wfergus18

I'm trying to attend college in Chicago and settle there. I need a college that is good, but not too expensive. I've evaluated many options and I came to the conclusion that University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign was the best college, but I want to hear someone's opinion. Thanks.

ucbalumnus

Intended or possible major(s)?

Cost constraints, financial aid situation, and state of residency? (State of residency is important in that it changes the value proposition of the state universities.)

bluebayou

in my opinion, the two "best" schools in Chicago are Northwestern (in nearby Evanston) and the University of Chicago (not in any order), both of which offer good need-based aid. What is "best" for you, however, depends on your intended major and personal interests. (Greek life, B10 sports, etc.).

If you are out of state, the state's publics may not be very affordable.

Way down the food chain and much less selective, De Paul is in Chicago, and offers good merit aid.

Scholarships | Admission and Aid | DePaul University

annasdad

The University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign is about three hours south of Chicago.

The University of Illinois - Chicago is in the city.

As bluebayou said, the "best school" for you is impossible to recommend unless you answer at least the questions in ucbalumnus's post.

vinceh

College Navigator - Search Results

I strongly endorse answering ucbalumnus' questions before making any decision. The above link should give you a list of 4-Year public and private non-profit schools within 25 miles of the Wrigley Building in Chicago. Because of the geographic restriction, it omits Wheaton College (25.4 miles away) and Lake Forest College (26.6 miles away).

The big "players" in geographic order:

1. DePaul
2. University of Illinois - Chicago (this is NOT University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)
3. Loyola University
4. University of Chicago
5. Northwestern University
6. Wheaton College
7. Lake Forest College

Without getting into an argument, Northwestern and University of Chicago would most likely be considered "the best".

Additionally, even though it is 3 hours away, UIUC is a good choice for someone wanting to ultimately live and work in Chicago. So is the University of Notre Dame, (73 miles), as many of its alumni move and settle in Chicago after graduation.

zephyr15

Northwestern and Univesity of Chicago (no particular order) are the most selective (i.e., hardest to get into) and have the best reputations (whatever that means) so would be considered 'the best' by most objective criteria.

However, as others have said, the best for you depends on your own grades, fit, specific programs, and intangibles (i.e., how you feel about a schol).

zobroward

if you are 18 how can you know that you want to "settle" in chicago. you are young you may change your mind a million times between now and when you are ready "settle". do not plan so far out in advance.

kwu

Cut the PC crap. UChicago > Northwestern.

USNWR UG: UChicago (4), NU (12)
" Business: Booth (4), Kellogg (4)
" Law: UC (5), NU (12)
" Medicine: Pritzker (10), Feinberg (18)
" Biology: UC (13), NU (26)
" Chemistry: UC (13), NU (7)
" Physics: UC (7), NU (30)
" Math: UC (6), NU (16)
" English: UC (7), NU (20)
" Econ: UC (1), NU (8)
" PoliSci: UC (11), NU (21)

Times Higher Education Rankings; Reputation: UChicago (10; 14), NU (19; 35)
QS World University Rankings: UC (8), NU (27)

barrk123

Those are all graduate school rankings I'm guessing he is looking for an undergraduate school

phuriku

US News Undergrad: UChicago #4, NU #12
Forbes Undergrad: UChicago #4, NU #22

By any measure, UChicago is the best and most prestigious university in the Midwest. Sometimes, people like to pretend that Chicago and NU are on the same level to be politically correct and to avoid offending people, but the reality is pretty obvious.

Crimsonstained7

UChicago is the most prestigious, Northwestern is still extremely high in rankings and such. If you are a bookish nerd who wants to major in liberal arts you'd like UChicago, if you aren't you'd like Northwestern. These are very hard to get into however. By the way, Wheaton is actually considered the top Christian school by most (1400 average SAT or so).

warblersrule

Several of Northwestern's most popular programs are either better than Chicago's or not offered there - engineering, journalism and communications, music, and theatre to name to the most obvious. Regardless of how one chooses to parse differences, a motivated student would do perfectly well at either.


You are extraordinarily zealous about posting Chicago's rankings and shooting down other universities, particularly Northwestern...I can only hope you've achieved more in the last couple of years than graduating from Chicago.

ucbalumnus

Other posts by the OP indicate a US citizen living outside the US (so no state residency initially) with parents earning below-US-median household income.

Obviously, that means that the OP needs to go to each college's net price calculator to see if there is a realistic chance of getting sufficient financial aid to make the college affordable. What is best for the OP obviously needs to be affordable.

beyphy

I imagine they do it because there isn't a seemingly strong difference between the two. Personally, i think of Chicago as a nerdier school, and Northwestern as a preppier school. The former has an amazing econ department, and the latter has an amazing journalism program. The list goes on.

Both are certainly top schools, but neither are part of HYPSM. This is true regardless of how high US News and others rank Chicago.

happymomof1

Intended major is also important. Off the top of my head I can come up with a dozen career goals that would not be served at all well by U of Chicago or by Northwestern. Once the OP defines a major, and a budget, any of the college-matching search engines can be used to find some reasonable options.