Description of the video:

IU Admitted Student Event: Session One

Descriptive transcript

[Video: The presentation shows a photo of the Sample Gates on the IU campus, with lush trees surrounding the brick path that goes through the limestone gates. Flowers are blooming in the flowerbeds next to the gates. In the corner of the screen is view of the speaker, with the speaker’s name, McKenna Kiker. The photo changes to show a clock tower and limestone buildings on campus surrounding by trees and flowers. The next photo shows a closer view of the Student Building and clock tower. Another photo shows red tulips blooming and a limestone building in the background. The next photo shows the back of a statue sitting on a bench with tulips just beyond and a limestone well house in the background. The photo disappears and the screen goes red.]

[Words appear: You earned it! Let the world know you’re a Hoosier by tagging your photos with hashtag IU said yes and at IU Admissions.]

[Video: A set of three photos appear with students holding a red envelope with the words hashtag IU said yes on them. The next photo shows the Showalter Fountain in front of the IU Auditorium, with water spraying from the sculptures in the fountain. A new photo shows the IU Auditorium with banners of the IU seal hanging in between the columns. The next photo shows a walkway bordered by flowers. A new photo shows the Metz Carillon, a huge tower in the center of the grassy arboretum. Next, a photo shows a large, red clock in front of colorful autumn trees. Another photo shows a limestone sign with Indiana University carved in it. The photo disappears and the screen goes red.]

[Words appear: Thank you for joining! We’ll begin shortly. Hashtag IU said yes.]

[Video: A new photo shows the Sample Gates with a colorful sunset in the background. Students walk through the gates.]

[Words appear: Welcome to the IU Admitted Student Event.]

McKenna: Hello, all. And welcome to our virtual admitted student event. My name is McKenna Kiker and I am from Aspen, Colorado. I'm a junior studying supply chain management and business analytics within the Kelly School of Business here at IU. We are so happy to have you here today and have an awesome event planned for you. Just to optimize everyone's experience throughout the event, we have your cameras and your microphones muted. But if you do have questions that you want to be answered by our team, there is a little Q and A button right below the Q and A where you can answer questions and our team will help you answer all of those.]

[Video: The presentation shows a photo of McKenna and several other students sitting on a wall outside of the Indiana Memorial Union.]

[Words appear: McKenna K. Hometown: Aspen, Colorado. Major: supply chain management and business analytics.]

McKenna: First we would like to learn a bit more about you and to do so we are going to have a few polls pop up on your screen. The first poll is where are you joining us from? IU has a wide range of locations that we draw from and we really would love to know where people are located. Awesome, I see a lot of Midwest people out there. Maybe some people from outside of the United States which we draw a lot of students from. This is awesome. So happy to hear where you all are from. The second poll that we would like to ask you today is who is joining with you today? Are you by yourself? Are you with a mom or a dad? Maybe an aunt and uncle? We would love to know who you are with today just so we can kind of tailor some of those questions with you. Thank you for answering all those polls. I see that there is a lot of parents out there, too, so hopefully we can answer some of your questions as well. So thanks again for sharing that information. Over the next three sessions we will provide the next steps and give you the opportunity to hear from staff and current IU students.

[Video: A new slide appears that shows the agenda.]

[Words appear: Admitted student event schedule. Session one welcome and congratulations expert panel. Session two student panel. Session three academic sessions. Q and A rooms international student Q and A financial aid.]

McKenna: We know you may not be able to attend all of the sessions, and that is okay. We hope that you are able to connect to those that you are most interested in talking to. And ways which you are able to explore IU a little bit more. The first thing you will want to do if you haven't yet is book mark the event page, go dot IU dot e d u slash a s e dash lobby. This will ensure that you can easily access the site quickly and if you ever lose touch with our Zoom session. In our first session we have brought together staff in admissions, residential programs and services, and the office of first year experience to provide the next steps and share some of the opportunities you can explore as an incoming student here at IU. Session two is all about student experience. You will be able to hear from current students like myself to learn more about the IU experience. And how you are able to engage on campus, both inside and outside of the classroom. Our third and final session will focus more on academic opportunities. You will be able to engage with staff from your interested school, college, or major and they will provide additional academic resources to you. Additionally, we have two Q and A rooms that will be available throughout the event this evening. There will be one room available to learn more about how financial aid works and another room available for international students. If you have specific questions regarding those topics. These rooms will be open at the conclusion of our opening session today until the end of the event. You will hear more from you later, but for now please join us in welcoming, Sacha Thieme, Assistant Vice Provost and Executive Director of Admissions.

[Video: The presentation slide changes to show a photo of Sacha along with the words Sacha Thieme, Assistant Vice Provost and Executive Director of Admissions. Sacha is seen in the smaller frame in the upper right corner.]

Sacha: Thank you, McKenna. Hello students and welcome! We are so honored and excited to host you in this virtual admitted student program. Now we certainly invite you to visit your beautiful campus but this visit experience is still unique and especially important as we are delivering information directly to you wherever you are in the world and you can ask your questions to our colleagues and staff here. First, I want to take this opportunity to congratulate you again. You all received that big red envelope but today we get to celebrate your hard work in a slightly different way. And family members and supporters who are joining us this evening, we celebrate and honor you as well to give a special shout out to our alumni and families who have supported a student in an IU journey. We know your commitment and support has directly contributed to this special moment. So welcome all. And speaking of such a special moment, I want to mention that we have representation from 42 states and 16 different countries just in our event this evening. Students, that is just a glimpse of the type of diversity and community you will be a part of at IU. Even though you are from places near and far, you have all come together to this place and potentially to share an IU experience.

[Video: A photo replaces the text on the screen. It shows a limestone building on campus with ornate carvings. Another photo appears showing two students collaborating in the classroom, and another photo shows a student walking on campus with bright autumn leaves in the background.

Sacha: IU brings students from far and wide with a million different life experiences and everyone comes together to learn with and from each other. Students, you will use your time at IU to truly become your best you.

[Video: Another photo appears showing crowds of students gathered outside the union.]

Sacha: And think about how amazing it will be to share this experience with new friends from literally around the globe. And with faculty who spent their lives researching the topics you are excited to study. Think of how your experiences in this special environment will launch you into a successful and especially fulfilling future.

[Video: A collage of photos show students in different spaces on campus: walking through the Sample Gates, walking on campus in the fall, at Commencement, cheering at a student event.]

Sacha: And we know that as you enter your college experience, you gonna be preparing for careers that may not yet be imagined. You will do this by exploring and even combining different combinations from more than two hundred majors, five hundred and fifty different academic programs.

[Video: A photo shows yellow and white flowers blooming near a limestone bench featuring a carved IU.]

Sacha: You will work with advisers and faculty who are trained to support students on a truly interdisciplinary path and you will take advantage of specialized career services for each of our twelve schools plus our career development center to get you started.

[Video: The next photo shows a red metal sculpture on campus, with building in the background.]

Sacha: All of those staff support will help you package those experiences in a way to lead to the outcome that is perfectly right for you.

[Video: A new photo shows the tall limestone tower of the Wells Library with fall foliage surrounding it.]

Sacha: And then when you think about adding the rest of your friends through one of the largest alumni networks in the nation, over 750,000 strong, you have all of the support you need in your journey. Students, for you it might be our top-rated School of Education or highly ranked Kelley School of Business or you may want to major in English and prepare for med school at the same time.

[Video: A collage of photos shows scenes from campus: red and white tulips with the Student Building clock tower in the background, an ornate red clock, a gargoyle sculpture perched on a rooftop.]

Sacha: That is all here and it's all great. And if you can't find some perfect combination, you may even consider our individualized major programs. You may take advantage of more than 80 different languages, more than any university in the nation. And IU students that you meet today through our panels in this program are going to give you a good glimpse of how you can do this mixing and matching.

[Video: Another photo appears and shows the glass atrium of the biology building, with students walking and biking on the paths around the building.]

Sacha: At IU, you’re gonna prepare for this exciting future by combining your academic learning in the classroom with practical and equally meaningful and high impact experiences.

[Video: A new photo shows students sitting in an outdoor amphitheater listening while four harpists perform.]

