<p>As an out of stater transfer student (will enter sophomore year, computer science major), will I feel alienated considering the huge percentage of in-state people? I feel like there's a big disparity between its ranking for Engineering and the apparent lack of popularity outside of Illinois, if that makes sense... Are the students generally motivated and glad to be there? Or will it be more like, "Where'd you come from?"<br>
"Oh, Connecticut"
"Why the hell did you come all the way out here?" </p>
<p>I come from a state 'safety' school and the worst thing about it is probably the self-deprecation/lack of pride around here. I'd really hate to get the same vibe at UIUC - will I? It's been bugging me a lot, please be honest.</p>
<p>I think most Illini have lots of school pride. It's mostly instate because the state required that. They talked about changing that a few years ago and the state freaked.</p>
<p>I was shocked by the 6% out-of-state student rate (or somewhere around that). But somehow I think they are really open to international students. About 50 Chinese students are admitted this year and tons of indians as well.</p>
<p>How you will fit in depends mostly on you. Vast majority of students are from Illinois and greater than 60% are from the Chicago area (city and surrounding counties). As with any college, many will be dedicated to studying, many will be dedicated to partying, and many won't know what they are dedicated to. Engineering students tend to study more than others but most also have a social life.</p>
<p>As to being from Conneticutt, that won't be a downside. However, there are certain things "midwestern" that you may not be used to. Some language variations, e.g., your "soda" is called "pop" here. Mountains are something you do not see and which many students will have never seen. Also, you will find that most really don't pay much attention to anything "eastern" including NYC or Washington D.C., and most don't give a hoot about Harvard, Princeton or Yale or any other eastern college, except perhaps Penn State which is in the Big Ten sports conference that Illinois is in. </p>
<p>As to OOS/International component, it is about 10% total combined for those groups and that does mainly reflect that only about 10% of all those who apply are either OOS or international. The percentages vary significantly among the colleges -- engineering's OOS/international component is about 23%, business 18%, LAS only about 5%.</p>
<p>TC, it's actually funny that you mention that, because I'm from Colorado, and whenever I mention it around here, the response is "why the hell did you come all the way here". Also, "man, I wish I could go to Colorado-Boulder".</p>
<p>To be honest, I have the general impression that kids here take their schools' esteem for granted.</p>
<p>I think UIUC has a very decent reputation outside the state, so people don't really question why out of staters are here. I mean, the first few weeks everyone wanted to know what made me choose UIUC but that's pretty understandable because obviously there are a lot of good state schools so it's a legitimate question (especially since I WAS pretty split between Penn State, UMass, and UIUC.) People from other states come here for the same reason that people from illinois go to UWisconsin or UMich, and every instate student has some friend from HS who went to one of those 2, so people get it.
It's fun to be out of state though. we're kind of exotic. every week at lunch something will come up about differences between life on the east coast versus midwest and it's always an interesting discussion, even if just starts because I'll start talking about bertucci's and no one knows what I'm talking about (or they mention some midwest chain or whatever).</p>
<p>I do agree that in staters DEFINITELY take their school for granted as a general rule. God, would I kill to be able to come here and pay in-state tuition!</p>
<p>Just to keep the ball rolling on what phinxae said, a lot of in-state students hear and know about U of I so it tends to get a bit annoying if you attend a large public school and a good % of your graduating class choses U of I as the hunting ground for their four year college career. Hoorah, high school part II. But the good part is it's big enough to gain new friends while you keep the old. Also, many in-staters usually see U of I as a business and engineering school, which it is, but it has many fine programs that are very solid. This university is severely underrated.</p>
<p>I know this might be a bit irrelevant in this conversation, but Im an international student from Pakistan and Im going to UIUC for Civil Engineering. Im scared about how its going to be! Not just the part about being out of state, not to mention out of Country :P, but being a minority in engineering. Any advice?</p>
<p>Oh and I would love to be in touch with anyone in UIUC or planning on going to UIUC. Leave a msg if your interested!</p>
<p>because the engineering program is literally world-renowned, there are a LOT of minorities in engineering as far as I have seen (although I must admit I'm not an engineer, but do know quite a few). Also, concerning being an international student, you're SO not alone, especially as an engineer. A recent newspaper mentioned something about how UIUC now has the largest international student population of any country in the US, I believe. Plus, being international is even cooler than being out-of-state. It's definitely a plus. </p>
<p>Also, because the engineering program is pretty tough, I feel like engineering majors bond a lot more than people of the same major not in engineering. so...have no fear. where will you be living?</p>
<p>Well, since I've applied for one of the Private Certified Houses i.e. Europa House. Found on google map it was .6 miles away from the Engineering Quad :P. Lets see if they offer me a vacancy there.
Reading the information from all these forums and a couple of other places, it seems like theres a strong hold of groups in the area. Are most people in UIUC in groups? :|. Whats the best way of finding people like yourself in UIUC?</p>
<p>rush fraternities and maybe join one where you fit in, join student organizations of things you are interested in after going to quad day, leaving your door open and explore your dorm meeting people, do intramural sports maybe with people from your dorm, go out to the bars a lot, don't trap yourself into an antisocial library life first semester by taking too many hard classes...</p>