overpriced, but definitely still edible. VU is suuuper close to downtown valpo which is actually a pretty decent place, and it's full of nice restaurants and coffee shops and specialty shops. if you go a bit farther east off of campus, that's where you'll find your big box stores and chain restaurants; TGIF, Chili's, Noodles, etc. If your parents are worried about you spending all your money on drugs but they still want to give you money to go out and have fun, VU offers this thing called crusader cash, which is like a debit card that you put money onto that certain restaurants around town accept.

being super close to Chicago is also really cool. we have a bus that runs from campus to the South Shore Line stop in chesterton which is a train that runs to downtown chicago. It's like 14 dollars all together, round trip.

students are definitely either very privileged, middle class white kids, international students, or kids who are much less privileged and hate the school but are taking advantage of its insanely lax acceptance requirements and awesome financial aid. it's actually such a problem how privileged most of the students are that there's a Welcome Program, which aims to perpetuate acceptance and understanding among students. It's a cool thing, but the reason it's necessary is not. I once had a kid in a class raise his hand and ask if any of the other white male students in our class felt discriminated against for being white males. That's the basic mentality of a pretty good amount of the kids at vu. there's a massive amount of slut shaming and girl hate on campus, just like you dealt with in high school, so beware that if you hook up with the "wrong" person over the weekend, people are going to know about it. there is definitely such thing as popularity and cliques on this campus, and it blows.overall, vu is a good school. the dynamic of the student body is interesting to say the least, the professors generally care about the right things and will do their best to help you actually LEARN, which in turn WILL get you the grade you want (because most professors care more that you understand the material than the fact that you only wrote 3 out of 5 required pages on that paper) and whether or not you enjoy yourself at valpo depends on your personality. It's not right for me, but there are about 5,000 kids there that it IS right for.

2nd Year Female -- Class 2018

Campus Aesthetics: A+, Surrounding City: D+

The academics are wonderful, and challenging, especially for the nursing program. The course load is doable if you work hard. The food gets old after a while, and this school is just as dramatic as a high school, or possibly even worse.

1st Year Female -- Class 2017

Useful Schoolwork: A, Social Life: C-