Sacha: You will get the experience you need by taking advantage of the second largest semester long oversea study program and the fifth largest overall overseas study program in the country with more than 380 different unique offerings, truly making the globe and extension of your classroom.

[Video: A photo shows two students sitting at outdoor tables working on their computers.]

Sacha: You will get to test your theories and your interests by conducting critical research in your field with your faculty but these are also the people that maybe developed the theories. They’re world-renowned researchers.

[Video: A collage of photos shows students outdoors on campus, sitting on a bench, next to a creek, sitting under a tree, three students sitting on stairs, and standing next to the art museum.]

Sacha: You will secure internships that give you direct experience in the work related to your course of study, may even inspire you to consider career paths you hadn't yet considered. All of this opportunity for professional success. And it's bundled with the experience of personal fulfillment. Students, this is where you will forge life-long friendships and build amazing memories.

[Video: A photo shows the outside of the angular Eskenazi Museum of Art, with sculptures in front of the building. Another photo shows the Showalter Fountain, with water spraying from the fish sculptures over the reclining woman sculpture. The IU Auditorium is in the background.]

Sacha: You will get to experience a year-round arts and cultural environment. More than eleven hundred performances just through our Jacobs School of Music alone. You might participate in one or more of our seven hundred and fifty student organizations and absolutely cheer on your fellow students who are world class athletes in assembly hall or our Broadway performers that are already getting their start here at IU. You may attend one of their productions that could have been written, directed, designed, or performed by one of your friends or even you.

[Video: A collage shows more scenes from campus: a sculpture, a red clock, tulips outside the Sample Gates and Rose Well house, the clock tower through the trees.]

Sacha: The idea is that you will directly contribute to the future of this place, with the experiences and interests you will bring. There are just so many options waiting for you. And at IU, you turn these options into opportunities.

[Video: A photo shows the IU Auditorium at night, with lights shining on the banners on the side of the building.]

Sacha: You will be working toward a degree that’s gonna truly set you apart. An experience designed to fit the times with award-winning professors, students from all over the world, and classes truly built for the modern era.

[Video: A small crowd of students is shown cheering while seated in an outdoor amphitheater. Next, a photo shows the drummers of the IU Marching Hundred performing in the street with a crowd of people watching.]

Sacha: You will study and you will live among the future leaders, artists, and policy makers of our world. And together you are the third century of Indiana University. Families, tonight we have developed a robust agenda for your virtual visit experience and we hope you use this space to ask questions and gather the important information that you need. At this time, I'm going to kick this back over to McKenna to provide you with more information regarding your next experience with the program.

[Video: A collage shows students on campus: one running in a gymnasium, another working at a computer in a common area, another smiling in a campus building, and one sitting outside listening to music.]

Sacha: Know how excited we are. We want to applaud you, celebrate you, and thank you for your interest in Indiana university. We wish you the greatest success in the next stage of your academic career. We really hope that journey leads you to IU. Congratulations and enjoy your evening.

[Video: The screen shows McKenna’s information again. McKenna appears in the speaker frame.]

McKenna: Thank you so much, Sacha. And now I would like to share a bit more about my own unique IU story. I chose to come to IU in kind of a unique way. I first wanted to go to a small liberal arts school. I had my heart set on that since my freshman year of high school. Out of all things, I decided to choose IU. I came to this decision when I toured IU the week before decision day. And with that tour, I got to see the amazing and wonderful, beautiful campus. Through information sessions like these, I noticed that there were so many opportunities for students here at IU. Since that tour and the moments following that tour when I decided to say yes to IU and take that risk of going to a Big Ten school, I have not regretted it since. I have really been able to take the opportunities that have been given to me including the career centers here at IU and where I have been really able to develop who I want to be and what I want to become and I have been able to nail down an internship at Grant Thornton this summer because of that and because of the advisers who are really dedicated to learning more about me and what I want to do with my life. Just personalizing the experience to me.
I've also been able to get really involved and make the big school feel small through some of the organizations that I have become a part of including women in business, the women's network. I have become a student ambassador which is a great community to get involved in. The ski and snowboard club to really get back to my roots of Colorado. Through this I have been able to find small communities and friends that really make IU feel like a home away from home. Other than that, I have been able to not only get involved with IU but Bloomington itself through other volunteering opportunities with Hoosier Hills, our food bank, and just really being able to explore all of what Bloomington has to offer, including Monroe Lake and Griffy Lake and just all of the great outdoor experiences that you can do as a student on the weekends. Once again, I really feel like you can't make a small school big but you can make a big school small. So with that, IU has been the greatest decision I have made since and I really hope that you make that decision as well. Now that you know more about what your IU experience could be like, it's time to start taking the next steps to becoming a Hoosier. I would like to welcome Luke Bilotta, Assistant Director of Admissions, to get our first panel started and answer some of your questions.

[Words appear: Office of Admissions, Luke Bilotta, admissions at Indiana dot e d u. Residential Programs and Servides (RPS), Sara Ivey-Lucas, ask r p s at Indiana dot e d u. Office of First Year Experience Programs (FYE), Sara Nagy, f y e at Indiana dot e d u.]

[Video: Luke appears in the speaker frame.]

Luke: Thank you so much, McKenna. Hi, everyone. Good evening, good afternoon, good morning as we’ve got students from all around the world. We are so excited to have you join us today virtually. My name is Luke Bilotta, I'm the assistant director of recruitment here in the Office of Admissions. Also a proud alum of IU so I'm so excited to get to share a little bit about my home with you guys today. First off, again, I just want to congratulate you all on your admission to IU. We are so excited that you guys are considering joining us as your home for the next four years. So just taking this moment to be so proud of your accomplishments as you look back on high school as it comes to an end, we are excited to share that with you and we hope that you are continuing to consider IU and this informational session is very helpful for you all. So going forward, we will have a short panel. Together we brought together a really strong team of people from admissions. I'm also going to be joined by a member of our housing department also known as Residential Programs and Services. Along with a member of our Office of First Year Experience, to discuss unique IU housing, orientation, first year experiences for you guys as you transition to IU as a current student. With this in mind, we have another poll for you all. First, we would like to know what are you most interested in learning about today? Is it campus life? Culture at IU? Is it the housing process that you most want to hear about today? Maybe it's the student organizations, getting involved. The steps to enroll? Any of the resources? What are you most interested in. Go ahead and leave your answer in the poll.
It looks like we have people interested in housing. This is the place to be for that. Campus life, we absolutely answer that, and all of the above. I promise you, we will go through all of these things for you. Thank you so much for answering that poll for us and sharing a little bit more what you are most interested in hearing. Again, we will have the opportunity to discuss all of this information with our experts, I will have them introduce themselves and they will share a little bit about their role and then you guys will have the opportunity to ask any of your specific questions using the Q and A feature. I know you have already been using that and you’ll be able to ask any of our experts any of your questions that you guys have. So please use the Q and A functionality on your Zoom toolbar. If you have questions in addition, our experts will have staff behind the scenes answering questions as well if we can't get to everyone's while on the screen. So first, I will hand it over to Sara Ivey-Lucas, in RPS, and have her go ahead and introduce herself.

[Words appear: RPS Residential Programs and Services.]

[Video: Sara appears in the speaker frame.]

Sara I.: Wonderful. Thanks, Luke. Good evening, good morning, good afternoon. As Luke said to everyone, my name is Sara Ivey-Lucas and I'm the director for residential programs and services and residential life and an assistant dean on campus so I look forward to giving you some quick information about our programs and what we offer. And then answering questions.

[Words appear: One. Residential Programs and Services. Assignment process for new students. Submit residency exemption requests before applying for housing. The two hundred dollar application fee is not refundable. Assignments will be processed by groups and not individual application dates.]

Sara I.: So, a couple of key things to note and I know questions have come up in the chat. We do have a residency requirement for all students to live on campus during their first year. So, you will want to make plans to complete that contract and application by May first, is our priority deadline and then we have some additional groups later than that. But you want to pay that two hundred dollars and apply by May first to have the best chance of getting the housing options that you want.

