The University of Illinois Urbana - Champaign

Date: Nov 04 2009
Major: Sociology (This Major's Salary over time)
Its funny that this survey ask what type of student I was, but I put "not very bright" because this school makes me feel like that quite a bit. That's the way I feel in comparison to some of the students here. If I were at home in Chicago in my neighborhood I would have probably been nicer to myself. There are so many smart people here that it's hard to see yourself as bright even if you really are. Especially considering how well I did in high school. I went from 3.7 in HS to 2.7 in college. Its quite depressing sometimes, but Im a senior now and I made it through. I haven't achieve as much as I wish I would have, but I made it this far and Im still proud of myself for sticking it out and not giving up. That's the spirit you have to have when you come here. When its all over you appreciate your education so much more than you would have if it was easy.Ok now lets talk about campus life…My experience represents that of a minority student or African-American student FYI. The school is quite segregated. Its not segregated legally or anything, its just the environment and people segregate themselves due to…who knows what exactly. No one will openly admit to the segregation personally, it just kind of lingers just below the surface. I have very few friends that are not black. However, this may also be a benefit bc the people you are friends with are pretty cool and fun to hang out with. Sometimes I feel like the school is black college, but technically we represent less than 5% of over 40,000 students. This is just because blacks only attend black evens and whites attend white events and so on. No that there are not occasional exceptions, but im quite sure statistics would strongly uphold that statement. This school can be sort of cold hearted and has it's issues, but every school does. I would not have chosen another school bc this is a great university and it looks good on your records. I would recommend it to any one just be aware that their are issues that need to be resolved on this campus. Staying away from it wont solve the problem, so come and get an excellent education and you all should seek to change things when you arrive. I wish I would have, but it took me too long to realize what was really going on around me. Good Luck on what ever ur final decision is :-)