<p>I was able to get off the grid, so I've decided to post this.</p>
<p>It was my goal from day one to experience UIC and after enough "experience" (it's been about a semester) to come back here and describe the transfer experience.</p>
<p>I came in with a 3.9+ GPA and a two-year degree in science.</p>
<p>First off, the transfer experience is terrible. It's awful. If you're not from Chicago, then you're more than likely going to be in the dark for a long time. I'm sure if UIC administration, faculty, and staff see this thread, then perhaps they will change things and never allow these things to occur again. Despite that, you should keep in mind that UIC has been around for over 50 years, and the failure of people to provide for transfer students shows that such personnel are S-L-O-W to change and making better changes for their students. In other words, don't trust UIC, despite the possibility of the system counteracting to the creation of this thread.</p>
<p>I am incredibly surprised that no one as of yet has written a decent thread about his or her experience at UIC. This is disappointing. The university experience is an expensive one, and people in a recession need to be cared for. Otherwise, it comes down to a general elitist or upper-middle class society going to higher academia and achieving great standards while others are pushed down, ignored, and treated like the poor. I cannot approve of people not talking about UIC at great lengths.</p>
<p>The first hint that UIC was awful and corrupt was when I came to a visit to be accepted into the Honor's College. The lady there, slightly long brown hair, glasses, a little geeky discussed what the Honor's College has to offer. I was amused at her business like speech, but still she tried. Also, she mentioned how the "wheels are slow around this place" and barely anything gets done that is productive to the benefit of the students.</p>
<p>I blew this off at first, because I didn't want a biased view of the university, but I later came to accept it as truth.</p>
<p>First off, let's talk about what I did before I transferred to UIC. I applied to Loyola, NIU, UIUC, UIC, and many other universities and colleges. I was accepted to Loyola and others. I didn't get accepted to any big tens, though. Then again, this was prior to UIUC's admission department getting slapped and various members getting fired by the State for unethical conduct in the admissions process.</p>
<p>I decided to go to UIC, because it has more professors with specialty skills in their fields unlike some of the other universities, such as NIU. NIU would be a good place to go if you're low on money. There is little difference between NIU and UIC when it comes to being an undergraduate student. I'll get to that part of the discussion soon enough.</p>
<p>Before I transferred to UIC, I researched the place. I learned about the professors, opportunities, and more. When I got here, however, there were a lot of total let down.</p>
<p>First off, I could not figure out how to get to class. There really was not a well-detailed transfer guide telling me how to catch the various buses around the UIC campus. UIC fails to prepare it's transfer students. I sometimes accidentally came to class late, because I wasn't aware I could take the CTA taylor street bus (which is now the 157) and get to places faster than usual. Thanks, UIC! Thanks for not helping me get around faster.</p>
<p>The next thing I wanted to learn about at UIC was how exactly I could go about getting help around this place. First off, I want you to know something. A lot of classes will have about ~200 students. Sometimes 250. Actually, supposedly, one class has a maximum seating of 250, and they try to fill all those seats. As time goes on, however, the students drop.</p>
<p>Regardless of this seating issue, there are still a lot of students. So, how does a professor handle all of those students? Well, the professor does not really handle all those students. The professor will attempt to get to as many students as possible as soon as possible. I have often been to office hours where you'll see about 10 to 20 students at one time. At my previous college, I never encountered such conditions. There were perhaps 5 students at most. I saw 5 students or any higher as a lot of students for the office hours.</p>
<p>If you've never had a "TA" before, let me discuss the experience with you. A TA is basically a "teaching assistant." These 'teaching' assistants are actually robots. They lack any professional knowledge on how to grade assignments. Also, they cannot properly review, critique, nor grade a paper. I'm not saying that for the English department here. I'm sure people have their quarrels, but I'm going to assume an English TA has enough writing skills to check the grammar, style, punctuation, and format of a paper. </p>
<p>A TA from a different department, such as a biology or chemistry department?
