
Student Life Facts
See below for interesting facts related to student life at Purdue, arranged by month. To view information, click on the month desired.
Over the past five years, underrepresented minority (URM) students involved in Fraternity, Sorority and Cooperative Life were more likely to remain at Purdue for their sophomore year than the Purdue URM average, 94.3% to 89.6%.
Purdue's All-American Marching Band was recently ranked as the 8th best college band in the nation by Great Value Colleges and 9th by Fan Buzz.
Purdue's Office of Civic Engagement recently commemorated the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service with community partner United Way of Greater Lafayette.
The Purdue Jazz Band will recognize Valentine's Day with a 1940s Big Band style "Evening of Romance" concert in Marriott Hall.
Purdue Musical Organizations provides over $350,000 in scholarships to 173 students across the West Lafayette campus.
A recent survey found that first year students living on-campus were more likely to feel part of the Purdue community and create valuable friendships.
78% of new students became involved in at least one campus activity or student organization in their first six weeks on campus.
Purdue's RecWell encourages well-being by providing cooking courses in their Demonstration Kitchen for only $10.
Purdue was recently recognized by the Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education as the #4 university in the country in terms of student engagement.
Purdue University has the lowest predominant room and board rate for Big 10 institutions for the 2021-22 academic year.
The Roger C. Stewart Leadership and Professional Development Department was recently named to honor the alumnus for his decades of mentorship and support of student programs.
University Residences is currently housing over 15,250 students, representing Purdue's largest on-campus population ever.
RecWell is helping students who are taking a "giant leap off campus" with the Boiler Financial Track program.
New student employees for Purdue Dining & Culinary recently participated in Jump Start, the sixth year the department has hosted the early orientation program that focuses on building leadership skills.
Chris Hanes recently began his role as new Senior Director for Counseling and Psychological Services, joining Purdue after a role at Iowa State.
Purdue Convocations recently celebrated a return to in-person events with "Hand to Hand" by Squonk Opera.
Boiler Gold Rush welcomed the largest-ever Purdue freshman class with over 8,400 students participating in the program.
For the Spring 2021 semester, Greek and Cooperative Life students once again outperformed the campus average GPA, 3.31 to 3.26.
Results from the EBI Benchmarking survey show that University Residences has consistently outperformed other institutions in many critical areas such as students satisfaction, facilities, and security over the past ten years.
Exit surveys revealed that nearly four-fifths of former Purdue Dining & Culinary student employees would recommend that other students work for Purdue D&C.
Purdue Band & Orchestra's chapter of Kappa Kappa Psi received the national Chapter Leadership award for its service over the past two years.
- Elliott Hall of Music was rated as the #5 campus theater in the nation by Best College Reviews.
- With Purdue providing students the option of attending all-online courses in the Fall, Student Life departments are providing many virtual resources including telehealth and virtual activities.
- The Office of the Vice Provost of Student Life recently partnered with Cornerstone Liberal Arts to create a "My Quarantine Story" competition, prompting students to reflect on the unique historical moment.
- Purdue Musical Organizations' incorporation of technology through the iSing initiative has enhanced opportunities for rehearsal, feedback, and composition for student participants.
- In a recent survey, 88% of students expressed satisfaction with the atmosphere created by the Purdue Memorial Union.
- Purdue Dining & Culinary's supplemental dining operations including Pete's Za and 1bowl outperformed benchmarks at other institutions on the recent NACUFS survey.
- Purdue was recently selected from over 1,000 universities as the recipient of the Don Clifton Strengths for Students Award for its use of "myStrengths" to enhance student leadership.
- RecWell has been conducting virtual Group X classes to help students stay connected to their health and wellness while away from campus.
- Purdue University Student Health and the Department of Health & Kinesiology partnered to create a clinical site for students in the athletic training program to practice physical therapy.
- The 2019 NACUFS Benchmarking survey saw Purdue Dining & Culinary meeting students' expectations more frequently than peers, perhaps most notably in terms of value.
