University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Top Questions

The Koreans. They smell wierd and tend to keep to themselves.

Nothing

It is very expensive.

To me, the worst thing about this school is the amount of students in a class. I feel that some of the time I do not get a good chance to interact with the students in my classes. One on one time with a professor is hard to come by at times, but the quality of teaching never wavers. Friends are usually made outside of the classroom, but maybe if classes were somewhat smaller students would be able to form friendships and study groups easier.

There seems to be a lot of crime recently, but they always inform us about it, and give us safety tips.

Class sizes can be pretty large, particularly for freshmen classes. For example, my biology lecture had around 600 students in it! This makes it kind of hard to feel like you can approach the professor- but just remember to make yourself as involved as you want to be.

The classes are so big that it's sometimes difficult to establish a relationship with professors.

There is a large split between greek-affiliated students and those who stay independent. Sometimes it even makes it hard to devote time to friends in the other group.

Some huge lectures don't have discussion periods.

The worst thing about UofI are the exams. A lot of the exams are made so that the average student fails and then they are curved to make it look better but it kills the spirit.

Although I don't see it myself, I hear stories about drinking incidences. There is also a off the record holiday that occurs around St. Patricks day where people use any excuse to drink. I don't attend such events so I cannot say I have been directly affected but stories are heard here and there.

The worst thing about U of I is probably the cost of books. I tend to spend $400 dollars on books each semester and only get $150 back if I'm lucky. I've heard of schools renting books out...that seems cool if its real. Books tend to take a big chunk out of student's budgets.

I had some terrible advice from my academic advisor

Some of the general education requirements and even some of the requirements for each major seem kind of unrelated to a person's area of study and therefore seem like a waste of time.

It is a very large school and for some this could be very intimidating. Some classes may be hard to get in to because of the large number of people enrolled. You may not always get your first choice for classes, but the school does offer rewards to students who have high gpas, by offering them early registration for classes.

Since there are so many students, it is very easy to get lost in the crowd. If a student is shy and has a harder time making friends, he/she can easily feel alone, especially as a freshman. Though, since there are a variety of students who attend, in the long rung, everyone makes friends, but the individual has to make the initiative.

The binge drinkers who tend to fight.

Rules in dorms are far to strict. Judicial system on campus is often baised and very unfair.

Kinda isolated.

the distance to class and amount of alcohol

The worst thing about this school is that if you don't like big classes, you won't be fitted for this university. There are 40,000 students, and not a great deal of space to teach them all in, so many classes are over 500 students in lecture halls listening to a professor on a stage. You have to get used to taking notes and doing work on your own, because the classes aren't usually that involved on a one to one basis. If that's what you want, don't come to the U of I.

The size. It is difficult at times to meet new people unless you are in a sorority or a fraternity. People who get into fraternities or sororities tend to stick to others in the greek system and those outside are generally more accepting of others. But the fact that the school has over 30000 attendants makes it difficult to establish solid friendships at times.

I honestly think the worst thing about the school is the fact that it is located in the heart of a great expanse of farm land. This is only a problem because it makes for a pretty monotonous surrounding, especially when compared to the mountains or forests of some other campuses. Because the land is all so flat, that creates some pretty strong winds in the winter that definitely don't help the cold temperatures.

the size

I spend lotsa time on homework.

The University of Illinois is well known for having the largest percentage of it's student body in the Greek system of any public university. Sometimes students participating in fraternities or sororities feel like they are better than the non-greek student body. There also are conflicts between different greek houses and the large number of greek students causes an increase in the frequency of this.

the worst thing about my school is our football team. We suck :(

The worst thing is that the school is located far from a big city. Although the campus is very big, so sometimes you forget you are far from a city.

The lack of one on one interactions with professors

Sometimes I think it's difficult to open up to people if you aren't a very outgoing person. I don't think there have been enough programs or activities for new students to get to know more people.

Groceries stores and other important things are far from campus and apartments are expensive.

The work load can be overwhelming, different racial groups stick together and do not interact with others that much

The worst thing is that there are so many campus bars. With less bars so close to the classroom, there would be much less binge drinking and less of a focus on partying.

One word, ignorace

I really can't find anything bad about my school... I personally love it here and I am glad that I chose to go here. So if I had to say the worst thing about my school, I would have to say the dorms because they didn't have any air conditioning. However, the university is remodeling all the dorms so it should get better soon

There isn't enough culture or diversity here. Most people look, act, and think the same.

The courses are difficult and the workload is demanding.

I think the dorm food is one of the worst things on this campus. It is not very healthy for students to be eating and it just does not taste good. There are definitely ways to improve this problem. Many students do not have enough money to buy food from different places all the time, so they are forced to eat cafeteria food and usually it is not good. College is where students begin to learn independence from their parents and making smart choices about food to eat is important because it effects the rest of there life.

The fact that a lot of the information you have to find yourself. This is great in a way because it forces people to grow up and do things themselves, but some help would be nice. There is little personal time taken to tell you what you can do with your major afterwards and what is going to be expected of you from a job in terms of experience/ former internships, etc. The Alumni network seems to only ever ask me for money and has never offered career services.

No Mascot.

We have a clear dichotomy between the races on campus. The students that are doing well tend to stick together rather than reach out to others that may be struggling.

Too much emphasis on the Greek community (i.e. fraternities and sororities.) Also, some alcohol consumption is okay once in awhile, but sometimes it seems that is all people do.

The worst thing about school to me is the nightlife around campus. Although I don't hate the night life it is not my idea of fun. It almost always consists of going to bars or fraternities to party and drink. Doing this on the weekends can get very monotonous and I wished there was lots of choices for things to do around campus, but there really aren't.

The cost. U of I has such a great spirit and campus life and academics, it is painful to know the price. I couldn't ever imagine being somewhere else, but there is always that idea in the back of my mind that I may not always be able to afford this great school. It's heart breaking.

Although there are many different types of people on campus, not enough is done to bring them together. i.e. More programs/events/groups should be created so that the diversity of the campus can translate to diversity within different social groups and such. Also, many discussions are led my teaching assistants, some of whom are not completely fluent in English, although they are extremely knowledgeable.

Where monetary funds are allotted. The architecture school and equipment was lacking in some ways.

It's really hard to sign up for classes and get advice on career paths or curriculum.