Calling All CHICAGO Residents!! Please help!

[Auron]

I might be moving to naperville this summer and would appreciate advice from people familiar to chicago and naperville areas:

1. Which is the best college, OVERALL in naperville (cost, quaility of education etc in naperville. I pay less then half of what the private schools in naperville are asking at my current state school. The colleges in naperville are asking around $24,000 per year PLUS room/board. WAY too much IMO compared to what I'm paying now at my state school. North central college (in naperville) is really expensive, and this puts me off. I will be staying at home, so no room and board fees will apply to me. Also, many of the colleges in naperville (like depaul) are Catholic. I am not a catholic. Would this be a problem?

2. Should I attend a college in the city? I was strongly considering UIC as it seems great (haven't visited yet) and would like to attend med school their in the future. Is it possible and reasonable to commute from naperville to UIC daily as a full time student? I heard driving would be difficult, so how about train? What is the cheapest but good school in the city, isn't it UIC? Living in the city is not an option for me right now for undergrad.


I live in a small town right now, and so this is a huge change for me. I just finished sophomore year, and so would be transferring to the new college.

I would REALLY apreciate any comments, suggestions 🙂

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[DrVanNostran]

I might be moving to naperville this summer and would appreciate advice from people familiar to chicago and naperville areas:

1. Which is the best college, OVERALL in naperville (cost, quaility of education etc in naperville. I pay less then half of what the private schools in naperville are asking at my current state school. The colleges in naperville are asking around $24,000 per year PLUS room/board. WAY too much IMO compared to what I'm paying now at my state school. North central college (in naperville) is really expensive, and this puts me off. I will be staying at home, so no room and board fees will apply to me. Also, many of the colleges in naperville (like depaul) are Catholic. I am not a catholic. Would this be a problem?

2. Should I attend a college in the city? I was strongly considering UIC as it seems great (haven't visited yet) and would like to attend med school their in the future. Is it possible and reasonable to commute from naperville to UIC daily as a full time student? I heard driving would be difficult, so how about train? What is the cheapest but good school in the city, isn't it UIC? Living in the city is not an option for me right now for undergrad.


I live in a small town right now, and so this is a huge change for me. I just finished sophomore year, and so would be transferring to the new college.

I would REALLY apreciate any comments, suggestions 🙂

Hey, I am a Naperville Resident for the past 15 or so years Auron.

1. North Central College is a rip off, but a cool location.
2. DePaul--they have a Naperville campus, but a majority of your classes would be downtown.
3. Northern Illinois University is about a 40 min communte West.
4. UIC is a good school, a hell drive in the morning. But, there are a lot of train stations in Naperville or near Naperville to take you to UIC-about a 30-40 min ride depending on which train you take. Train Station locations: Lisle--eastern Naperville, 5th Ave--central Naperville, 59 station--west Naperville.
5. Benedictine University--private LAS school in Lisle, depending on where you are in Naperville, its close but still expensive. But they are REALLY gratious with scholarships.
6. For summer classes--College of DuPage (a great community college)
----------------

If I were you, I would go to UIC, you will have access to a lot more than you would in the Naperville area. Naperville is a great town, always ranked among one of the best. You will love Naperville, but going to school out here is crap. IMO--take the train and eithe go to UIC, Loyola, or DePaul dowtown--UIC being the best value.

 

[tdd340]

Hey, I am a Naperville Resident for the past 15 or so years Auron.

1. North Central College is a rip off, but a cool location.
2. DePaul--they have a Naperville campus, but a majority of your classes would be downtown.
3. Northern Illinois University is about a 40 min communte West.
4. UIC is a good school, a hell drive in the morning. But, there are a lot of train stations in Naperville or near Naperville to take you to UIC-about a 30-40 min ride depending on which train you take. Train Station locations: Lisle--eastern Naperville, 5th Ave--central Naperville, 59 station--west Naperville.
5. Benedictine University--private LAS school in Lisle, depending on where you are in Naperville, its close but still expensive. But they are REALLY gratious with scholarships.
6. For summer classes--College of DuPage (a great community college)
----------------

If I were you, I would go to UIC, you will have access to a lot more than you would in the Naperville area. Naperville is a great town, always ranked among one of the best. You will love Naperville, but going to school out here is crap. IMO--take the train and eithe go to UIC, Loyola, or DePaul dowtown--UIC being the best value.

