Illinois State University Opinions (Chicago, Rockford: violent crime, home, transfer)

[smltwngrl0570]

Hello everyone, I am looking for some information on ISU. I will be 23 this fall and a transfer student and was looking for a school with a good academic program but good "college town" feel as well. Im open to all suggestions and opinions. The other schools I have been considering are: Western, SIUE, and SIUC.

[nJohn]

What are you planning to study? One thing a person forgets in the college process is finding a university/college that has a strong program in whatever they're interested.

[EyesInTheSky]

Originally Posted by nJohn

What are you planning to study? One thing a person forgets in the college process is finding a university/college that has a strong program in whatever they're interested.

This is an important point in the context of the school options being considered by the original poster. At the undergraduate level, in general ISU, WIU, SIUC, and SIUE all have roughly similar academic reputations, although each has various individual strengths relative to the others. Perhaps the notable exception is SIUC, which has a substantially larger research program than the other three (and hence is generally stronger at the graduate level).

[runninfiend]

Originally Posted by smltwngrl0570

Hello everyone, I am looking for some information on ISU. I will be 23 this fall and a transfer student and was looking for a school with a good academic program but good "college town" feel as well. Im open to all suggestions and opinions. The other schools I have been considering are: Western, SIUE, and SIUC.

The one thing I will say for ISU in comparison with those other schools is that you get both the college town feel and more amenities associated with a larger city. ISU is a huge part of B/N but it's not the ONLY part of B/N. There is a campustown area with coffee shops, etc, although that's changed for the worst with all the development. I also believe ISU's academic rankings have improved since I've been there (because I left?), but would need to look this up to verify. The education program is the cornerstone of the school and has churned out many of the state's teachers.

SIU and WIU are in considerably smaller pure "college" towns, where university dominates town life. Both are good schools. Carbondale is a very nice place if you like outdoor activities, although obviously it's more isolated if you're from Springfield, longer drive. SIUE is close to home for you and close to St. Louis, although I'd argue it's academic reputation is the lowest of the four. I'm also not a big fan of the town of Edwardsville, but that's just me.

Bottom line, depends what you're looking for, I suppose.

[smltwngrl0570]

All of the information helps alot thank you. My focus is going to be primarily business/finance. I heard ISU has a really good finance department.

[nJohn]

Originally Posted by smltwngrl0570

All of the information helps alot thank you. My focus is going to be primarily business/finance. I heard ISU has a really good finance department.

ISU does have a solid business program; I'm not sure about the other universities though. I remember when visiting ISU their college of business was just done being built. Visit the campus and see if it's the right fit for you.

[linicx]

My personal favorites have alwats been ISU at Normal and UIC at Champating-Urbana, C-U has a much larger campus. When college goes on break. the whole area is a ghost town. Normal campus is half the size. When this campus goes on break the students who stay behind go to Bloomington and also to Peoria because the metro ara is nearly 400,000 and there is usually something to do every weekend wether it is the new Indy theater, semi-pro ball game or a variety of music that ranges from symphony to Indie, performing arts, Riverfront Plaza and all kinds of events. BU and ICC are there; These institutions of learning both offer accounting programs. Additionally BU offers Masters and Doctorocate cpurses of stidy. as do the other Iliinois Universities. The downside is Bradley IU in Peoria and Illinois Wesleyan U in Bloomington are private. I do not know if all state colleges offer programs for the doctoral candididate but I am realsonbly certain that UI-Champaign does.

Eureka College in Eureka, IL also offers accounting. It was one of President Ronald Regan's double majors. Small town, small college, great food located half-way between Peoria and Bloomington.
The former presient once said the reason he want to Eureka was because it was the only college he applied to that he caould afford. I don't think Illinois has any bad colleges.

My niece is an Actuary that graduated from Normal. None of these schools are very far from Springfield. This information was supplied as a source of information.

[skipcromer]

If you are looking for a typical college town the only two that really fit the bill are Western and SIUC. I have never been to SIUC, but have been to Western and know several people who have graduated from there.

Of all the schools you mentioned, they all have basically the same academic reputation.

Just a heads up, while it is a very good school, SIUE is no where near a typical college town.

[EyesInTheSky]

Originally Posted by skipcromer

If you are looking for a typical college town the only two that really fit the bill are Western and SIUC. I have never been to SIUC, but have been to Western and know several people who have graduated from there.

Of all the schools you mentioned, they all have basically the same academic reputation.

Just a heads up, while it is a very good school, SIUE is no where near a typical college town.

I've visited all four universities (WIU, ISU, SIUE, & SIUC) a number of times and I agree with your comments. Macomb, home of WIU, is a small and sort of sleepy college town but is very nice and friendly and has very little violent crime to speak of. Carbondale is slightly larger than Macomb and has much more violent crime than Macomb (especially on the northeast side if memory serves), and it has more of a southern cultural feel--more typical of a town in Kentucky or Tennessee than Illinois. Edwardsville has a very suburban feel and for obvious reasons; it's part of the Metro East area of St. Louis.

I'm not sure which of these four schools is academically the strongest for an undergraduate finance education because that's not in my field, but my guess is it's either SIUC or ISU. Of course, if you really want a top-notch finance education than I'd recommend the University of Illinois at Urbana, which has much stronger business programs than any schools in this state except Northwestern and the University of Chicago.

[MANaret]

You might also want to look into NIU. They have a good reputation for business and finance, but aren't as hard to get into. Also, Dekalb is pretty much a college town (they have little else besides NIU).

I transferred into Il St U and finished my bachelor degree there in Economics. When I was leaving, they just finished the new business school. From everything I saw and heard, it was really nice. Normal is a pretty nice college town that offers additional amenities (Bloomington has a lot, Peoria is 40 minutes away, Urbana-Champaign and Decatur are 1 hour away, Springfield is an hour and a half away, Chicago and Rockford are 2 hours away, and St. Louis is 3 hours away). The thing that drew me to ISU was the campus. I loved how close everything was. I could go to a 10 AM Econ class, stroll to the Library to study for a few hours, wander to Watterson towers and grab some lunch, and still have plenty of time to make it to a 1 PM class. The small campus becomes all the better in the Winter months. On the downside, it took me a little over half a year to find a full time career out of college (graduated in Spring '04, landed job in December '04). Part of that might have been the poor economy we had in '04, but that is nothing compared to where we are now.

I can't say much about Western, SIUE, or SIUC. None of them have spectacular reputations. I'm pretty sure SIUC is considered a party school (at least it used to be). So, if that is your scene, then you will probably want to head there. Also, and this could be just my personal bias, I always ranked ISU, NIU, and SIUC about equal (each having their own specialities) and Western, Eastern, and SIUE lower.