Why Illinois?
Large Campus—Small Community
While the Illinois campus is large–272 major buildings on 1,458 acres–your student will find a place among a number of smaller communities of shared interest, support, and experience while at Illinois–through their residence hall, academic program, intramural teams, sorority or fraternity, and study groups.
World-Renowned Programs and Faculty
Nearly 2,000 faculty-scholars teach at Illinois. Many have achieved the highest distinction in their fields and have been elected to membership in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences, and the National Academy of Engineering. In addition, 11 alumni and faculty are Nobel laureates and another 20 have won Pulitzer Prizes. The milestones of our faculty contribute to the University’s number 11 ranking among the top public institutions in the United States. Even our teaching assistants go on to be award-winning faculty at other top institutions.
Student Success – The Value of an Illinois Degree
The University of Illinois plays host to more than 34,000 on-campus job interviews a year, and 95 percent of Illinois seniors who seek employment have jobs within nine months after graduation. Forty percent of those seniors even have jobs before their senior year ends. In addition, being home to more than 1,000 student organizations, Illinois can open countless doors for your child to explore various career paths.
Safe Campus
Your child will have a safe place to study, work, and socialize at Illinois, which offers a well-lit campus and emergency phones located at strategic points throughout campus. During the late-night hours, student patrol teams and campus police officers provide random patrol of campus buildings and parking lots. In addition, the campus works closely with the local mass transit district and University Police to provide safe and reliable transportation services and walking escorts for students through SafeRides and SafeWalks programs.
Champaign-Urbana Community
Champaign-Urbana is more than just the University of Illinois. Home to a myriad of businesses and entertainment venues, the twin cities of Champaign-Urbana are some of the most cosmopolitan of the state’s small towns. The cities feature a variety of top-notch theaters, museums, restaurants, and concert venues in their downtown areas, just a short walk from campus. And with more than 80 parks and recreation facilities, your child will have ample opportunity to be active and entertained.
Diversity
In today’s increasingly globalized environment, it is important that students familiarize themselves with the world’s cultures. At Illinois, your student will have access to cultural study centers dedicated to specific regions including Africa, East Asia and the Pacific, Latin America, the Caribbean, Russia, Eastern Europe, South Asia, and the Middle East. From programs like Unity Month to museums like the Spurlock Museum of World History and Culture, your student will thrive on a truly multi-cultural campus.
New Student Experience
Making your student comfortable at Illinois is a high priority. Within days of move-in, New Student Convocation formally welcomes students, introducing them to important administrators and faculty as well as important campus traditions. Quad Day features hundreds of registered student organization booths set up around the Quad, encouraging new students to discover ways to get involved with people and clubs that match their interests. In addition, Discovery courses are specifically designed for first year students, enabling them to make contact with a professor and get in-depth study in a small classroom environment.
Illinois Library—Second only to Harvard and Yale
Academic resources at Illinois are, well, excellent. Your child will have access to the largest public university collection in the world, housing more than 22 million items, including 10 million volumes, more than 13 million print and non-print materials, and over 90,000 periodicals and journals in the main library and in more than 40 departmental libraries and divisions.
State-of-the-Art Facilities
From the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology to the brand new Institute for Genomic Biology, Illinois is home to state-of-the-art facilities. Illinois has more than 80 laboratories, research centers, and institutes. The University’s agreements with companies like Apple and IBM, and the vast wireless network across campus, make Illinois one of the most wired college campuses. In addition, New Mobility magazine has consistently ranked Illinois as the number one “disability-friendly colleges” in the country.