romeoville or chicago? (Joliet, Bolingbrook, Elmhurst: apartment, how much, neighborhoods)

[Nazer]

Hope everyone is doing fine. I am an international student and I need your advice.

I am applying for a master degree in Lewis university, they offered my master program in 2 locations: Romeoville and Chicago.
I am kind of confused ... , I don't know which location I should choose, to be honest I prefer live in Chicago.. I searched about it but i don't know. ...

I want to know about the life in Romeoville, like rent,safety,fun and malls.

Is it possible to live in Romeoville and go to Chicago by a car? even during the winter time?

Please response to my thread, i need your advice.

Thank you in advance . ..

[chet everett]

Lewis is a wonderful school and in some areas is really worth it. That said, in most subject areas the post baccalaureate degrees it confers are only useful in fields where the possession of some degree will mean better compensation for those already entrenched in the field; without getting too fancy this means that if you are already say a teacher or cop or firefighter and you can get a bump in pay by stacking on a Masters in Education or Criminal Justice or Fire Science thenLewis fits the bill...

If you are pursuing a Masters like that you are going to be working full time so classes are at night or weekends or online.

If your job is closer to Romeoville you take classes out there. If you work closer to Chicago you take classes at the "Chicago Campus" which is
, last time I checked, just a regular office building...


Make sense? If the classes are for some kind of healthcare masters I think the same thing applies.

I really hope you are not thinking this is a slam, but if you are pursuing an evening / weekend masters, how are you going to fill your days?

Romeoville is pretty far from any interesting part of Chicago, and even as suburbs go most of Romeoville might as well be in Kansas or Missouri for as undifferntiated it is from towns on the semi-rural fringe. Did you know that when going through the application process?

Even other suburban schools in the region, like North Central, or Elmhurst College or Benectine have much more of a traditional campus feel. If you want a more traditional post baccalaureate experience the schools like University of Chicagp, Northwestern, Loyola, UIC and to some extent DePaul would have been a better choice...

What are you studying? How you going to live / pay for things? How are old? What are your expectations?

[pvande55]

Romeoville is pretty safe, but not known for it excitement. Even more so than most suburbs. Not easy to get to Chicago but it can be done. But Lewis is a good school. My son attended for a while.

[Nazer]

Originally Posted by chet everett

Lewis is a wonderful school and in some areas is really worth it. That said, in most subject areas the post baccalaureate degrees it confers are only useful in fields where the possession of some degree will mean better compensation for those already entrenched in the field; without getting too fancy this means that if you are already say a teacher or cop or firefighter and you can get a bump in pay by stacking on a Masters in Education or Criminal Justice or Fire Science thenLewis fits the bill...

If you are pursuing a Masters like that you are going to be working full time so classes are at night or weekends or online.

If your job is closer to Romeoville you take classes out there. If you work closer to Chicago you take classes at the "Chicago Campus" which is
, last time I checked, just a regular office building...


Make sense? If the classes are for some kind of healthcare masters I think the same thing applies.

I really hope you are not thinking this is a slam, but if you are pursuing an evening / weekend masters, how are you going to fill your days?

Romeoville is pretty far from any interesting part of Chicago, and even as suburbs go most of Romeoville might as well be in Kansas or Missouri for as undifferntiated it is from towns on the semi-rural fringe. Did you know that when going through the application process?

Even other suburban schools in the region, like North Central, or Elmhurst College or Benectine have much more of a traditional campus feel. If you want a more traditional post baccalaureate experience the schools like University of Chicagp, Northwestern, Loyola, UIC and to some extent DePaul would have been a better choice...

What are you studying? How you going to live / pay for things? How are old? What are your expectations?

Thank you chet everett for your replay .. .

I am not working, I have a scholarship form my Government, they are going to pay for my tuition and pay me too. I am trying to study a master in Information Security. I am 23 years old.

I can't change the school because my scholarship is for Lewis university. I don't really care about the life in campus .. I really care about the whole environment as i said, safety and fun places.

last question, how much do you think a one bed apartment would cost me to live near to the lewis campus in Chicago?

do you recommend me to buy a car in Chicago? or i don't need it there.


Thank you again for your time

[Nazer]

Originally Posted by pvande55

Romeoville is pretty safe, but not known for it excitement. Even more so than most suburbs. Not easy to get to Chicago but it can be done. But Lewis is a good school. My son attended for a while.

Thank you pvande55 for your reply. ..


The most important thing to me is the safety, nice to hear that Romeo is safe .


I was thinking that i could live in Romeoville sine is cheaper than Chicago and it's going to be easy to drive to Chicago. Finally, I wish the best to your son.


Thank you again, your words helped me ..

[chet everett]

The drive from and back to Romeoville into Chicago for any sort of entertainment or cultural thing is going to mean some long drives late at night. I would probably avoid this.

Similarly, the area immediately near Lewis' Chicago facility is part of the broad IIT area. not the safest.

Since it does not sound like you can switch to another school I guess you are stuck taking class at Lewis and it may make for a more enriching experience to live in one of the downtown shared college housing facilities and take the El to the IIT stop where you could walk to classes at Lewis' building...

Living downtown will give youMANY. More opportunities ties to experience the wonderful things Chicago has to offer.

[dacubz]

It's funny how people post about an area when they don't even have a clue. I live in Homer Glen, which is reasonably close to Romeoville, and work in Bolingbrook which borders it. Romeoville is about 30-40 minutes from downtown except in rush hour, which can take over an hour. Romeoville is a suburb, and is not way the hell from the city as some posts make it seem. You can do things in the city without living there, it just takes a bit of time to get there. We regularly go to the city ourselves, we're going to the United Center to see the Blackhawks tonight, and getting there from Homer Glen should take about 40 minutes.

[linicx]

My in-laws moved to Romeoville from Joliet; they like it. It certainly will not be as exciting as living in Chicago, but it won't be as expensive either. If you have the opportunity to live in Chicago and you can manage financially, do it. You will find plenty of places to explore in your off hours, and foods from around the world to sample amongst the many neighborhoods. You won't find any better shopping unless you go to NYC or LA, and then probably the only real difference is regional products.

[Nazer]

Originally Posted by chet everett

The drive from and back to Romeoville into Chicago for any sort of entertainment or cultural thing is going to mean some long drives late at night. I would probably avoid this.

Similarly, the area immediately near Lewis' Chicago facility is part of the broad IIT area. not the safest.

Since it does not sound like you can switch to another school I guess you are stuck taking class at Lewis and it may make for a more enriching experience to live in one of the downtown shared college housing facilities and take the El to the IIT stop where you could walk to classes at Lewis' building...

Living downtown will give youMANY. More opportunities ties to experience the wonderful things Chicago has to offer.

Thank you a lot, I appreciate the time you spent writing this for me. I will put your words in mind, and i am hoping everything is going to be O.K for me there.

[Nazer]

Originally Posted by dacubz

It's funny how people post about an area when they don't even have a clue. I live in Homer Glen, which is reasonably close to Romeoville, and work in Bolingbrook which borders it. Romeoville is about 30-40 minutes from downtown except in rush hour, which can take over an hour. Romeoville is a suburb, and is not way the hell from the city as some posts make it seem. You can do things in the city without living there, it just takes a bit of time to get there. We regularly go to the city ourselves, we're going to the United Center to see the Blackhawks tonight, and getting there from Homer Glen should take about 40 minutes.

It's nice to have you here, you make me happy that I can drive from romeoville to chicago with no difficulties.

Thank you