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Purdue is a great university for engineering, and computer based degrees. Neil Armstrong studied aerospace engineering here so the reputation of the school is very high. It is one of the top public universities in America so if you are looking to work in the US after you graduate, this university will look great on your resume. I studied UX design which is in the Polytechnic School and it\u2019s really hard to get into because of the high demand of students wanting to study it, so if you want to study UX design at Purdue, make sure you make your class preference choices early on so the positions don\u2019t fill up too quickly.<\/p>\n
Before I left<\/strong><\/p>\n I found it very important to have everything under control before I left, so I organised my flights to and from the US a few months before I left. I also organised my visa and accommodation before I left too so all I had to do when I got there was organise my arrival information (it\u2019s called an I-94 form, and Purdue will provide more information to you about it, once you arrive in the US). I also found it very helpful to organise a US sim card so that I\u2019d have an American phone number, and an American bank account as well. If you want to get a job on campus, you\u2019ll need to get a Social Security Number, which the on-campus jobs can help you with.<\/p>\n Once I arrived<\/strong><\/p>\n Immigration was a bit of a process but if you have all of your documents on you (passport with visa, return flight information, DS-2019 form) it will go smoothly. For me, I arrived into San Francisco because it is a little less chaotic than LAX, however that\u2019s up to you. From there, I flew into Chicago, but you can fly into Indianapolis too as it\u2019s a bit closer to campus than Chicago airport is. From both airports there are shuttle services that take you straight to campus, which I found very helpful.<\/p>\n Accommodation and transport<\/strong><\/p>\n I lived in on-campus housing for my first year and then off-campus housing for my last semester, so I have experience in both accommodation options. The positives of living in on-campus housing were that your rent is paid all upfront at the start of the semester, and it includes a meal plan, so you can eat at the dining courts (kind of like cafeterias) for three meals a day. I\u2019d say it\u2019s an ideal living situation for freshman (normally 18-19 years old) and sophomores (normally 19-20 years old) because you can live with people your age and make great friends within your dorm. The negatives are that the dorms are a bit far from campus, which is a pain in winter when it gets up to -20\u00b0 and you have to walk 30 minutes to class, and you don\u2019t get to choose which dorm you\u2019re placed in. With off-campus housing, they are a lot more expensive, but are much closer to the centre of campus. I would definitely recommend off-campus housing for juniors (normally 20-21 years old) and seniors (normally 21-22 years old) because it provides you with more freedom, it\u2019s closer to restaurants, bars and campus as well. The negatives are obviously rent price, and that a meal plan isn\u2019t included.<\/p>\n With transport, there\u2019s a bus that goes all around campus, and is free to all students. Also, Ubers are very cheap and there\u2019s heaps around, especially on nights out.<\/p>\n Orientation<\/strong><\/p>\n There is an orientation week called Boiler Gold Rush which is organised by the school. It\u2019s mainly for those who are just starting university so the students are all 18-19 years old and it costs $350 so I didn\u2019t feel the need to do it. The university also sends you information on how to enrol in classes, how to get to certain class buildings and what books and tools you\u2019ll need to buy for your classes. You\u2019ll also be given an advisor who can help you with classes and enrolment and time table scheduling. If you have any questions about anything, they are the person to ask.<\/p>\n Classes, homework, and exams<\/strong><\/p>\n I found that compared to QUT, the classes over here gave much more day to day homework. For example, most classes are every two days, so if you are given homework in your Monday class, it\u2019s due the Wednesday before class. Most assignments are due at the end of the week at 11:59pm and depending on what you study, you can be given more assignments and homework than exams. With exams, normally you have mid-term exams, which are in the middle of the term, and finals, which are the week after classes end. All classwork will go towards those exams so make sure you don\u2019t procrastinate because there\u2019s lots of content that goes into these exams! There\u2019s also Career Fairs which are really good experiences to go to because hundreds of companies around the US come to interview people for future jobs, so if you are looking to work in the US after graduation, those are really good to attend. You make a lot of connections and meet a lot of interesting people in your field of study.<\/p>\n Meeting People<\/strong><\/p>\n I got really lucky and met a girl in my first class on my first day of school who introduced me to her friend group, but there\u2019s so many opportunities to meet people at Purdue. There are countless clubs that you can join and there\u2019s also Greek life (sororities and frats). There\u2019s also a club called PASSPORT which is only for study abroad students or Purdue students who have done a study abroad, so that\u2019s also a great way to meet other international students who are studying at Purdue. I would say that college life in the US is very different to university life in Australia, so making American friends is a great way to involve yourself fully in the American college experience.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.qut.edu.au\/gone-global\/files\/2025\/02\/image2-225x300.jpg\")
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