Southern Illinois University - Edwardsville

I came into this university with too high of expectations. I am from 5 hours north of here and wanted the "college experience". A college experience is seemingly impossible here. There are literally no parties on campus and it is a dry campus. At the beginning of the year, I thought that things would pick up later on. Not so much. Out of desperation, I joined a sorority on campus. (We only have 3) This was very unlike me, but I needed something to do on weekend nights. As for the parties, the frat parties are limited to only the Greeks and are rare and not exciting at all, and there is no Greek Housing. It does not feel like college here because of the lack of nightlife. Walk outside on a Friday night-nothing but a few deer. If there are parties off-campus, they either get busted, or students drive drunk back to campus, which is terrible. I have not met many open-minded people at all. Not even a handful. Most of the students here commute, although more and more of the population is coming from Chicago, and surrounding towns. I joined many clubs on campus, and have met a few friends there, but most of the students are very clique-y and do not want to meet new people with different interests.

Academics:

Probably the only good thing about this university is the academics here. The teachers are all usually friendly and I have had a decent amount of challenging work so far. The academics here are probably what keep the the college ratings up so high for this premiere university.

Area:

The campus itself is very, very gorgeous (especially in the fall). In September, I made good use of the Madison County bike trails. St. Louis is so close, I had thought that students here would have the opportunity to hop a bus or take part in a cab service in order to have a fun night in St. Louis. That is not the case at all. If you do not have a car on campus, good luck getting anywhere. There is a small bus service that only costs $1, but it unfortunately stops running at 12 pm and it does not go to STL.

Overall, I am very, very unhappy with this university and I honestly wouldn't recommend it to anyone. This place has SO much potential (it's size, and distance from STL), but I just don't see things changing anytime soon. If there was a nightlife, more open-minded students, and transportation to St. Louis, my experiences here would be different.