StudentsReview :: Western Illinois University - Extra Detail about the Comment
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Western Illinois University

How this student rated the school
Educational QualityB+ Faculty AccessibilityA
Useful SchoolworkB Excess CompetitionA
Academic SuccessB+ Creativity/ InnovationB-
Individual ValueA University Resource UseC
Campus Aesthetics/ BeautyC- FriendlinessA
Campus MaintenanceD- Social LifeC
Surrounding CityD Extra CurricularsC
SafetyC-
Describes the student body as:
Friendly, Approachable

Describes the faculty as:
Friendly, Helpful

Male
ACT:23
id='quarter' class='snapshot' style='color: #977500; line-height:80px';float:left;
Average
Lowest Rating
Campus Maintenance
D-
Highest Rating
Faculty Accessibility
A
He cares more about Campus Maintenance than the average student.
Date: Jul 19 2011
Major: Political Science (This Major's Salary over time)
After spending my freshman year at a community college I decided that I wanted more of the traditional college experience so I decided to attend Western. I chose Western because it had cheap tuition and one of my best friends was already attending there and I got to be his roommate.

While I have made some really great friends at Western and the political science department has some great professors who give you the tools you need to succeed, I would ultimately not recommend to someone else that they attend WIU for the following reasons:

1. The buildings on campus are literally falling apart. The school has $500M in deferred maintenance. What that means is that our buildings on campus need $500M in repairs but we don't have the money to fix them. Academic halls have holes in the roof, some of the buildings don't have wi-fi access or projectors. Residence halls have heating and cooling problems. Streets and sidewalks go unrepaired.

To save money the library hesitates to turn on the air conditioning during finals week in the spring semester so if you need to go to the library to study that week expect 80 degree temperatures. Also, the student union looks like it is stuck in 1975 and is in desperate need of a modern makeover.

2. There is little school pride on campus and I usually don't feel connected to my school. Despite having free admittance into our sporting events, hardly any students attend. About 50% of the school is from the region around the University and the other 50% is from the Chicago area. Well, the 50% that come from around the school go home on weekends at least twice per month on average meaning finding things to do with all your friends can be difficult to do.

3. The surrounding community is full of older retirement age people and Macomb is not a college town. There is a buffalo wild wings and a few college town type eating establishments in the city, but Macomb is no college town. Once I leave campus I feel like I'm in a rural community with nothing to do. There is a movie theater in town but the screens are bad quality and the colors of the movie are always too dark.

Bottom Line:

Western Illinois was a good fit for me considering my specific situation. I didn't have much money to spend on college and the department I chose happened to have some great professors and I made some great connections during my time at Western. However, for the average student Western Illinois University is not an ideal place to study but there are many worse choices a student could make.

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