A graduate of Purdue University, Jamie Mitchell attended Purdue at the West Lafayette, Indiana campus in order to complete his studies in agricultural engineering. Jamie agreed to do an interview with me, a graduate of WGU Indiana, in an effort to help current high school students or any other potential first year Purdue students learn some of the things Purdue students must do if they are going to enjoy the full Purdue experience.
1.) Ride the Boilermaker Express
Every area has some urban legend that residents “have to seek out”. For example, it’s said that if a resident of Starke County swims in the Yellow River, he or she will always return to Starke County. Riding the Boilermaker Express won’t set a precedent for you returning to Purdue U, but it does happen to be one of the things that Jamie declares must be done. And, if you’re living on a limited college student’s budget, don’t worry about the fare. This student run locomotive is free to ride on Free Ride Fridays.
2.) Participate in Inner Tube Water Polo
Jamie wasn’t involved in a lot of the sports and sporting events that occur at Purdue. He found that by being outside of this circle, he may have lost out on the networking opportunities, so he recommends making an attempt to attend sporting events if for no other reason than to make new friends and potential future business relationships. However, the one event he never missed was Inner Tube Water Polo. Purdue has quite a few water sports and this just happened to be one that Jamie found highly entertaining, as well as being the perfect venue for those who aren’t very serious about college sports.
3.) Take Advantage of Public Transportation
West Lafayette, Indiana is proud to host the Purdue campus. This town goes so far as to offer free public transportation for students. Sure, it helps local businesses because it makes it easier for college students to get out-and-about, on and off the campus, but it also helps students because many of them don’t have vehicles or the funds to constantly be paying for a ride to the grocery store or anywhere else in town. There are plenty of food and social option on campus, but sometimes it helps to just take a day away from the studies to explore the area.
4.) Use Purdue OWL
No matter what kind of writing you’re doing, Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) is your go-to source. Jamie says that he used it for every class he had to write a paper in (which was most of them). He found it especially useful when it came to formatting for papers that required APA or MLA formatting because he knew Purdue OWL had the most up-to-date information. (As a side note, many other schools refer student to this resource as well.)
5.) Call Your Mother
So, you’ve moved out of the house and you’ve gotten a new start on your academic career. You have new classes, new friends, new books, and new interests. What you don’t have is a new mother. Jamie mentioned that he was shocked by how many students didn’t ever bother to phone their parents or any other support system, even when those were the people footing the bill for the student to attend Purdue in the first place.
He kept in regular contact with his mother because it helped him to remain accountable for his actions, but also because she was a steady support system for him and a driving force behind his acceptance at Purdue. She kept him on schedule during the last year of high school, and he felt that she deserved some kind of communication afterward. He also admitted that it was the regular phone calls home that sometimes stopped him from living the party life.
Kathy Foust, graduate of WGU Indiana and freelance writer, has an interest in various college experiences. Jamie Mitchell, who attended the Lafayette, West Indiana campus of Purdue University generously offered to share some of the details of his experience in order to help educate potential future students of Purdue about some of things college students might be most interested in. Jamie describes his experience as educational, but socially eye-opening as well