Something for Everyone

Introduction
I decided to come here because of the strong academic department and because my grandfather was a professor here in the agriculture department. He is the one who got my interested in the University of Illinois.
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The campus has somewhere between 30,000 and 40,000 students. In all actuality, it doesn’t seem that big. A lot of time you will run into people on the Quad that you know. The more you become involved in different organizations, the more people you will get to know. I live in Newman which is just right off the Quad so it only takes me about 5 minutes to get to class, sometimes less than that, because I live near all the ALS offices where most of my classes are held.
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The biggest sport is basketball. They have Orange Krush. I attended the games just sitting in the regular section but a lot of people will show up to the games wearing all orange and they have paint the hall orange. March Madness was crazy here. There was a lot of enthusiasm and sports enthusiasm. Football is getting more popular here since we got a new coach. Hopefully it will take off.

Campus Life and Social Life
I lived in Newman Hall for 2 years, right off of the Quad. Living there is pretty nice because it is a smaller dorm so there are a lot of familiar faces. It lets you build a foundation especially because this is such a large school. My freshman year, I actually lived in a room with 4 other girls. Two of them left halfway through the year. That was interesting. We were all from different states and had nothing in common. The three of us became close. I live with one of the girls now. It’s a lot of fun and we can live together—which I the key thing for any sort of roommate situation. Academics
I pledged my sophomore year, which is my current year right now. It was a very good decision. We do have the largest Greek system. Because we have so many students, it doesn’t seem so overwhelming or prevalent. The Greek system is a great way not only to meet people, but to develop leadership skills. It has a lot of leadership societies. You do a lot of exchanges with other fraternities and sororities and other organizations, so it is a great way to meet people. Rushing as a sophomore was better because I had a year to adjust and get familiar with campus and decide if it was something I wanted to partake in. Once I did it, I met a lot of people that I really enjoy living with.

Student Body
We have something 2 days before schools starts called Quad Day. It’s where all the registered student groups set up tables and they have a sheet that you can sign up to join the organization. You can attend an informational meeting then to learn more about the organization. You can become so involved on this campus because there are just so many activities. It can be overwhelming because there is so much to do but you can’t do all of it even if you wanted to. Last year my friend and I started something called Operation Smile. It is part of a national charity organization that raises money for children with facial deformities. We had a barbeque and went canning and we were able to raise 800 dollars last semester, which we thought was pretty good. It’s nice because as long as you are interested in something, and you can find someone who wants to start it up with you, all you need is 2 people to start up an organization. We have everything on campus from Save the Squirrels Club to dance teams to different Greek organizations to intramurals. It’s a great variety.
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Currently we have about 20 to 50 people that come on a regular basis. It’s not as strong as we hoped. We continue to ask business for support. We were able to appeal to a hall council, and they gave us 200 dollars to give to the national organization. When we host events, my friends and I rally up our friends and get them to become involved.
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I live in a dorm, and the dorm I live in doesn’t have a dorm contract with all the other dorms. I can only eat at Newman. The food there is pretty good. It’s dorm food—it’s not anything that terrible. Living in the sorority, I like that food a lot better. A lot of the time I will just go over and eat at my House.
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I would have to say that the classes here aren’t too difficult as long as you learn to manage your time properly and have some sort of organizational system. You’ll be fine. You will come across your hard professor, but for the most part, nothing is terribly overwhelming. You will take roughly about 15 to 18 hours and if you manage your time, you will still have time to just sit on the Quad and just do fun stuff.
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I know the school does have a very good music program. I am in two choirs: Oratorio Society and Illini Women’s Chorus. The Oratorio Society is more oriented towards just anyone who wants to sing. We have professors, grad students, undergrads students, and even people from the community in that. The Illini Women’s is more of choir and it’s roughly 15 girls. It’s part of a class so I get credit for it as well. I know that the Music students work just as hard as everyone else. They have recitals. It’s just another part of our campus.
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I had a class last year with 750 people, but I knew my professor and my professor knew me on a first name basis. If you take the initiative and take the time to go talk to your professors, they want to help you. They want you to get an A. A lot of times, when you first show up to class, they will tell you they wouldn’t give you an exam if they could do that. And if they could give you can A, they would. If you take the time and really put out the effort, you can get to know them. It just helps especially when you need recommendations. It helps with connections.

In Closing...
I would say that probably 50 percent of people would classify themselves as casual daters and 50 percent would say that they are in a committed relationship. When I joined a sorority, I was expecting a lot of hooking up. But in all actuality, a lot of my sorority sisters are in committed relationships and have been for over a year. My roommate is in a committed relationship for 5 years now. It’s just who you are around. If you want to casually date, there are plenty of people that have that frame of mind. If you want a committed relationship, there are so many people here, I’m sure you can find someone here that is seeking a similar path.