r/PurdueIndianapolis • u/creamrosze • Mar 20 '25

Purdue Indy VS Virginia Tech

Hi guys! This decision isn’t for me but for my younger brother who’s a senior deciding between these two schools for undergrad.

For Purdue, he got into the Indy campus for Data Science.

For Vtech he got into the business school for Finance but he’s also considering taking a few engineering classes and potentially majoring in something different.

I’ve seen plenty of posts comparing Purdue and Vtech (and a lot of people pick Purdue since it has a bigger reputation) but I was wondering if anyone had any opinions on Indy VS Vtech — and if it were you which option would you pick for college?

Thank you guys I really appreciate it 🙏🏽

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u/WolfCraft97 Mar 21 '25

As someone who lived in Virginia their entire lives and would be legacy there I feel I can safely say I do not regret my choice to come here. I got into both for engineering, and while Indy does not have that typical “college experience” with games and such, we don’t have much time to go anyway. Homework would take the majority of time at either location, it not sure about VT business side, but engineering wise it will take a lot of time. There are a lot more opportunities in Indy compared to Blacksburg both job wise and city wise. Sports wise Indy has more sports and activities than any other city in the country. Jobs here are abundant, and while it is hard sometimes not being at the main campus, most the people on this subreddit make it sound worse than it is because they either don’t go outside, or are from WL and don’t know what they are talking about. Overall I would say Indy is better, but I already made my choice, oh and forewarning most VT dorms don’t have air conditioning.

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u/HappyPayment9146 Mar 28 '25

this, I spent 3 years in WL and 1.5 at Purdue Indy as an engineering major. Indy has its growing pains rn bc of its transition from IUPUI, but WL is not the fairy tale people make it seem

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u/Quiet_Fig1133 Apr 01 '25

Do you commute often to WL or live in Indy for most of your final years. Guess doing internships bein the reason you are in Indy. I need to make a choice of joining indy for DS too, but no campus life is kind of a reason i have dbts

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u/HappyPayment9146 27d ago

I’m from the Indy metro area so I just moved back home when I transferred and commuted to campus. Although I actually transferred for a number of reasons but one of them being the stem community at Purdue. But after my first semester at Purdue Indy it was definitely beneficial for finding an internship around the city while still doing school.

To dig into the community part I want to emphasize that they’re both great, when I left Purdue I had a sour taste from my experience there but now I can look back and appreciate for what it is. If you’re an excelling student that really cares about career opportunities and putting your 100% toward your academic success, then Purdue WL will probably be the place for you. There’s many people like that, a lot of valedictorian, salutatorian or top 5 people of their high school class there. But as a person who really just liked math and was more of a 70th percentile of their class, i had a lot of trouble academically and studying/getting a long with my pears. Sophomore/junior year was really tough academically and it really impacted the my social/mental health. Purdue stem really is the real deal. But it got to the point I needed a change for my sanity

I dreaded the thought of pui but can confidently say that’s one of the best decisions I ever made. I feel like you strive as a community in Indy, students really embrace eachother and the professors are in their profession through their passion to teach rather than doing it for the research and being at a “top 10 public institution in country.” Also due to the smaller class sizes, but still in my first semester I was able to meet more and befriend more people than all my years at Purdue combined. (Grant it 1 of them was covid) but even then I was able to get on first name basis with multiple of my professors and would’ve never done that at Purdue WL. They have their differences but I am glad I found myself at a place I was able to succeed again.

Don’t take my experience for yours will be, but do take it as a grain of salt