University of Illinois Urbana - Champaign Reviews

  • 239 Reviews
  • Champaign (IL)
  • Annual Tuition: $33,686
88% of 239 students said this degree improved their career prospects
97% of 239 students said they would recommend this school to others
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Student & Graduate Reviews

wweewee
  • Reviewed: 1/24/2017
  • Degree: Computer Science
"I think it was a great school that offered lots of opportunities to learn content relevant to the job I'm currently doing full time. I enjoyed my time there."
Andrew
  • Reviewed: 1/24/2017
  • Degree: Engineering
"I enjoyed my time at U of Illinois. For the most part I felt the CEE faculty was welcoming and very experienced in their fields. I think the school is a little more dicey if you're not interested in doing a thesis as it will be very difficult to get any financial support."
Anonymous
  • Reviewed: 1/24/2017
  • Degree: Accounting
"Nice to do undergraduate and graduate at the same school, made the program only one year instead of two"
Anonymous
  • Reviewed: 1/24/2017
  • Degree: Architecture
"A great architecture school that successfully bridges the gap between practical and theoretical knowledge."
Joey S.
  • Reviewed: 1/20/2017
  • Degree: Engineering
"Mostly a waste of time. Their crowned Engineering program is nothing but a piece of paper at the end of a long trail of convoluted course work. Yes, there are many outstanding engineers, but for the unsuspecting American, jumping hoops will get you picked up into companies that apply the same hopelessly inefficient industry practices that render your education useless."
Anonymous
  • Reviewed: 1/3/2017
  • Degree: Biology
"Great for graduate studies, depending on the program. Overpriced for undergraduate education, would be better off being a transfer student or going to a more affordable school. Also, with the state of Illinois budget staying away would probably be a good idea until economic conditions have improved."
Anonymous
  • Reviewed: 1/3/2017
  • Degree: Accounting
"I loved the University of Illinois. It was a large campus though and was easy to get lost in the crowd. AT the time I was in school, the accounting department was number one in the nation, but they were in the middle of implementing new procedures, and I got stuck in the middle of them trying it out. So I don't feel like I got what I signed up for when I started."
Laura Haberer
  • Reviewed: 9/10/2016
  • Degree: Political Science
"The University of Illinois is an excellent school but to get the most out of it it requires you to be motivated and take advantage of the great and abundant opportunities that it provides. I always felt pretty safe physically and I felt safe voicing my opinions and asking questions in my classes as the faculty was very receptive of that. I felt that they worked to create and cultivate students like myself to think critically instead of taking things at face value. Particularly in my degree studying politics, it was important to challenge the ideas we were learning and I felt this as well received by the faculty at my university. Furthermore, there were ample opportunities provided by the university to get involved in student leadership, different activities like volunteering, sports clubs, cultural clubs and more. This types of things, rather than just attending class, really helped me develop as a human and contributor to my community rather than just acting as a student. I would highly recommend the University of Illinois to students."
Mary
  • Reviewed: 8/1/2016
  • Degree: Health Sciences
"The University of Illinois prepared me for all of my future endeavours in the best way they could. Graduating with a bachelors' in speech and hearing sciences gave me the credentials needed to continue my journey towards becoming a speech-language pathologist which you ultimately need a masters degree for. Between the beautiful clinic on campus and wonderful professors, I could not ask for a better undergraduate experience."
Anonymous
  • Reviewed: 7/22/2016
  • Degree: Liberal Studies
"UIUC has a wonderful campus. Despite being seemingly in the middle of nowhere, there is ample cultural diversity. As far as the university itself is concerned, it provides excellent student resources, from high tech research laboratories to mental health services."
Olivia K.
  • Reviewed: 7/22/2016
  • Degree: Civil Engineering
"Looking back at my experiences at Urbana Champaign, I can truly say that I enjoyed it pretty well and that it was a great experience for me. The people that I met there were pretty friendly, but I have noticed that a vast majority of the students in recent years have been either from the Chicago metropolitan area or international students so there will be noticeable cliques that tend to form if you're a shy person like I was and didn't really feel up to talking to people. But a way to negate this is just to join any club or activity on campus early on to make friends and socialize. I've had some really amazing professors and then there were some that were just okay, but you'll find that to be the case in every university. As long as you choose your courses wisely, the workload although challenging, will be manageable."
