UIC vs Lake Forest College

College Search & Selection
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<p>I'm stuck choosing between these two schools, as I have been rejected from everywhere else so far due to my low UW GPA. According to the rankings these schools are of pretty much the same caliber, however UIC may have more recognition as it is a bigger school. Is anyone here familiar with either of these schools, what are your thoughts on them? </p>

<p>I'm planning on majoring in finance, and possibly double majoring in fin/cs. I am also planning on transferring out to a better school after my first year. Which school would give me a better shot at getting accepted into a school such as NYU or UIUC? </p>

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<p>For transferring purposes, your GPA matters much more than where you go. If you’re planning to transfer anyway, I’d go with the cheaper one. But you should look into UIUC’s transfer policies; often it is harder, or easier, to transfer from one campus of a university to another. This varies by university system and has to be researched individually.</p>

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<p>If you were not so decided on transferring, I’d say Lake Forest. It’s a perfectly good college, with a nice campus, excellent classes, and a good support system – overall better academically than UIC (some programs excepted!). However indeed as Hanna said, if you’re so sure you’ll transfer, check into the policies of transferring from one UI campus to another vs. from a private to UIUC. Finally, what makes you so sure you will get a higher GPA in college than in high school -just beware, it’s much harder to get a 3.3-3.5 in college than in high school.</p>

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<p>Also…have you used this username or any version of it in a place where colleges can see it?</p>

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<p>Thanks for the replies. Yea, I am thinking of just going with UIC due to the cost. I know that GPA is the number one thing that counts to college AOs, I learned this the hard way this application season. I’m fairly confident I can pull off a high college GPA due to my uptrend in high school and the fact that I am coming from a rigorous high school (ranked one of the top 4 in Chicago) </p>

<p>I can’t find anything on the UIUC’s website about their intercampus transfer policy. Maybe this is something I’ll have to email them about. </p>

<p>@MYOS1634 what makes you say that Lake Forest is overall better than UIC?</p>

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<p>@Hanna no, I have not</p>

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<p>I grew up in Lake Forest and attended UIC for medical school. The two schools are about as different as you can get as are the locations. I don’t think rankings are going to help you here since the schools are so different. If you’re in state, then UIC is going to be much cheaper, but you need to ask what you want to get out of college and where you see yourself in the future.</p>

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<p>Small private college in a rich suburban area versus state school in a very urban setting. Extremely different environments. Have you visited both?</p>

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<p>How much would each cost after scholarships but before loans?</p>

<p>This is a compilation of objective data, but you should absolutely visit and do an overnight, sit in on a freshman class, eat in the cafeteria, read the campus paper…</p>

<p>UIC has about 17,000, mostly commuters. Average GPA is 3.2 and the average student is in the 3.0-3.45 range while the top students have about 1800 SAT. Only 12% of freshmen had a 3.75+ in HSand above, while 26% got in with a GPA below 3.0. Classes are fairly large: 28% classes have 20 students or fewer while 27% have 40 and more (with fully 10% over 100). Only 3/4 faculty are full time (the others are adjuncts who come and go, which may be a problem for recommendation and office hours; classes can also be taught by TA’s). Only31% freshmen live on campus and half that for upperclass students. It’s very diverse: 24% Hispanic, 23% Asian, 8% African American, 40% White. It’s right in Chicago.
31% graduate in 4 years, fewer than 60% graduate period (even in 6 years).</p>

<p>Lake Forest is a small college: 1,500 students, most residential. Average GPA is 3.65 with 60% students in the 3.5-4.0 range. Average SAT is around 1800 with the top 25% around 2000. There’s a low student/faculty ratio, meaning the classes tend to be small: 59% classes have 20 students or fewer while only 3% have 40 and more (withabsolutely none over 100). 98% have a PHD however not all are full-time -60% or so). 90% freshmen live on campus and 80% upperclass students. It’s not very diverse: 14% Hispanic, 5% Asian, 7% African American, 70% White. it’s in a wealthy suburban town probably 45mn from Chicago (give or take a few mn :p). 82% freshmen return for sophomore year, 60% graduate in 4 years about double of UIC (about 70% graduate in 6 years).
About 30% graduates directly go on to professional or grad school and 70% are employed within 6 months.</p>

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<p>Before grants/loans I would be spending 26k/year at Lake Forest, and 17k/year at UIC so I’ll probably just go with UIC because I am planning on transferring to a target school sophmore year anyway.</p>

<p>I have not visited the schools, however I am familiar with the UIC campus/area and the urban setting because my high school is nearby. I am not familiar at all with the Lake Forest campus, however I am somewhat familiar with the northern suburbs. </p>

<p>@MYOS1634 I have heard that Lake Forest has grade inflation, maybe this has skewed the average GPA? Or maybe Lake Forest just selects brighter students on average?</p>

<p>I’m really just wondering if it would be worth the extra 10k if I’m just going to transfer after a year. Would a school like NYU, UPenn, or UIUC favor one school over the other if I had say a 3.6-4.0 GPA, and good ECs and essays?</p>

