University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Top Questions

For the past 4 years, I really dove into things on campus. We have so much to offer and my freshman year showed me all that I could get my hands on at an event called "Quad Day." At this event, over 200 student organizations set up a table outside on the grass and hand out fliers explaining how great they are. It's a wonderful way to meet new people and find out what you can do on campus to satisfy your individual interests and find new ones. i am African-American, and the first student group I joined was the Philippine Student Association. I had no idea why, perhaps it was the cute girl holding a flag that urged me to come to the ice cream social. I'm not quite sure anyway. As scared as I was to approach all of them the day of their social event, I measure every step trying to figure out when I could leave. But when I started talking to everyone, I didn't want to leave, and I never did. This organization has given me best friends, future colleagues and a lovely companion. It's amazing to me even to this day because I really never thought I'd stick with it, but it's proven to be one of the main reasons I enjoyed college so much. I do a lot, so I'll try to keep it short: I've maintained my own column in our student-run newspaper, The Daily Illini; I am currently a resident advisor, taking care of 60 young men; I work for CITES, our campus tech support team; I'm the president of the U of I chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists: I am currently an athletic advisor for the Philippine Student Association's sporting events; I coach a a girls' football team that competes in an annual tag tournament; I'll stop before this list gets too long. It's hard to determine a few "most popular" activities here. There are so many to choose from, it's nearly impossible Our Greek system is the largest in the country, and our student organizations put on non-alcoholic events all the time. Just because you're in college doesn't mean you have to take shots every night. Our performing arts centers put on shows weekly, and Assembly Hall has concerts every month! There's always something to do here; call it "mini-Vegas." Even if you live in a dormitory, there are hall programs that cater to every possible interest for residents to enjoy. If I had to pick one thing that students absolutely must do before they graduate, I'd say seeing every sporting event at least once. We have a number of athletic teams that play other schools or other students in intramurals, and they are so exciting! I haven't seen every sport yet, but I am close. School spirit is big down here, and what better way to show it than to support the baseball, hockey, wrestling, football, volleyball, tennis various other teams? See them all at least once, and then you can call yourself an Illini.

As anyone from U of I will tell you, there's over a 1000 RSOs (Registered Student Organizations) on campus, so absolutely anything you're into will be covered- and on the off chance it's not, you can always go out and make your own. Some of the clubs are decades and decades old and have gotten pretty well-established. The most popular clubs are probably the Greek houses, since there's so many houses here. Also popular are all the inter-mural sports and martial arts clubs. I joined one of the karate clubs and it was really fun, we trained hard and the instructors were students so we also got to do a lot of fun stuff. There's always a hundred things to do Friday nights, from going out and getting sloshed to going off-campus to seeing a play or listening to live music. If you don't want to go out drinking a particular night, there's plenty of activities going on, and every Friday there's some kind of event at the Union (Illi-nites) as well as bunches of others like pickup basketball games and concerts and video games and more. And if you do want to go out drinking, we have a lot- a lot- of bars campustown and uptown and downtown and, of course, frat houses and apartments aplenty. Surprisingly, there's plenty of quiet spots too if you want to study or just want some quiet. The dorm doors are usually open around campus depending on your dorm (and floor), as each sort of has it's own flavor. Anyway, whether you want to go out and rage or just play some video games with a few close friends, there's always something fun to do around Chambana. That's Champaign and Urbana combined into one word, we sometimes call it that when we don't feel like saying the two cities.

I would definitely say Greek life, because it involves almost 30 percent of the undergraduate life. It's nice that they don't pressure you to drink because being in one offers you to be involved in many different activities within the community, Greek community, campus and within your own house. I'm in a sorority and it's how I met my closest friends. I have no idea how I would have spent my almost 4 years in college without being in a sorority or meeting them. There is a big nightlife and bar scene, but it doesn't comprise everyone. There are a lot of clubs that offer great experiences, like for example I joined the Ski and Snowboard club which I learned how to snowboard!

There are tons of student organzations on campus. So many that I can not name them all. However, I found this website to be handy when choosing: http://illinois.collegiatelink.net/organizations. All organzations that are registered is listed in a directory for your browsing pleasure. And if this isn't enough, every semester student organzation host a big event to introduce themselves to prospective memembers. It's called Quad Day. Hundreds of groups set up informational tables on the quad to talk to students about their group. There are tons of give-a-ways and you can meet the the members of a group your interested in joining face to face. I am currently a member of the National Association of Black Journalist group on campus. We host timely events focused on current events, career workshops and advising sessions. Since, I live off campus, I find myself commuting a lot to make the meeting during the week. But the public transportation on and off campus if really dependable.

