<p>It isn’t that we don’t like to go out and party, its that we don’t have time to do it during the week like all my business friends did. That was just the nature of the beast. It is no secret that, in general, engineering needs a larger time commitment than business does, so I am well versed in watching my business roommates go out on a Wednesday while I had to sit at home writing a lab report. Overall I think I am better for it though. I watched those two put on quite a pair of beer bellies, while I keep free of that, haha.</p>
<p>Taxi113,</p>
<p>As an engineering student at U of I I find most of what you say to be inaccurate. You are generalizing all the points you make through the experiences of a few of your friends. You say you haven’t even started college, I think you lack any experience to be commenting on the negatives of an Institution with over 40,000 students based on what a select few friends of yours have shared with you. Perhaps they are the ones who segregate themselves from other students. </p>
<p>I do take offense to the statement you make about engineering students being “pretty much” focused on academics. Engineering students are as socially active as any other group of students on campus. </p>
<p>Perhaps I do not take well to criticism or its just that the criticism is baseless. Either way, I do not plan on writing any more and you are wrong.</p>
<p>One negative I’d add is that, in my experience, social life at UIUC is excessively dominated by the Greek system. Please see my comments in this thread: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-illinois-urbana-champaign/707954-uiuc-good-party-school.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-illinois-urbana-champaign/707954-uiuc-good-party-school.html</a> (I’m intentionally linking the entire thread so that you can see not only my views, but also opposing views.)</p>
<p>Unfortunately, I also found the campus to be quite segregated. The segregation isn’t always about race, culture or religion, although it can break down along those lines. More generally, there are distinct groups on campus which really don’t get along with each other. People tend to associate with others who are very similar to themselves. It’s more about conforming to a group than being of a specific cultural background.</p>
<p>
[QUOTE=Taxi1113]
Of course it’s a college town so there’s always going to be something to do, but it just seems like there’s something social missing in Champaign.
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</p>
<p>I noticed the same thing.</p>
<p>
[QUOTE=boneh3ad]
Plus if you look at places like the 6 pack, you have a very mixed collection of people.
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<p>
[QUOTE=Taxi1113]
…I definitely would have chosen to live in the six pack. I only hear good things about the social environment there.
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<p>I lived in the Six-Pack for a semester. I personally don’t have good things to say about it. Despite some racial diversity, it’s still generally very conformist and intolerant of differences. The social life is heavily based on binge drinking.</p>
<p>I never lived in the 6 pack. It has a good mix of people, but it wasn’t my thing. I didn’t really want to put up with the fact that it is noisy 24/7.</p>
<p>What do you mean by “distinct groups”? Examples? I never saw any of that in my 4 years there.</p>
<p>I think Take3’s explanation about the segregation was better put than mine. I have also heard that the social scene seems to be revolve around greek life, even though I’m sure there are ways to be socially active if you’re not greek. If I went to U of I, I probably would have pledged a frat.</p>
<p>I didn’t “go greek” and I had a perfectly fulfilling social life, and came out of it with a long term girlfriend who I will probably end up marrying before too long. You definitely don’t have to be greek to have fun. The greek system is just very visible.</p>
<p>Could be the first engagement announcement on CC! JK…Really U of I is a big school with a lot to offer. You have to find your niche. You also have to be able to “handle” a big school and all that comes with it…the good and the bad. There are plenty of good things but also some negative. You just want the good to outweigh the bad…it is kind of like the real world. There is no such thing as a “perfect school” but there is a “right school” for the right person. You just have to look carefully and know yourself well enough to match it up. Everyone’s input is well taken and appreciated.</p>
<p>
[QUOTE=boneh3ad]
What do you mean by “distinct groups”? Examples? I never saw any of that in my 4 years there.