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<p>When you say before grants/loans, what do you mean?
Grants are scholarships: they’re money given to you, money you don’t have to pay.
Loans aren’t money given to you, it’s just deferred payment (you pay, but later).
So, after scholarships and grants, but before any loans, how much would each cost?
What is your parents’ budget - if they said “under $15,000” this discussion is moot,
since you yourself can only borrow $5,500 plus add summer work and work study, perhaps
add $2,500-4,500 to that, at best (student contribution including work and loans can reasonably
and typically reach $9,000 so if you add scholarships and parents’ contribution, if your parents
were willing to pay $15,000, you would need to go to a college that costs $24,000 or less
and Lake Forest is out; if they said $20,000 then both colleges are still in play.)</p>

<p>Those aren’t the grades at the schools, but the grades of the seniors who were admitted. In other words, the students that Lake Forest admitted as freshmen were stronger in high school (3.65 at Lake Forest vs 3.2 at UIC) and are thus a better prepared peer group than at UIC. It means professors can go a little more in-depth and a little faster in their classes, resulting in a stronger preparation. This explains why odds of graduating in 4 years are twice higher at Lake Forest than at UIC. The classes are much smaller, which means they’re more interactive and the professors actually know you (so they can help you if you struggle, they can write you letters of recommendation…)
Is it worth $9,000? It really depends on what you want. And most of all, it depends on whether your parents actually have that money. If they don’t, then the answer is simple: no. (It is absolutely not worth it for them to borrow $9,000 per year - if they have the money, the issue’s different).</p>

<p>Your odds of transferring out of state are very, very low. 1° Transfers don’t get much financial aid (if any beside loans) 2°students at NYU and UPennare generally happy so they don’t leave or drop out, leaving very few spaces for transfers.
UIUC is different though. I just checked their policy:
From UIC, you’ll need to have a 3.0, 24 credits, English 160 and 161, plus a set of specific courses to be completed over 2 years to be eligible for transfer. (You can transfer after 3 semesters, not after one year only.) If you transfer after 3 semesters, there’s a course-by-course review and they don’t guarantee all courses will transfer – although, logically, if you took the classes from the list, they should transfer, but you may have to take some classes again.
<a href=“https://www.itransfer.org/IAI/GenEd/singleSchoolWorksheet.aspx?file=iai&section=students”>https://www.itransfer.org/IAI/GenEd/singleSchoolWorksheet.aspx?file=iai&section=students&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“https://www.itransfer.org/IAI/container.aspx?file=iai”>https://www.itransfer.org/IAI/container.aspx?file=iai&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Lake Forest does not participate in that agreement, so you can transfer after 3 semesters and get the course by course review like for UIC, but you can’t transfer after two years and get all your general education credits automatically admitted at UIUC.</p>

<p>Since UIC is near your home, would you commute? That would make it even cheaper.</p>

<p>You should also spend an ‘admitted students’ day, or, better, overnight, at each campus: attend a class (very important), eat in the cafeteria, listen to what students talk about, read the campus paper, see what they do all day. Can you see yourself being friends with them easily? Can you see yourself spending 4 years (or 5 for UIC) there?
Don’t got there thinking you’ll transfer. Many students don’t so choose your school as if you were going to spend 4 or 5 years there. Worst case scenario, you’ll still be on a campus you like. And if you transfer, then you’ll have had a good year. :)</p>

<p>Be aware that in college getting even 3.1-3.3 freshman year is not that easy (fewer than half freshman even manage it, and those were typically strong in high school). Consider that your senior GPA is your freshman GPA -.3 for now (if you do better, great - but use conservative estimates rather than what you “hope” for.) Essentially, my concern is that you’d need some support to achieve that transfer GPA and you wouldn’t find it as easily at UIC and you’d end up part of the students who drop out along the way. On the other hand, 79% freshmen return to UIC so their freshman year doesn’t seem so bad, the problem must happen afterwards, indicating a possible disconnect between first-year content and major-level content. However this may matter little to you if you manage to transfer to UIUC after 3 semester or 2 years.</p>

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<p>Sorry, I meant before loans and the pell grant but after scholarships Lake Forest would be 26k and UIC would be 17k. My parents’ budget for my education is probably less than 15k, so I will go with UIC because it is the cheaper school. I will dorm even if I go to UIC because I would have to commute about an hour one way if I lived with my parents. </p>

<p>Thanks for clarifying that about the GPAs, I guess the stats from collegedata that I was looking at are a bit off. I realize that Lake Forest could probably give me a better education because of the small LAC setting. But I think that I can handle the classes at UIC, and get a GPA high enough to get me into UIUC. My current senior year GPA is 3.64 so if I use that method of getting a conservative estimate I would have a 3.34. What GPA would I need to get in order to transfer to UIUC from UIC?</p>

<p>I will try to pay a real visit UIC before I start attending, but I am already fairly confident that I would be comfortable there. </p>