- Research by Student Life's Dr. Amanda Mayes and others on the effect of live theater on business ethics was recently published in the Humanistic Management Journal.
- University Residences' Executive-in-Residence program recently celebrated its fifth anniversary with a panel of retuning executives spanning over 430 years of professional experience.
- Online publication, Best College Reviews, ranked the Purdue Memorial Union 16th Best Student Union in the Country.
- Purdue Bands & Orchestras has unveiled "Purdue Quarantunes" on Instagram in an effort to help keep students connected through the unifying power of music.
- CAPS is providing telehealth services including screenings, therapy, and other forms of care to better serve students during social distancing measures.
- Purdue Recreation & Wellness recently launched e-sports intramurals in a variety of games including NBA2K, Rocket League, and FIFA20.
- The average GPAs for students in Purdue Greek and Cooperative Organizations are consistently higher than those for the general Purdue population.
- Student Life recently held its Human Library event, where individuals have conversations with "living books" based on their life experiences.
- 93% of Purdue Musical Organizations students noted that their PMO experience helped them improve their leadership skills.
- Student Life Marketing was recently recognized at the annual Indianapolis ADDY Awards including a graphic designer's gold recognition for the RecWell Legacy Wall.
- For the 2018-19 academic year, Purdue Greek and Cooperative Organizations raised over $820,000 for charitable causes.
- The Third Annual UR Men's Leadership Series was recently completed with four speakers including CEO of Parrish McDonald's Restaurants, Roland Parrish.
- Over 3,900 people utilized Purdue Dining & Culinary's automated delivery service during the Fall 2019 semester.
- Purdue Counseling & Psychological Services recently transitioned to a new care model in order to better meet demand for services.
- 84% of students surveyed rated their experience at Purdue University Student Health Service at "high quality."
- Purdue Recreation & Wellness recently unveiled "RecWell," an app that allows students to view schedules and reserve spots in group fitness classes.
- Nearly 20% of undergraduate students are members of one of Purdue's 90+ Fraternity, Sorority and Cooperative organizations.
- Purdue Dining & Culinary was ranked #19 in the nation by Best Value Schools and #41 by Niche.com.
- The Purdue Marching Band was ranked as the #4 college marching band in the country in 2019 by the website ThoughtCo and #6 by College Raptor.
- Last year, Purdue Musical Organizations students performed 91 times in 30 cities, 5 states and 3 countries.
- Jay Gephart, Director of Purdue University Bands & Orchestras, recently received the prestigious Sagamore of the Wabash award for contributions to Hoosier heritage.
- The percentage of students deciding to return to University Residences has increased from 39.0% in 2007 to 50.1% in 2019.
- University Residences houses a record number of students — nearly 14,600 — for the fall 2019 semester, providing each student access to a wide variety of residential academic initiatives.
- Student Life recently held a "History of Horror" walking tour that highlighted events from Purdue’s rich history as a benefit for the United Way.
- Purdue Dining & Culinary recently partnered with Starship Technologies to bring automated food delivery robots to the Purdue campus, making Purdue the largest campus in the world with that technology.
- Purdue Musical Organizations recently welcomed high school students from across the state to provide instruction on singing and performing.
- Purdue recently launched Steps to Leaps, a campus-wide initiative geared toward bolstering student success based on the pillars of well-being, leadership, impact-making, network building and grit.
- The Jumpstart program helped over 100 student employees in Purdue Dining & Culinary gain leadership training while giving them the opportunity to work to receive reimbursement for their Boiler Gold Rush fee.
- Purdue has the lowest predominant room and board rate for Big Ten institutions for the 2019-20 academic year, the result of seven consecutive years without a rate increase for students.
- University Residences' Executive-in-Residence program brings leaders from business, higher education, aerospace and entrepreneurship to campus, allowing students to learn from them in small-group settings.