No, they don't have the skills.</p>
<p>Still, those TAs from other departments attempt to act educated and grade papers on grammar, style, punctuation, and format. If you have more writing skill, you can call those TAs out, point out their errors, and make them look like a fool. I did this to a TA, and I immediately angered off the professor. Seriously, the guy came out of his office slightly enraged. I was in the right, though. The TA didn't make the same mistakes again.</p>
<p>It's unfortunate that I'm the second oldest person in the class next to the TA.</p>
<p>These TAs are generally worthless.</p>
<p>Some of the TAs don't have their stuff together. They might be able to get a graduate degree, but I don't think they are hard core academics. Don't get me wrong, though. I've come across plenty of TAs whom are hardcore. Despite this fact, they often lack at their "teaching" abilities. In the end, TAs are simply 'assistants.' They oversee the various processes that occur, grade you, and then spit you out.</p>
<p>Let's say you have a chemistry TA. Chemistry TAs and professors are often sharp. They love their subject. It's as if all they want to do everyday is build chemistry puzzles. Anyway, they are often sharp. Some of them are too smart, so it's difficult for them to come back down to an undergraduate level and explain elementary topics again.</p>
<p>However, this can be good in a lot of ways. If you have a TA who speaks English, then you'll more than likely have an educational experience. The TA will more than likely be able to help you with any issue.</p>
<p>The ability of the TA to help you is like this?
1. Does the TA specialize in it?
2. Has the TA been with the course a long time?
3. Does the TA speak English?</p>
<p>If all those three are met, then the TA more than likely has the ability to help you.</p>
<p>I have one TA who specializes in the class material.
I have another TA who does not specialize in the class material and is a tree hugger.
The other TA is an idealist and a hopeful conservationist.</p>
<p>Guess which TA I like the most?
The specialist.</p>
<p>She speaks English, she specializes in the course material and does research on a more advanced level, and she's TA'd the class multiple times. Thus, she is more than prepared to help us, teach us, and give us a chance to understand the material.</p>
<p>Truth be, I'm not doing the best in that class. But at least I feel like I've been given the opportunity to learn. And I am adult and wise enough to know that I have been given the opportunity to learn in that class.</p>
<p>The TA that is a tree hugger? She's awesome. I like her. She's silly, fun, but stupid. She's also a hard grader. What I can't comprehend is why she feels that she is within the full right of grading the course material when she is not a specialist in it. Furthermore, I have had points marked off for trivial things, such as not explaining why onions grow underground. These problems also refer to "lab manuals," which is something I'll soon get to.</p>
<p>In general, I find it annoying that she's even there. She serves nothing more than a person to oversee the class, grade us, and force us to do silly things called "discussions."</p>
<p>The other TA who is a conservationist does the same thing.</p>
<p>In the end, it seems like a lot of the work done at UIC becomes mindless. The TAs are there to get paid, grade our stuff, and act like "they know something." They aren't that inspirational or unique. I don't feel like I've really "learned" anything. I only feel that I have been discriminated against. You become a number at this place.</p>
<p>That's if I were to bias all my academic endeavors. Otherwise, it seems like the TA isn't really there to teach me anything. I don't feel like they've prepared me for a single exam.</p>
<p>I will say, however, that there are a lot of "foreign" TAs.</p>
<p>Also, TAs seem to be able to hold appointments during open office hours. I went to visit a TA during open office before an exam. I was allowed to talk to her for a while, but then she later said, "I have an appointment with another student, so please end the conversation soon." </p>
<p>I thought to myself, "Wow, that has to be the most rude thing I've heard an educator say and do. I don't mind ending a conversation for other students to have access to learning, but you setup an appointment? That excludes all but one person from having a learning experience."</p>
<p>The TAs are rude and unethical in this place.
Maybe they have the right to exclude students from the learning process?
If this is true, then I think that's wrong and immoral.</p>
<p>That's my experience with "trying to learn" at this freaking place.</p>
<p>With professors, it can take about three days before they get back to you. So, since there is an exam about every month, then you have ten shots to get everything down. You could try diversifying things between the professors and the TAs, but that might not always work, because the TAs might mislead you.</p>
<p>I have often emailed a TA, asking questions, the and the TA said, "Yes, you've got the right idea in mind." I talk to the professor, and the professor says, "No, that doesn't work. Let me explain why."</p>
<p>You know what? That's incredibly annoying.