Greek life is huge. Football and men's basketball are very popular, especially on the rare occasion that they're playing well. I work for the school newspaper, The Daily Illini. It has been a very rewarding experience. Dorms for the most part are social. You can find almost anything of interest to do if you put any effort in at all. A lot of great musical acts come through Champaign since it's situated between St. Louis and Chicago. Unoffical Saint Patrick's Day is an incredibly big deal here, if drinking is your thing. If it isn't you might want to consider a different school. A lot (but not all) of weekend activity revolves around drinking. There is a percentage of campus that does not drink, but it is definitely in the minority.

I think some of the popular activities on campus are the multicultural and community services kind. They are the ones that help us interact with more than one person and that is something that will help us in the future as well.

Thousands of students are a part of the Greek life. Sororities and fraternities are everywhere and there's one for every type of person. That's a pretty huge activity at Illinois. Then there are club sports, which many are involved in. Not everyone is a D1 athlete, so luckily students still have the opportunity to continue their athletic career through these club sports that also travel to other universities, but do not need as much commitment. Athletic events are really popular because we take pride in Illini teams and there are usually teams that do well in every sport. Girl's soccer and volleyball did really well this season so that was a fun activity to be a part of. There are a lot of guest speakers here on campus, and many students make an effort to go. Not only are there guest speakers, but the concert scene is great. Lupe Fiasco, Death Cab For Cutie and Drake are just a few of the artists that have been here this year so far. Illinois is a school that works hard, but we tend to play harder. Bars a huge part of campus life and basically any night of the week, from a Monday night to a Saturday night, there are students in the streets visiting the different bars. A lot of sports and clubs will have bar crawls to bring the students together, which is also a really fun activity that not every school has to offer. If you don't enjoy the party scene, there are also a lot of sober events that take place. Many students, surprisingly, divulge in these sorts of events. Some may stay in and get some extra studying time in, which is totally fine. Others may catch a movie. The Union, which is a building in the center of campus, has a bowling alley and game room that have competitions every week. There a lot of nice, sit-down restaurants that student's can go to. There is definitely something for everyone.

This is particular to what you're looking for. So if you're interested in hearing about this stuff then let's chat. It really depends on the individual and what they're interests are. There isn't something that EVERYONE (all 40,000 of us) do.

I would say the most popular student activity would be Alpha Phi Omega. It's one of the service fraternities on campus. Now, reading the word "fraternity" gives you the preconceived notion that this is a social fraternity where it's all boys and they live in a Greek house. False! This is a volunteer oriented group where males and females are welcome to join. It's cool because there are numerous volunteer opportunities through this group and there are a lot of students involved with this. Another one would probably be the Greek system. All students are welcome to check them out and go through the rush process. It's not for everyone but it's worth checking out and seeing if it is for you! Depending on which dorm and area you live in, there will always be social kids and some who don't really care about going out. I've met my best friends in my dorm freshman year who I am now currently living with. Athletic events are very popular here at the U of I. The football and mens basketball games are always packed! It's fun to be a part of the student section and cheer on the team. It's a great to be involved with school spirit and you see some of the craziest costumes at these sporting events. If I'm awake at 2 am on a Tuesday, I'm probably in my friend's room laughing at jokes or watching a sitcom with them. On another Tuesday at 2 am, I'm visiting a friend at another dorm on campus just to chat. I personally don't drink but I LOVE to dance! I go out with my girlfriends to dance and I have a great time without drinking. Aside from going out, there are so many things you could do on a Saturday night on campus. There's a bowling alley inside the student union on campus and it's actually not that expensive! There are two movie theaters on campus where you can easily take a bus to get there. There's also a mall off campus which you can take the bus to as well.

One of the biggest weaknesses of Illinois is its fan base. It does not compare to the other Big Ten schools. Illinois sports have been questionable since their Rose Bowl run and Final Four run, and students don’t show as much support at games. An amazing aspect of Illinois is the amount of groups and activities there are to join. I wish I could name every group or type of activity, but there are thousands. If you come to Illinois and can’t find your niche then you only have yourself to blame with all of the unique opportunities Illinois has to offer.