Macomb and Western Illinois University (Chicago, Peoria: house, to buy, movie theaters)

[sonicreducer]

Hi folks.

I'm looking to see if anyone here currently lives in (or has lived in) Macomb, IL. I just applied for a job at WIU, and feel decent about my chances. I'm just looking to get an overall "vibe"--are there any other towns you could compare it to? What kind of shopping/eating options would I have? Are there movie theaters close by? (I'm a huge movie buff, and am into seeing things at the theater, so this is kind of important). Is there a used record shop? A comics shop? A natural foods grocery? or would I have to go to some of the nearby larger cities for these? Which larger city do people go to for fun/more shopping, anyways? It looks like Macomb is closer to Peoria, but that the Quad Cities aren't too far off, either. I know Galesburg is pretty limited, shopping wise, as I spent 2 afternoons there a couple years ago on either end of a long train trip.

I know the town is on the small side, and I'm okay with that. I am a native of a little town in central Illinois (near Champaign-Urbana), so I know all about living in the cornfields. But I've spent my entire adult life (12 years) in college towns--Chambana, Bowling Green, Ohio, and now Madison, Wis. I know Macomb would be a step backwards for me, sizewise, as I've gotten used to the conveniences of Madison. I'm not the kind of person that needs the stimulation of a big city to make me happy though, so I have a feeling Macomb might be just dandy for me. I'd love to hear any honest opinions, appraisals, criticisms, etc. any of you might have.

[Drover]

I didn't live in Macomb or attend WIU, but I have been there a handful of times to visit friends and I found it pretty similar to my own college town (EIU in Charleston IL). I also used to live in Madison. I try hard to give people something to look forward to when they're looking to move to a new place, and I try to find the positive... but I just don't know what to tell you. Macomb is a HUGE step back. It makes Champaign look positively cosmpolitan, and Champaign makes Madison look positively cosmopolitan (well, Madison is at least vaguely cosmopolitan in its own right). Macomb does not have a "College Town" vibe like Chambana and Madison do. It does not have the abundance of little indie book stores, coffee shops, head shops, decent college bars (no equivalent to, say, Great Dane or Paul's Club -- think more like The Pub and Monday's), no equivalent to State Street or Willy Street in Madison or Neil Street in Chambana. Chain stores and chain restaurants rule the landscape. I don't know quite what Bowling Green is like, but I imagine Macomb is more like BG than C/U or Madison.

Let me see if I can draw a Wisconsin equivalent for you here.... imagine it's like UW-Whitewater, but slightly more run-down and without convenient access to real cities like Milwaukee, Madison and Chicago. Or perhaps imagine dropping a college full of 12,000 conservative-leaning but generally apathetic college students in the middle of Portage. In short: you will need to adjust your expectations downward. Even though it's a college town, Macomb doesn't have much going on -- certainly not by Big Ten college town standards set by Chambana and especially Madison.

[sonicreducer]

Ahhhhh. Gotcha. This is sort of what I was expecting to hear, so you really aren't bursting my bubble too much luckily.

I would LOVE to stay here in Madison, but I don't see it in the cards for me right now. The field I am in is fiercely competitive right now, and getting in on ground-level (entry level) here would be next to impossible. The thing to do apparently is to "slum" it in a lower-level state school for a couple years to accumulate some experience, and THEN try to return to Madison (or another similar Big 10 town, etc.) So while the prospect of "settling" for living in a less exciting college town doesn't necessarily excite me, I've pretty much accepted it as a reality to the career path I've picked.

Bowling Green sounds pretty much exactly like the way you describe Macomb. Home to a lower-prestige state U with generally conservative-leaning pupils--lack of indie stores and "culture", etc. BG was at least near Ann Arbor for weekends, I suppose--that used to be the place I went for all the stuff BG/Toledo couldn't provide me. I suppose if I did end up in Macomb, Champaign and Iowa City aren't too awful far. I don't think I want to permanently settle in a Macomb-like town, but I think I could handle a shorter stint there.

Macomb is actually 1 prospect out of many right now, as far as where I could end up. I haven't even been invited to interview yet at WIU. I've also applied for jobs at Illinois State in Normal, at Northern IL in DeKalb, and am also in the process of applying at Eastern IL in Charleston. I am also toying with returning to UIUC for a 1-2 yr. post-grad certificate program. So my Illinois options are kind of all over the place right now!

And as much as I love Madison, I am kind of ready for a change. The cost of living is really wearing me down lately. And I honestly do not take advantage of a lot of the more cosmopolitan offerings, either....I guess it's generally just nice to know they're there. I know I would miss it dearly, but this could be tempered some if I could actually afford to buy a house somewhere. It just is not gonna happen in Madison at this point in my life. Leaving is a bittersweet thing.... but I definitely need to land a job in my field as soon as I can, and tough it out awhile. It definitely could be worse.

Thanks for being honest--I definitely need to know what I could possibly be getting into!

[Drover]

Yeah, I didn't like leaving Madison either, especially going from there to Charleston IL. I'm going to look into moving back there when I finish school, but any more there just aren't many advantages over living there versus here in Chicago, except quicker access to the Northwoods which is a big plus for me. The cost of living has just gone bananas since I left in the mid-90s -- it's almost no cheaper to live there than in the Chicago area, and wages are higher here.