Office of Admissions

A College You Can Call Home

As you are starting your college search, you are probably looking for a place that will feel like home. Everywhere you turn at Indiana University, you’ll find a new friend, a staff member who’s eager to help, or a professor who can teach you something new. That’s the beauty of IU: people from all over the state, country, and world come together to learn from and with each other.

At IU, you’ll get:

• A great education: More than 150 majors, highly ranked programs, and exciting academic opportunities such as the Hutton Honors College, research programs, and overseas study.
• Affordability and value: Numerous scholarships, low costs, and a ranking as a top-30 “best value” among public colleges by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance.
• A supportive community: Faculty and advisors who help you achieve your goals, mentoring and leadership development programs, and free tutoring from the Academic Support Center and Writing Tutorial Services.

Read the stories below to see how other students have succeeded at IU—and how you can too.

Applying for Admission for Fall 2013

The online application for Indiana University's fall 2013 class will be available around the beginning of August. In the meantime, you can also read more about the admission process and our admission standards. Earn the best grades you can in your senior year and plan to take the SAT or ACT several times to give yourself the greatest opportunity to be admitted to IU and to be considered for an Automatic or Selective Scholarship. You will also want to make sure you meet our curriculum requirments.

Student Stories

Michael Coleman

Year: Senior
Majors: Political science and history
Hometown: Indianapolis
High School: North Central High School

Community is what counts to Michael, and he found what he wanted at IU. The people he’s met through his fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha, and Groups Student Support Services—a program that helps first-generation students, students with limited financial resources, and students with disabilities excel at IU—have become a second family to him.

“When you get to know the people next to you,” he says, “they can impact you, and you can do the same to them.”

Michael has had quite an impact on IU, serving in many leadership positions on campus. As the 2010–11 student body president, Michael led an administration whose accomplishments included improving campus safety, adding a fall break to IU’s calendar, and implementing GPS tracking of campus buses.

Michael’s time at IU has been a fun ride, full of unexpected experiences. He visited New York City and Washington, D.C. for the first time. He traveled the Midwest campaigning for Barack Obama. And last summer, he studied in Ghana with other Groups students.

Ultimately, it all comes back to community. Michael calls IU an “amazing university,” but he knows it can be even better. “It’s important to invest yourself in your community,” he says. “When we work together, we can improve IU as a whole.”

Alison Hill

Year: Sophomore
Major: Criminal Justice
Hometown: Barrington, Illinois
High School: Barrington High School

Attending IU is a tradition for Alison’s family: her father, uncle, and sister all came to IU. But she had her own reasons for choosing IU. The great academics. The beautiful campus. All the student organizations and activities. And most of all, the Big Ten athletics. She attended all of the home football games last fall, and one of her favorite phrases is “Go Hoosiers!”

At football games, at church, and at the many campus events she attends, Alison has made lots of friends. She even met her freshman year roommate on an IU Facebook page. Her advice: Put yourself out there and get involved. “Friends will come to you naturally,” she says.

As a freshman, she was nervous about switching from high school classes to college courses. But she worked on her time management and turned to her professors for assistance, and she quickly got on track. “My professors have always been really helpful,” she says. “I’m really thankful for that.”

Most of all, Alison is thankful that she—like her family members—found a home at IU. “IU is a great place,” she says. “If I were back in high school, I would choose IU again.”

Christian Wellmann

Year: Junior
Major: Sports Marketing and Management
Hometown: East Chicago, IN
High School: East Chicago Central High School

Christian’s friends are always laughing because he can’t go anywhere on campus without seeing someone he knows. “They laugh,” he says, “because we will go to a movie at the IMU and five different people will come say ‘Hi’ to me, and my friends have no idea how I know all of them. With everything I have been involved in, I just meet people everywhere.”

At IU, it’s not only the social aspects of campus life that Christian enjoys. He also stays connected in the classroom by always making sure to sit up front and interact with the professors. “Not only does it make it harder to slack off,” he jokes, “but I have actually become friends with my professors.” In addition to his success as a 21^st Century Scholar, Christian also is a recipient of the Hudson and Holland Scholarship.

Christian also maximizes his life outside the classroom by taking part in a wide range of organizations and activities that support his interests. He is heavily involved in the intramural sports program on campus, where he is both a participant and an official. He also has participated in programs with the Multicultural Outreach Recruitment Educators, La Casa, and the Men of Color Leadership Institute.

Through all of his involvement, Christian has been able to meet and become friends with many different people. “I love that at IU, I have met people with different perspectives, from different backgrounds, and with different ethnicities. Most importantly, I have made lifelong friends.”

Janelle Williams

Year: Sophomore
Major: Exploratory
Hometown: Gary, Indiana
High School: The Indiana Academy for Science, Mathematics, and Humanities (Muncie, Indiana)

Ask Janelle what she’s involved with on campus, and she’ll smile and say, “Everything.” During her freshman year, she was on the performing arts committee of Union Board, the largest programming group on campus. She was a member of the Student Alumni Association, which helps plan Homecoming. And she served as an usher at the IU Auditorium, so she saw musicals, concerts, and other shows for free. (Her favorites so far: Legally Blonde and Blue Man Group.)

She’s also exploring several majors, from psychology to arts management. Or she may create her own through the Individualized Major Program.

IU’s academic and extracurricular options are a big reason Janelle chose IU. She also received an Automatic Academic Scholarship worth $9,000 per year, plus a scholarship from the Hudson and Holland Scholars Program, which helps students succeed in college and beyond.

Whether she’s attending a show by JMUSE Productionz or an event at the Latino Cultural Center, Janelle also appreciates the various backgrounds of IU’s students. “Everybody has something to offer,” she says. “Just because someone is different from me doesn’t mean her perspective is invalid. I try to learn from everyone.”