<p>Whats better, southern illinois university carbondale or university of illinois at chicago in terms of academics, campus, reputation, student life, etc.</p>
<p>uic is better in every category. anybody can go to siu considering the people matriculating there from my school.</p>
<p>UIUC is the state flagship institution and much better across the board. SIU is probably the better of the directionals.</p>
<p>UIC is the tougher one to get into and is generally ranked higher: however, both are good colleges (note, I assuming you are talking about SIU’s main Carbondale campus). As far as college atmosphere they are as different as night and day. UIC is in Chicago, close to the Loop, high energy area, with everything to do in Chicago nearby; also close to half of UIC’s students are commuters but the other half lives on campus or nearby and a true college life exists. SIU is far southern Illinois, which in relation to Chicago is almost like the difference between the North and South US. Much calmer area, more of a large campus in fairly small town atmosphere, one of the most picturesque areas in the state, milder winters and real spring comes much earlier.</p>
<p>UIC is better.</p>
<p>I misread and commented on UIUC. UIC is still better than SIU, but it’s a lot closer. Neither are particularly difficult to get accepted. </p>
<p>I like the campus at SIU much better, although it is located in BFE. It also has more of a college feel. It isn’t the nicest campus, but there is a very nice green and woods for relaxing. If you like the outdoors, there’s plenty of that around: Shawnee Nat’l Forest, Giant City State Park (check out Fat Man Squeeze - I never could make it through), Cave-in-rock, etc. </p>
<p>UIC tends to have a much higher commuter population by virtue of its location. It really depends on what you want in a school. Take a couple of roadtrips and visit both. I think you’ll find Carbondale is very much a college town and you’ll have plenty of Lake Michigan ex-pats to keep you company. UIC might be too much like HS.</p>
<p>If you visit SIU, LMK if El Grecos, the American Tap, TJ McFlys (sp?) are still around. It’s been a couple of years. :)</p>
<p>macattak makes a good point. You’ll probably get more of the “college experience” at a campus like SIU, but the academics at UIC are probably better, especially if biology or pre-med is what you’re looking at.</p>