Getting To Know: Indiana University-Bloomington-Again
During the early years that I wrote school profiles I took an extended visit to Indiana University-Bloomington (aka ‘IU’).
Back then, I knew of IU as a college basketball power, a place to get a first-class education in business and the performing arts, and home to the 1979 Academy Award and Golden Globe award-winning movie Breaking Away. Featuring a young Daniel Stern and young Dennis Quaid, Breaking Away ranks eighth on the list of America’s 100 Most Inspiring Movies compiled by the American Film Institute. Breaking Away showcases the Little 500, the largest collegiate bike race in the country.
Today Indiana University takes a back seat to several Big ten schools in basketball, but a front seat in college football.
The Hoosiers have made the playoffs two seasons in a row. This season they went unbeaten, won the Big Ten, claimed the top playoff seed, blew out perennial power Alabama, and Big Ten rival Oregon, and won the National Championship with a 27-21 win over the University of Miami.. Their quarterback, Fernando Mendoza, won the Heisman Trophy; he was recognized as the best player in college football for 2025. Head coach Curt Cignetti, was deservedly recognized as National Coach of the Year.
Aside from winning their first National Championship in football, IU has won 24 National Championships in other sports, including five in men’s basketball, eight in men’s soccer and six in men’s swimming and diving. IU is the alma mater of Olympic swimmer Mark Spitz, winner of seven gold medals in the 1972 Olympics. Only swimmer Micheal Phelps has won more in a single Olympics (eight).
While I can’t report on how the performance of the football team has influenced admissions; that will come after this cycle has concluded. I’d like to try to update you about the university. I also invite you to check out my updated Pinterest page.
Indiana University has nearly 37,000 undergrads.
It’s certainly a very large school, though it has only the eighth largest undergraduate student body in the Big Ten. For those who come from New Jersey, IU has about as many undergrads as Rutgers on a campus with 600 fewer acres. It’s a less intimidating place to get around on foot than Rutgers and students can walk into the downtown of a very nice college town.
One thing I’ve noticed: rentals in Bloomington area getting pricy. Greek life attracts a quarter of the undergraduate student body, twice the percentage of Rutgers, more than Purdue, but not quite the same as the larger Southern public universities like the University of Alabama or the University of South Carolina. The university can house 30 percent of the undergrads, on the lower side for a very large state school.
Overall, Indiana University is not exceptionally selective.
Across all of the undergraduate schools, 78%of applicants to the Class of 2028 were accepted. The middle 50 percent of the class scored between 1170 and 1400 on the SAT and between 27 and 33 on the SAT. For comparisons sake these numbers for Rutgers-New Brunswick were between 1310 and 1500 and between 28 and 33. Just over 40 percent of IU’s undergrads come from other states.
Being less selective than most Big Ten schools, Indiana University attracts its largest share of out-of-state students from Illinois, followed by New Jersey, California and New York. However, despite being less selective, IU graduates over two thirds of its freshmen in four years. That’s about the same as Rutgers. Freshman retention is excellent; over 90 percent of first-year students return for their sophomore year.
However, some Indiana University schools are far more selective than others.
The Kelley School of Business accepted just over a third of all applicants according to Poets & Quants for Undergrads. While these students did not all have a mind-blowing high school GPA–average was 3.67–their average SAT composite score was 1440. The nursing school is even more selective, accepting less than a fifth as direct admits. The acceptance rate for the Jacobs School of Music is reported to be 25 percent.
Indiana University has impressive academic opportunities.
I’ll start with Kelley, which has 19 majors, more than one would find at most undergraduate business schools. For comparison, Wharton has an equal number of concentrations, their term for majors. Purdue has nine majors and eight concentrations one can add to a major.
Now I’ll touch on some in the other schools.
- While Iu does not have a conventional engineering school, the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing and Engineering offers seven disciplines within Computer Science, including Intelligent Systems Engineering.
- The Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture and Design grants degrees in Fashion Design and Merchandising as well as a cross-disciplinary major in Comprehensive Design..
- The O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs offers three leadership programs.
- IU’s Lugar School of Global and International Policy offers degrees in Cyber security & Global Policy and Global Media
- The Hutton Honors College is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the country.
IU has over 200 undergraduate majors, with options in some subjects such as h as cybersecurity, offered in more than one school. One piece of advice: those who have their hearts set on Kelley should check out similar majors at he other undergraduate schools. For example, the Sport Marketing and Management program is offered in the School of Public Health. Arts Management and Healthcare Management are offered at O’Neill.
Indiana University is a great buy for residents, less so for non residents.
Resident tuition and fees for the current academic year were just over $12,000, sixth lowest in the Big Ten. However, the non-resident charges, just over $42,000 were the seventh-highest in the conference. Just ver a third of the Class of 2028 received need-based scholarships that average over $13,000. The average merit-based award was not exceptionally generous, just over $5,600.
Maintaining a fairly reasonable resident tuition and fees probably helped students to keep debt down. Less than 40 percent of 2024 graduates had to borrow to cover educational costs. But those who did owed, on average, over $29,000. The maximum that they could have borrowed for four years through the Federal Student Loan Program was $27,000.
Conclusions
My impression is that students from places like California, New Jersey and New York are attracted to IU for some of the same reasons that they like the larger Southern state universities. These include the campus social life and competitive athletics. Now, that includes the football team. However, no one should ignore IU’s numerous academic opportunities.
The Report Card: Indiana University Bloomington
- Four-Year/Six-Year Graduation Rates: B+/A
- Freshman Retention:A
- Costs: B
- Comforts: B
- Community: A
- Curriculum: A
- Connections: A
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