Butler University

gabbie-

onu did not call me, but i'm not sure if i want to apply there or not. it is a lot farther from home for me than purdue and butler. and actually, i don't find out if i got accepted to either school until december, but my test scores were high and i have good grades so i'm not worried.

where are you from? i visited butler last year during spring break, and even though i didn't eat there i did LOVE the campus. it is soooo gorgeous, and my mom and i could not believe that we were only a few minutes from downtown indy. it seriously felt like we were in a secluded valley or something, it was so pretty. i'm going to the open house on November 15 just to hang out up there again.

as far as cost goes: i'm applying for nearly every scholarship i can find. even though butler is a lot more expensive than purdue the thing that most appeals to me about BU is there automatic advancement in prepharm. at purdue they admit like 500 students as freshman in the prepharm, but then they all have to reapply for the professional phase after their first 2 years. the school only admits like 25% of these people, so it is EXTREMELY competitive. that right there is enough for me to choose butler. i don't want to have to worry about going through two years of college and then all of a sudden not being able to continue because of not being accepted to a professional program.

 
wow, sorry about all that rambling. haha i just wanted to let you know why i'm so excited about Butler!!!
 

I found the whole college choice to be so difficult too, so I know where you’re coming from! However, I’m also sure you’ll find an amazing university for you, just like I did here at Butler.

My priorities were:

1. Financial Aid

2. Class-size and relationships with professors

3. Academic opportunities

4. Location

5. Cultural Life on campus

6. Student Activities

7. Campus

In the end, after following my priorities and the deep-down-feeling that I belonged at Butler, I turned down Northwestern, Wash U in St. Louis, Pomona College, Kenyon College, University of Michigan and University of Illinois Campus Honors Program (with at least some scholarships from each of these schools, but the best scholarships from Butler.)

 I am Definitely considering cost...because of my parents financial situation.

Also i'm considering only schools with accreditation in psychology.

Also location is key...i am pretty much sticking to about a max of 3 hrs from home...mostly schools near cinci/columbus/louisville/lexington/indianapolis.

 I have like 6 main schools on my list to apply to right now!....stresss...and retaking the ACT!!

 how diverse is Butler..what types of people live there what types of environment is the university in (nice city...ghetto?)

We are nearly 10% multicultural. Indianapolis is a great city, but there has been some crime in the area lately.  I think any time the economy goes sour, crime rises everywhere, and being in a city of 1,000,000 we can't escape that. There are definitely pockets of high crime in the Indy area.  For crime on the Butler campus, you can check out these stats from 2007: http://www.butler.edu/bupd/book/crimeReport2007.pdf

When you come to visit this weekend, take a drive down Meridian St., just .6 miles east of campus.  It's one of the most historical areas around.  I think as long as you are reasonable in your actions, you'll be safe.

Amy- I am actually from central New York so Butler is pretty far for me. Purdue sounds like my state school, University of Buffalo-easy to get in hard to stay in. I hate that they accept so many kids and don't have room for that many in the professional years.

is butler in the middle of indianapolis or is it off to the side of the main part of the city?

Butler is on the north side of Indianapolis - the best side, in my opinion : ) 

We're in the beautiful Butler-Tarkington neighborhood (seriously, take Brad's recommendation and check out the mansions on Meridian St!), right next to the canal, close to Broad Ripple, and also only about 15 minutes South of the huge suburban malls.

Basically, the important thing to know is that we are in a neighborhood.  We are not an "urban" college like NYU or other schools where you walk out of your dorm and are on the city streets.  We are surrounded by houses, schools, churches, etc... but very close to downtown. It takes me about 12 minutes to drive to the center of the city. 

I'll supplement Christina's post a bit....

Where Butler is located is better than being downtown (in my opinion) because we can get downtown really quickly, but it also takes five minutes to get to Broad Ripple, and 15 minutes to get up to Keystone / Castleton malls, which have a lot of the shopping and restaurants that people love! The only downside is that it takes us about half an hour to get up to Clay Terrace, which is an outdoor mall and has some of the best restaurants in the area (although some of the restaurants downtown are pretty awesome too).

But as Christina said, we're in the middle of a residential area....we have tons of trees on campus! If feels a lot more suburban than urban.