University of Illinois @ Chicago

On Tuesday, August 12th I visited the University of Illinois at Chicago. UIC is part of the Illinois state system of public institutions. For a listing of all public universities in Illinois, see here.
UIC is the largest school in Chicago, just edging out DePaul, with nearly 25,000 students - 16,000 of which are undergrads. UIC's campus consists of over 300 acres on Chicago's Near West side. The main undergraduate portion of campus is referred to as East campus (pictured below).


Below is the West Campus, home to some undergraduate housing options and many of the graduate options at UIC.

While the university itself dates back the mid 40s, the bulk of the main campus at Halsted and Harrison was originally built between 1960 and 1963. The campus was designed by Walter Netsch. The fact that the campus was built all at once to serve over 30,000 students, as opposed to the more organic growth seen at most universities, earned UIC the reputation as an "instant campus." At the time, the campus was considered an architectural marvel for it consistency of vision and use of the "brutalist" style of architecture. (We have seen examples of this style in the main libraries at U of C and Northwestern, as well in Mertz and Damen Hall at Loyola).

Unfortunately this utilitarian style of architecture has not aged particularly well. What was revolutionary in 1965, seems somewhat institutional and sterile in 2008. Walking through campus, I felt like I was touring some sort of colony. (I remember going to Chicago State a few years back, and thinking the same thing.) It is an unusual feeling to see so many different buildings with such a similar unique aesthetic style in one area. While it is kind of odd, the uniformity of design is also kind of cool. Primarily this describes the East Campus, as the West Campus consists of more recent construction. For more information about the Netsch Campus UIC has created a really cool website.





This beautiful building is the original Jane Addams' Hull House, the famous "settlement house" and social service agency in Chicago. UIC's College of Social Work is named after the renowned humanitarian and crusader for social justice.




This building is an example of new construction on the East Campus. This is the recreational sports center for UIC students.







The UIC campus is just a few miles outside of downtown. A Blue Line 'El' Station is right by campus and UIC participates in the CTA U-Pass program. Here you can see the Sears Tower in the distance. Also you see construction, like all campuses in the summer. This construction is, unique to UIC, however.


Recognizing that the campus looks dated due to the brutalist style of architecture, UIC has taken steps to update the exterior of buildings, without having to start from scratch. Below you will see three examples of of three separate buildings on campus that were originally built to look exactly the same. The first building demonstrates the original style.


This building is in the process of being renovated.


And this building has already been completed. What a difference mew windows make.


There have also been nice updates done on the inside of older buildings. These new student lounges have been built in the center of the various lecture buildings.


As a large public institution, UIC does employ the use of large lecture hall style classrooms for some of its courses.


This is the largest lecture hall on campus and seats several hundred students.











This is the Architecture and Art building. It was also a Netsch design, but built in 1967 during the second stage of campus construction.




This sculpture is built onto the side of the Engineering building.


This was my tour guide. She was great. Here she is showing the Circle Forum, or main congregation area of campus. This forum is surrounded by the lecture hall buildings.




Here are the dining options in the main UIC Dining Hall.


Connected to the dining hall is one of the newer first year residence halls. UIC, historically almost entirely a commuter campus, now has about 50% of its first year students living on campus. Given the size of the school, this is a significant residential community.






UIC is a great option, particularly for Illinois residents (in-state tuition averages around $6500 per semester). It provides a National Research University experience with the expected social, academic, and internship benefits of an urban setting. UIC offers 74 different degrees through 15 separate colleges.

For information about visiting see here.

For information about applying see here.

To talk to an admission counselor, you can contact

Daniel L. Dicesare Assistant Director, Recruitment

Admissions and Records Administration, Office of

1169 SSB, MC 018

312-996-9587

312-413-7628

dicesare@uic.edu

.

DePaul University

On Wednesday, August 7, I headed up to the exciting Chicago neighborhood of Lincoln Park to visit DePaul University. DePaul is well known for many things. It is the largest Catholic university in the country, boasting over 25,000 students (15,000 of which are undergrads). It has a legendary basketball program, and offers students the opportunity to watch or participate in Big East athletics. DePaul has an excellent performing arts program, with very selective admission into its Music and Theater programs. More recently, DePaul has been recognized a number of times as having among the happiest and most satisfied student body in the country.