I don't mind being told the right thing, but what is the point of the TA being a TA?
Make the person take out loans and pay for their graduate schooling.
I don't want idiots like that messing up my education.</p>
<p>The professors, as mentioned before, are too busy. They don't have a lot of time. The best way to communicate is shoot an email, wait 48 hours, and track down the professor and talk to him/her if nothing comes back.</p>
<p>The lab resources suck. Sometimes the TAs are too mindless to make sure everything the way it should be. I've had to ask a TA, "This is the wrong pipetter, isn't it? Where is the red one? There needs to be a red one for this."</p>
<p>The TA often fails to have the resources prepared for us.</p>
<p>Yeah, when I go into a lab every week, notice the TA is screwing up like a child, I can't help but think my nerves are shot, the TA is an idiot, and that I'm going to die from high blood pressure.</p>
<p>That's not the only TA who does that.</p>
<p>I have one TA, the idealist, who will often fail to provide us with things.
There are times when she says, "I'll email this to all of you. Don't worry."</p>
<p>And guess what? She doesn't end up emailing the class data.
People are left without the class data, and they are not allowed to finish the lab assignment.
Good job, TA! Excellent performance from you.</p>
<p>Guess what, though?
She thinks she won't get any complaints, because she's an easy grader.
She'll grade even if you didn't compile the data.</p>
<p>This actually destroys the learning experience. </p>
<p>Reason? Because the things you do in lab, directly correlate to the kind of material that will be experienced on the lab. You see, people in the lab have recently got into the habit of quickly and partially understanding the basics of the lab, falsifying the lab data (NON-SCIENTIFIC!!!), and then turning it in.</p>
<p>In the end, no one really does the experiment. The TA doesn't really seem to care. And the TA will give good grades to all those who "attempted" the experiment. Heck, she more than not gives full credit.</p>
<p>That's wrong. And it's probably why there is such a low class average in the class.
People aren't being told to be serious, act serious, and be serious scientists.</p>
<p>The lab manuals suck. I often find them riddles with errors. Sometimes it doesn't say, "Go online. Find this out. Answer the question." No. Often it leaves you wondering, "Was this in the book? I don't think it was in the book. How am I suppose to know this?"</p>
<p>For instance, I have one professor who skips around in the lab manual. One lab chapter actually says "Go online and do research to answer the question."</p>
<p>However, there have been plenty of exercises that don't state that and have required online research. I've even spoken to a TA asking, "How am I suppose to know this?" The TA replies, "You're suppose to go online and do research."</p>
<p>I know how to research. I've done it. I'm pretty good at it.
The lab manual didn't say that.
And guess what?
I'm not stupid and new to research. If you do that, you have to cite things.
Nothing in this lab manual, the course syllabus, nor anything said in lecture/lab ever said there would be times when that doing research and citing things would be required. Had such been done, I wouldn't have complained.</p>
<p>Another thing that angered me was that sometimes a professor will change up the lab. Professors have this annoying habit of changing the aspects of the lab, what you'll be doing that day, and what you will need to write up that day.</p>
<p>I've worked in real life. Maybe these TAs have not?</p>
<p>I told that TA that I thought what was going on was unethical, because I was not being allowed to prepare for an educational experience. Furthermore, the new tasks set before me were not asked of nor required of me to be accomplished in lab.</p>
<p>Need a visualization?
Imagine you got a lab, it says this:</p>
<p>"What color is the bacteria's tail?"
"What color is the plant's chloroplast?"
Now imagine you have to answer 25 odd questions like that.
The chloroplast is orange, by the way. It dyed orange.</p>
<p>Now imagine this:
TA says, "We're doing five new things today."
The TA assigns you to draw 10 objects and label three things in each object.</p>
<p>Yeah, that wasn't set forth as a task to accomplish in the worksheet.
