Northern Illinois University

Date: Dec 08 2013
Major: Nursing (This Major's Salary over time)
I am an out-of-state (St. Louis) freshman who came to this school because of the fact that it was close to Chicago, it had a great nursing program, and because the student size was a descent size.

With that being said, I must say that I would have absolutely chosen a different school. The only things I like about this school- the academics, the football (LOVE the football games), and the people are nice. However, they leave every weekend. I don't think anyone I know at this school considers NIU to be a "great school". The majority of people I have met are from small towns in Illinois who only came here because their parents went here, and because it's close to home. Oh and all of them only applied here.

Also, upon reading these reviews before choosing NIU, I read that everyone goes home on the weekends but I thought that it would be OK because I would just make friends with people that stayed behind. If you take nothing else from this review, hear me out: MOST STUDENTS go home on the weekends, and those who don't either party or play video games by themselves all weekend. I personally don't party or drink, and I can say with confidence that there is nothing to do. Going to movies, going out to eat, and watching movies in our lounge are the only things that my friend and I do every weekend, and it is ridiculous.

If you are from Illinois and plan on going home every weekend, great! Come to NIU. If you like to party every weekend and plan on going Greek, great! Come to NIU. If you are looking for a school where you can always find something to do besides partying, and plan on making a lot of friends that way then DO NOT COME HERE. I would have rather just have gone to a big state school or paid 20K more to go to a school in Chicago if I knew that the social scene would be so dead. The biggest problem is that there is nowhere for students to just hang out, most people go back to the dorms after class, not many just sit around everywhere on campus like you would expect.

All in all: academics are good (you'll get a job if you graduate from here, but TRUST ME that is not the end all) (also I feel that I should say that I have all A's and 1 B+, so academics are not too hard), surrounding area (and campus) is dead on weekends, football is the best part of the school, and the students are very nice but they leave every weekend.

YOU CAN DO BETTER TRUST ME