As another long-time Naperville resident I will second DVN's advice. Naperville is not the place to go to school. Go to somewhere downtown and rough the commute, ideally move down there in a year of so. NCC isn't anything to get excited about and thats about the only real option. Benedictine, Lewis, etc are a waste of time in my mind for what you are looking for.

 

[Auron]

As another long-time Naperville resident I will second DVN's advice. Naperville is not the place to go to school. Go to somewhere downtown and rough the commute, ideally move down there in a year of so. NCC isn't anything to get excited about and thats about the only real option. Benedictine, Lewis, etc are a waste of time in my mind for what you are looking for.

thank you for your advise tdd340. I was wondering - could you elaborate on why NCC and Benedictine are a waste? Are they bad schools or just a rip off? I noted they both have BIO programs - it seems ok from what I've read, but I'd love to hear your thoughts on this.
UIC is certainly a lot cheaper then the private schools here. UIC is coming out to $10,000 per year total as opposed to the $24,000 asked by NCC and benedictine. Preety big price difference.

The commute to UIC is scary to be honest. I'm not sure exactly how long it takes to get their by car or train, and which method of transport would be better? I live with my parents, and they're worried I'll get hurt or something commuting, and I can understand their concern however I want to make the best and most educated decision so it'll convince them that I should go to UIC for school even though I could just go to college locally in naperville.


I'm curious if many students actually commute from naperville to downtown (UIC etc). Any idea Dr Vannostran?

 

[DrVanNostran]

thank you for your advise tdd340. I was wondering - could you elaborate on why NCC and Benedictine are a waste? Are they bad schools or just a rip off? I noted they both have BIO programs - it seems ok from what I've read, but I'd love to hear your thoughts on this.
UIC is certainly a lot cheaper then the private schools here. UIC is coming out to $10,000 per year total as opposed to the $24,000 asked by NCC and benedictine. Preety big price difference.

The commute to UIC is scary to be honest. I'm not sure exactly how long it takes to get their by car or train, and which method of transport would be better? I live with my parents, and they're worried I'll get hurt or something commuting, and I can understand their concern however I want to make the best and most educated decision so it'll convince them that I should go to UIC for school even though I could just go to college locally in naperville.


I'm curious if many students actually commute from naperville to downtown (UIC etc). Any idea Dr Vannostran?

1. Benedictine, Lewis, NCC etc are just small private schools looking for a tuition check. The quality of education is OK, Benedictine has a pretty good science program. But for the money, it is NOT worth it!!!

2. Commuting to UIC is easy as I previously mentioned. Take the train, it is an extremely easy system to use, especially from Naperville to UIC.

You will get sooooo much more out of going to UIC--more class options, better location, be downtown, meet some interesting people, volunteer opportunties. As a local for many years going to school here, I HIGHLY recommed you going to UIC over anything local.

 

[DrVanNostran]

Oh yeah, TONs of people commute from the Naperville area to UIC. When I mean tons, I mean TONS--you will see it on the first day you take the train.

 

[Auron]

Awesome. I would like to ask you is it difficult to transfer to UIC?

I know about UIC's med school, but very little about their undergrad. Do you need a really high gpa and class standing for them to accept me for transfer? I just finished sophomore year at another Illinois public university.

How is the campus? Would I have to walk all over to get to my classes or are all the buildings close together?

My GPA is a bit below 3.3 and I've passed all my classes. I just wonder for what reasons they could reject me for transfer. ( I have no idea)



sorry for asking so many questions, I'm just a bit anxious.

