I did my undergraduate work at UIC and lived in the east side single dorms.
Regarding dorming, there is the East Campus Dorms, South Campus Dorms and West Campus Dorms.
East Campus dorms are for undergraduates, it houses the Commons South, West, North and Courtyard.
South Campus dorms is MaryRobinson Hall---->if you remember last summer, the news reported that this dorm closed down for mold >.> it's been open for like one year and then it molded >.> lol. There is also the Thomas Beckham Hall, it opened just last year and is quite nice. You can live in an apartment style here (4 plp single dorm, with 2 bathrooms w/ kitchen, or 2 plp single with kitchen/bath, or a single with kitchen/bath).
I would suggest getting a dorm at Thomas Beckham Hall, but it is about a 10-25 min commute to the College of Pharmacy on the UIC shuttle bus or the regular bus, or you can walk for about 15-20 mins.
The West Campus dorms, I can't remember every building, I think it was PSR, SSR, etc. My friend who was a nursing student lived in PSR (I think) . . . because there was a floor dedicated to nursing students, it was the 14th or 16th floor. Basically this is where the professional students were, ie. med, pharm, dentist students. Personally I didn't like her dorm because the windows are narrow height wise, it does not have much width and you are quite limited in opening the windows due to safety reasons. Price wise, it wasn't bad because you don't have to purchase a meal plan as you would on the East side of campus dorming.
Also, my friend had a single while another girl had the other single, and they shared the washroom and kitchen. I don't believe there is a true single on the west side of campus. If you're dorming on the west side (which is about a 4 minute walk to the pharmacy college), make sure you choose the building with indicates older people living, I can't remember the name, although I think it was PSR my friend lived in >.> (The other dorms at the West side houses freshmen and others and can get loud if you're in the wrong building)
Likewise, the west side dorms is above the medical bookstore/main parking office/campus housing office/ and has a candystore, and this little cafeteria to eat (like with pizza, drinks, european food, stir fry . . . etc., personally I do not like the food there >.>) Also, there are no good study lounges there and if you feel motivated to go study outside your dorm room, you won't find it there . . . although there is the Health Sciences library across the street from the College of Pharmacy.
However, they just built a new nicely done gym room with swimming pool, it just opened two months ago, I think.
Anyways, hope this helped. I would suggest dorming if you aren't going to get an apartment that's close by. But if you get an apartment, you can easily commute to school from the BlueLine 54/Cermak route and get off on Polk to get to the pharmacy building. There is a sbarro's right under the Blue Line.