[Words appear: Two. Group one, open February first, two thousand and twenty-two at four p.m. through May first at eleven fifty-nine p.m. Assignment basis at or below requested cost category and one preference. Group two, open May second two thousand and twenty-two at midnight through June first at eleven fifty-nine p.m. Assignment basis at or below rate category or one preference. Group three, open June second two thousand and twenty-two at midnight through July first at eleven fifty-nine p.m. Assignment basis any available room. Group four, open July second two thousand and twenty-two at midnight through contract start date. Assignment basis available room or temporary space.]

Sara I.: And as you can see on the next slide like I said we have this broken out into groups. So based on how soon you get your housing application and contract completed, we do try to guarantee some number of your housing preferences if those are our learning communities, the neighborhood and side of campus you want to live on, or a cost preference. We will always guarantee mutual roommate requests, again as long as those are mutual which means that not only do you have to request each other as people but all of your other preferences need to match as well. So again, encourage you to get your application in sooner rather than later but you have until May first to be in that first priority group window. I have seen a couple of questions coming through in the chat about roommate finding and where to look and how to know who you might want to live with. There are some on-line resources and Facebook groups that you can join where students can interact with one another.

[Words appear: Three. Your roommate options. You can request a roommate, accept a randomly assigned roommate, request a single room. Please note: Roommate requests must be mutual. Differences in cost category and learning community selections, or medical needs may nullify mutual roommate requests.]

Sara I.: There are also options to just use your own personal networks to find those folks. It's also okay to go what we call random and to allow our computer system to match you with someone based just on what your housing preferences are. Generally, about forty percent of our incoming students will request a mutual roommate. So a fair number of people are going random and accept that random assignment. There is a process where you can request single rooms if you need to do that. And I would also make a note that in the contract and application there is a space for you to complete a medical verification form. So, if you have any special medical conditions, dietary needs, mobility issues, hearing, vision issues that might impact how you navigate our residence halls, we would encourage you to notify us of that as soon as possible so we can help you make any appropriate accommodations in your housing assignment.

[Video: A graphic appears with the number four and the title residential curriculum. The graphic has four circles. The first shows the Earth with the words civic stewardship. The second shows a brain with the words intellectual engagement. The third shows two hands clasped and forming a heart with the words understanding self and others. The fourth shows a lotus flower and a figure sitting in front of it with the words wellbeing.]

Sara I.: And I want to highlight and say that within residential programs and services we have wonderful staff who are dedicated to student success. Answering questions, providing support. We have twenty-four-hour maintenance staff and a wonderful environmental operations team that does our cleaning. So, everybody is really geared toward student success in the residence halls. Part of how our undergraduate staff assists with that is that they will be working with students on their floor to follow a residential curriculum. So we talk about four key issues throughout the academic year with students on an ongoing basis. But we are always talking about your intellectual engagement and how you are doing with academics. We are talking about your personal wellbeing and mental health and how all of that plays into learning about yourself so you can do great things. We encourage our students to think about how they understand others and themselves and relationship with one another. Sometimes that's really basic life things. Just how are you getting along with the roommate or the neighbor next door who might be a little bit louder or have different interests than you do. And sometimes it's more global issues and moving into, as McKenna said, how you engage with the community, volunteer opportunities. How you think about global politics and all of those things. So, we just encourage that really well-rounded student experience and you get to pick and choose the pieces of that that appeal to you and work for you. The other thing that I will highlight in terms of our application and process is how that plays into our residential curriculum is our learning communities.

[Words appear: Five. Learning communities. Living Learning Centers: Civic Leaders LLC, Collins LLC, Inspire LLC, Jellison LLC, Media LLC, Hamilton Lugar LLC, Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering LLC, School of Public Health LLC, Tomas I. Atikins LLC, Women in STEM LLC. Thematic Communities: Asian slash Pacific American, Cooperative Housing, Health Sciences, Honors, Hoosier Link, Luis Davila Latinx, Outdoor Adventure, Performing Arts, Residence Scholars, Spectrum, Well STEM.]

Sara I.: Those are one of the best ways to help make the large campus of IU Bloomington feel small. Our residential learning communities and living learning centers give you the opportunity to live with between thirty-five and four hundred of your new closest friends, depending on your interest and the size of the community. Those living learning centers are academically based programs so there is an extra application you fill out as you complete your housing contract and application. You are guaranteeing that you will sign up for a certain number of courses within that residence hall and with those folks that you are living with during the academic year. So, they’re really unique opportunities to get engaged with faculty and academic departments, depending on your interest. The thematic communities have a more brood more advocational experience about them. So, you might just be interested in learning about some identity-based groups, or you might have an interest in performing arts or doing things in the great outdoors, but not really have a specific academic focus around those in terms of your major. So, encourage you to read about those on our website. Talk with any potential roommates and explore those learning communities. They are a very valuable way to get connected with our community. With that, I will turn it over to Luke and Sara to talk about our next part.

[Words appear: F Y E Office of First Year Experience Programs. Luke appears in the speaker frame.]

Luke: Thank you so much, Sara. Just real quick I will hand it over to our other Sara, Sara Nagy with the Office of First Year Experience Programs to tell us a little about that.

Sara N.: Thanks Luke. And I would like to also offer my congratulations to all of our families and supporters and students for being accepted to Indiana University. That's quite a big deal. So congratulations. I'm going to share with you some information on how you might start your transition should you choose to come to Indiana University Bloomington. To start that transition to becoming a Hoosier.

[Words appear: One. The start of your Hoosier Experience. New Student Orientation, N S O. New students are required to complete orientation. Invitations will be emailed in late March. Once you complete your Intent to Enroll, you will receive yours. You’ll choose your dates from two-day options based on your academic unit. Prior to attending N S O, complete your required placement exam, available starting March first, and N S O Canvas modules, released in May. Parents and families will also have opportunities to participate.]

Sara N.: The first thing is that our office facilitates new student orientation program. I think it's one of the best in the country after having some experiences in some other places. Because it's so good, we require it of all of our students. If you are coming to Indiana University Bloomington you are required to go through new student orientation. Our new student orientation is a two-day program and we will facilitate that from the middle part of June to the middle part of July. And how you get invited to come to orientation is by doing your intent to enroll. Once you do your intent to enroll that lets our office know you are committed to Indiana University and we can start inviting you to make your reservation for orientation. We will open that reservation system at the end of March. You will get an email. Students will get an email saying it's time to get into the system and pick your dates. I would recommend you not make flights or travel arrangements until you get in there and make that reservation. We encourage you to make that reservation before May tenth, the earlier you do it the more options you have with dates. And it's a very comprehensive program. So, during new student orientation you will learn about what it means to be a student. You will meet with an adviser. You will learn about resources. We have a comprehensive parallel program for all of our families and supporters as well. And for our students prior to coming to new student orientation, once you made your reservation you will be invited into a canvas module that will help you prepare for new student orientation. It will walk you through how to prepare for advising and walk you through to make sure your email is working and what you need to do to get your ID card and all of those business things that will have you ready to come for new student orientation.

[Video: The next slide shows a photo of a group of students cheering.]

[Words appear: Two. Welcome Week: a proud tradition. Events kick off Wednesday, August seventeenth, two thousand and twenty-two. Get to know your way around campus, meeting other students, and interacting with faculty and staff. Start with the Induction Ceremony with your family. Other events will introduce you to the traditions, spirit, culture, and academic world at IU.]

Sara N.: Once you complete orientation, we will let you go and relax a little bit, enjoy the rest of your summer and welcome you back with Welcome Week which starts our actual physical transition to our campus, the transition to your academics, transition to being on campus and the events will kick off the Wednesday prior to classes starting. Welcome week is probably my favorite time on campus. It's high energy. Campus is ready to welcome all our students and everyone wants you to feel connected and a sense of belonging so there’s lots of programs. We have over 100 programs that occur during that time. There are things related to your academic studies. Things related to different resources. Activities to help you get to know your colleagues and staff. Just a wide variety of things that help you start feeling like you are at home on the Bloomington campus. We kick it off with our induction ceremony that we also invite our family members and supporters to. And then after that we kind of encourage our family members to leave so our students can start that transition. I know some of you out there are looking to stay with your student until graduation and some will be like my father doing the happy dance. Welcome week is designed to help our new students start making that transition into the academic year. When you’re at New Student Orientation we’ll give you a lot of specifics about that as well. Then after, just because you get through Welcome Week doesn't mean you are finished with our office. We really are an office that supports our first-year students through the entire academic year. So, we facilitate what we call the Hoosier Experience which is a program that helps connect our students to a wide variety of activities and events and, as Sacha was talking about, all of those opportunities with student organizations and academic pursuits in research, our office through the Hoosier Experience helps you get acclimated and connected to those. We also will send you an, a regular newsletter to both our students and to our families and supporters to keep you on track and informed and connected about what's happening on campus and what you should be thinking about in regards to your next steps.

