Illinois college search - Page 2

MadeInIllinois · 10-01-2007, 11:33 PM

How does NIU compare with UIC and UIUC? It's the closest public university to me besides UIC.

Nova10 · 10-02-2007, 08:52 AM

NIU is a good school. I hear they have a good business program. I have heard though it's rather boring in DeKalb. You're too close to Chicago for any groups and things to come. It is more of a traditional campus.
If you live close to UIC and NIU, you should come and visit both campuses. They both have prospective freshman days.

SIU is known as a party school. They get halloween week off because of that reputation. Due to their party atmosphere, people don't think of SIU's academic side. That's why the general consensus of my hs rated them a little lower.
UIC and UIUC's tuition and fees are the highest amongst the public universities because of the name.

missypie · 10-02-2007, 10:28 AM

Oh, I had fogotten about halloween at SIU-C! What memories this thread is bringing back!

calicartel · 10-02-2007, 06:57 PM

Quote:

NIU is a good school.

I guess that's relative. I was talking to a military officer recruiter at one of the universities in the Chicago area about how his efforts were going on the campus and he said "great" -- at least on that campus -- because the number of eligible students was ~98%. When asked what he meant by "eligible", he rattled off the minimum academic standards which were 2.0 college GPAs, very mediocre ACT/SAT scores. He then proceeded to talk about other schools like NIU where the percentage of "eligible" students were in the mid 40s...
So -- NIU may be good for some, and not so good for others.

Treetopleaf · 10-04-2007, 10:00 AM

Fascinating, pragmatic way of looking at student body quality - I wonder where you could find this sort of info online?

Ruggs lists recommended departments for colleges.
UIUC - 47 departments mentioned
UIC - 31
SIUC - 25
NIU - 20
EIU - 16
WIU - 16
ISU - 6
SIUE - 5

For what it's worth, which may not be much

for instance, I would have placed ISU ahead of NIU/EIU/WIU based on average ACT scores.

My niece went to Western, where she obtained an accounting internship with the state, so even average 'directional' schools offer some advantages.

Northern is mentioned in other threads on this board - search for "NIU". I'd be worried about the 'suitcase school' aspect, personally, unless you plan to leave campus every weekend too.

The student body varies at these schools. UIC is going to have a lot of Chicagoans and suburb commuters, for example, while the downstate schools will have many suburb kids as well as downstate kids.

missypie · 10-04-2007, 11:02 AM

As a former "downstate kid", it seemed like almost everyone at every state school in Illinois was from Chicago or the suburbs. There are just so many of them!!!

Treetopleaf · 10-04-2007, 12:50 PM

Interesting, at UIUC years ago I'd have said that about 1/2 half of the students were 'burbs, and 1/2 other. Not too many Chicago kids - they tended to stay in Chicago, it seemed. That's why I assume that UIC is mostly Chicago/suburbs.

I think it benefits a Chicago/burb kid to get out for a while...

Nova10 · 10-04-2007, 02:54 PM

At UIC, over 90% of undergraduates come from the Chicago area. At UIC, you'll have downstate students who have been dying to get out of their small towns.
In general, none of the public universities have a large OOS population. UIUC has the highest at about 10% or so.
NIU does have a suitcase campus reputation.
There are good and bad points about all these school.

phantasmagorical · 10-08-2007, 12:26 PM

UIC has great social work and engineering programs, but nothing else is particularly high-quality.

MadeInIllinois · 02-28-2008, 11:03 PM

Made some college visits:

UIUC: Really like the campus. Champaign-Urbana is a college town - I kinda like it to be honest. It's not Madison, WI, but it has stuff to do. School may be two hours away from my home and Chicago, but I think it's worth the drive for my education. Tuition isn't too bad, but still expensive. I'll live with it. A good majority of the students seems bright. Most are from Illinois but that's okay -- many have interesting backgrounds and experiences. Top choice so far if I am accepted. Hopefully I'll get some Unofficial fun this weekend when I visit some friends.

NIU: I think I have a very good chance for their honors program. I shadowed a student back in December and the campus isn't too nice IMO. What I liked about it was that not one of his classes were taught by a TA -- all were taught by their professors. Super Cool! Campus: Some parts are pretty, but classes aren't held in the pretty part . . . : ( I walked the campus and it seems elongated - odd. Academics are decent. Few departments shine while others are questionable -- I want to challenged by my peers not only by myself -- so not cool. The town is rather soulless. Some students have an inferiority complex when I mentioned UIUC was one of the schools I was also visiting; must be a in-state rivalry thing, or something else. Recent tragedy makes me feel real bad for them since I left with an odd/bad vibe. Wanna like you, really.

Elmhurst: Small college. I like their food -- best chicken tenders EVER. Town is cute and seems interesting for me not to go home every weekend. I can run around the campus in five or seven minutes. That's how small it is. Kids seem to come from surrounding suburbs. Academics -- no clue what they're good at.

Going to visit UIC next this month.

missypie · 02-29-2008, 08:38 AM

You've just got to choose Elmhurst so when you're a parent, you can tell your kids that you chose your school based on the quality of the chicken tenders.

MadeInIllinois · 03-01-2008, 04:53 PM

^^ Haha. They were so good!

ChadtheRTF · 03-02-2008, 10:54 PM

Why did you leave the University of Chicago out of your list? UChi arguably tops out Northwestern.

gd016 · 03-02-2008, 11:16 PM

Chad,

Quote:

I'm looking for a school that has solid academics (probably majoring in Political Science and/or Sociology), great social and sports atmospheres, and that's respectable not only in the midwest but nationally.

That's probably why.

U of C is, after all, a different animal from not only Northwestern but most universities, private or public. Harry Potter and Marx are not the usual topics of interest among college students at large.

My two cents, if you must go public in Illinois, go with Urbana-Champaign. It is the flagship and the only public in Illinois people will recognize outside of Illinois. Excellent sports scene and a pretty good social scene if you're into Greek life. UIC is would be my next pick personally.

averagedesi · 03-04-2008, 11:00 AM

As far as prestige and quality of education, I'd say:

UChicago>Northwestern>UIUC>Loyola=Depaul>/=ISU=UIC>Northern>Eastern>Southern>/=Western

I'm basing that a lot off of avg ACT/GPA and percent admitted from my highschool