Illinois State University Admission
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The Facts

Illinois State University is a large, public institution located in the bizarrely titled town of Normal, Illinois. The school is home to over 16,000 undergraduate students and approximately 4,000 graduate and part-time professional students who are able to study at one of the six undergraduate schools or the graduate school. These schools offer academic programs in the areas of applied science and technology, arts and sciences, business, education, fine arts, and nursing. These academic divisions offer a wide array of majors in the areas of biological science, agriculture, business (one of the largest programs, offering a unique major in insurance), communications and the arts (home to a unique telecommunications program), computer and physical science (which houses a wonderful digital arts program), education, engineering and environmental design, health professions (home to an innovative program in environmental health science), and social sciences. Some of the most popular majors include elementary education, business administration, and special education.

Admission to Illinois State University is fairly competitive, and the number of highly qualified out-of-state applicants has been increasing with each passing admissions cycle. Last year, over 10,100 students applied for admission to the school, and approximately 7,570 of those students were accepted; of those, about 3,100 matriculated. The admitted students had an average combined SAT score ranging from 1100 to 1180, and an average comprehensive ACT score ranging from 23 to 31. Additionally, more than 70% of those admitted were ranked in the top 10% of their high school graduating class with an average high school GPA of about a 3.7.

Illinois State University has a fairly high student to faculty ratio of 20:1, but the administration tries to cut down class sizes wherever they can, and according to students, they have. There are some general education lecture courses, but they are usually supplemented by a seminar course where students have the chance to discuss the lecture material in very small groups.

The Social Scene

The town of Normal, Illinois lives up to its name. It’s not particularly exciting, and doesn’t really offer students much in the way of entertainment; however, the cities of Chicago as well as St. Louis are both less than three hours away by car, which many of the students own, making the two cities popular weekend road trip destinations. The university is home to a whopping 38 national fraternities and sororities, which more than 20% of the student body join at some point in their college careers. The Greeks basically govern the on-campus social life, and their reputedly debauched weekend parties are popular with Greeks and non-Greeks alike.

The dating scene is reportedly just as active and vibrant as the party scene; and at such a large school, there’s got to be someone for everyone...

What’s Good

“The party scene is incredible, and there’s always something going on, seven nights a week.”

“Even though the school is pretty sizable, they manage to keep the classes quite small, which is refreshing.”

“The people in the town are really accommodating to us college students, and seem to enjoy our presence.”

What’s Bad

“The whole frat thing gets really out of hand. It’s like, if you don’t belong to a house, no one really cares about you.”

“It can be pretty hard to focus on your studies when you’re surrounded by people who only want to party.”

“The administration is really beauraucratic, and no one seems to know concrete answers to any question.”

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