Muncie Questions (Lafayette, West Lafayette, Yorktown: fit in, apartments, renting)

[focail]

I've been offered admission to a graduate program at Ball State and so we are considering moving to Muncie (my other grad school option is in Vermont). I'm an older than normal student with a husband in IT and 2 children. We're very liberal and environmentally conscious, so I'm not entirely certain that we'll "fit in" in Indiana.

Our concerns are the crime rate for such a small city, what the schools would be like for our children, if the neighborhoods we're looking at are decent, and if there's anywhere that we can easily buy local and/or organic groceries. We'd like to live near the campus in the historic section. Is that a safe neighborhood and are the elementary schools good?

We currently live in Iowa and have wanted to go to a place like Vermont for some time simply because of the fact that we'd be more likely to find more people who hold our values. But the program a Ball State that I've been accepted to is really good and they're basically offering me a free ride, so it's difficult to turn down.

Would we be miserable in Muncie? Are my impressions that it's a very conservative, non-environmentally conscious, full of chain stores that sell nothing but non-organic, chemical-laden food accurate? Or is there some secret bastion of liberalism there that can offer us what we would like?

I have to make my decision this week about where we're going--the deadlines for both universities are looming over my head...

[domergurl]

I'm a lifelong Hoosier and it pains me to say this, but go to Vermont. You'll be miserable in Muncie.

[hindsight2020]

I agree, considering your post, you'll probably be miserable in Munice.

That said, I can only imagine what the cost of attending the program in Vermont would be. I went to Purdue to for grad school and it was the very last in my list of places, primarily due to location. In hindsight, sans the winter, Lafayette was fine. If Purdue were giving you options then I would strongly suggest you choose that, I think you'd find Lafayette/West Lafayette as a decent alternative. At any rate the reason I bring that up is because they they were the only one to offer me a free ride, so I took it. Met my current fiancé there and lived there for 3 years. Best decision I made economically, my life would be miserable right now if I were to repay loans for a program that didn't really add much to my ability to get paid (that's my fault though lol). So I would weigh the opportunity cost of the tuition and other expenses. I'd wager that cost-of-living, particularly coming from Iowa, is considerably higher in Vermont that in Indiana, so Indiana won't be an economic shock for you, Vermont would be. There's economic value in that, FWIW.

Good luck either way!

[caseyann85]

Hello:

I am a senior at BSU and I must say I am ready to get the heck out of here! Ball State is a great school and I know that you would love the university and academic atmosphere. However, Muncie does not have much to offer. Renting homes around here are pretty outrageous for what you get. We paid $1300 for our home last year and the landlord did not take care of it well. If you try and go to apartments, they are pretty much all college students so you would have to put up with the noise, trash and general disrespect of younger students.

I am not familiar with how much a home would cost in the historic district. I know that many people such as professors actually live in Yorktown (10 minutes outside of Muncie). The community is much cleaner and nicer although much smaller, but I understand the school is better here. As for wanting to shop organic. The majority of people do their shopping here at Wal-Mart if that tells you anything. However, once spring rolls around there is a great vegetable/food market offered in Minnetrista ( a cultural center in Muncie). It goes on every weekend once the weather gets nice and lasts through the fall.

Muncie is an average Midwestern town; nothing too liberal but with the university presence I wouldn't say it was strictly conservative either. But you aren't going to find too many people vesting interest in environmental or any political policies for that matter.

I think if you can go to school here for a couple years and get out, you'll be fine. I just wouldn't recommend that anyone settle here. It's not much to offer.

[Interpol76]

I'm a Ball State student, liberal as crap, and can't stand it here. People are friendly for the most part compared to the rest of Indiana, but sill are as small minded and boring as the rest of the people in this dump of a state. I cant wait to leave, and sometimes it is the only thing I ever really think about. There is no culture here at all, just crappy box stores and disgusting fast food joints. Ball State is a good school, so if you are only going to stay here for a short period of time, I don't think it will be so bad.

[Ann_Arbor]

I graduated from BSU two years ago and have since lived in LA, Santa Monica and Ann Arbor. I am not a to native Indiana, I came to the school for the Architecture program. Within that niche of people, there all sorts of people- from liberal minded and progressive to conservative. I know in a lot of other majors, conservatives seem to out number liberals, but at a university of 18,000 +, you should be able to find your own niche. If you are looking for one with a higher concentration of liberals, hang out with arch. students/ landscape arch. students or urban planners.

As for student housing, Muncie is extremely affordable and yes, landlords are going mis-manage their properties everywhere, but there is a great housing stock for students. Muncie is actually an anomaly, in that the areas/ neighborhoods around the university (where there are a lot of student renters) have some on the nicest, well-built homes in the community. I have a friend who is renting a loft above a Walnut St. business for under $300. You won't find many places cheaper to live than in Muncie- that should be the last thing you complain about there.

[whiters08]

I am looking for something like you describe your friend has. Do you have anymore information on where this friend lives exactly?



I have a friend who is renting a loft above a Walnut St. business for under $300. You won't find many places cheaper to live than in Muncie- that should be the last thing you complain about there.[/quote]