The University of Illinois Urbana - Champaign

Date: Nov 13 2013
Major: Psychology (This Major's Salary over time)
I was a transfer student from a community college. I was always an average student who was always told I could do better if I applied myself. Being a native of Illinois and because this institution is associated with the State, I can tell you the name of the game with this entire place is revenue. Professors are paid by grants to do research, so there is little if any incentive to teach and many didn't seem to know how; I ended up teaching myself out of the book in some instances. The TA teaches or facilitates the class, some were good, others you could tell were basically doing it for the stipend and could care less. As a transfer student, social opportunities were limited since most everyone here joins the Greek system; you were often perceived as an outsider otherwise. From an academic perspective, I was always the type of learner who expected the person standing up in front of me was going to teach me something, so in hindsight this was probably not the best choice for someone like me. I graduated there with the feeling that the whole place was this giant research company posing as a university to bring in revenue. If you are from the Chicago area and your parents are networked in the alumni base, you may enjoy going here and partaking in the Greek/social scene for the duration as so many do, as you'll probably be able to use your parents contacts to get a job after graduation regardless of how you do or how you like it. Unless you are autonomous, self-motivated and have no expectations for quality of instruction, I would steer clear as a transfer student. Beer and circus.