Illinois State University — Attraction in Normal

I may be slightly biased because I went for agriculture, but the school is great!

Extracurriculars: There are plenty of clubs to join to stay involved. If because of work, you cant join a club, try and make it to some sporting events and talk to people in your class

Job Prospects: The town itself is great, with the Head Quarters for State Farm being right down the road. Local jobs require you to look in your field, but many professors are available and knowledgeable as to which companies offer the best chance for a job in your field. Through the Ag department, we hosted our own career fair that had over 50 companies offering full time positions as well and internships to get more hands on experience before graduating.

Local Environment: The town of Normal is extremely nice. I have been going for 2 years and never once had an issue with crime or with bad police officers. There are plenty of different activities to enjoy. Upper Limits is an abandoned grain silo complex that has been turned into a massive rock climbing experience. There are 2 decent paintball fields with 15 minutes of the campus if you are into that sort of thing. They also have an escape room in Bloomington, where you and 7 other people must solve puzzles in order to unlock doors that lead you out. These are just the first 3 things that came to mind. They also have a semi pro hockey and baseball team, the hockey rink doubles as a concert hall used by big name artists.

Dorm life: I have heard that the dorm system is bad, I am former military and completed 2 years of college in Wisconsin before transferring in, so I can't give first hand experience. I have heard that ISU is attempting to get rid of the dorm system and adopt an apartment style system run by the local renting agencies.

All in all, this area is perfect for those students that want a diploma from a school that has a good reputation and want to live far enough away from home that they dont HAVE to see their parents every weekend, but close enough that...

It was an alright school, most teachers were good, the business teachers were excellent. Some of the math teachers just need to retire. However, the tech teachers were incompetent. The instructions for labs and other projects were not clear and sometimes wrong to the point where completing a lab was impossible due to the amount of errors in the labs. The professors do not make their own labs. They claim they were given them when they started and didn't make them, when I ask for help on the labs they dont know how to help me. They do not know how to do their own labs they are handing out. These professors that I was asking help with on the labs have been with ISU for 10+ years and yet they still don't know how to do their own labs? That's frankly unacceptable. I emailed this to some of my tech professors due to these errors across multiple classes: "It’s the lack of clear and concise instructions for labs and how inconsistent the labs instructions were, there were so many errors in the labs instructions. I have been in college for 4 years at this point and never have I had assignments this inconsistent with instructions and lack their of. These labs should be dropped for this semester and redone completely so other students in the future do not have to deal with this, because frankly this is unacceptable given I am paying hundreds of dollars for this class." They did not end up dropping any of the labs that had these errors, we were told to figure it out for ourselves. Do not attend ISU for any tech degree. I only recommend attending if you are going for a...

Applied to graduate school and a graduate Assistantship here. Never heard from anyone regarding either of my applications and when I followed up admissions staff was rude. Although I was never notified, they needed a copy of my academic transcript to finalize my application. Yet they had no problem accepting my fee and telling me that my application was processed. When you submit an application and a fee and you are told at the time your application is complete, it is insinuated that no further action is needed. I asked for a refund in lieu of the miscommunication and was rudely denied. Bottom line- they happily took my fee for an incomplete application that they never told me was incomplete, never processed said application and would not give me a refund. Staff didn't care about my situation or try to help which was very disappointing. Poorest experience I've had in my 25+ undergrad/grad school...