Did you know that Purdue has the fourth largest international enrollment of any university in the United States?
Purdue University is located near the western banks of the Wabash River in West Lafayette, Indiana. Campus makes up a large portion of the city of West Lafayette and is divided into five main sections: The Purdue Mall, Memorial Mall, South Campus, West Campus and Stadium Avenue. Residency halls and intramural fields are to the west, athletic facilities to the north, and most academic buildings are concentrated in the eastern and southern parts of campus. While West Lafayette is a small city, mostly comprised of Purdue's campus, the neighboring city of Lafayette is close by and easily accessible by public transit. And the campus is just a short road trip (about 2 hours) to the great city of Chicago!
Purdue was founded by Lafayette businessman, John Purdue, in 1869 to establish a college of science, technology, and agriculture. Now, Purdue is one of the nation's premier institutions with more than 200 areas of undergraduate study and renowned research initiatives! The school is most well-known for its competitive engineering and aviation programs. In fact, twenty-three Purdue grads have become astronauts, including Gus Grissom (one of the original Mercury Seven astronauts), Neil Armstrong (the first person to walk on the moon), and Eugene Cernan (the last person to walk on the moon).
In addition to engineering and science, the English Department at Purdue has achieved prominence for having created the first Online Writing Lab (OWL) in 1994. If you're a students, you're probably familiar with this, as many colleges and universities use the website for the Purdue OWL as a reference for the proper word usage, punctuation, grammar, and style in academic writing.
Of course, athletics are a bit part of life on campus. Purdue is home to 18 Division I/I-A NCAA teams including football, basketball, cross country, tennis, wrestling, golf, volleyball, and others. It is also a founding member of the Big Ten Conference, and played a central role in its creation. And the university's mascot (the boilermaker) has a funny history: On October 26, 1891, a newspaper in Crawfordsville, Indiana, called Purdue's football team the "Boiler Makers" when writing about their trouncing of Wabash College. Lafayette newspapers soon picked up the name, and in October 1892, The Purdue Exponent, Purdue's student newspaper, gave it the stamp of approval. Also, the school colors of old gold and black were selected by Purdue's first football team in 1887 to resemble the orange and black of Princeton's then-successful team! (Wikipedia)
Purdue is more selective with an acceptance rate of 59.2 percent. It's also worth noting that the application deadline is rolling and the early action deadline is November 1st. Learn more about Purdue here!