 

[DrVanNostran]

Awesome. I would like to ask you is it difficult to transfer to UIC?

I know about UIC's med school, but very little about their undergrad. Do you need a really high gpa and class standing for them to accept me for transfer?
I just finished sophomore year at another Illinois public university.

My GPA is a bit below 3.4 and I've passed all my classes.

From what I know, it is pretty easy to transfer in. If I were you, I would contact them ASAP. I don't know about deadlines or anything, but I am sure you would need to contact them soon--so give them a call Monday.

I am UIC nearly everyday teaching MCAT and other test courses. You will like it there🙂

 

[MahlerROCKS]

UIC>>>>Northern

Have you thought about Concordia in River Forest? It’s slightly less crappy than Benedictine, Lewis, St Xavier, and Central. Wheaton College is also relatively near you. Unfortunately, your GPA is probably too low, and yeah, its run by a bunch of religious fundamentalists--fun times indeed

 

[woodhorse22]

hey,
I recently graduated from Benedictine University. It is a VERY good school. THe science program is very rigirous and has a high percentage of professional school acceptances. It is expensive but they offer many scholarships and are very generous with those. I think it is definitely a worthwhile school. It helps develop a very strong science background. Majority of my friends who graduated from Benedictine Univ. last year got into some of the top medical schools like Rush University, Loyola, etc. If you are in naperville, attend Benedictine University.

 

[neom3x11]

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[nosugrefneb]

Yup, I'd agree with pretty much everything already said. Not much in the way of quality of the local colleges, but if you need to stay local, I'd go with the Naperville DePaul or Northern campuses. Much better than North Central or Benedictine.

That said, I would DEFINITELY try to get into a school downtown. Sure, it's not as convenient, but the commute is doable. Don't drive; take Metra, 100%. So much cheaper, so much less hassle, can sleep or do work during the commute. UIC is probably better in the sciences than the rest, and probably easiest to transfer into given its size and state-school status, but in my opinion Loyola or DePaul are probably more highly regarded overall (although less accessible from Naperville). IIT is a good option too...very strong in the sciences, and right on the green line I believe.

 

[Allerian1004]

If you are religious, I would highly reccomend Wheaton College. It's in Wheaton just north of Naperville. We have an excellent pre-med program with a 75% acceptance to medical school. Otherwise, I second everyone here who suggests you go downtown. Metra makes it very easy to commute downtown w/o having to deal with the terrible traffic everyday.

 

[Beau Geste]

Naperville's ok.... just ok.

There's fun stuff to do, but it's an expensive place to live for being so far from the city and I concur with the level of education. NIU beats the Naperville-area schools, and of course UIC is has bigger science programs than NIU. Not to mention the traffic is enough to make you want to cry.

If I HAD to live in Naperville I'd pick probably UIC. The train is a blessing with the high gas prices (Naperville was 3.59 reg unleaded last week, I think it's gone down a little now).

Oh yeah - I used to live on the Napeville/Aurora border but now live 25 miles south of DeKalb

 

[Auron]

Well the deadline to transfer to UIC this fall has passed, and I don't want to transfer in spring (I think this would mess me up transferring halfway through?)

My options:

1. Go to benedict, complete a B.S in Health Sciences

2. Stay at my current state school in illinois for a year and then transfer to UIC for my senior year.

I don't know what to do, I'm really stressing out. My dad will be working about 10 minutes from benedict, and our house would be about 10 mins away too. Which is ok.

There is just nothing in my current town besides my school and so I would love to move but I'm just not sure about benedict - they told it'd cost 15,000 total costs, so 7500 per semester. Not bad, but still high. Right now its not really the money I'm concerned about but whether I should transfer to that institution or just be patient for a year and transfer to UIC. That whole catholic thing is putting me off a bit.

What about transferring to benedict for junior year, then transfering to UIC senior year? crazy?


