<p>a lot of kids from the high schools in the surrounding area tend to go there from what I hear. (granted I don’t live in dekalb county, but my grandmother does). I don’t exactly have a lot of good things to say about the area. But it is not whatsoever in the Chicagoland area. It’s at least an hour to chicago, longer if you decide to go during commute hour. And a good drive to get anywhere decent.</p>
<p>bumpity bump</p>
<p>DeKalb is corn country. It is definitely possible to commute back to the Chicago area on weekends, but nobody pops off to the city from DeKalb for an evening on any kind of regular basis, it’s about 1 1/2 hours to the Near North Side in light traffic and normal weather…much, much more in commute traffic or during snow storms. I know people who were born and raised in DeKalb/Sycamore and love the area. I lived there for the longest six months of my life before escaping to Chicago. I took classes at UIC and liked it, but I lived in the city at the time so getting to the campus was easy–and I like cities, especially Chicago. And I don’t like cornfields (did I mention that? lol). But commuting to UIC from the suburbs could be a pain in the neck and you’re not really connected with the whole campus environment/college experience thing when you do that, so living at NIU during the week and commuting back into the city on weekends might be better, depending on what kind of experience you’re looking for.</p>