[Words appear: Three. Your Hoosier Experience continues throughout your first year. Participate in a variety of events, activities, and programs focused on helping you explore campus and all that is here for you. Staying connected. We will check in on your early in the semester. You will receive regular newsletters to keep you up to date on important news and events.]

Sara N.: And in about a month we’re gonna check in individually with you to check in with you just to see how you are doing and what else we can be helpful with with that transition. We really do see ourselves as partners with our families and supporters and our students that making sure that first year experience, that Hoosier experience is the best that it can be. And I'm happy to answer any questions that you might have in regards to orientation or First Year Experience Programs or Welcome Week, my favorite time of year. Luke, I will turn it back to you.

[Words appear: Panel Q and A. Use the Q and A functionality in your Zoom toolbar below to ask a question. Office of Admissions, admissions at Indiana dot e d u. Residential Programs and Services (R P S), ask r p s at Indiana dot e d u. Office of First Year Experience Programs (F Y E), f y e at Indiana dot e d u.]

[Video: Luke appears in the speaker frame.]

Luke: Thank you so much. So we are going to spend the next few moments and few minutes together answering some of your guy’s questions. So first I’m going to kick it off with Sara Ivey-Lucas in housing and so what are some questions we are getting are about the different learning communities. Can you highlight the value of the learning community for students when choosing a place to live?

[Video: Sara I. appears in the speaker frame.]

Sara I.: Sure, thanks, Luke. The value to me of learning communities is the connection that you get to make with your fellow residents around those specific topics and how that helps focus your learning, growth, and development together. They each provide unique opportunities for floor engagement programs and some of them go on trips together. And so there is just that unique easily built-in way to focus those events for our staff. So, in talking about the performing arts community, they are getting a behind the scenes tour and look with the blue man group as they come to the IU auditorium. So, there is just those kinds of neat, interesting things. Within the Kelly School of Business, they support the Jellison living learning center. That community generally takes a trip to Chicago to meet with business entrepreneurs and IU alums and just start some of that networking opportunity. Our civic leaders group with the O'Neill School takes trips to meet with legislators at the Indiana State House and occasionally has a trip all the way out to D.C. There are just some of those unique ways that students can come together with faculty, with staff from the university to learn and engage around the topics of personal interest.

[Video: Luke appears in the speaker frame.]

Luke: Awesome. Thank you so much. And so kind of handing it over to Sarah Nagy with First Year Experience, we have gotten some questions about when can people sign up for orientation and also if students are going to be away all summer or if they are international or out of state and they can't make it to orientation, what options do they have?

[Video: Sara N. appears in the speaker frame.]

Sara N.: Sure, great questions. The first question is when can students sign up. Once you’ve done your intent to enroll you will receive an invitation from the Office of New Student Orientation through your email inviting you to go in to our portal and make a reservation for your orientation dates. That site will open as of March thirtieth. So anybody who has done their intent to enroll by March thirtieth will get that invitation and then as you do your intent to enroll if you do it after that, a couple of days after you do that intent to enroll you will get an email from us asking you to go ahead and make your reservation. If you are unable to come in June or July, we do an August orientation as well. So for those students who might be traveling or working, there is an orientation session prior to Welcome Week that you can attend. For our international students, you can opt to do any of those options but we will also have a week of virtual orientation for those who find it difficult to travel that far for an orientation program in June and July as well. Did I get them all?

[Video: Luke appears in the speaker frame.]

Luke: I think you hit them all. They will be sure to let us know in the Q and A. Thank you so much. So, flipping it back to housing and dining a little bit. If a student has any sort of specific dietary restriction or needs, how would you recommend they make that known in their housing application or how would they get in contact with our dietitian or nutritionist?

[Video: Sara I. appears in the speaker frame.]

Sara I.: Sure. Within the IU dining program, we have a fabulous nutritionist and registered dietitian program. And those staff really work hard to take care of students, particularly who have food allergies or dealing with diabetes and other health concerns. So, there is both a form on the IU dining page where students can introduce themselves to our dietitian and request a meeting. You can also do that through the housing application using that medical verification form. In both ways we get that funneled to our dietitian who then will set up one-on-one meetings with students. Talk with students, introduce them to the dining managers and the locations where they are most likely to eat. All of the things we can do to try and help make folks comfortable. The other piece that I will highlight is in our McNutt dining center in the northwest neighborhood. We have this year opened a free from nine dining facility. And within that area we do not use the nine most common allergens in any of the foods that are prepared within that area. So, students can go there and be assured that what they are ordering and picking up while in our all you care to eat facilities has been specifically prepared with awareness to those nine most common allergens. And we find that a lot of students even if they don't have those food allergies are really enjoying the meals that are prepared there.

[Video: Luke appears in the speaker frame.]

Luke: Thank you so much. And that's super awesome that we are able to support all kinds of dining needs for all of our students. A question we've got an few regarding some of the placement exams that go on. What are the types of placement exams that we have and when can they take them leading up to orientation?

[Video: Sara N. appears in the speaker frame.]

Sara N.: So, there is a couple of required placement exams. When you register for your orientation, your orientation reservation and you get access to your canvas modules there is information in there on how you access those placement exams. You can get into once you get into your canvas modules those are easy to find and do. The required ones I believe are math and foreign language. So that helps us, that helps the advisers know where to place you as you are registering for your classes during that time. And then there are some optional ones like chemistry and those other things you can also take. Once you get invited to new student orientation, all of that information and access becomes available.

[Video: Luke appears in the speaker frame.]

Luke: Thank you so much. I think we have time for one more question and so just briefly, we have a lot of questions asking for specific places they should live regarding their major. Is there any place that students need to live, a specific dorm because of a certain major or school they are in?

[Video: Sara I. appears in the speaker frame.]

Sara I.: No. Students get to make that preference on their own, decide on their own. And my best advice is that in the October, November, if I ask students what's the best residence hall on campus, they will tell me the name of the center that they are living in currently. Even though now they might say, oh, I have to be in Reed or I have to be in Foster. Once you are here for a few weeks you will find that you love the space you are assigned.

[Video: Luke appears in the speaker frame.]

Luke: Awesome. Thank you so much. And so that is all the time we will have for questions answering them live on the panel here, so I want to thank you all for sending in your questions as they are awesome. We will continue to answer those in the background while we continue this on. Thank you, Sara and Sara, for your awesome expertise and participating with us here.

[Video: The next slide shows a photo of the Sample Gates with a sunset in the background.]

[Words appear: Next steps to enroll. Create your IU computing and email account. Apply for housing. Submit your FAFSA. Reserve your space. Join the two thousand and twenty-two Admitted Hoosiers Community. Sign up for New Student Orientation.]

Luke: Before we conclude our expert panel, after today you guys can visit our steps to enroll tab on our Office of Admissions website. Admissions dot Indiana dot e d u. This will be a great resource for admitted students offering information about everything new Hoosiers need to know about enrollment, orientation, housing, submitting your FAFSA and more. To get to that site you just click on the steps to enroll tab at the top of our Admissions website. We want you all to be hashtag IU bound and join our twenty twenty-two fall freshman class. So just a reminder the national candidates reply date is May first. You’ve still got a little bit of time, May first is coming around the corner. You have all the way until May first to declare your interest in attending IU. But any time you are ready you can secure your space in the freshman class by completing your intent to enroll online at admissions dot Indiana dot e d u. As an admitted student you have access to our twenty twenty-two admitted Hoosier community. More information was sent to your email after you were accepted into our university and so that’s how you can meet other freshmen students and find potential roommates through that. So check your email and go back to when you got admitted to look for that if you have not joined that. If we were unable to answer any of your questions or you have future questions be sure to contact the office of admissions, R P S or F Y E. We are here to help you students. Our job is to support you. So I'm going to hand it back over to McKenna as we wrap up our session. Again, thank you all and congratulations on your admission to IU.

