<p>Hi! I am an international(from Russia) admitted student to the College of Engineering - CS Dep. I am not keen on extensive partying/drinking and I don't plan to go greek. As UIUC is known to have one of the largest number of students entering fraternities, I have concerns about the quality of social life of an independent student.
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[<em>]Is his social life somehow inferior to the one of an average frat kid?
[</em>]Do other people consider him odd because of that?
[<em>]Is it easy to find friends outside the greek system (clubs, classes maybe)?
[</em>]As for housing, where is it better to live for a person like me?
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<p>As I haven't accepted an offer of admission yet, I am still considering these schools: UCSD(Eng-CS), CMU(CIT-ECE (not my first-choice major)), NYU(CAS-CS).
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[li]What do you think about these options? [/li][/ul]
Thank you!</p>
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<p>When I was at UIUC as a mechanical engineer and an independent student, I still had an active social life. Not once did I regret not going greek. Honestly, there are a lot of people in fraternities, but they are still the minority and they are far from the only ones who have a good time.</p>
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<p>Not really. You may find the occasional frat boy who looks down on others for being independent, but that isn’t the norm and is really just sad for that person for feeling that way.</p>
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<p>Sure, I had plenty of friends without going greek. You just have to make the effort to actually meet people. I had friends both in engineering and outside of engineering. I even met my future wife there who isn’t an engineer. You will have ample opportunity to find friends, it is just a matter of what you do with those opportunities.</p>
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<p>If you don’t like drinking and partying, I suppose ISR is the most isolated from that (though still not isolated by any stretch, just moreso than the rest of the dorms). It is also closest to the engineering campus. However, it has a reputation for having a bunch of stereotypical engineers, thus the unofficial nickname of “I’m Socially ■■■■■■■■.” Still, I lived there and turned out okay and still had plenty of time to study in relative quiet while also having plenty of opportunity to go out and have fun. Otherwise, I know the 6-pack is being overhauled but I don’t know the culture of the new buildings as they weren’t around when I was there. PAR/FAR is okay, but it is just so far from everything that it is a pain. It is sort of a happy medium between the rowdiness of the 6-pack and the relative tameness of ISR.</p>
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<p>I am obviously going to be biased, but I would choose UIUC. Of course, UCSD is a quality program as well. I would throw out CMU simply because it isn’t the major you want and NYU because, while New York is a cultural paradise by most measures, NYU doesn’t throw a lot of resources at their STEM fields.</p>
<p>Thank you boneh3ad!</p>
<p>i second boneh3ad. i’m in a social fraternity, and while a good amount of people do choose to go greek, the majority don’t. doesn’t mean they have less fun, as once you turn 19 everyone just goes to bars or has apartments. everyone will find that circle of friends that they will hang out with. some of my best friends are independents and they have no intention of rushing. doesn’t make a difference.</p>
<p>Even though UIUC has the biggest greek system by membership I think only around 30% of people are in frats/sororities, so you’d actually be in the majority not being in one.</p>
<p>I was/am also choosing between NYU CAS and UIUC for comp sci (also waitlisted at CMU SCS). I’m going with UIUC over NYU. NYU has the pros that it’s probably a more well-respected school overall, and if you care about math, its Courant Institute is one of the best math programs in the world from what I hear. The CS department there though is kind of just tucked away into one of the floors of Courant. I’m sure you’d receive quality instruction, but UIUC would probably give you a lot more in the way of resources like access to research opportunities and internships. CS seems like more of a “thing” at UIUC - there’s a whole building for it and from what I could tell there seems to be a pretty strong CS culture. CAS on the other hand is a liberal arts college - you might get a more well-rounded education, but you won’t be nearly as immersed in CS.</p>
<p>Location-wise they’re also very different. I live less than a 30 min drive from NYC and being so close is sort of already a strike for me. UIUC is more of a campus school in a college town, and you get more of a “college experience”, which I like. NYU sort of just feels like living in the city and taking class (which may be more appealing to you, but it wasn’t for me).</p>
<p>I didn’t apply to any of the other colleges at CMU, but I think I’d go to UIUC CS over CMU for engineering. While you might be able to “steal” a CS education there, I think you’d be served a lot better to be in the dept. you want to be in so you have more direct access to faculty and other resources and you just get more of a CS experience.</p>