Indiana University and Purdue University are two popular colleges among the state of Indiana. When the time to choose which college to go to has come, seniors’ choice might vacillate between a few different universities including IU and Purdue which are the two most favored colleges among students. However, these two universities share a rivalry that has been lasting for many years, making the choice even more difficult.
Indiana University was established as the state’s seminary in 1820. The name was changed a first time to “Indiana College” in 1829 before adopting its actual name “Indiana University” in 1838.
The first professor was Baynard Rush Hall, a Presbytarian minister who taught all of the classes between 1825 and 1827. Hall focused on Greek and Latin and believed that the study of classical philosophy and languages formed the basis of the best education. During 60 years, the six presidents of the university who followed one another were all ministers until the young biology professor, David Starr Jordan, took the lead in 1885. Jordan made improvements on the university’s finance and public image before becoming president of Stanford University in 1891.
The growth of the institution was slow. For instance, IU had nearly a hundred students and seven professors in 1851 compared to the 90,000 students enrolled for the school year 2024-2025. In 1867, Sarah Parke Morrison was the first woman student admitted at the institution, making IU become the fourth public university to admit women on an equal basis with men. Morrison later became the first female professor at the college in 1873.
Indiana University started their athletic era by joining the Big Ten Conference, the predecessor of the NCAA, in 1899. More than a hundred years later, the Indiana Hoosiers, the name given to the IU sports teams, play in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in 24 sports. They have won 24 NCAA championships and one AIAW, Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women, in addition to 145 NCAA individual championships. The Hossiers’ athletic program is perhaps best known for its basketball program with its five NCAA Championships. A study made in 2018 listed Indiana as the second most valuable collegiate basketball program in the country. Indiana Univresity has two main rivalries : the Purdue Boilermakers and the Kentucky Wildcats.
Purdue University was founded in 1869 after businessman John Purdue donated land and money to establish a college of science, technology and agriculture. Purdue enrolls the largest student body in the State of Indiana as well as the ninth-largest foreign student population in the United States. The university is home to the oldest computer science program in the US.
In 1865, the Indiana General Assembly voted to begin plans to establish an institution with a focus on agriculture and engineering by taking advantage of the Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act of 1862. From 1876 to 1883, Emerson E. White, Purdue’s president, expressed his wish to distinguish the institution from the other universities. He believed that Purdue should be an “industrial college” that provides a broad, liberal education with an emphasis on science, technology and agriculture.
The official intercollegiate athletics teams representing Purdue University are called the Purdue Boilermakers. Purdue is also the founding member of the Big Ten Conference and has been with IU members for over a hundred years.
The Indiana-Purdue rivalry is a rivalry between the two main universities in Indiana : Indiana University and Purdue University. It originated in 1891 on the football field and is considered as one of the most intense college rivalries in the United States. This rivalry is increased by the popularity of basketball in Indiana as well as the number of students and academic programs proposed among the two schools.
As a comparison among the official ranking of the universities in the US, Purdue University in West Lafayette is ranked 46 out of 436 National Universities. On the other hand, IU Bloomington is ranked 73.
In summary, Indiana University whose main campus is located in Bloomington and Purdue University which is based in West Lafayette are the two main universities in the State of Indiana. Despite their similarities, some differences in the fields they best teach make students’ hearts vacillate. While IU has a better reputation for fields in law, business, art or informatics, Purdue is best known for its programs in agriculture, science and engineering. Their rivalry is increased by sports where both the Indiana Hoosiers and the Purdue Boilermakers excel.