[Words appear: Contact us. Office of First Year Experience Programs, f y e at Indiana dot e d u, eight one two eight five five H E L P (four three five seven). Residential Programs and Services, r p s dot Indiana dot e d u, ask r p s at Indiana dot e d u. Office of Admissions, admissions dot Indiana dot e d u, eight one two eight five five zero six six one.]

[Video: McKenna appears in the speaker frame.]

McKenna: Thank you, Luke and thank you everybody who joined us for the first session in the virtual admitted students event today. We hope that this session provided you with valuable information that can assist you with becoming hashtag IU bound. As we conclude our opening sessions, we hope you enjoy the remaining sessions and please remember that there is a topical Q and A rooms that will be available until the end of the entire program and we will remain in this room for a break for about five minutes and the student panel will begin at seven forty-five. You can connect to the Q and A rooms at the bottom of the event page. And you can come and go from those Q and A rooms as you please. We look forward to answering your questions today and we will see you in about five minutes for the student panel.

[Video: A photo shows flowers in front of a building. Words over the photo read IU has six cultural centers on campus: African American Arts Institute, Asian Culture Center, First Nations Educational and Cultural Center, LGBTQ plus Culture Center, La Casa Latino Cultural Center, and Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center.]

43:50

Moderator: As a reminder, everyone, you are welcome to stay here in this beautiful, fantastic Zoom room. Enjoy this fantastic trivia. We will be with you in just a few minutes to start session two.

[Video: The next slide shows two portraits. The left portrait has a caption that reads Marcellus Neal was the first African American to graduate from IU in eighteen ninety-five. The right portrait has a caption that reads Frances Marshall was the first African American woman to graduate from IU in 1919.]

[Video: A photo shows a swimmer with an Indiana swim cap with the caption Olympians with Hoosier connections have won fifty-eight gold, twenty-two silver, and thirty bronze medals.]

[Video: Another photo shows a man holding a pole and wearing a shirt with medals attached. He is standing next to a table displaying trophies. The caption reads the first Hoosier to compete in the Olympics was Leroy Samse, who won a silver medal in pole vault at the 1904 games.]

[Video: A new photo shows cheerleaders running on the football field carrying flags with the marching band behind them. Fireworks are shooting into the air. The caption reads IU teams have won twenty-five national team titles, one hundred and sixty-one NCAA individual championships, and one hundred and eighty-two Big Ten team titles. Go Hoosiers!]

[Video: A photo shows sheet music and lyrics. The caption reads the IU alma mater, “Hail to Old IU,” was first performed in 1893. The words were written by J.T. Giles for the Indiana glee club and set to a Scottish song.]

[Video: The next photo shows a team making a bike exchange at the Little five hundred bicycle race. The caption reads the first little five hundred bicycle race was held in nineteen fifty-one.]

[Video: A photo shows a tall tower extending into a bright blue sky. Trees surround the tower and a limestone building is in the background. The caption reads the Metz Carillon, the ninety-one-foot-tall tower in the Arboretum, contains sixty-five bells and is one of just six hundred carillons in the world. You can even take a class to learn to play it!]

[Video: A new photo shows Kevin Kline acting with another student in a theater production. The caption reads famous t v, film, and music alumni include actor Kevin Kline, sportscaster Joe Buck, musician and producer Booker T. Jones, and newscaster Jane Pauley.]

[Video: A photo shows the outside of the Lilly Library building with snow on the ground. The caption reads the Lilly Library is home to millions of rare books, manuscripts, sheet music, and other artifacts, including Thomas Jefferson’s copy of the Bill of Rights, Shakespeare’s first folio, four of director John Ford’s Oscar awards, and a massive comic book collection.]

[Video: Another photo shows students working in a lab while a professor watches. The caption reads IU researched invented the first fluoride toothpaste in the early nineteen fifties, which later became Crest toothpaste.]

[Video: A new photo shows a sculpture of a smiling woman on a bench. The caption reads IU professor Elinor Ostrom was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in two thousand and nine.]

[Video: A photo shows a wall of computer drives with a red screen covering the wall that has IU big red two hundred on it. The caption reads IU’s big red two hundred is the fastest university-owned supercomputer in the country.]

[Video: Another photo shows people playing instruments outside a campus building and two people holding IU flags. The caption reads there are more than seven hundred and fifty thousand IU alumni across the world—one of the largest alumni networks in the country.]

[Video: A photo shows the outside of a building with the caption Jimmy Wales, co-founder of Wikipedia, and Bob Chapek, CEO of Disney, are both IU alumni making a global impact in the communications and entertainment industry.]

[Video: A new slide shows a pair of candy-striped pants with the words congratulations, Hoosiers! Hashtag IU said yes. Then the screen is red.]

[Words appear: Session two: campus life and involvement student panel.]

[Video: McKenna appears in the speaker frame.]

McKenna: Good evening and welcome back to session two, campus life and involvement student panel. If you are just tuning in now, my name is McKenna Kiker and I'm from Aspen, Colorado, studying supply chain management and business analytics as a junior at the Kelly School of Business here at IU. I'm so glad you are here with us today. We have assembled an awesome group of students to share some of their experiences and student life at Indiana University. Once again to optimize your experience, we have automatically turned off your cameras and muted your Zoom sessions and you can ask any questions that you want to be answered just using the Q and A button at the bottom of your screen. So please type your questions for our student panelists here when we begin the student panel, we will get to those questions. Now that you have heard from several staff here at IU, we would love to get to know you a bit more through some of the polls that we have previously shared. Please feel free to start putting the questions in the Q and A box as well. As the first poll, we would like to ask, what have you been involved in with high school? IU offers so many opportunities to expand on your high school experience and so we really want to know how you may be able to get involved here at IU. Awesome. I see a lot of sports teams. I was definitely in that category as an admitted student as well. Volunteer work, we have great opportunities for volunteer work as well. Awesome. I see that people are still kind of funneling in their questions. We have a diverse group of students here with us today. And it's great to hear more about you and where you came from. As our second poll, we would like to ask, have you started looking at Be Involved to get a feel for student organizations and options at IU. Be involved allows you to pursue our over seven hundred and fifty student organizations, sort based on type of organization, and see what events are occurring on campus to be able to get involved as the be involved is titled. I really suggest doing this as an admitted student. I didn't do this and I was pretty overwhelmed by the student fair and student activities fair at the beginning of the year. So, it's really easy to just go through and figure out what you may like or what you may not like. And then you can go talk to those members of those clubs at the club's fair. Awesome. I see that some people have started but I really suggest you start looking at that if you haven't already done so. For our third poll, we would like to ask, earlier you heard from Residential Programs and Services living on campus is a great way to get, begin getting involved. So, what are you most looking forward to when it comes to living on campus as in incoming freshmen or transfer student? Awesome, okay. Meeting new IU friends. That was definitely a top goal of mine as well. Awesome. I hope that some of our student panelists can touch on how they met some of their friends and how they got involved and kind of found their home away from home here at IU. For our final poll we would like to ask you: One of the best things about IU are the traditions here on campus. What traditions are you interested in and excited about learning more and maybe being a part of? Welcome week is a big one. Okay. Awesome. We've got little five coming up next month which will be really exciting and qualifications this weekend so we will definitely be cheering on our fellow peers in those races. Okay, awesome. And we are Big Ten school so supporting our Hoosier teams is a big part of the Indiana University experience. Awesome. I see that everybody I think has answered now. And that's the conclusion of all of our polls. Thank you so much for participating in some of those. It's a great way to learn more about your interest and it will help us kind of select the Q and A questions that we need to ask for our panelists.
Now that we know a bit more about you and your background and interests, I want to introduce our student panel. We also have a couple of admission staff members and other students behind the scenes helping answer those questions that we cannot get to as a large group today. As a reminder, your questions can be submitted, again, using the Q and A function on the Zoom toolbar. So just to start off with, let's introduce our student panel.

