U of I no competition for NIU
October 3, 2007
When choosing a state school in Illinois, Students may compare NIU to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. U of I’s overwhelmingly large campus dissuades many visitors from enrolling.
As NIU students, we are sometimes seen as U of I rejects. What may be true for some students is not true for many, including myself. I started my long tenure as a college student at Urbana-Champaign and, after a year of near misery, determined that it was not for me. One main reason was size.
U of I has 562 total buildings and sits on 7.5 square miles of land or 4,805 acres, according to www.uiuc.com. Conversely, NIU’s campus sits on just 755 acres and has 63 major buildings, according to www.niu.edu. Some people may see that as a large disadvantage for NIU, but I, for one, like the smaller feel. And so do some freshmen students that I had an opportunity to talk to who all had there own reasons for picking NIU over U of I.
“There is more of a community here… U of I seems spread out & disconnected,” said Alex Malhiot, a freshman communication major. With over 31,000 undergraduate students, UIUC has nearly double that of NIU’s 18,816 undergrads, according to the previously mentioned Web sites. The smaller number definitely does create much more of a community feel, especially with regard to the dorms.
NIU has five university supported residence halls housing approximately 5,600 students, according to the Housing & Dining office. That comes to about 1,120 students per hall. Obviously that number varies depending on the dorm. U of I on the other hand has 21 university-supported dorms housing approximately 8,500 students or an average of about 405 students per dorm, that according to the UIUC Housing office. What does that mean to someone living in the residence halls? According to Grace Weidner, an undecided freshman, “…fewer, bigger dorms make it easier to meet more people.”
Putting the students closer together, though troublesome at times, gives the students the chance to really bond.
Another key difference between the campuses is layout. While some people don’t mind, and even enjoy NIU’s scattered campus design, other students don’t care for it as much. Dontrel Whitfield, a pre-physical therapy freshman, said UIUC was, “more organized than NIU,” and that it seemed to be a, “better environment in general.”
Maybe the buildings downstate are better distributed, but the spaced campus allows for greater subdivision of students. NIU’s different environment gives it a unique blended experience conducive to having more interdisciplinary friendships.
Sources:
“http://(http://www.niu.edu/admissions/whyniu/facts.shtml)” www.niu.edu(http://www.niu.edu/admissions/whyniu/facts.shtml).
According to the HYPERLINK “http://www.uiuc.edu(http://publicaffairs.uiuc.edu/facts/facts.html)” www.uiuc.edu(http://publicaffairs.uiuc.edu/facts/facts.html),