University of Illinois Chicago

2 student reviews of University of Illinois Chicago

• John D says:

  June 4, 2012 at 4:02 pm

  I recently graduated here with a degree in Finance. I learned a lot about he subject and felt that the textbooks for the classes were very helpful. The TA’s a lot of times did not speak English very well but I was still able to get by. The TA’s were always willing to help and I always felt they were approachable. It is hard to establish a relationship with professors who teach classes with large lecture halls but if you come to office hours you should be satisfied. If you are taking IDS classes I suggest taking John J. Sparks. I feel that I got my money’s worth and may come back later to work towards getting an MBA. Oh and in terms of finding a job upon graduating I suggest using their career services center and website. I also felt a positive connection with my academic adviser. The bathrooms in some buildings are in major need of renovations while others are very clean. Their food court could use more variety but there is a deli and a burger joint down the street from the library which are worth checking out. The gym is fantastic but it does get packed later in the day so come early around 9am-2pm. Nightlife is fun once you are 21. If you apply yourself you will get A’s and B’s without too much stress.

  Overall Score: (4.82/5.00)
  
  

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• Beria says:

  June 7, 2010 at 11:47 pm

  The campus looks rotten. Several notable exceptions are the Stukel dorms, one of the renovated halls (I forgot the name), and the gym. All three of these are new. There’s a stark contrast between the new and old buildings on campus. The new buildings are gorgeous and are sure to make any top school envious, but the old buildings — which make up the vast majority of the campus — are really ugly. University Hall — which is one of the landmarks on campus — has a crumbling facade which the school has been unable to fix due to a lack of money. Rather than fix the problem the school put scaffolding around the entire building. One of the best things about the campus would probably be its proximity to downtown and Greektown. Crime is considerably bad and we get e-mails about robberies once in a while. You should probably be fine as long as you don’t walk around really late at night — especially by yourself.

  My biggest disappointment with UIC however is its faculty. I, and virtually everyone I talked to, feel like nothing more than a number in this school. A lot of the core classes like first semester of chemistry and physics have over 100 students in them EASILY. Also the teachers are notoriously bad. This, from what I have been able to gather is largely from the fact that many teachers are hired by the school mainly to do research — though the school makes it mandatory for them to teach courses even though they have no interest in doing so. This results in a faculty that robs the students of their education. I cannot explain in words how horrific some of my teachers were. In physics classes the average on test is usually around 50%, granted physics is hard but 50% averages are completely unacceptable. Many of these teachers would not be able to teach classes in other schools.

  The budget cuts will also hobble any progress in the near future. The state owes the school $400M+. Teachers are taking furlough days and there have been talks of raising the tuition to make up for the lack of money coming from the state. Any future hiring of teachers has been put on hold and the school has been enticing its existing faculty to retire early, so you should expect class sizes to grow in the near future.

  I would not suggest UIC as a school of choice to anyone.

  Overall Score: (1.00/5.00)
  
  

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