College vs. College

A2Wolves6
Sat, 10 Mar 2007 14:17:56 +0000

I applied and was accepted to both Syracuse and IU. I didn’t visit Syracuse (mainly because of finances), but I researched them and found the following:

Bloomington vs. Syracuse - I do like how Syracuse had a airport, was a semi-major city (150,000 vs. 50,000), and had many of the national chains in it. However, the weather just isn’t good. I’m from Michigan, i’m used to the snow, but I couldn’t deal with it. It’s cold, there’s a ton of snow, and there are tunnels to class because the weather is so bad, if i’m not mistaken. Also, Syracuse has had a declining population for years, isn’t known for being the safest city, and isn’t really the description of a college town. However, Bloomington is really nothing but the college - no bus, no train, no airport. Just another podunk town in the middle of Indiana.

IU students vs. Syracuse Students - I really liked the fact that Syracuse was a private school, because I thought that it would be a diverse environment with people from all over. However, 42% in-state students isn’t exactly what I had in mind, but it still was more than IU. I looked at test scores, and wasn’t very impressed with the typical IU student. IU is a school that weeds a bunch of kids out, who weren’t qualified to go there in the first place. Syracuse’s students are smarter, from all over, and have much more diversity than IU. However, I am a midwest guy, and didn’t really want to go to a school that was really a northeast school, but that’s personal preference.

Academics - I thought the academics were stronger at IU (many very highly ranked programs), especially in the business program that I was going into. IU ranks in the top 10-15 in business, Syracuse is anywhere from 40 to 60+ depending on what ranking you look at. IU was also in the top 5 in the country for my major (management). I also considered Sport Management, which IU had one of the top 5 programs in the country for, and Syracuse was just getting their feet wet (first year in existence). However, go beyond the rankings for a bit. All of my classes at IU have either been 300+ person lecture halls, or small classes taught by graduate students. Syracuse has smaller classes and more personalized attention.

Campus life - IU is a BIG party school. Little 500 weekend (coming up soon) is absolutely ridiculous, tons of national artists come to a little town in Indiana to hold concerts for a weekend that’s all revolved around a bike race. A big thing about IU is that the social scene can be dominated by fraternities and sororities, who plan nearly all the evenets on campus. I gave IU the edge in sports. They are both very good at Basketball, and both bad at football. IU was slightly better in both this year, and is very well rounded - soccer and swimming are among the best in the country. Only 36% of all undergraduates live in on-campus housing, and considering that the freshman class is 24% of that number, that should tell you about the on-campus housing. Syracuse is cool because around 75% of all undergraduates live in the dorms - they aren’t public school dorms and are much more pleasant to live in.

Costs - Indiana’s COA is around 30K/year, Syracuse is around 45K/year. IU’s financial aid consisted of one 6K/year scholarship for me - leaving a big gap between that and my 4 digit EFC. Syracuse offered about 21K in grants, leaving costs to be similar. I liked how IU’s scholarship was guaranteed, but Syracuse had one grant that was only for my freshman year (3 kids in college grant), and I wasn’t very confident in going somewhere where the money wasn’t guaranteed.

Overall, it’s a wash. I chose IU because my priorities were strength in my major, location, and cost. However, if you’re into a better on-campus life, smaller classes, and a more diverse atmosphere, Syracuse would be a solid choice.