Northern Lights

Introduction
If you're thinking about coming to Purdue, first, you have to consider the weather. Sure, they'll show you the campus in the fall or in the Spring when it's blazing hot here but you won't see it in the winter unless you come up on your own until your first winter here. To prepare you should probably take a trip to the Arctic Circle. There, at least you have the Northern lights. In fact, while viewing the lights, feel free to wander in the night through the freezing wind. This is how it will feel to go to your classes from about November to March. You will have to get out of bed an hour early to put on enough clothes to actually make it to your class without succumbing to the snow.

I chose Purdue because, like all other potential students, I first saw it in the fall when it was warm and the trees were pretty. The campus was clean and everyone was smiling. Then, I took my campus tour in the spring... when the campus was warm and clean and everyone was happy because the hellish winter was over.

This school is perfect for students interested in the sciences. We specialize in engineering, nursing, and anything aerospace. Those are the students that belong here. If you're looking for a degree in pretty much anything else don't come here. Liberal Arts is clogged, Computer Science is getting a new building but the teachers suck and it's clogged with people dropping out of engineering, Ag is still struggling to maintain a stronghold on campus. We have no music school. Don't come here thinking they'll add a school of music before you graduate, they won't. It won't happen. And don't come here if you get cold easily. Hell, don't come here if you aren't an eskimo or some crazy inuit half-breed.

Campus Life and Social Life
There are tons of clubs and organizations. No matter what you're interested in, there is something here for you. And no matter what you hate, there is something here that will annoy the shit out of you. Liberal? Get ready for the flood of college Republicans. They won't take no for an answer. You're wrong and they will argue with you about it. Conservative? Get ready for the yearly performance of Rocky Horror and the Vagina Monologues. A little uncomfortable around homosexuals? Wait for the yearly Drag Show. No matter who you are, Purdue has an organization to make you highly uncomfortable no matter where you go or who you are.

Parties. Yes, this is a party campus. We don't really rate on the national scale but what does that really matter if you can walk anywhere on campus Thursday to Sunday and run into some sort of party. You can get pulled into a frat party here faster than you can get pulled into a cult. Of course there is a down-side to the frat party; that's right: matching polos with popped collars and guys who are uncomfortable with their personal sexual orientations.

Sports. The arena in which there can be no predictions. In football we had a nine-year streak at the bowl games followed by a several game winning streak season ended with the losing-est streak the school has seen in recent years. Men's basketball is horrible. It hasn't really been good for years. Women's basketball dominates. We have a decent Women's volleyball team. Beyond that, no one cares enough to comment. I think we have a rugby and lacrosse team. Hell if I know though. Academics
Like I said, this is an engineering school. Basically, if you're department isn't a science, it's going to suffer. We like engineers. We like weed-out programs. That's all I can say on that.
As for professors, if you're taking math or science you'd better speak a middle-eastern language. Or chinese. Professors don't really teach classes unless it is a really small class. TAs will become your best friend... if they speak english.

Student Body
Students here are mostly from the Mid-west. These are the sons and daughters of low-level, white-collar, middle-class families. Some of them think they are big-city and some of them embrace the red-neck in themselves but no matter what, they are what they are: uncultured and established. These are not people who go out and try new things. They are afraid of the unknown. It is a comfortable lifestyle of sticking to what they expect college to be: watered-down activism, frat-parties, and no-strings-attached, anonymous sex. It's like a bad movie cliche.

In Closing...
Purdue is where you go if you are interested in science. If that's the case, you'd better not care about having a social life. To do well, you won't have one. Then, you avoid all the major problems. If you aren't into science and you "just love" the campus, it's your loss. You'll be trekking to your mostly empty and vapid Liberal Arts classes in order to receive a degree in fast food management through about a foot of snow and a temperature that can freeze the liquid on your eyeballs.