Sheez. I can write a review for this place, too. Without being overly detailed, I have first-hand experience, albeit limited. Moreover, it will be a good review.
IUPUI was conceived roughly around 1969 as a joint campus bridging the different worlds that are Indiana's 2 Big 10 universities of Purdue and Indiana, aka IU, and bringing their niche areas to a new downtown campus in Indianapolis's core, south or west of the capitol and the CBD.
It fuses the technical and vocational areas from Purdue and the liberal arts and business disciplines from Indiana. The campus also has the Herron School of Art and there are numerous graduate programs, often offered in the evenings, and the health science professions are offered here as well, being that the teaching hospital and clinics are right there, to the west of the main campus. This means that there is a lot of diversity among its enrolled students, because the tech-y critical mass of Purdue and liberal arts critical mass of IU are diluted such that people are enrolled in a wider spread of majors. Then, there's the added diversity of it being a downtown commuter school, meaning that students won't be of the cookie cutter college brat variety. Also, throw in adults picking up degrees after work, or during the day, and it becomes even more diverse.
The IUPUI campus is typical 70s modern, with more daring buildings built as time has gone on. While it's not strikingly beautiful, it is comfortable and not foreboding. Reportedly, daytime downtown parking is challenging, but less so for evening courses.
For some, this won't be the right campus for them. It's a place you go to as a self-motivated student who may work, be on the 5 or 6 year plan, or craft a major they want without being pulled by the implied tide of expectations of a Purdue or an IU. I've only driven around Purdue and through West Lafayette, maybe even grabbing a bite to eat, and it was not a particularly attractive place. As for IU in Bloomington, everyone fawns over it as being something storybook like. The only parts of IU that are photo worthy are the Student Union and the brook with a stone bridge in front of it, the entrance gate near the administrative building, and the wedge shaped Museum of Art. Everything else there is either a soul sucking institutional limestone building or a dank collegiate Gothic building the likes of one where bad kids were sent in England in the olden days. However, the IUPUI student will enjoy the more adult-like vibe of having high rises as a backdrop, fellow students from all walks of life, professors they will know, an apparent lack of having to conform to a list of Big 10 "shoulds" and traditions, and a choice of many practical and interesting majors.
IUPUI gets 3 stars for how it stacks up within its own context and mission, and for being a very commonsensical way to get a college education, particularly for in-state students. read more