Close to Home, but Not too Close

Introduction
It’s a great school. I live in the Chicago suburbs so I live close enough to home but far enough that my parents aren’t going to come visit all the time. It’s an overall great education. I love it.

Champaign is a quiet town but the campus town is a lot of fun. There is a lot to do. There are always a lot of house parties, Greek parties. There is a fun social life here. As far as Champaign locals, I don’t see them a lot. They are very friendly, but I don’t see them a lot in campus town.

As far as dorms, there are public and private dorms. I lived in a private dorm. I loved it. It was a great decision. It was located 2 blocks from the Quad which is where all my classes are. It was a little closer than the public ones. There were 4 girls to a room. We had our own bathrooms and bedrooms. We had a common area and kitchens. So if we didn’t like the dorm food we could cook. However, there was a kitchen area downstairs we could always eat at. We had air conditioning too.

Campus Life and Social Life
Our school has a variety of clubs and registered students organizations that someone could join. There is a ton of stuff one could do here. I helped start a club. It is called Illini Mentor Program. It is called service organization. We pair up students in the university with kids in the community and we provide them with mentor services, including social guidance and their homework. It is a very rewarding experience.

Greek life at the university is wonderful. It is a huge system. There are over 20 sororities and even more fraternities. I am very involved in Greek life so I don’t have a lot of friends that aren’t Greek, but it’s not a big deal. Being in a House has been great. It has really enhanced my college experience. We have a lot of exchanges. It’s been a great experience. I’ve just loved it. Academics
I’m working at the career center next year. I wanted to work there because the career center has helped me so much with my college experience and I want to give back to them- whether it’s critiquing my resume or a mock interview. It’s a great thing to do; I highly recommend it. They also do career counseling if you don’t know what Major to do. They offer a bunch of different workshops that can help you with that. It’s a great opportunity and a great resource to have here at the university.

Although U of I students find a ton of time to study and work extremely hard, the bar scene here is great. There is a bunch of different bars for different types of people. There are some quieter bars, there are some louder bars. There are bars for older kids, and there are bars geared toward a younger crowd. I think the best part of it is the bars admit people in at 19. So as freshman you can still go, even if you can’t drink. It makes for a great time.

As far as road trips and going to other universities, I go to Madison. It’s only a couple of hours away. We are located by a lot of other universities. A lot of my friends have taken road trips to Iowa and Indiana and a lot of the other Big 10 Midwest schools.

Student Body
The workload here is hard but it’s doable. I put in a lot of time and dedication to my work. It’s my number one priority here at school. It’s not too overwhelming. I still have time for myself and for other activities. It’s just a matter of managing your time effectively. I love my classes.

My professors and TA have been great. One drawback of the University of Illinois, people say, is that we have a lot of TAs. But they are extremely helpful. They always have office hours that they are more than willing to help you at. My professors have been just as good. I love having small classes where you get to really interact with your professors one on one. They are really helpful and they are more than willing to take time out of the day to help you with the problem you are having. They have just been great. I have been really happy with my professors here.

In Closing...
U of I is a wonderful school. I highly recommend it. It is great for all types of people. We have a variety of Major. My little sister goes here and we are trying to get my little brother to come here. It’s close to home but it’s a great public university. It’s a Big 10 school. With the basketball team going to championships this year, it was so much fun to be here. I would just highly recommend this school to anyone.