<li>how is the social and quality of life at UIUC? </li>
<li>How are the engineering, business, and medical schools considering that I want to do something in those fields?</li>
<li>How far away is it from Chi-Town?</li>
</ol>
<p>I can answer the last one:</p>
<p>Northern Suburbs of Chicago: 3 hour drive if you hit no traffic(and if u go early in the morning, there's defintely no traffic)...With traffic, anywhere from 20 mins. to an 1 hr. longer. We were heading home during traffic time and we got stuck behind about 50 semis who were all tryin to get through the tolls and it took about 4 hrs. to get home. </p>
<p>I would assume Downtown Chicago/South Suburbs are like 2 1/2 hrs. But not for sure.</p>
<p>lol, Bearsfolife, I thought you posted the thing about how far away uiuc is away from Chi Town. Man, I totaly thought you were an idiot for a sec...my bad.</p>
<p>As for questions, you will always find a party.
Engineering=Stellar
Business I heard is pretty good (try Northwestern)
I dont think we have a med school, but I've never looked...
And Ya, Chi Town is a VERY LONG DRIVE. Though I should mention whenever i drive down to uiuc it's in my mom's Jetta and that gets cramped..quickly</p>
<p>Off campus life is pretty good. Lots of parties and the bar scene is pretty good. I dont go there but I have partied there a lot. The town can be pretty boring at times, or so I hear. </p>
<p>I hear the engineering school is good but I cant comment on that aspect of the school.</p>
<p>As for Chicago, I would say about 2 hours or so depending on how you drive.</p>
<p>Social scene is fantastic, so is the college of engineering. The b-school is certainly on the high end, and it's a good choice unless you think you're going to Wharton or Sloan (don't look into Northwestern for undergraduate business; it isn't offered! You could major in economics or something, but Kellogg is a graduate school only.). For medicine, I don't know much about Illinois (which would make me think their program isn't the best out there, can anybody inform me here?), but as an undergraduate you shouldn't be concerned about graduate schools. You can do pre-med here or anywhere. Going to Chicago always seems slower than coming back - going to Chambana from my NW suburb can be 2-2.5 hours if you leave early and do some casual speeding, and coming back to Chicagoland is usually three hours or more in the afternoon. Even if you do the opposite trip, you won't save time. A trip from Chambana to Chicago and back puts you with hundreds of thousands (millions, probably?) of commuters - right around rush hour, too. The only good part is that traffic is never bad until you start to get cose to the city - corn country is smooth sailing. Railroad is a viable option; the old IC line (now Amtrak) will take you right into Union Station. However, there are enough people down there that you won't really need to make trips to the city to have fun.</p>
<p>hey somethingmsellsfunny, </p>
<p>Have you ever taken the bus back, like greyhound? My parents want me to look into that for coming home on the weekends. If so, how much does a ticket run ya?</p>
<p>exactly what i'm doin. Except I'm not takin Greyhound, cause it takes like 7 hrs. to get from the campus to downtown Chicago I hear. </p>
<p>Instead, I'll be takin the Suburban Express, which also takes you to suburban stops in Chicago, along with a stop in downtown Chicago. </p>
<p>Takes you to places like Northbrook Court, Old Orchard in Skokie, Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg, Matteson, and downtown Chicago. 1 way trip is 20 bucks, round-trip is 40 bucks. Not too bad. </p>
<p>Dunno about Greyhound though. Then my parents can pick me up from there, probably Woodfield Mall since there's buses going there every day.</p>