Very Involved

Introduction
I decided to come to U of I because it’s a good school. Also, I am from Illinois so it’s nice to go somewhere close to home so I can go home and visit my parents if I wanted to. I am also planning on going into medicine and I had a scholarship to come here. I thought that I would use that and save some money in the long-run.

I would say it is pretty average as far as college campuses. There is more diversity here than there was in my high school. I like it that way. As for a cliques go, there are athletes, so there are those kinds of cliques. But I would say people get along really well.

This is a pretty large university there are a lot of activities students can be involved in. We have about 600 organizations. It is very diverse. As far as the things that I am involved in, I sing in an A Cappella, play string bass in the band, and I’ve sung in two different choirs here. I try to get involved in as much as I can here, and a lot of students are as involved as I am.

Campus Life and Social Life
As far as my course load goes, I am in a Major called Honors Biology. There are only about 30 students in it in my grade so it’s pretty selective. I had to interview to get into it. You get a lot one on one with your professor in it. The same professor teaches your discussion and your lab so you get to know them really well and the students in your class. So that is really fun. You get to do more involved lab experiments which you don’t get to do in the regular biology majors. As far as studying goes, I’ve never been much of a studier. I have found that I have to study more this year than I have in the past. Last night, I only slept 2.5 hours. That is because everything comes in lumps. So this week was my lump. After this I am going to go celebrate Academics
We have a show this week for our A Cappella group so we were trying to think of creative ways to promote it. We thought wearing a naked outfit would help promote it.

It’s a Big 10 school so sports definitely play a big role here. All my years here I have had season tickets to football even though we don’t have a good team. Our basketball team is good though—we were number one. I had tickets to that. Orange Krush, which was the student cheering section, was amazing. It was really fun. There is a special type of camaraderie at the sporting events that you don’t get at other schools I’ve gone to visit. I really like it.

The Quad is where all the students go when it is nice outside. People throw Frisbees around and other people walk around in camel suits. Yesterday they had all the architecture students made cardboard structures and they were out there. Some of them were pretty impressive.

Student Body
As far as being a top party school, I know that I enjoy myself here. There are a few bars here where to get in you have to be 19. But obviously the drinking age is 21. It’s pretty much up to you, whatever you like to do. I like the bar scene, but there are a lot of house parties and apartment parties. As far as it being a top party school, I haven’t done enough research at other schools to see how it compares, but I’ll get back to you on that.

The Greek system is the largest in the country in terms of members. It has the most number of students in the Greek system. It is a little exclusive because they have their exchanges. If you are not in the fraternity or sorority, you are not going to be invited to that. There is a little schism but it’s not too bad. We all get along.

In Closing...
My experience has been very positive. I tend to try to just get involved in as many things as possible. That way you get to meet as many people as you can. One important thing I’ve learned here is to always keep your door open whether you are in the apartments or in the dorms. You are never going to meet anyone if your door is always closed. There are some amazing people that go to college.