Northern Illinois University

Date: Jun 29 2006
Major: Political Science (This Major's Salary over time)
great school for the average person looking to have a normal college experience and then go straight to work or stay in dekalb for grad school. however, if you are particularly ambitious, goal-oriented, etc, this is NOT the place for you.

This is somewhat of a townie college in a town with no room for growth or improvement. The college bars/ night life is pretty good, but the greek system is poor, there are no good restaraunts, etc in town, and it is very very difficult to find a part time job (even when you do, every place treats the employees terribly when they know there are 18 other students lined up for your job). closest city (rockford) is a 45 minute drive and not at all nice. closest major airport/ major city is 2 hours drive and the tollbooths and traffic are outrageous. weather here is also bad- fall is nice, but you'll have dirty snow from october to may-rains ALL spring, summer is hot and humid but there are virtually no pools around. (also a ghost town in the summer).

the town has many of the problems of a big city (drugs, crime, gangs) but few benefits (no transportation system outside of campus, etc). there are a few small subdivisions of nice homes, but most of the area is poor and prone to break-in's, etc. cost of living isn't bad, but fairly high for this type of area. most of the towns surrounding dekalb are very very small (300 or so) and a far drive. allergies are bad because of the cornfields, and it smells in the summer because of the PIG FARM!! Also, people in the area are generally not very nice. A lot of them come from the same areas and already have a group of friends.

The political science department is not very well organized and the programs not very rigorous. however, I find the faculty in the political science department to be particularly exceptional, but i dont expect most to be here long, as they can easily find a much better school to teach at.