DocD2020
  • Reviewed: 5/31/2016
  • Degree: Biology
"U of I is awesome. Great social life but also a great place to learn. The professors are awesome, the people are fun, and the greek life is like no other. It is a big school though, so gen ed classes will have hundreds of students in them. I didn't mind though"
Melissa P
  • Reviewed: 5/31/2016
  • Degree: Environmental Science
" views. There is always an exploratory atmosphere to welcome students. College was a very important time in my life to learn who I was as a person and shape who I wanted to be."
whitespade
  • Reviewed: 5/31/2016
  • Degree: Environmental Science
"I transferred to UIUC after my freshman year at Miami University of Ohio. I personally liked my social life at MU better - don't discount the friendships you make your freshman year! I made a tight-knit group of friends quickly my freshman year and they didn't focus as much on drinking as trying new things on campus, going on road trips in the area, and just having a good time. Once I transferred to UIUC, I definitely missed that. Don't get me wrong - I made great friends. But there is something different about a campus with 40K students and a penchant for drinking. That and the location of UIUC, which is admittedly in the middle of a fairly unattractive landscape, are my two biggest complaints. I would have done much better transferring to Wisconsin-Madison as far as having fun things to do outdoors (which I love). On to the good things. You can't really go wrong picking a major at UIUC. I would have felt 100% comfortable picking any major knowing that I was getting my money's worth. There are countless resources at students' disposal - from recreational activities to academic endeavors. And, because of the size and scope of campus, you definitely will have a hard time feeling like you've already experienced everything before, which is good because you'll be spending 4+ years there! Also, my friends from UIUC are some of the most successful friends I have. The school definitely tries to set you up for success, but you will need to put in your own effort to get the fullest advantage from that. For example, I ended up having some amazing professors who I consider to also be my friends, but that required effort on my part to go above and beyond that typical standoffish student-professor relationship. I'm very happy I did! From an alumni's perspective, I think UIUC is unfortunately experiencing a lot of political / social / diversity turmoil right now. While I didn't necessarily feel the effects of this as a student, I wonder what it's like now that things seem to be coming more to a head (at least from what I read in the news)."
Maggie D
  • Reviewed: 5/31/2016
  • Degree: Marketing
"The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is an incredible institution for students looking to grow academically, socially and professionally. The experiences in the classroom, in the dorm and around campus helped me to not only learn relevant content to my professional goals but also helped me to grow as a person. I see success in my everyday work life attributed to the thing I learned at U of I."
Keith Campbell
  • Reviewed: 3/21/2016
  • Degree: Computer Science
"Pros: Diverse campus community, some great quality lecturers, interesting courses, good selection of recreational activities, bicycle friendly community, medium sized community combines the best of a large town and a small city. Cons: High workloads with a lot of "busy work," limited academic freedom due to competition for funding, pressure on PIs results in a lot of negativity in group meetings, thesis research/PhD process has limited value for the student, surrounding area is very flat."
Brenna Decker
  • Reviewed: 2/29/2016
  • Degree: Biology
"The campus and department provide a safe, competitive, and supporting environment to conduct research. This department, with the graduate student association, has high expectations for its students, creating a more welcoming vibe with opportunities to connect with well-known professional in our respective fields of entomology. Being a graduate student, it is difficult to find any free time to relax and unwind, but the surrounding community does offer several opportunities to get off campus and relax."
Paulina Ng
  • Reviewed: 1/29/2016
  • Degree: Biomedical Engineering
"Bioinstrumentation M.Eng program was a great transition for me after a BioE undergrad. It gave me the chance to further develop my theoretical knowledge for research and at the same time add some real life knowledge for commercializing and making relevant my research. I am excited for the future because of what I have learned and what I can do with it. The one year timeline also makes this a great transitory program from a theoretical research background into industry or applied research."
Hari Bhagavatheeswaran
  • Reviewed: 12/19/2015
  • Degree: Industrial Engineering
"Great diversity of graduate class (in terms of home country, work experience, and intelligence). Very high level of support for career and international students. However it has been difficult to get a job as an international student, even an internship for the summer. I do not think this is unique to UIUC. The Department feels very young and is still maturing with it's policies. Sometimes it feels like there is no support from the faculty and staff for the graduate students especially when you are looking for an academic advisor. The city itself is very small and it can make you feel lonely if you don't go out and make friends. Otherwise it is a beautiful and safe campus where you can experience all of the seasons."
TingYu Shih
  • Reviewed: 12/14/2015
  • Degree: Industrial Engineering
"pros: The professors are really professional and nice. The school has very abundant resources for us to use freely, including a lot of different workshops in academic, career and technology area. Cons: Don't have many options for 500-level courses."