I’m most likely going to UIC. Ive heard that its a great school for engineering. why do so many people talk badly about it? i feel like since people talk badly about it motivates me not to go. like is it too easy to get in that basically anyone can go?? like the people who always slack off in high school?? i want to be around people who care about their studies!! smart people. lol. my school is ver divided when it comes to that…like you have your smarts…and your thugs/people who dont care. i dont like that. i want to be around good people…good diverse people!
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very* sorry my key board is messed up
UIC’s admissions are not very competitive, but the school itself and education are great. If you want a more competitive engineering school in Illinois, your other two options are UIUC and Northwestern. UIUC is obviously still part of the U of I system, and Northwestern is near Chicago if that is important to you.
what about iit
Illinois Tech is a bit more competitive than UIC for admission. You can get a good engineering degree at all these schools if you challenge yourself and take the classes seriously.
Yes I got excepted there too. The problem is that it’s pricey. thank you!
I’m an alumni of UIC’s engineering program (major in ME; minor in EE). I personally didn’t enjoy my time there. A big factor was the fact that I was a commuter student (living one hour away). I realize the school is not at fault for this and being a commuter was my own personal decision. The other factors why I didn’t like the school was because the campus was very depressing and because I felt like the professors were not passionate about teaching (there were some very good ones in the batch that did not fit this profile).
Engineering is very much a DIY learning experience however. I feel like you can go to just about any accredited engineering school and learn the necessary skills to be successful in your engineering career. Passionate teachers help you learn the material but in the end it is mostly solely a factor of the student’s ambition and passion for science/math/engineering that will determine whether he/she learns the material.
In retrospect I also wish we did some projects rather than for the courses to be solely exam/homework based but as I think about it this may be difficult at a school where a large portion of students are commuters if the projects would have been group projects.
I met some great people at UIC and some not so good ones. UIC has a student body that’s comprised of mostly recent high school graduates but also older people like ex-military folk who are making use of their GI bill. Towards the end of your studies most people who were not competent to be engineers will have left the program.
I can’t speak much about other majors. Feel free to PM me if you have questions.
Almost anyone can get into UIC but a lot of people drop because they can’t keep with the classes. Hence, the low graduation rate. For engineering, especially BioE, you will be working hard since most of your classes require Linear Algebra as a prerequisite. Recently, some of the engineering students were bragging about how we are ahead of IIT in engineering rankings.
You need to choose the most affordable option. An ABET accredited engineering degree is rigorous at any university. UIC is not UIUC or IIT in terms of campus atmosphere. You need to determine if the campus life is going to satisfy you taking into account that you will be there only for 4 years. A lot of how you like your university is up to you and the things you actively take advantage of.
UIC’s graduation rate has steadily increased. The six year graduation rate is now about 60%. When I started there in 2003 it was about 40%.
Unless you are a fluffy liberal arts major; if you slack off, you will fail. Engineering is not a fluffy major. You will need to study.