<p>Hi I recieved all my financial aid packages from all the schools I applied to Iowa and Michigan State where to expensive, after 4 year I'll be over 100,000 in debt. The more affordable ones were Illinois State, DePaul and UIC.</p>
<p>From Illinois State ill graduate just about 12,000 in debt. From UIC its 9,000 but without room and board, they said after i apply for housing it'll be re adjusted. From DePaul i got 27K in grants but its private and estimated cost of attendance is 41K so ill graduate with around 46K in debt, at Northern Illinois it'll be about 26K after 4 years. They all include about 3,000 in work study.</p>
<p>At first I was thinking about just going to Illinois State, I saw video tours and i have also heard from people that the campus is very nice. But then I started hearing that Illinois State has no prestige, and that its hard to get a job afterwards.</p>
<p>I think its between DePaul or Illinois State. What I don't like about DePaul s that there's a lot of commuters and I don't think i'll have as much fun as i'll have in a traditional college like Illinois State, but I also don't want to end up without a job as a result of not going to a prestigious school.</p>
<p>Many people say here that it does not matter where you go its what you do there, I want to believe that but I don't think employers will. I think employers will still look what school you came from.</p>
<p>What do you guys think? Give me some advice, I got about 3 weeks to decide where to go.</p>
<p>I suggest choosing UIC or Illinois State. I don’t think the others are impressive enough to be worth the large amount of loans you’d have to carry. The aren’t renowned enough to provide more benefits to you in the job market.</p>
<p>So do you think Illinois State is a good school? some guy told me that if i wanted to go into business for chicago businesses Illinois State will be at the end of the list after all other good state schools, chicago schools and other out of state schools.</p>
<p>Getting your first job may be somewhat dependent on where you went to college, but after that what matters is your performance on the job.</p>
<p>Go to the least expensive school so that you can graduate with the least amount of debt. Work hard in your classes, and find a part-time job for the summer and the school year so that you have credible work experience by the time you do graduate. You will be fine.</p>
<p>We’re from New England and D is a Jr at Depaul and we fully understand the “too many commuters” complaint. D lived in a dorm her fresh yr and had a really normal fun college experience and met about 10 really good friends; unfortunately, 6 of them had transfered out by soph yr. DePaul doesn’t offer dorms beyond fresh yr (there’s some dorm space and oncampus apts if you are lucky in the housing lottery beyond fresh yr.) Those kids were jealous of the fun their back-home friends were having at state U…dorms,football games, Greek life…and felt that Depaul was lacking in the fun aspect of college. One thing I learned from a Housing rep was ANY student who lives offcampus is a “commuter”. So even though D is really “out-of-state living off-campus” she is lumped in with the hundreds of local kids who come in on the El. I don’t know if other colleges categorize their students this way. Depaul definitely needs more dorms.</p>
<p>D stayed and had no intention of transferring (that other stuff was not important to her). She found an apt, a job, and 2 places to volunteer. She has made friends from not only her school but other local colleges as well,and LOVES all that Chicago has to offer. She’s into live theater, thrift-stores, the LP zoo, biking to Lk Michigan to study along the waterfront, and all manner of restaurants and museums. It helps that she’s an independent type who seeks out new things to do. When she comes home for breaks and visits friends at our state u she feels BORED and cannot wait to get back to Chicago.</p>
<p>If it helps at all, the profs are great at Depaul…most have their PhD’s from very academic unis and NO TA’s teach here. Profs are very helpful, they go out of their way to
answer questions and classes are kept small with lots of discussion.</p>
<p>oh i wasn’t aware that after freshmen year housing is not guaranteed. I’m going to call them and double check. I think im going to go to Illinois State. Hopefully I don’t have hard time getting a job because of Illinois State not having a lot of prestige.</p>
<p>Anybody got anymore advice? I’m thinking i rather go to Illinois State. I want to go to a traditional college. I want to go into business, and later work in chicago. Going to Illinois State i would still be able to get a job in chicago or would I have a better chance going to UIC? Would a chicago company prefer someone from a college in chicago? Is there anyone here that goes to Illinois State?</p>