Nova10

If you are basing it off of ACT/GPA, you would know that UIC's average GPA is about the same DePaul and ISU, and lower than Loyola.
UIC average ACT 21-26 top 10% of HS 24%
DePaul average ACT 21-26 top 10% of HS 19%
Loyola average ACT 23-28 Top 10% of HS 32%
ISU average ACT 22-26 Top 10% of HS 11%

The Chicago universities do interact a lot together. Students tend to clump UIC, DePaul, and Loyola together. The major differences between them are more social than academic. Everyone hates University of Chicago students because they are too stuck up. Northwestern keeps to themselves and don't interact much with the other schools. Due to centrality, UIC tends to be a popular location for meetings.

k&s

If anything, it's probably tougher to get admitted to NU (as well as many other schools) as a caucasian female than a caucasian male.

Sam Lee

For the past cycle (fall 2007), Northwestern>UChicago in avg ACT and admit rate.

Nova10

You can rank schools is so many ways. If you rank by research dollars.
The order is UIUC, Northwestern, UIC, UChicago, SIUC, Loyola, SIUE, NIU, ISU, DePaul, UIS, WIU, IL Wesleyan U, EIU, Lake Forest U, NEIU

Pizzagirl

"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."

I completely agree. All those other universities won't mean a thing outside Illinois. UIUC has a national reputation. UIC has a decent regional reputation.

Someone who's actively considering NIU, SIU, EIU doesn't really have Northwestern (or U of Chicago) in her competitive set anyway.

Pizzagirl

To the original poster's question about prestige, which he said was important:

Obviously NU and U of Chicago are the most prestigious of this group, hands down.

U of I is a major state flagship. It will get you anywhere you want to go within Illinois, and will have respectable credentials outside of IL.

DePaul, Loyola and UIC will have the strongest recognition mostly in the Chicago area, though are certainly "acceptable" nationally.

Benedictine, Elmhurst, St. Xavier, North Central are only going to be known locally (if that) and they don't have any prestige. Honestly I doubt most people in Chicagoland even know these schools.

Likewise, NIU, EIU, WIU, SIU and ISU are only going to have name recognition in the state of Illinois. And even then, it's not "prestige," just recognition.

If you want "respectable not only in the midwest but nationally," then realistically, of the state schools, only UIUC and to a lesser extent UIC fit the bill. Of the private schools, then only NU / U of Chicago and to a lesser extent DePaul / Loyola fit that bill.

jenrik2714

I disagree about EIU
It is a nice campus. Not to big and not to small. Yes its standards may be low compared to U of I but not everyone does well in a U of I environment. Some people need constant interactions from their professors and not having classes taught by TA's. It doesn't make them stupid. People have different learning styles. In addition, some people may be intimidated by a large campus.

There are some NFL coaches that attended EIU (Sean Payton N.O Saints, Mike Shanahan Denver, Brad Childress Minnesota)

Not to mention EIU is the school where the Dallas Cowboys Quarterback Tony Romo attended.

While on a visit to EIU, I talked to alot of students. They told me they really liked EIU.

MadeInIllinois

jenrik2714, I visited EIU and I must say I enjoyed my time. As I stated I will most likely be attending a state university and EIU seems like a good fit with UIUC. My history teacher has a daughter currently attending and he says the campus is like a "mini-U-of-I" and I must agree. I also visited NIU and ISU, and between the two ISU impressed me the most.

In regards to everyone who responded to this thread, thank you on your feedback and perceptions, but please - KEEP RESPONDING! I must admit it's a pleasure having information (no matter how ridiculous and biased it may seem) by people who know the college process.

MadeInIllinois

One of my music instructors went to Elmhurst and I asked where was it located and he said, "Elmhurst, IL." Ahhh...easy enough. But yea, those said universities/colleges are in my immediate area so might as while add them to my list regardless if I'm interested. In saying that, there are smart students who attend Benedictine, Elmhurst, and St.Xavier.

im_blue

The quality of these schools varies far too greatly to belong in the same list. If you're academically qualified for Northwestern and UIUC, they're far better options than everything else on the list. The next tier down is Loyola, DePaul, and UIC, which likewise are better than the others. NIU is a 4th tier school, and EIU/ISU are about the same, as in no one outside the state has ever heard of it. I'll put it this way: have you ever heard of Middle Tennessee University or Central Connecticut State University?

jenrik2714

I beg to differ

All those NFL coaches and Tony Romo put EIU on the map

Whatever he/she chooses it must be a fit for him/her. How good is prestige if you drop out because you can't fit in a big name school?

jenrik2714

BTW I am a UIC graduate

ferryboat10

"I read in an article, can't seem to find it now, that ISU (Illinois State) might change sports conferences and that the president of the university wants to strengthen their academics to a degree that it will no longer be considered a "directional" school but to be considered on the same level as UIUC. If this is possible then that's a plus for me."

You must mean the plan to expand the stadium to 25,000. That would allow them to meet the requirements of Division 1A (or Football Bowl Subdivision), the same category as Illinois. However, they would be competing with the likes of Northern Illinois not Illinois for many decades.

im_blue

Every school wants to strengthen their academics to match better schools, but wishing doesn't make it so. The lower Ivies always want to match HYPS, the lower UCs want to match Berkeley and UCLA, etc. ISU will be on UIC's level for the forseeable future.

Hopefulfor2012

Might add U of Chicago, tho their sports aren't the best