University of Illinois Chicago — Attraction in West Chicago Township

I had negative experiences and I am glad I got out . Many people (MEs) I had talked to, said the same thing that they couldn’t wait to get out of UIC.

Buildings in the campus (east) from 2012-2016: old and lack of maintenance. They were waiting for the state fund to fix that UH, so they built a fence around it to prevent falling rocks from the building. UH was built five decades ago and it has already falling apart now (not sure if it is fixed by now).

College life from 2012-2016: it is not the traditional college life since it is a commuting school, ranked 3rd place national-wide for school with the most commuting population. It is comparable to a community college, where everyone left the campus around 5 p.m. each day and it was completely dead during the weekend. Even if you live in the dorms, you don’t get a life. The campus is diversity yet it is also “segregated” by groups.

Dormitory (east side) from 2012-2015: I had been to pretty much all the dorms (east, south, and west) and I had lived in CMS,CMN,CMW, and CTY altogether for 3 years. Whenever it had a heavy rainfall, there was flooding coming down the roof (my CTY dorm in the 1st floor near by the stair had flooded a few times). You have to make sure to record any damages there; sometimes you have to get the missing furniture. Mostly in CMW, people partied in the dorms (loud music and drinking), drunk in the bathrooms, smoking and doing drugs, committing harmful pranks (pooping in the shower, clogged the toilets…etc.) and we all got fined $0.5 one time for someone pooping in the shower. It took them a week to clean up the feces which they could just pick it up and threw it away. I hardly got any sleep there. I switch my dorms 8 times because of my roommates (completely strangers) and the living conditions, and there was a limit (2-3 times per semester). Each time I had to go to the west campus and waited 1 week to switch the room. Moreover, the RAs and RMs were completely useless, they didn’t try to socialize people or be any useful.

Café (east side) 2012-2015: It used to be mandated if you dormed there. The food was greasy, especially the burgers and fries were over-cooked in dirty oil (as if they were leftovers). There were fewer choices during the weekend.

Clubs 2012-2016: I didn’t know what they were doing when I was there. I joined the engineering honors club, Tau Beta Pi, no projects except a few meetings and activities (wasted of $100). ASME just started to do some meaningful projects before I left. Robotic club, O.K. they used old technologies to beat UIUC, not something very proud of. The commitments of the engineering clubs in UIUC are just completely opposite of UIC.

Mechanical engineering 2012-2016: the program was mediocre, nothing to expect. The courses were not that tough, but cheating was a problem. If you have some short of connection (i.e. joining an engineering club), you will know that people are sharing the old exams, projects….etc. One guy in my CME 201 class, even bough a solution manual and spread to the class. I was the last one to get it when the TA felt sympathy to me and he gave it to me! Even the top students I knew were committing cheating. Some were sitting in groups or way behind to accommodate cheating during exams. Some professors changed the exams and some didn’t even bother with it, they only changed the numbers not the content. My senior design project was completely lacked of communication, the team itself since everyone was busy on their stuff.

Engineering Career center 2012-2016: no help from there unless you know them well. Resume checking? Basically proof reading. One time I asked them how to get internships, they responded to me that I need to learn more English.

After UIC 2017: it was annoying. They kept calling and sending letters to me for donation. Especially in May, I had received more than 3 calls. When I finally picked up the phone, the guy on the phone insisted me to donate: how about at least $100 and how about I sent you in the letter….etc. That shouldn’t be the way they treat...

College Is the Ultimate Con—Drop Out Before You Sign Up 🎭💸

Let’s cut the BS: college is a four-year illusion designed to drain your wallet, waste your energy, and stall your greatness. I fell for it, and all I got was student debt, a collection of boring lectures, and a deep sense of “What the hell was that?”

Pay First, Learn Nothing Later 🧾🚫

Imagine dropping thousands to listen to a dude read from a slideshow while you fight to stay awake. That’s not learning—that’s legalized robbery. Everything he said? Already online. Free. And better explained.

A Fancy Prison with Merch 🧢🎓

They sell you hoodies, football games, and promises of “becoming somebody.” What they don’t mention is the crippling loans, the irrelevant classes, and the years you’ll lose becoming a copy-paste version of yourself.

Degrees Don’t Equal Dollars 💼❌

You graduate and realize employers don’t care about your major—they care what you can do. Spoiler: college didn’t teach you any of it. You’ll spend more time applying to jobs than you did in class… and get ghosted anyway.

Creative Souls Get Caged Here 🕊️🔒

College turns vibrant thinkers into test-taking zombies. Want to start a business? Paint? Invent? Too bad—you’ve got a 10-page essay due on something no one cares about. Your imagination? Silenced in the name of “requirements.”

Four Years of Partying Through Potential 🍹⏳

Let’s be honest—college culture is just socially accepted self-sabotage. Every weekend is a blur, every weekday a recovery. Meanwhile, the clock ticks on your prime years to actually build something real.

Diploma = Debt Trap 💀📉

You don’t walk out empowered—you crawl out owing $80K to a bank that doesn’t care if you ever make it. You bought into a lie, and now they own your future. That paper on the wall? It's just the invoice.

ChatGPT Is the Real Professor Now 🤖📘

Want to learn copywriting? Marketing? Coding? AI teaches it faster, cleaner, and with zero tuition. College is still assigning textbooks. We’re building businesses by asking better prompts.

Truth Bomb: Burn the Brochure 💣🔥

College doesn’t prepare you—it pauses you. It’s four years of delay disguised as progress. The system exists to profit off your indecision. The second you stop feeding it, you’re free to become something real.

Before you sign the dotted line, remember this: You don’t need permission to grow. You don’t need college to succeed. You need courage to do it...

UIC is a University with 5 star professors and a -4 stars administration. Your first question when looking up the university should be the low graduation rate of 58% (2014) or the fact that students transfer OUT at a rate of almost 41% and this is due to the administration literally frustrating students into leaving with their bureaucracy and overall unwillingness to help students through the maze of logistics that they created (subsequently understanding it about as little as the students do).

The buildings are all extremely old and are in the brutalist architectural style, which if you know what that is then you know the buildings are all modeled to look like prisons. 100% concrete with windows two inches wide. No, I'm not kidding. The buildings have been notoriously known to be depressing and confusing to navigate. Just adding to the overall atmosphere of hopelessness.

The administration could not be worse. They're slow, unkind, unwilling, seemingly uncaring for students which is their entire job. It's as if they're all not being paid. When their students are literally paying to be there. Which is a disgusting attitude to cary both towards students and just in general as a professional. Their counselors are on a revolving door as they can never seem to hire any worth their salt and the administration doesn't care because they use them for themselves as scapegoats. If you see yourself having to deal with a dean or advisor at any point, just do the transfer papers instead. They're easier to get done than whatever it is you're going to them for.

The professors are the polar opposite. They provide an above average education and are very accommodating. Helping students, with their very limited powers, wherever they can as they understand this sentiment about the administration and immediately empathize with the students when approached.

Understand that this university provides a good education, but you better hope that the attending student doesn't ever have to deal with the administration as they will ultimately come away defeated, discouraged, and seeking alternate options (see...