Calling All Nerds

Introduction
IIT is a great place--for some people. I chose IIT because of its proximity to Chicago, and in that regard, you can't go wrong (we have an "El" (train) station right on campus). However, the student body and the workload are reflective of a tech school, and potential students should bear this in mind. Student participation in extracurriculars is less than stellar, and it's easy to become disheartened by student apathy. However, if you were a geek or nerd or just less than popular in high school, IIT provides numerous opportunities to get involved on campus in ways you might not be able to at a larger or liberal arts institution. Students who were at the top of their social game in high school will probably find IIT... apathetic or downright boring.

Campus Life and Social Life
Parties--a few real parties, numerous LAN parties (if you haven't at least heard of this, IIT probably isn't for you)

Sports--They're there if you want to participate or cheer, but don't count on a large turnout.

Clubs--IIT actually has a wonderful selection of clubs, and most are easy to get really involved in.

There's something going on every weekend (comedians, concerts, etc.), but the turnout is often dismal: it's hard to pry some students away from their computers. The ones who turn up, though, are usually a lot of fun. And if the nerdiness on camous gets to be too much, the Magnificent Mile and tons of stuff to do are only a couple stops away on the El. Advertisement
Academics
Come prepared to work...a lot. On campus, everyone says that IIT has the 4th largest workload in the country. Whether this is true remains to be seen, but it's not uncommon to see students walking around in a daze or falling asleep in class or pulling all night cram sessions on a weekly basis. Engineering and Science reign supreme, and some of those students can barely string a sentence together. A large portion of the student body is of foreign origin, and many TAs don't have the best English skills. Some areas of study like to torture their students for fun.

Student Body
Girls on campus have a saying about the male population: "the odds are good, but the goods are odd." That sums up IIT: a large male population that's a little off the beaten path. However, most of the truly odd ones stay in their rooms, so the ones you associate with regularly (outside of class) are basically average and fun.

In Closing...
IIT has a reputation as a nerd school, which fits. But if the school is a good fit, the opportunities on campus and in Chicago are amazing. The surrounding neighborhood is a little rough, but it's getting better, and downtown is just minutes away.