<p>Can anyone tell me how the Chicago campus compares to the main one? Do all the kids who can't get into the Urbana campus go to Chicago??</p>
<p>UIC is really average. I would never consider going there. Alot of people who get denied from U of I do goto UIC.</p>
<p>UIUC is Illinois' flagship public university except for medical school for which UIC is the flagship. At the undergrad level, UIC is easier for a student to get admitted but is a very good university and its urban (Chicago) setting is preferred by many. Though a number who do not get into UIUC end up at UIC, UIC takes a huge contingent of students from the Chicago area most of whom do not apply to UIUC.</p>
<p>Academically, how do the science classes and majors compare, in terms of rigor? I know that the math and science classes are pretty challenging at UIC.</p>
<p>The U of I college system is basically set up so that course content for the courses is close to the same at each campus. At UIUC, there are a number who find math (calculus and above) and science classes easy, a number who find them difficult, and the rest who either flunk or drop out of the class. Some of the courses are considered (by students) weed-out courses particularly for engineering and pre-med students. In the beginning calculus-based physics courses (200 level), you often see 30% who get D's or F's and another 10% or more who withdraw to avoid getting a D or F. The same applies to organic chemistry that pre-med students need (many future med hopefuls change carreer choices as a result of orgo chemistry). The courses tend not to have curving of grades on tests, although the opportunity to grade well still exists because a significant part of your final grade is for homework, quizzes, labs if included in the course and sometimes some extra credit things (and those who do poorly are often those who don't keep up with the homework, thus taking away from their grade rather than helping it). The courses tend to be heavy on homework doing problem sets that can take quite a bit of time.</p>
<p>Interesting...tests in science classes at UIC are always curved (especially in physics), and for the math classes, final grades are usually curved.</p>
<p>UIC Physics and organic chemistry separate the lab from the lecture. The lecture course final grade was about 90% exams and 10% homework/quizzes. General chemistry and calculus 1 did not have that large of a curve. Physics is a notorious killer. However, they do not like to see more than 20-25% D/Fs. For Organic 1, less than 15% of the class received D/Fs. There is never extra credit. At UIC too, many a pre-Med, pre-Pharm student changed their minds after organic chem. Many dead bodies in SES 250.
The average grade in Physics (algebra based) is normally less than 50%. I saw people crying after finishing the exams. UIC physics's exams are all free response, and from what I have heard about UIUC, they are multiple choice.</p>