StudentsReview :: The University of Illinois - Chicago - Extra Detail about the Comment
-or-
Search for Schools by Region
 

or within distance of city

Similar Schools
Northwestern University -- Evanston, IL
Harvard University -- Cambridge, MA
Columbia University in the City of New York -- New York, NY


  Who's got the Best?

Perceptual Rankings:
You Make 'Em.
We Post 'Em.
You Vote 'Em Up.
You Vote 'Em Down.
Aww yeah.


The University of Illinois - Chicago

How this student rated the school
Educational QualityD Faculty AccessibilityD
Useful SchoolworkD Excess CompetitionB
Academic SuccessA Creativity/ InnovationD
Individual ValueF University Resource UseC
Campus Aesthetics/ BeautyF FriendlinessC-
Campus MaintenanceF Social LifeA
Surrounding CityA Extra CurricularsC
SafetyF
Describes the student body as:
Friendly, Approachable

Describes the faculty as:
Arrogant, Unhelpful, Self Absorbed

Male
Not so bright
Lowest Rating
Individual Value
F
Highest Rating
Academic Success
A
He cares more about Safety than the average student.
Date: Sep 20 2009
Major: Mechanical Engineering (This Major's Salary over time)
I've been in this school 4 years not, doing my last year currently, and unfortunately I have to say that I wish that I had done my research when picking a school. I am very disappointed in my choice. I will not comment on the campus life since I'm a commuter (I had to assign a grade for such topics that pertian to life on campus but these are just guesses since I never dormed on campus). I will instead focus on the quality of education and the quality of the facilities and the like (i.e. things I would know about).

One of the greatest troubles at UIC is the poor faculty. I suspect that this is the case with many engineering/science majors(although I can't speak about faculty for majors other than my own (mechanical engineering)). The reason I suspect this is because UIC is known as a research university (the reasearch being done in engineering/science fields) and the rumor goes that the order of the land is that if a person can bring money into the university then they will be hired to do research at UIC. Along with being hired to do research, these same people, who often have no interest/ability to teach, are made to teach students. What you end up with is teachers who are very rude, do not hold any office hours, refuse to help students, have no motivation to teach students, etc. Some of the worst teachers based on experience and/or word of mouth (you can look them up on ratemyprofessors.com) are Lemke, Hans Goeckner, Budyn, Charles Rhodes (and his trusty underling sidekick Boguta). These are the worst ones, most are not AS bad, but there are many others that are pretty bad. I had teachers refuse to help me understand the subject. One even told the class that he found it funny how people e-mailed him with worries and questions about the exam and laughingly said that he deleted such e-mails. The physics department in particular has notoriously poor teachers, the average on the exams usually being 60% or less, not because they're THAT hard but because of the poor quality of teaching. It is a complete disgrace how some of these teachers are allowed to teach at ANY school.

The facilities are also in poor shape. The new South campus looks pretty good I admit but the West and East Campus are very ugly. It is no secret that there UIC is very underfunded. One of the more pronounced examples of this is when I found a sign on the towel dispenser saying something along the lines of

No towels due to budget cuts.
Come to think of it, many soap dispensers and towel dispensers usually lack soap/paper towels respectively. Perhaps this is the reason why?

The crime is pretty bad too. Students get emails every now and then about how some students got robbed in some neighborhood. Many times it's after 10 pm but sometimes it occurs fairly early in the day. There was one report of a robbery recently at about 6 pm in a neighborhood which I would rate as relatively safe, though I think that was an unusual crime, an outlier. If you don't stay out late then you have a pretty good chance of being safe. Ironically we sometimes have our finals fairly late in the day. Most people, including myself, haven't been a victim of a crime but it does happen more times than is acceptable. The area has been a lot worse however, prior to me coming here. A lot worse—This is all just from what I heard but I heard it way too many times for it not to have some sort of validity.

so what are the positives? The cost it pretty low, or so I hear—my parents pay for college so I wouldn't know :) The location is very good as well. I walk from the trainstation in downtown to the East campus, takes me ~20 minutes on average. I also feel that I picked up a lot of good work habits (since some of my teachers were as bad as they were, I had to learn a lot of the material myself by reading the book) but then again I could have done that in a much better way that wouldn't include me getting an inferior education.

The only reason I can think of why I went to this school is because I didn't know of any other school other than UIC (and Harvard—which is out of my reach). This was probably because I was depressed in H.S. and I didn't know what to do with my life. My Sister went to UIC and my parents wanted me to go to college and since I didn't have any better plans I figured "Sure, why not." I bombed my first semester with a 1.8 GPA but since then I feel better and I now have a GPA above a 3.0.

There has been talk of renovating the campus recently, including the demolition of possibly the 2 ugliest buildings on campus (University Hall and Behavioral Science Building). The new South campus and the two renovated lecture halls look very good. I think the newer teachers being hired are far more qualified for teaching, or perhaps I'm just imagining things. The teachers I had here that were brand new were very good and very top quality. In the future I think UIC may become a decent, and maybe even a good school, but for the time being I regret to say that I would not want to choose to go to UIC again and I will not be applying here for my Master's. I wish UIC the best of luck in getting its act together, but in the mean time I would advise everyone to stay clear of this school as much as it pains me to say so.

Responses
questionUnderfunded? where did you hear that? do you have any support for that assertion? That was a misguided comment. So many people who are unhappy with their undergraduate performance like to get on forums and rag about the school. stop bringing excuses. you chose UIC. UIC has a good engineering program that is hard to get into. stop complaining.
Ask a Question or add a response!
The University of Illinois - Chicago
The University of Illinois - Chicago
Compare UIC/UIllinois-ChicagoSave UIC/UIllinois-Chicago