While DePaul's main campus is in Lincoln Park, it has a number of other campuses available to students as well. Most notably, the Loop Campus in downtown Chicago is home to their business and computer science programs, as well as their Law School. DePaul also has 4 suburban satellite campuses spread throughout the Chicagoland area.

Below is my tour guide, Nina. Depaul tour guides are equipped with a machine that amplifies their voices for the tour. Being in a busy urban area, this speaker system proved vital to being able to hear the information on the tour.

This is an example of a study and common area in one of their academic buildings. Almost all of DePaul's campus is wireless.

This is the quad area of campus. I was surprised given the size of the student population how small the actual campus itself is. There are several buildings that comprise the campus but little in the way of a typical campus environment. This small area represents nearly all of the campus green space.

This is the intersection of Fullerton and Sheffield, at the heart of the DePaul campus. Again this is a great area, with lots of exciting things for college-aged students to do. The campus is close to the Fullerton 'El' station; DePaul students benefit from the U-Pass program which allows them to ride all CTA public transportation for free. This picture also demonstrates an important feature of DePaul's campus: It is extremely urban. Unlike other city schools I have visited, (like Loyola, U of C, even Northwestern to some extent), which have a large campus area and green space cloistered among an urban environment, DePaul's campus truly is the neighborhood. As such, you don't get that more traditional campus environment. This may appeal to many students, (and certainly seems to based on the size of DePaul's student population and their self-reported satisfaction with their college experience), but is probably not for everyone.Even with its urban emphasis, DePaul has become increasingly less of a commuter school in the last several years. Now almost 70% of their freshman live on campus and nearly 35% of the students come from outside the state of Illinois. Given the limited campus space, however, housing is not guaranteed, (even for out of state students), and is not even offered for junior and seniors. DePaul students will have to make their own living arrangements for their last two years of undergraduate studies. While Lincoln Park has plenty of apartments for rent, it is one of the poshest neighborhoods in the city. Many students may find the area is outside of their budget. This is another place where the U-Pass can come in handy, as students can live in more reasonably priced neighborhoods and take the train to campus. The tour guide, Nina, for instance, commutes from the Uptown neighborhood to school every day.

The freshman housing is probably the nicest housing I have seen. We toured Monroe Hall which is said to be typical of first year housing.

I was really impressed with the closet space, a feature which is typically lacking in collegiate residence halls. This is actually a walk-in closet.
The library is one of the newest buildings on campus. While Nina's answer to a parent's question about how many volumes it held was "a lot," the library website reveals the number to be over 800,000. While this number may not seem like much compared to the 4.4 million volumes at University of Chicago, it is important to note that DePaul, like most universities, participates in a library exchange program, so their students have access to almost any book available in over 70 different libraries throughout Illinois, including other colleges and universities.




As I mentioned before, DePaul is the largest Catholic university in the U.S. It is important to note that, like Loyola, one does not need to be Catholic to attend DePaul or even feel comfortable as a student there. DePaul was recently rated as the top school in the country for student diversity, which of course includes religious diversity as well. See here for more information.

Below is St. Vincent de Paul Church, which is not officially part of the DePaul campus. Dedicated in 1897, it predates the university by one year. The church does, however, serve the DePaul community and hosts a student service every Sunday night.

This is the entrance to the DePaul rec center. Unfortunately on the day of my visit the building was still recovering from storm related power outages and we were not able to go inside. DePaul is known to have one of the nicest recreational facilities around. It used by both students and members of the Lincoln Park community. While other people pay almost $1000 a year for the privilege of using the space, student membership is covered by tuition fees. See here for more information about the rec center.

This is the DePaul Student Center, home to most of the student services and student affairs offices on campus, including the Admission Office. This building also houses the only cafeteria on campus. There are a few small campus coffee shops that students can use as well.
This statue is of Monsignor John J. Egan, a legendary activist for social justice. I have always thought this statue has freakishly large hands.


DePaul has over 90 academic programs, offered through 8 different colleges. Admission at DePaul is through a rolling process. You can find the application here. To schedule a visit go here.

The admission counselor for MPA is Kelly Iwanaga. Her number is 312/362-5518.
.