Help!

 

[Beau Geste]

try NIU. Then transfer to UIC

 

[Auron]

any other suggestions?

 

[MahlerROCKS]

Have you thought of Northeastern Illinois or Governor's State? They are both commuter state schools with low tuition

 

[bigdog8829]

i went to benedictine U for undergrad. i was in the scholars program and got a scholarship for half off my tuition. full tuition there, def not worth it. depending on your grades and everything, they are very very gracious w/ scholarships.
north central is no good for sciences, depaul is $$$, loyola is $$$, evn u of i is $$. the only $ school is UIC, meaning on a money scale it gets one $ sign. classes are huge, taught by lots of ta's.
i am a firm believer that it matters more on the quality of the student and what they make of the education. a school may just help you along here and there. by no means is it the equalizer.
this is just one opinion. feel free to pm me.

just read the rest of the post. ok so they're not too savvy on the scholarship for you, and if it is indeed to much, you are left with minimal options. i wouldnt advise transering 2x.
what you can do is attend community college for one sem, take a lot of pre-req that uic has and even a science class. if its your junior year, the MCAT has your name on it. with a less rigorous schedule, get a start on that. xfer to uic 2nd sem of jr year. and finish off there. i know that naperville has a express train to union station and its takes 32 min. your commute should be less than one hour. also, one you're in school make some friends you can crash there a few times a week? buy them groceries or something as a thank you.

 

[GQMO16]

I personally go to Benedictine right now and like it a lot. Commuting to UIC is gonna be a huge hassle for u and that right htere is gonna affect ur ability to study. In addition, being taught by TA's is not as helpful as having professors at ur access whenever u need them as is the case at BU. Our science program is very good as well and our school is known for our pre-professional programs. If you wanna be adoctor, I woudl strongly recommend coming here. I myself am not catholic and that is not a problem at all becasue our school is very diverse. Just come check it out for urself and see. IT's a small private school which is what I feel makes it so much better then UIC. One thing though, you'll prolly have more fun at UIC because thers so much more to do in the city of course but you'll get ur work done here in Lisle. But at the end of hte day it's up to u.

 

[streetmap]

to be honest, there's no question, in my opinion. uic has so many more opportunities for you, in terms of research, connections, diversity of students, etc. also, i don't understand really why your parents are so nervous about the commute-- if you want to be a doctor and be responsible for people's lives, at the VERY least you should be able to commute 40 minutes downtown. take the train if necessary. that should be the least of your worries. i don't really know much about benedictine, though i know a girl who went there and transferred to my private university.
i don't think it's as rigorous though.
but esp when you think about the money, then
YES, uic is cheaper. with the 10,000 you save you could even live in the city. the UIC campus is great, vibrant, and right by the medical district.
i hope i'm not being too harsh but i really, really think uic would be an overall better option.
good luck!

 

[maestro1625]

If you are religious, I would highly reccomend Wheaton College. It's in Wheaton just north of Naperville. We have an excellent pre-med program with a 75% acceptance to medical school. Otherwise, I second everyone here who suggests you go downtown. Metra makes it very easy to commute downtown w/o having to deal with the terrible traffic everyday.

and DANCING is allowed now!!!!

 

[maestro1625]

and for the OP... it sounds like you're caught in a dilemma because you're expected to live at home. (weren't you moving to Indiana?) Honestly, at this point you should do your best to move out and live at school if you can afford it. From your posts, it sounds like the only reason you're not doing that now is petty overprotectiveness from your parents.

 

[Auron]

well it looks like I'll be staying where I am for next year, and then transfer to UIC for senior year. Benedictine sounds ok but I had my heart set on UIC for some reason, and this way I can be there eventually.

Do med schools typically admit a lot of students that went to their under grad, or is their some limit they have set? I ask as I would like to attend UIC's college of medicine, and wondered if the fact that I attended their undergrad hurts or helps me in anyway.