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<p>As noted, many people who belong to a specific racial, cultural or religious group socialize primarily with other people who share this background.</p>
<p>As another example, I was in a computer-related major. Many, probably most, people in computer-related majors weren’t integrated into the wider campus culture. They seemed to socialize primarily with other people in technical majors.</p>
<p>The social mainstream is another distinct group. Generally, the social mainstream is homogeneous, conformist and intolerant of differences. They tend to think, dress and act similarly. They tend to drink heavily. They are “distinct” as a result of rejecting anyone who isn’t very similar to themselves.</p>
<p>Isn’t university supposed to include being exposed to different types of people?</p>
<p>@GoOakland: All of these disadvantages have to be weighed against the fact that UIUC is very strong in Engineering. And, as noted, the degree will open doors.</p>
<p>@Take3</p>
<p>Welcome to America. It is fact that on just about every campus, in every state, there is some degree of separation like that. Most business majors don’t really want to have much to do with CS majors because they view them as nerdy, and likewise, most CS majors view business majors as lazy and obnoxious. Of course, you could interchange that with many, many other majors. Most fine arts majors don’t really have anything in common with most chemistry majors or business majors. The fact of the matter is, it is human nature to seek out people with similar views and interests as you and spend more time with those people than people who have little in common with you. That isn’t to say that it isn’t important to branch out: it is. However, most of the time people stay in their comfort zones and branch out only sometimes, especially when they are in a major such as engineering that takes up a relatively large amount of time. There are exceptions, but that is generally human nature.</p>
<p>Personally, I met a ton of people from a ton of backgrounds. I have many friends that I made from many different engineering backgrounds, business backgrounds, nursing, architecture, psychology, education, etc, etc, etc. You just have to go and make sure that you make the effort to branch out instead of staying in your little group. Sporting events are a great way to do that since they tend to interest people of all backgrounds. Seriously though, it isn’t just a UIUC problem, its a human problem. It happens everywhere, not just Champaign. For as diverse of a country as we live in, people still tend to stick to what they know and what they are comfortable with.</p>
<p>@boneh3ad</p>
<p>I agree that there’s some degree of “separation” everywhere. But the extent to which different groups are separated is much greater at some universities than others. I found the separation between different groups to be quite pervasive at UIUC. For example, McGill, which I subsequently attended, was nowhere near as divided. None of the other highly-ranked schools I’m familiar with are as divided.</p>
<p>I also agree that people seek out others with similar views and interests. However, judging someone by their major is stereotyping. The same can be said for judging someone by race, culture, religion and other such attributes. Cliques which are determined based on major, culture, and the like actually get in the way of finding like-minded people. This is because the people you actually have something in common with might well be in a different clique.</p>
<p>In my case, I had chosen to be a combined CS/Math major because it appeared to be a good career choice. However, my interests, views, and the like aren’t typical of CS and/or Math majors. The divided social environment at UIUC made it difficult to find like-minded people.</p>
<p>I definately find it hard to believe the social divide many on here seem to state for many reasons. One major reason is to include that most ( if not many) of the students accepted into the school live within a metro of a world class city: Chicago ( also recognized as the 3rd human capital).</p>
<p>I don’t think it is that bad Coolbrezze. I think some of these people must have just had a really bad experience when they visited. I attended the school for 4 years and saw nothing that is any worse than any other school I have been to or visited.</p>
<p>And stereotyping though it may be, people still do it. Human nature is to stereotype, especially because of the fact that stereotypes often do derive from legitimate patterns. The problem is when you just apply a blanket stereotype to everyone without getting to know them first. Personally, I never had any problems meeting people from different backgrounds. I have friends from UIUC of all colors, shapes, sizes, majors, socioeconomic status, and the list goes on. Seriously, I think some of this is blown out of proportion. The people who run into problems are the people who are too afraid to step outside their comfort zone once in a while.</p>
<p>I’m not afraid to step outside my comfort zone. Even so, I had difficulty finding my niche socially at UIUC.</p>
<p>Well that just leads me to believe that you got in with a crowd that wasn’t really in your niche and stuck with it too long, to be honest. After all, you said that the entire social scene revolved around greek life and binge drinking, and while those are two major forces on campus (and binge drinking is on ANY campus), I know plenty of people who found their niche without including either of those two activities. I am not saying it wasn’t for a lack of trying or anything, but it just seems like you got unlucky to me. I went through several phases socially in college, as do most people, but I definitely found mine after ruling out the greek system and binge drinking fairly early in my college career.</p>
<p>Yeah although the university may have a large greek system, it is also obvious there is more outside the system like any other school. </p>
<p>Plus there is over 6000 students on the campus ( well actually thats just the freshmen), and you have only heard from so few. I would be surprise for anyone who couldn’t find a close group of friends with trying.</p>