Indiana University Bloomington
Responses from the Student Interview
From a student who identifies as Major: Sports Marketing and Management
Minors: Business and Marketing
Student Self Identifies as: Caucasian Straight Male
Summary
I participate in Young Life, which is a non-denominational Christian ministry. We’d break into teams and go to local high schools in the area to mentor students.
Background
Gender Identity: Male
Race/Ethnicity: Caucasian
Sexual Orientation: Straight
High School Experience: Public school in Richmond, Indiana with about 300 students in the graduating class. To a certain extent, there was a culture of going to college. As far as branching out and going farther away to school, I don’t think it’s that common.
Major: Sports Marketing and Management
Minors: Business and Marketing
Extracurricular Activities: I participate in Young Life, which is a non-denominational Christian ministry. We’d break into teams and go to local high schools in the area to mentor students.
Academic Experience
Can you describe your weekly coursework for your major?
For the most part, it was pretty laid back. There was not a lot of reading. There was a group project in just about every class. The group projects were the major graded assignments, and then we’d have a lot of essays. Depending on the class, you’d work in a team on the essay.
Is there anything you feel your major’s department does especially well or especially poorly?
They did a pretty good job of providing students with job and internship updates. They kept us pretty informed when opportunities opened up.
What was your favorite class in your major?
Legal Issues in Sport. That most interesting to me because I’m planning on going to law school for sports law.
What was your least favorite class in your major?
There isn’t a specific class that comes to mind. There were a few that were pretty easy and seemed like common sense because if you had been following sports for a while you pretty much knew everything they were discussing.
How would you describe the learning environment? Do you think it was particularly competitive or collaborative?
I think it was pretty laid back. I think everyone was willing to help each other. I didn’t get a sense of competitiveness among other students.
Why did you choose your major? Are you happy with your choice?
I was originally a Sports Communication because I thought I wanted to be on TV or writing stories about sports. I took a few classes my freshman year and wasn’t that interested in it, so I switched over to the Sports Marketing & Management major because I wanted something more challenging and I really love sports, so it seemed like a good thing. I’m pretty happy with it. I had to take a lot of business classes, which pushed me because I hadn’t taken a lot of business classes before.
Reasons to Attend
1) Because it’s a big school, you have a lot of great resources and alumni to reach out to.
2) There are nice facilities.
3) The friendships you can form there. Once you find your niche or community it becomes a lot smaller.
4) Bloomington is great. It’s a good-sized city for me. It’s a healthy mix of not being a big city and not being a pure college town.
Reasons Not to Attend
1) Depending on your major and what you want to focus on, it can be hard for career development.
Around Campus
Where have you lived on campus?
Freshman: Forest with one roommate
Sophomore: Spruce, and I had my own room but I had one suitemate who I shared a bathroom with.
Junior & Senior: I lived in an apartment building with three other roommates called Regency.
What was your favorite living situation?
Definitely Regency, that was a great place to live. I enjoyed living with my roommates and a bunch of my friends also lived in that area. If I ever got fed up with my roommates I could just head over next door.
Can you describe the level of safety you’ve experienced on and around campus?
I always felt reasonably safe. I didn’t witness anything that made me concerned about my safety. When there were incidents, IU provided timely information about what was going on.
What is your favorite off-campus restaurant?
Aver’s Pizza
What is your favorite place to get away from campus?
Lake Monroe. It’s about 20 minutes away from Bloomington. There are various places you can go and hang out.
Social Opportunities
What kind of weekend activities or nightlife do you like to participate in?
For a while, it was pretty quiet because I wasn’t 21 and was surrounded by a religious group of friends. I didn’t really do anything like that my freshman and sophomore year. When I turned 21 during my junior year there was an increase. There’s pretty good nightlife at Indiana, there’s a lot of bars. You have the packed, wild bars and also the quiet bars.
What is your favorite bar to go to?
I like to go to the Vid, [The Video Saloon]. It’s a good mix of chill and kind of quiet, but there is still a good amount of people there.
What kind of stuff would your friends and you like to do during your freshman and sophomore year?
If we weren’t going out, we would probably get together at an apartment or house and play some board games, watch movies or TV shows, or go and explore Bloomington.
How happy were you with the weekend options at Indiana? Is there anything you would change?
I was very pleased. I had a good group of friends who could make wherever we went fun, but also the places were fun as well. Bloomington is a pretty neat town in the sense that there’s a lot to do in the surrounding areas as well. If you want to go hiking, there are state parks, or if you want to go to the water, there are lakes.
Campus Culture
How did you meet your closest friends?
Through Young Life and getting involved in that organization. There was a pretty good community and I made a lot of friends through that.
How would you describe the overall social scene?
It’s a big school, so it can be a little overwhelming. I think if you get involved and find your community it gets smaller. Now, I could go to class and I could guarantee you I’d see at least one person I knew. [There are about 32,000 undergraduate students.]
Do you think people are generally happy with Indiana by senior year? Do you think people leave loving Indiana?
Yes, I think they do. At least every person I’ve spoken to has loved their time at Indiana. I know a lot of people who are sad to leave Indiana and Bloomington because they love it. I’m going to be sad to leave.
Careers
Has the alumni network helped you find internships or jobs?
For me in particular, no, just because I knew I was going to continue to go to school after this. There were many opportunities for me to do that. Teachers would bring in guests who they knew to speak and that would be a great networking opportunity for those who want to.
Have you learned any computer programs that will be especially helpful to you professionally?
We have a class called K201 [The Computer in Business] which is a huge, huge help. I still use it to this day. It teaches you Microsoft Access and Excel. I really loved that class.