[Words appear: Student panel. Antonia W. Hometown: Indianapolis, Indiana. Major: Human development and family studies. Minor: Health sciences. Libby M. Hometown: Kingsford Heights, Indiana. Major: Neuroscience. Minor: Biology. Talia H. Hometown: Woodland Hills, California. Major: Community health. Minor: Medical sciences, pre-P A. Jacob S. Hometown: Washington, Illinois. Major: Marketing. Co-major: Law, ethics, and decision making.]

[Video: Antonia appears in the speaker frame.]

Antonia: Hi, everybody, my name is Antonia Walker. As you can see, I'm from Indianapolis, Indiana. I'm a senior here studying human development and family studies with a minor in health studies and I'm also on the pre-med track. If you have questions about that, let me know.

[Video: The speaker frame is blank.]

Libby: Hi, guys, my name is Libby. I am from Kingsford Heights, Indiana, which is a small town in northwestern Indiana. I am a neuroscience major here with a minor in biology and I'm on a pre-med path.

[Video: Talia appears in the speaker frame.]

Talia: Hi, everyone. My name is Talia. I'm a senior from Woodland Hills, California. I'm majoring in community health with a minor in medical sciences on the pre-physician assistant track.

[Video: Jacob appears in the speaker frame.]

Jacob: Hey, my name is Jacob. And I am from Washington, Illinois, right outside of Peoria and I am studying marketing with a co-major in law, ethics, and decision making and I'm currently a sophomore.

[Video: McKenna appears in the speaker frame.]

McKenna: Awesome. So thank you once again for our student panelists for being here this evening. Really looking forward to discussing some of the aspects that make IU so great for you. For our first question I would like to ask you what sets IU apart from other schools and maybe Antonia, do you want to begin with that?

[Video: Antonia appears in the speaker frame.]

Antonia: Sure. So one thing that set IU apart for me even though I am from in state, a lot of people from my high school ended up going here, so I was a bit deterred at first. But once I finally got here, I was set in my decision. One thing I love about IU is that even though we are located in the middle of southern Indiana which is where it might seem like there is absolutely nothing, there is so much going on down here on campus. I love to say that it's a big school there are always so many different things we can get involved in, but you can make a big school small but you can't make a small school big. I’m sure you’ve heard that before. And IU it's very interesting because you can see a bit of every part of the world, anything that you might be interested in. There is something down here on our campus that can help you get involved with that and learn more about that and I think that's what sets IU apart from the other universities.

[Video: The speaker frame is blank.]

Libby: Yeah. One thing that really struck out to me when I came and visited was kind of that Hoosier hospitality that we see on our campus. And what we really mean when we say that is just kind of this embrace from the community both off campus businesses and members of the community and from students. I wanted to work with my peers and taking these hard classes and that's what really stood out about IU to me, was because I could see myself meeting those peers and having those peers really wanting to study with me and just people in general wanting me to succeed.

[Video: Talia appears in the speaker frame.]

Talia: Yeah, I would definitely agree with everything that Libby and Antonia said. For me one thing that set IU apart was the ability to kind of explore your options as a student here. For me personally I was university division when I first enrolled at IU which meant I didn't have a declared major and I really appreciated and loved that I could kind of get a little bit of every different school working with my university division adviser until I finally declared my major. So, for me one thing that set it apart was the academic freedom which I really loved and definitely helped mold me into a strong academic student.

[Video: Jacob appears in the speaker frame.]

Jacob: And then I guess to round that off, one thing for me that I thought was so awesome about IU, I was looking at a lot of schools in the Midwest particularly Big Ten schools. And I was really struck by the first time that I stepped foot on campus just how beautiful IU is. I'm sure you have been seeing photos slide across the screen as you have been sitting here and those photos do do the campus justice. It is so pretty no matter where you walk. Sometimes I kind of now as a sophomore tend to take that for granted but I really have to stop and think like wow, I do live at essentially a fairy book tale type of campus. It’s super awesome.

[Video: McKenna appears in the speaker frame.]

McKenna: Awesome. Thanks for answering our first question. Our second question is: What intramural sports are offered here on campus and if any of you have been involved in intramural sports can you touch on your experience with that?

[Video: Libby appears in the speaker frame.]

Libby: Yeah. So we have a variety of intramural sports offered on campus. I like to say a good rule of thumb is your traditional high school sports so I know soccer and basketball are really big intramural sports that we have, but we have a lot of volleyball, baseball, a lot of different ones. We also have things like spike ball and things like battleship that are a little bit out of the ordinary. So, battleship is where you get in a canoe with you and a couple of other friends and someone has a bucket, a shield, and a paddle and the object is to sink all of the other boats in the pool. So, there is a lot of variety to get involved with that. And my freshman year I did a soccer team with my friends. I am not a very good soccer player. I haven't played much soccer and neither had my friends. So, it was an interesting season but it was definitely really fun and we would normally finish it off by getting ice cream afterwards. So, it was less kind of about the sport than it was that social togetherness and participating in that, which I enjoyed.

[Video: McKenna appears in the speaker frame.]

McKenna: Awesome. Thank you, Libby, for answering that question. So, for our third question, what ways did you guys get involved when you first came to campus and how did you meet some new IU friends?

[Video: Jacob appears in the speaker frame.]

Jacob: Yeah, I’ll go ahead and answer this. As I mentioned, I'm a sophomore so I came in last year during the COVID year which was definitely somewhat of a weird year. And I was a little bit scared about how I was going to go ahead and go about meeting friends. But it ended up being completely fine. I met so many awesome friends. So, I lived in the J L L C last year, which is the Kelley Living Learning Center and all of my best friends came from my literal floor that were living on there with me. The people I live with now and I will be living with next year are all the people I met on that floor. So, I would say if you are considering living in a living learning center, definitely look into it. There are tons of really awesome programming, to be sure you’re getting out of your dorm room and meeting people within that community. It was a really awesome experience and I'm definitely thankful for it.

[Video: Talia appears in the speaker frame.]

Talia: Yeah, I can add on to that. Another thing that I’ll mention is that the student involvement fair happens once every, uh, yeah, once every semester which is basically a big club fair where we have over seven hundred and fifty organizations and clubs on campus so at the student involvement fair all of these different clubs will set up a booth and you can walk around and take some phone wallets or whatever that might be and put your email down for anything that might pique your interest and that's a really awesome way to kind of get your foot in the door with some of those awesome clubs that might define your experience at IU. And I wouldn't say just go as a freshman. Go as a freshman and a sophomore and junior and senior. You never know when your interests are going to change. I have gone every single year and have always joined a new club or sought out some new, exciting opportunity at the club fair and I think it's a really fun way to get involved.

[Video: McKenna appears in the speaker frame.]

McKenna: Awesome. Thanks again for answering those questions and hopefully they are answering those questions to the full extent to the students watching. So, for our fourth question, have you been involved in research and are there ways that freshman can get involved with research? I know it's more, could be more dedicated to upper classmen but are freshmen able to get involved in research?

[Video: Antonia appears in the speaker frame.]

Antonia: I can go ahead and take this. I never ended up participating in any research but that's because COVID popped up and put a pause on that. But I am, to talk a little bit about my involvement as well, I'm the President of the Minority Association of Pre-medical Students, so we are a pre-med group on campus and as a pre-med a lot of people look into research so I help guide a lot of people in that area and I have done a lot of research on research opportunities myself. And there’s tons of different things you can get involved with out there, sometimes it's as easy as talking to your professor and asking if they know somebody, know somebody who knows somebody. Or you can talk to PhD students who are here at IU. One of my close friends just got into a research lab with a PhD student and they’re being paid to help participate with that this semester. There’s summer programs and I know since COVID one benefit that came out of it was the virtual aspect, you can also participate with virtual lab type things where it's more like data entry and those types of things. So it might not be necessarily hands on but there are a lot of other things you can do in the background. And I would say the best way to get in contact with those types of things is to check out groups like mine where they have those connections, and they can help you get to know the people who can help you get to those areas. Just definitely looking out for student groups can be a great way to introduce yourself to that if you are really not too comfortable seeking those initial connections yourself.

[Video: Talia appears in the speaker frame.]

