Normal/Bloomington, IL

[waiting123]

Very possible school choice. I'd love to know more about the town. Anybody that has lived there after living in a big city?

[Blackhawks10]

I completed my undergraduate there. It may take some adjusting if you are coming from a big city. There is some public transportation (buses) that are free to students, but are not very useful unless you absolutely cannot have a car. But the town has pretty much everything you need: several grocery stores, a mall, most chain restaurants, etc. Campus is nice with a lot of trees and pretty compact. If you can afford to have a car I would recommend living a little bit off campus, the apartments are a little nicer and cheaper. If you have any other questions just let me know and I will try to answer them for you.

[waiting123]

Starting to look for housing. Any rental companies you recommend or that I should avoid? I have a small dog.

Ideally I'd like to find a small house, but it is seeming difficult.

[Blackhawks10]

Depends if you are looking around campus or a little off campus. I lived at Ironwood Gardens which is north of the campus and is about a 5-10 minute drive to campus. They are nice and a mix of students and non students so it is pretty quiet. I know for sure they allow pets and they have a nice walking path on the interior of the complex.

[crazygirl2012]

I'm living in Bloomington for undergrad. It's alright. Not the most exciting place in the world, but you can live comfortably here. I do suggest having a car if you can, so you can get to the mall and a bunch of other stores. Uptown Normal, which is basically on ISU's campus, is great. There's an old theater, restaurants, coffee shops, little gift shops, etc. Downtown Bloomington has a bit of a personality as well. So if you're coming from a big city, you might feel a little bored, but probably not stifled.

[Between Fields]

Does anyone have any further advice about Bloomington-Normal? I'm looking for an apartment, but it's been tough since I accepted so late in the cycle. I'm considering on-campus housing at Illinois State... Is that an awful idea?

[CommPhD20]

I haven't lived in B-N, but I was raised a half hour away and have spent much time there. I'd be shocked if you can't find very good and affordable housing that is off-campus. My guess is that the places that are snapped up right now are in areas where undergrads live, which is probably not what you would want anyway.

 

Unfortunately, I don't have much to offer in terms of specific housing advice as I've never lived there. If you are interested in more general things about what to do in Blo-No, weather/life in central IL, I'd be happy to help.

[Klonoa]

Reviving an old thread.

 

I will be staying in the graduate apartments. I haven't heard anything about it - good or bad. How are the apartments? Also, how is the town and night life? As a graduate student I will probably not have a social life, but I would like to get out at least once a month. I will not have a car, but I know there is an Amtrak station that connects to Springfield and Chicago.

Edited July 12, 2015 by Klonoa

[Between Fields]

Hi, Klonoa! Welcome to BloNo! 

 

There are two complexes for graduate students--one is newly acquired (not new construction, but the university just bought it) and the other is a little further from campus. I haven't really heard much about them, other than that they're OK. Not great, but not terrible. ISU isn't like a lot of other big universities in that there's not much in the way of on-campus housing. Most students live in private dorms or regular apartments. It's likely that you can find something cheaper and better off campus next year.

 

You'll have more of a social life than you imagine. Master's students go out pretty frequently, but less than undergrads and more than PhD students. Uptown Normal has several good bars and they're pretty busy on Wednesday (lol... undergrads...) and Thursdays, but things shift to Downtown Bloomington for the weekends, which also has several good bars. I like going to Uptown for lunch because it's basically an extension of the ISU campus, and it's pretty convenient to grab drinks there after a seminar. I did my MA and undergrad in a small town, so it seems pretty good, but YMMV if you're from a large city. The gay bar downtown, The Bistro, is fun.

 

The town itself is nice. It really feels like a college town and the town supports the university pretty well. Things are safe and there are several historic areas that are fun to walk through. The Constitution Trail is one of the area's best assets, which makes it really easy to bike or walk without fear of getting run over. There's not a lot in terms of attractions around here, but being so close to Chicago kind of makes that moot.

 

The Amtrak station is in the same building as city hall and the bus depot, right in the center of Uptown. The train ride to Chicago isn't bad at all and drops you right in the Loop at Union Station. I haven't gone south to Springfield or St. Louis but I know a number of grad students who live in Springfield and Lincoln who take the train up for classes and haven't had problems. Not having a car isn't a huge deal in this city as your Redbird card gets you free rides on the bus and it goes to all of the major big box stores out on Veteran's Parkway.