<p>So I was accepted to IIT and was given a scholarship, but I'm afraid to go there because of al the horrid things I've read about the school. If someone could give any information to how the school actually is and if it is worth going to. Thanks!</p>
<p>What have you heard?</p>
<p>Good question, the students I talk to here are mostly enthusiastic. It is a tough school, as all Technical Institutes are. The architecture program is intense and lasts 5 years but it is a professional degree and there are lots of practicing Chicago architects on the faculty.</p>
<p>I’ve just heard about the surrounding neighborhood, the lacking social life, the actual education I’ve heard is somewhat okay, but has been criticized by people. I’m not entirely sure about all of it.</p>
<p>The social life is what you make of it. You can center it on campus or take advantage of the entire city. There are two “El” lines going through campus and students have a UPass. As is typical of many Tech schools, Illinois Institute of Technology has self-selected students who are mostly focused on science, engineering and architecture. This means there are some students who like to stay in their rooms and play video games but there are also a lot who are engaged in campus-wide activities or the fraternities and sororities (which are pretty serious compared to those at some other schools). The university is trying to grow the number of non-engineering undergraduates and this should help the social life even more.</p>
<p>The surrounding neighborhood is not bad at all and has improved significantly in the 30 years I have been on the faculty. The main Chicago Police Headquarters is one block South of campus and while we do have incidents, it is no more than at other urban campuses. I have had one son graduate from IIT and my daughter is a student here now. They both lived on campus or in the surrounding community.</p>
<p>I don’t know where you live but if you can, come visit. I would say that when students come to visit the campus they really like it and feel very comfortable here.</p>
<p>This may be a little late, but during architecture tours with my S, I did meet one student currently studying at Cornell who had transferred from IIT after his second year. He thought the education was sound but he felt it was more technical and not design orientated. He basically said that at IIT you learn how to build and then the design comes out of what you are building, but that at Cornell you design first and then learn how to build to your design. I had always heard there were “technical” vs “design” schools but I thought that was a good explanation of the differences in teaching philosophy. </p>
<p>If you are looking for technical and have the scholarship, I would suggest going there to try it out depending on what your other options are. You can always try to transfer, although I know it is tough in architecture, it is not impossible. I think the Cornell person was one semester behind so he was working to catch up to his class and go to Rome with them next year. I assume since you received the scholarship you are very talented and would have a good shot at transfer.</p>
<p>The tradition at IIT in architecture has been the Mies van der Rohe “form follows function” dictum. However, there is a new Dean of the school this year after 16 years and from what I have heard, he is quite different. There may be some changes to the curriculum soon but for the moment, technical is the focus even though my understanding is that the first year studio does focus on design.</p>