Purdue University--West Lafayette Student Reviews

Big Picture

The best thing about Purdue is that it is a Big Ten school. When you graduate from Purdue you can be almost guarenteed to get a great job, regardless of your major of study. One thing I'd change about Purdue are the people. I know it sounds broad but generally as a student population the people at Purdue just aren't friendly. I transferred from another college in Indiana where everyone was nice to everyone, says hello, and holds the door open for the person behind them every time. At Purdue you will get none of that. Everyone only cares about themselves and their group of friends. The school is TOO BIG. It is so hard to meet people unless you are a greek. And the greek community is outrageous here. If you're not greek, you're in the minority. I spend most of my time on campus outside. I love the grounds. There are two fountains on campus that are absolutely beautiful and are so nice to sit by and socialize or study. It is so nice to walk to class during the spring and fall, very beautiful. The best thing about being a Purdue is the all-famous "Den Pop". A local store near campus called the Den sells fountain sodas for way cheap. There is usually a line going out the door during finals week for students looking for a caffeine fix. Purdue's administration is acceptable. I like the new President, France Cordova. She seems to have the students interests in mind with a lot of the changes she has been making (new website, new and easier ways to register for classes, etc). The salaries the administration makes are completely out of control but I guess that is the same at every university. Another great thing about Purdue is the Purdue student newspaper (independent) called the Exponent. Everyone and I mean everyone reads this paper on a daily basis. The writers are decent and stories for the most part unbiased. I especially like reading the letters to the editor. There are some seriously heated debates in this section, sometimes the debates go on for weeks. The biggest recent controversy on campus was the Wade Steffey case. Wade Steffey, a Purdue Freshman, went missing one friday night. The police and community searched for Wade for weeks (including Purdue staff) and finally his body was found on campus. The body was found in a dorm electrical room that was supposed to be off-limits to everyone except maintenance. There are locks on the doors and small signs that say "keep out". Obviously someone (a Purdue staffer) did not lock the door as they are supposed to and Wade ended up losing his life. It's not talked about too much about how Purdue screwed up and that bothers me. Also, when Wade went missing I didn't see a comradere I would expect from a student body. Sure, people volunteered to help look, but not near as many that should have. I didn't 'feel the love' as you should during a tragedy. Like I said, in general Purdue students only care about themselves. As far as school pride, there's only really a feeling of pride during the football season. Other than that, school pride goes only as far as wearing your Purdue tee to class. The most unusual thing about Purdue is the foreign population, it's one of the biggest in the nation. Purdue educates a lot of Asians and Indians. When you come to Purdue you don't expect that. Also another unusual thing about Purdue is the smell. The city of West Lafayette and Lafayette smell awful almost 24/7. There are several factories in the area that create seriously foul smells that can almost knock you over. Most of the time it doesn't reach campus but it's there as soon as you step outside of campus. It is the worst in the summer! One last unusual thing about Purdue is the roads. We go to a school full of engineers but the roads around campus and West Lafayette were put together with no sense. Most of the roads are one-ways and it takes forever to get anywhere.