Talia, Yeah, to add on to that, I personally had two incredible research opportunities. One that I have done for class credit, that I'm in right now, and another one that I sought out on my own because I wanted the experience and the opportunity. And the one, both of them, actually, I saw because I got email from my academic adviser and so that's a really great resource that you are constantly checking those emails. For me, I'm in the School of Public Health and my academic adviser sent out an email saying there is a study happening and the study will be on non-nutrition and stunting. You’ll be a data analyst and all of this stuff. Here is the application and that was an incredible opportunity to be accepted to. And outside of that, if you’re not seeing those opportunities then again just reaching out to different staff members. It's not weird to just send an email to any faculty or PhD candidate whatever it might be and say, hi, I'm a very driven student. I'm looking to get involved. They will appreciate it more than you know and definitely give you something to do.

[Video: Libby appears in the speaker frame.]

Libby: Just to add on, so I was in a behavioral neuroscience lab for two years. I just ended this past senior year, but I got the position right beginning of my sophomore year. So not truly a freshman but really for all intents and purposes I was pretty young in my career. Something that surprised me before I got into research is that they’re actually looking for a lot of freshman and sophomore year students because they can train those students and have those students be in the lab for three years, four years. So, it's definitely encouraged to get involved in research young. I joined, I found my lab because my academic adviser actually emailed me a list of all of these labs that were hiring and so I applied and I got that position. But I had a couple of times where I just talked to a professor, just interested in some of the research they do, and they will come up with opportunities that they have for you because you went above and beyond to talk to them about your interests, they’re going to show more promise in you and give you more of those opportunities. So always if you want to do research and you have a professor that you really look up to and you think they are doing cool work, talk to them. A lot of times they will open a lot of doors for you. And overall I think it's easy and encouraged to get involved in research earlier.

[Video: McKenna appears in the speaker frame.]

McKenna: I would completely agree with all of those points. And really academic advisers are experts in their field and they are there to help you so much farther beyond than just building your schedule. So, use them as a resource here on campus to get involved in other ways in terms of your academic career. For our next question, a lot of sophomores and upper classroom decide to live off campus after their freshmen year. What is your opinion on living on campus versus off campus? How easy is it to be a part of the IU community if you do live off campus?

[Video: Antonia appears in the speaker frame.]

Antonia: I can talk a bit about this because I was pretty quick to move off campus as soon as I could. This is just because I didn't spend a lot of time in my dorm. It wasn't something that I did. I was always in other people's rooms and just out and about around campus and I had a job at the time where I was out in the Bloomington community a lot so a lot of my activities didn't take place directly in the middle of campus and more in the surrounding areas. It's really easy to get into off campus housing. They have on campus housing fairs all the time where student apartment complexes will send reps to campus. They’ll sit down with you, go over finances, help you find roommates, all of those things. And usually in those complexes you rent by room and not by the apartment. So if anything falls through with the roommate you don't have to worry about that which is a very comforting thing. I lived with two random girls my sophomore year and ended up working really, really well. One of them wasn't even a student, an undergraduate student. She was a grad student at IU. So it was cool to get to know somebody who was a little older and post undergrad. And I would say being in the Bloomington community is being a part of the IU community. Bloomington and campus are one in the same. I always compare them as twins. They grew up together. They do everything together but they are individual people. So it's very, very easy to either be in one and be in the other because all of them cross over with one another.

[Video: Jacob appears in the speaker frame.]

Jacob: Yeah, building off of that, there are so many ways if, maybe you are not comfortable going off campus right away, that's totally okay, too. There are so many different options that IU offers for on-campus housing for upperclassman students. You can always rent apartments through IU. It's billed right to your bursar which is super nice. It's typically more centrally on campus so you don't maybe have to walk as far as someone like myself who is living at an apartment off campus currently. You can always go ahead and live in a Greek house and then, of course, there are options to be an RA where you can actually go back and live within the dorms aiding first year students. So many different options when it comes to living off campus versus on campus after your freshmen year. You guys aren’t even freshmen yet so you will definitely have the opportunity to experience that as the time comes. So, it's definitely not something to be stressed about. Tons of different options for sure.

[Video: McKenna appears in the speaker frame.]

McKenna: Yeah, definitely agree completely. And I love that twin analogy with Bloomington and IU are definitely just very intertwined in a sense. Our next question is: On average, how many classes do you usually take per semester and how many times do those courses meet per week?

[Video: Libby appears in the speaker frame.]

Libby: Yeah, so for me it kind of depended on the work load that I was building that semester. So with my adviser, I scheduled my tentative classes for my entire four years here when I first came as a freshman. So that kind of gave me a better idea of how many classes I would take each semester. But on average it was about five. Sometimes it was four and sometimes it was six. Depending on how busy I was planning to be that semester. Overall, normally classes meet either Monday, Tuesday, or Monday, Wednesday, Friday for fifty minutes or Tuesday, Thursday for an hour and fifteen. That's like the general structure, at least in my, at least in my experience unless you take some type of lab which could be longer.

[Video: Jacob appears in the speaker frame.]

Jacob: Yeah, and on top of that, you may have some possibly larger lecture-style classes and in those cases you’re typically going to have a smaller discussion style class towards the end of the week. For example I'm currently in a financial accounting class and that is a rather large class. But thankfully every Friday it is required we’re split up into about groups of 30 or so and we all get to attend a smaller discussion-style class where we go over practice problems and look at what we did for the week making sure everybody is staying on top of their course work and all of that good stuff.

[Video: McKenna appears in the speaker frame.]

McKenna: Awesome. For our next question, what internship opportunities are available for students and how does IU help students find some of those internship options?

[Video: Talia appears in the speaker frame.]

Talia: Yeah, I can talk a little bit about this. So, like I mentioned before, internship opportunities are often coming from your academic advisers so definitely always be on the lookout for that. And another way to seek out internship opportunities would be just to reaching out to different professors on campus. So, you might get an email from a chemistry professor saying we are looking for interns in a lab or we’re looking for interns to help with whatever it might be and that's always a great way to seek out those internships. And another way to look for the different internships is just to honestly look on-line. There is never a shortage of resources through IU whether that be a posted list on an academic website, in a specific school, or if that is, you know, a different club that you might not even be involved in at the time saying we have internship opportunities with the mayor's office, whatever it might be. These opportunities are very easy to find especially for IU students, especially within the Bloomington community. The Bloomington community thrives on students and student interns and making sure that Bloomington is like a beautiful place that students can thrive in. So, these internship opportunities are very widely available for a lot of our students if you seek them out. And it's easy to find them. I had a few and also if you, through IU, saying you are applying to an internship, so, for example I was an intern for an organization called Gift of Life which meant I was organizing different blood drives around campus to add people to a registry and that wasn't directly through IU but I was an IU representative intern for this national organization. So, reaching out to different things like that and kind of not being afraid to ask is my biggest advice for seeking out an internship.

[Video: Jacob appears in the speaker frame.]

Jacob: Yeah. And one thing on top of that just to add, this may be something only applicable to Kelley and within the business school but we utilize a website called handshake which as far as I'm familiar is pretty much utilized by schools across the country and employers across the country. It's a really awesome database of pretty much just constantly updating resumé and full-time internship opportunities. Whatever it may be you can easily just upload your resumé to that and then you can hit apply in literally two seconds to a million different internships. And then they will reach out to you if your resumé piques their interest, whatever it may be. And then every school is going to have an undergraduate career service center within it. Which is a really awesome opportunity. People are fully staffed within there. And you can always drop in and get your resumé looked at and get connected with employers. And making sure you are succeeding in the classroom, beyond the classroom, whether it's narrowing down that final thank you email for a recruiter, all of that good stuff. There is a million and one different ways to make sure you are succeeding when you get to actually graduate IU which I think is something I hadn't originally considered but it's something I was very much blown away by is that support staff to make sure you are doing good.

[Video: McKenna appears in the speaker frame.]

McKenna: And just as a follow-up, all IU students can use handshake, not just Kelley, so it's open to all students just as kind of a follow-up with that. And I agree completely. It's all about what you make of it. And the effort you put in is the effort and the opportunities that you will get out of it, so really reach out to the professors, the career advisers, the academic advisers and take those risks in order to build your network and that's how you will succeed in the long term.
For the next question, how did you all choose your major and how did IU help you with resources in going about that process of choosing a major?

[Video: Antonia appears in the speaker frame.]

