Take3

UIUC vs. community college... This is actually a good question!

I attended a community college and then transferred to UIUC. In my experience, the community college actually offered stronger courses at the freshman and sophomore level. Admittedly, the community college was one of the strongest in the US. Regardless, it's not that surprising, when you think about it. Community colleges offer smaller classes, typically 20-30 students. Research universities like UIUC stuff hundreds of students into freshman and sophomore classes.

Also, UIUC tends to be cliquey, homogeneous and intolerant of differences. Someone like you who is from another country might have difficulty being accepted.

Additionally, for most UIUC most students, the lifestyle revolves around getting drunk, to an even greater extent than most other US universities. You'd find a wider range of activities and interests at California universities.

You don't list your gender. Are you male or female? I wouldn't recommend UIUC to women for safety reasons. This is doubly true for an international student, who isn't going to know the unwritten rules people from Illinois know.

US$25,000 per year to attend lecture halls with hundreds of students on a campus with a horrible atmosphere... WHAT?

Whatever you decide, good luck!

cnxf

lol im female ..what safety reasons??

aj16

Take3 i'm sorry but you're mistaken on several points

UIUC has the LARGEST international student population in the entire country

This is what princetonreview has to say about the student body at UIUC:

"While "Most students seem to be White upper-middle-class suburbanites from metropolitan Chicago," "There are many people that contradict that stereotype and "Diversity isn't really a problem." You'll see more than your fair share of "super-skinny sorority girls and buffed-up frat boys" here—the type who "go to class in pajamas, but out to the bars all decked out"—but you'll also find lots of minorities and "a lot of students from foreign countries, such as China, Taiwan, Korea, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates." Undergrads report that "students here at U of I are typical Midwesterners with the joyful addition of international students." If you're looking for the outliers, know that "they can be found in the living-learning communities. The LLCs are really nice because they contain both your average White suburbanite and your atypical person and provide a wonderful place for intellectual stimulation and expansion. LLCs rock!"
(I dont think anybody would dispute the fact the PrinceReview is a repectable source)
Theres actually a facebook group for incoming freshman who dont drink at all and there are already a 100 who have joined. With a university of the size of UIUC theres no way you can go and say that every single one of them is exactly the same. You will find alot of people who share the same interest as you

SMC - 32,000 undergrads
UIUC - 30,000 undergrads.
I highly doubt that SMC would offer you considerably smaller classes than UIUC. Besides, I really dont think you should judge a university based on class size. You dont know how qualified the teachers at a community college are. You dont know how well they can teach. Whereas large research universities generall have highly qualified, tenured profesors teaching the large lecture classes. Now i'm not sayin professors at UIUC are amazing or anything but I'd much rather sit in huge lecture taught by intelligent engaging professors than sit in a small class taught by someone who may not even be qualified.
(I say this in general and not with regard to SMC or any other community college)

I know SEVERAL people who studied or are studying at UIUC and not a single one of them would ever say that the campus is unsafe in anyway. (Still trying to find hard statistics. I'll get back to you on that)

cnxf

thanks aj16! it not the class size that matter actually.to me bigger is better lol.(but not too big).

Alexandre

cnxf, many of my high school friends (international students) attended UIUC and they never had any issues assimilating, nor were they ever in any danger. Take3 must have had a bad experience. I recall his asking about safety issues at Wisconsin in another thread.

cnxf

yeah i trust UIUC has excellent safety measures too. they were nvr part of my concern whats smc like anyway..and will i forfeit the 4 yr uni experience if i go to smc?

Take3

Apologies if this is disturbing to discuss. However, I think it needs to be said.

Sexual assault is a problem at UIUC.

aj16

Check out the statisctics yourself:

University of Illinois - Division of Public Safety

If you still think UIUC has an unsafe campus then you have an incredibly exaggerated notion of campus safety

UCBChemEGrad

Bird in the hand is worth two in the bush...go to UIUC.

My female cousin (from California) went there and loved it.

Alexandre

Take3, your posts are misleading and offensive. If you have nothing constructive to post, don't post anything at all.

cnxf, UIUC is not safer or more dangerous than any other university. If one exercises common sense, UIUC is perfectly safe.

UCBChemEGrad

IMO, yes. SMC is a commuter campus. UIUC has the college town atmosphere Santa Monica will not have - although Santa Monica does have nicer weather.

barrons

From what I hear the main problem at UI in not enough sex. The students are pretty conservative in that regard compared with some other Big 10 schools. ;-O

DunninLA

OP - Santa Monica college is a commuter school. Lots of kids (mostly CA born) there will be on the "I didn't get into UCLA, so I'll go back door through SMC", and a lot are adults, probably about 30% international.

SMC will not offer the dorms, much of a student union complex, nor the college town atmosphere of Illinois. I don't even think there are sororities, but you need to check that out. My 9th grade daughter's high school, in an affluent area of coastal los angeles, graduated 510 kids, and sent 136 kids to SMC last year, with about half wanting to transfer to Berkeley, UCLA, UCSB, UCSD, UCI, etc. from there, after being denied admission through the front door. Of last year's class, 18 went straight to Berkeley, and 15 straight to UCLA, to give you perspective (and six students matriculated to CHYMPS).

I must have missed where you said you would pay in-state or out of state tuition at SMC. If you do not have any relatives in CA who can claim you as a dependent, then SMC will be expensive... as I recall in-state tuition is $28 per unit, and out of state (includes International) is about $130 per unit.

So.... If you really feel you want two years at UCLA, then SMC is a very good way to accomplish that. But it won't be cheap. IF you will be paying out of state tuition/fees, I think you will get a better value by going to Illinois. There is also the very real possibility you will not be able to get mostly As, which is necessary to transfer to UCLA. If you only get As and Bs, then other UCs will take you, but not likely UCLA or Berkeley.

LaxAttack09

That's not the choice. If this kid has half a brain it's:

UIUC vs UCLA/UCB

You underestimate how easy it is to get into UCB/UCLA from CCC.

Plus if you're instate you get 4 years of college for free, at a globally recognized institution.

cnxf

18 went straight to Berkeley, and 15 straight to UCLA, to give you perspective (and six students matriculated to CHYMPS).

I must have missed where you said you would pay in-state or out of state tuition at SMC.


what is chymps? and money is not a factor here .