BOILER UP!

Introduction
The biggest piece of advice I would give a high school student considering Purdue University would be to definitely take part in a "day on campus" type of activity prior to enrolling. You can not fully appreciate all that Purdue has to offer (i.e. the surrounding local hotspots, parties and people) if you don't experience them firsthand. Purdue's newspaper, The Exponent, is an independent newspaper...I think like the biggest in the nation...and they provide a virtual tour through their website called the Virtual Village that lets students check out the campus prior to arrival. I chose this school because of the large diversity of student body. There are people from every race, background and orientation present at Purdue, but the atmosphere still remains laid-back. This allows each student the opportunity to check out things and ideas foreign to them, which I think helps create a well-rounded individual. Also there is a huge curriculum that gives students the chance to major/minor in a lot of fields and really explore different areas of interest. In all honesty, any type of student is welcome at Purdue because there is something for everybody. That said...I would say if you hate fun or good times, then you should probably look else where.

Campus Life and Social Life
Social life at Purdue is pretty sweet. If you want to greek we have a huge system for that, if you want to play sports we are Big 10 in everything (really doesn't get much better as far as conferences go) and it seems like everyday there are new clubs popping up like the Death Metal club and Skydiving clubs. And the bar scene down here is excellent as well from Campus Bars to bump and grind at to chill spots to socialize we've got it all. And it also seems like every other house you walk up to has a party or something goin on, especially during sporting events and weekends, it's like a festival down here. Academics
Academics is huge here as well and Purdue is primarily known for their technological fields like Engineering and Computer Science. However, the Liberal Arts programs are some of the best in the nation as well. The only thing that sucks is that most of non-lecture classes are taught by TAs, which can either be a blessing or a curse. The workload for the tech students is HUGE, so I hear, so definitely make sure that's the field you want to do. If it's not, then you have a multitude (we learn big words like that here too) of other areas in which to declare a major.

Student Body
The students are really chill for the most part...I mean Purdue is just like anywhere else: you have your meatheads, jocks, Greeks, geeks, hippies, indies, emo's, punks and really anything else you can think of. It's really all about finding your groove and associating with the type of people you like. Even the people you think you won't like may surprise you when you get to know them. Just give everyone a chance and you won't be sorry. Students range from international to local, like I said it's just a huge melting pot where you'll definitely be around people from your area, no matter where that might be. I would say that the music scene is pretty big down here as well. Everyone has their taste and their group but everyone is also allowed to try out new stuff without feeling too out of place. I mean you'll have jerks that are committed to the "character" that their group feels they need to portray but overall it's a pretty cool atmosphere. I would say the three biggest activities here are partying/tailgating, sports (like disc golf) and clubs, from social to major- oriented.

In Closing...
Purdue has been a great place to go to school for me. I have definitely been exposed to a lot of things that I would have missed out on otherwise. Probably the biggest thing to do would be to get involved in everything you can from intramurals to the Exponent Newspaper to bartending. Just get out there and do it. Don't hold yourself back at all, because you'll regret it down the line when you are old, with no hair and a potbelly worrying about credit reports in a cubicle. Live it up wherever you go...BOILER UP!