As everyone’s move in dates become closer to becoming reality, it has become surreal to many of us freshman that we will be packing up our lives and living in a brand new environment for 9 months. I have been dreaming about leaving my small city/big town forever and it will become a reality this Wednesday. Purdue University was not my first choice when picking schools. To be honest, it was like 15th out of 20 schools, but today I’m going to show you why I chose Purdue as my next home for 4 (maybe more, I like to party) years.
I know what everyone is thinking, Indiana isn’t really a diverse place, isn’t it just filled with a bunch of white farm people. To answer that, you’re only half right. Indiana as a state has many pockets with varying races and liberal ideas. I happen to come from one of those, Northwest Indiana, my home for the last 19 years. Us people, by Lake Michigan, enjoy acting like we’re from Chicago when we’re not. So, I wanted that diverse lifestyle that I had become accustomed to. It wasn’t until deciding after acceptances that I found out that Purdue has a huge (Donald Trump) international student population. In fact, in 2015 they had over 10,000 international students. So I knew I wouldn’t be stuck knowing the same people I knew for the past 13 years of school.
For me, location was very important when choosing a college. I did not want to live in a college town with very little to do. I’ve lived in one for a long time. I wanted a school with a substantial population. It is not too big and I know big cities, I live a 35 minute drive from Chicago, so some weekends I would end up taking trips there. I hated the big cities; they’re dirty, smell bad and there is too much walking. West Lafayette is the perfect size.
Depending on who you ask distance should or shouldn’t be a factor when choosing your school. For me it was. I genuinely thought I wanted to go far away for school, but after visiting a college out of state, I realized it was way too different. Purdue is only an hour and half away from my home town, so that means if I want to go home for the weekend, no big deal. Additionally, my mom can’t make surprise visits.
Purdue University is really great. It treats everyone like a family. Not only does the school make you feel like family, but I have had past family members attend the university. Both my mother and grandfather attended the College of Agriculture, making me a third generation Boilermaker. I did not originally want to attend Purdue because of my legacy, but upon visiting I felt at home.
Purdue is a leading pioneer in technology. For an undeclared student like myself, this gives me a world of opportunities to explore. I don’t know what I want to major in yet, but the Exploratory Studies Program gives me a chance to discover what I truly want to do for the rest of my life.
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