Antonia: I can talk about this a little bit because I did have a major change. I was a direct admit into the College of Arts and Sciences so on my application I indicated that I was interested in biology at the time, and then through sessions like this which were more in-person pre-COVID, I learned about the human biology program which is something I was also really interested in. As you will notice some people can switch majors three, four, five times. You don't have to declare your official major until your junior year so IU gives you a lot of flexibility there to make sure you are studying what you want to study and spending your time in the right areas. After my first semester my freshman year I quickly realized that human biology was not the area of study I wanted to spend my four years doing. So, I stayed in it for another semester just to make sure because my academic adviser at the time just said, hey these are just some intro courses and just try another semester just to see and I did and I still decided I wanted to switch out. So I actually had a friend who referred me to their adviser in the School of Public Health and I emailed the adviser and asked if I could set up a meeting with them and I went to her office and sat down and she talked to me about the different programs that are in the School of Public Health and that's where I found my major human development and family studies. Because I had performed very well my freshman year I was able to become a direct admit into the School of Public Health and I just had to make sure I met the GPA requirement. For anybody who might not be a direct admit that's typically also how it works. You do well your freshman year and get into the programs you want. So, it was really easy to just go to the building and talk directly to an adviser and she was able to switch everything for me on the spot and I started in the classes for that at the beginning of my sophomore year. It might sound scary because you might want to say I want to get into my major classes as soon as possible so that I’m not, like, super crammed. And ask someone who is pre-med if you know anything about that you have to stack on chemistry classes with that. And a lot of people think that you have to pick a major that is also within that area of study but whether you are pre-law, pre-med, pre-professional anything, you can study whatever major and area of interest you have whether that's journalism or the Jacobs School of Music or in my case the School of Public Health. You just need to work with all of your advisers to make sure you are getting those requirements done. So, it was really nice to be able to have those connections to be able to switch to something that was a lot more interesting to me and something that I am, a decision that I'm very happy that I made.

[Video: Talia appears in the speaker frame.]

Talia: Yeah, I can speak a little bit about it, too. As I mentioned before, I was university division when I was accepted to IU which meant that I was an undeclared major. So, a resource that really helped me pick my major was the help of my university division advisers. These are the people that I worked with to create my first semester freshman year schedule. With her I talked about my interests and I talked about some classes from the class roster that I thought might be interesting. So that semester I ended up taking everything from anthropology of food to ice skating to different chemistry classes that would also help me, kind of put me on the track because I had an interest in things health related. So definitely working with the university division advisers is a really great resource. And there is also the health profession and pre-law advisers which are a really great resource if you know you want to be a lawyer or you want to be a doctor or whatever that might be. These are also great resources because these are the people that can help you say, okay, you want to study law here are some classes that you need to take and this is a major that will be really helpful for you when you are applying to law school in the end. Things like that and also just talking to other students I think was a big help for me. Kind of understanding how students combined their passions with their academic interests to ultimately choose their major. And that’s a really great thing about IU, once you are on your freshman floor whether you’re in an LLC or you are in any dorm, students are really willing to talk about their interests and kind of exchange stories about how they decided on their major. I would recommend just talking to your friends as well.

[Video: Libby appears in the speaker frame.]

Libby: And just one more thing to add on to that, something that I utilized before even starting at IU to know that neuroscience was something I really wanted to do was to look at the classes that I was going to be taking for my major. I believe it's called IGPS. If you go on to our One.IU website, you can look up the specific majors and your start date and see all of the classes you will have to take in that four years. That gave me more of a framework behind the major of like, it's neuroscience but I'm going to need to learn chemistry and biology and all of these other things that build on to it. And I knew that if I hated the course work or the major, it probably wasn't going to be right for me and so that's what I used to kind of solidify that as my major and know that I was going to be enjoying my education here.

[Video: McKenna appears in the speaker frame.]

McKenna: Awesome. Thank you all for your very insightful answers for that question. Our next question is are there any fun things to do in Bloomington or near Bloomington? And can you talk about the things that you do just on the weekends, maybe in the Bloomington area.

[Video: Jacob appears in the speaker frame.]

Jacob: Yeah, so I think Antonia mentioned this as well. People stereotype Indiana maybe even southern Indiana as, I certainly did at least, I was like, it's going to be all corn just like Illinois. Not the case at all. Southern Indiana is so, we are in amongst the rolling hills just about twenty  minutes south of here is Hoosier National Forest which is the only national forest in the entire state. Miles and miles of hiking trail especially during the fall time it is just absolutely stunning to go see. They have a little fire tower up there that you can climb to the top and see all of these trees with the different color changes and stuff, which is awesome. And then within that forest is Lake Monroe which is this huge lake. Students will typically rent boats and go boating within the lake. John Mellencamp even lives on the lake. So, it's a really awesome natural resource area for students to get out and get some air and go for a hike, go for a run or whatever it may be.

[Video: Antonia appears in the speaker frame.]

Antonia: Yeah, I can talk a little bit. If you aren't as much of a woodsy person like I am, I'm not a fan of bugs and nature sometimes, there is also a lot of great things you can do downtown. You can walk around. There are a bunch of little mom and pop shops for people that sell local things which is really awesome. And Kirkwood Avenue, you will probably hear about that a lot. That's where a lot of fun little restaurants, coffee shops, and little gift shops are also at as well. Something else I like to do is go to the mall and spend way too much money. So, there is a mall that is about, I would say fifteen-minute walk away from campus but there are bus systems that can get you there in about two minutes flat. And there is a beautiful Target there that I also spend a lot of time walking around. If you are somebody that likes to do a little retail therapy or just shopping in general, there is a lot of options for that as well. As well as on campus there is always just something happening. At the IU auditorium for example, there is always a bunch of shows, performances, and we have the Blue Man Group is coming this semester. So, if you are into shows and things like that as a student, you can get access to student tickets which are sometimes free and if not an extremely discounted price. So if you’re somebody who might like to be a little bit more indoors we have the Eskenzai Museum of Art which is a very beautiful thing. They always have rotating exhibits in there and it's completely free. If you want to do some things like that there are tons of things on campus and surrounding campus that you can do that aren't necessarily as much outdoorsy and in nature.

[Video: Talia appears in the speaker frame.]

Talia: Definitely. I would agree with all of that. The nature and so much fun happening around Bloomington. I would give a special shout out to the Comedy Attic, that’s my favorite place to go on the weekends. It's a comedy house where we bring in really well-known comedians as well as student performers and that's always a really fun thing that kind of like brings people together in the Bloomington community. A lot of just little things like that. There is never a boring night in Bloomington. Confirmed.

[Video: McKenna appears in the speaker frame.]

McKenna: I agree one hundred percent. There is never a boring night here in Bloomington and you can really make the most of the Bloomington activities and what IU has to offer in terms of just things to do on the weekends. I want to thank the panelists once again for coming and answering some of your questions and thank you all for your engagement and the questions that you asked with our student panel today. I have enjoyed our time together and hope that this offered you a glimpse into the life as an IU student. Session three will begin at eight thirty p.m. so you’ve got a bit of time to have a break. But make sure to return to session three. Once again, it's nice seeing you all tonight. And I hope you have a wonderful rest of your evening.

[Video: Jacob appears in the speaker frame.]

Jacob: Bye, guys!

[Video: Talia appears in the speaker frame.]

 Talia: Bye, everyone. Go Hoosiers.

[Video: Libby appears in the speaker frame.]

Libby: Bye, guys

[Video: A photo shows the Sample Gates with a sunset in the background.]

[Words appear: Return to the IU Admitted Student Event lobby page at go dot I U dot e d u slash a s e dash lobby.]

Moderator: For those remaining, thanks again for joining us for our IU Admitted Student Event. We’re thrilled that you were able to join us. As a reminder, in just a few minutes session three will begin. Please go to the lobby page you’ll see here, go dot I U dot e d u slash a s e dash lobby, so you can check out some academic options. Have a great evening, and again, go Hoosiers. Thanks again all, this concludes the first two sessions. Again, to be able to connect with your academic session, please go to the lobby page, go dot IU dot e d u slash a s e dash lobby. Have a great night, take good care. Bye-bye.

[End of transcript.]