Can you see how that is annoying?</p>
<p>What annoys me about that is that you will walk into lab, having read the lab, prepared for lab, understood what you're suppose to be doing, and then be told, "Yeah, you're wrong. Now you have to do this, this, and this. Ignore the lab manual."</p>
<p>Yeah? But ISN'T THE POINT TO READ THE LAB MANUAL IN ORDER TO PREPARE, DO, AND ACCOMPLISH SET TASKS OF THE LAB?</p>
<p>Yeah, that's annoying.</p>
<p>And the lab manuals lack detail.</p>
<p>I've been told to "use a microscope and draw what you see."
Imagine someone said that to you when you've taken a microbiology class.</p>
<p>I confronted the TA with the question "What magnifications do you want drawn?"
She seemed confused. I was immediately ****ed.</p>
<p>The lab manual did not state what magnifications were to be drawn, the TA was clueless, and the TA could not answer my question. Since it was a eukaryotic organism, I thought it would have been stupid to draw all three magnifications. The TA could not answer this question, because she probably never encountered it from a student before. Then again, maybe her language skills just suck.</p>
<p>Ok, now the campus.</p>
<p>UIC's campus sucks.
The computer resources suck.
The students are tools.</p>
<p>Too many people are using facebook and acting like social creatures. People continually hog the computer resources, thus you cannot really get access to a computer nor a printer. I hope they all jump off a bridge or get into a large depression later in their lives. </p>
<p>There are various websites and TVs around the UIC campus that show you how many people are in a computer lab, using the computer. That's a useful tool, but it's still a hassle to know that you cannot get access to a computer in order to print something for school work.</p>
<p>When the semester began, I noticed that there were a lot of people simply screwing around on the computer. There were a lot of people jacking around, talking on cell phones in the library; and there were a lot of immature 18+ people who needed to be pushed into a busy highway.</p>
<p>I may be new, but I'm going to take a stab and guess this immature event will continually occur every year. I'm going to guess at the beginning of each fall that I will see these immature children act the fool.</p>
<p>Tips? Bring your own laptop. Make sure you print everything out. There are also these software packages that UIC offers. It allows you to end a print job to a UIC printer without needing to use a UIC computer. I was never told about this. I found out about it from reading a poster. It's silly that I wasn't informed of this before I transferred.</p>
<p>What's my ending opinion?</p>
<p>Don't go to UIC.</p>
<p>Large universities suck. I have learned that much. But I think that just about anyone and everyone is better off going to a small university. If you learn more about large universities, they have plenty of money. Yes, money matters. But what matters more than that is what people do with the money. UIC? UIC doesn't spend the money. It holds it all and doesn't bother spending it.</p>
<p>There was a thing in the UIC flame this week or last week (10-14-2009) that describes how UIC is low on human resources. </p>
<ol>
<li>There are not as many professors.</li>
<li>There are not as many grad students</li>
<li>there is a lack of resources to help educate students...</li>
</ol>
<p>Guess what, that's B.S.. UIC has plenty of money saved up. 300 million or more? It simply does not desire to hire anymore professors. It doesn't feel like educating its students. It is more of a business than a school.</p>
<p>Therefore, the students don't feel provided for. At best, I can say this is true. UIC is not the decent university it once was. Maybe earlier this decade it was ok, but now? in the recession? It's a bad place.</p>
<p>A small university might cost a lot less, but you will be able to get the education you pay for, the experiences you desire, and feel like a respected individual. Furthermore, there will be less competition.</p>
<p>It would only be logical. There is a smaller "students in class" to "class professor" ratio. Ignore whatever junk you read on the web. It's all about the "people in the professor's class and number of professors" ratio.</p>
<p>I think UIC tries to state it has a 15:1 ratio?
That's bogus.</p>
<p>It's like 120 students:1 professor.
I'm guessing a place like Loyola would have had 30:1 professor.</p>
<p>From all the experience I've had with graduate students, they don't really feel like spending time with you. I have attempted to change the ways I interact and communicate with the graduate students. I have found that the females act like paranoid little girls. I have found that the male TAs act like serious students whom are willing to lend a helping hand if possible. I'm not sure what the deal is with the female graduate students around this place. Perhaps they are going through mid-life crises.</p>
<p>In general, graduate students are too busy to really get involved with people. At best, you could attempt to get involved with a professor. Then again, professors tend to have too little time to help people.</p>
<p>Otherwise, choose a more affordable alternative.</p>