The University of Illinois Urbana - Champaign

Date: May 18 2005
Major: Social Work (This Major's Salary over time)
Although I am from Illinois, I am not from the Chicago suburbs and was appauled not only by amount of studnets at this school who are from such a confined location, but how the Chicago suburban culture dominates the U of I. I was often asked

What suburb are you from?

and when the answer was not from that area, it was as though my hometown was irrelevant and hokey compared to such magnificent places as Paletine, Roselle, and Buffalo Grove.

Greek life is pretty much the main social outlet. I didn't really give it much thought my freshman year and paid socially for the rest of my college career. Due to the early rush (usually the first week or so of class), many girls just don't even try to make friends or branch out as they assume their houses will provide them with all of the friendship they will need in the next four year. Although I sold out and rushed my sophomore year, seeing all of the girls rushing and competing amongst one another in the hopes that they would be a part of this truly sexist and discriminatory system was pretty lame, so I dropped out. That being said, I strongly suggest that if you would not like to spend your four years feeling like an outsider, RUSH! The few friends that I managed to make throughout college, despite not being greek or an athlete, were greek and had different events all week long. If, like me, you really aren't interested in the greek system, GO TO ANOTHER SCHOOL. This just isn't the place for you. I'm still struggling with the lingering feelings of being an outsider for four years.