Illinois Institute of Technology

When thinking about I.I.T its important to understand that it is a technology institute not an art and design community even though design is present strongly on campus. After having went to Pratt Institute for some time understanding I.I.T began to reveal some unfortunate qualities. In general when on campus I always feel a sense of arrested development with the environment strongly conservative or quietly restrained. There is nothing wrong with that except the Bronzeville main campus area over time, does not embrace the outside nor do the uneventful individual school buildings attempt to enliven or change much overtime. I have always felt that color, murals and even graffiti art would give the campus a new more involved quality even to the Chicago community around the campus. Well like I said the direction of the school in unclear and I get that sense myself having worked on the campus. Sadly, I don’t know if the office of student affairs or management will ever consider the slight needed changes for the main Bronzeville campus.
I would say that over some years much could have changed on the campus but buzz around town about I.I.T is minimal. I even once contacted the school of architecture about whether students have done any work or class design projects around the subjects of the far southeast side as arch. schools often do their projects for areas around the host city but this could be arguable from school to school but this time the architecture school was not informed on the area or its needs for being re-​thought in the architectural sense. They did not seem to be aware of the schools function to embrace and work with its surrounding community much. I’m concerned:-(

Full disclosure — I work on campus. I’m here every day. The campus is actually really nice. It’s the neighborhood that sucks. Not quite in a ghetto, I suppose, but not far from it either. Let’s put it this way — a number of buildings have bulletproof glass on the windows because people occasionally take shots at them. Granted, a lot of that was years ago when the surrounding neighborhood was seriously bad. It’s a lot better now. And actually improving. Really. They are working to gentrify the surrounding neighborhood, and it shows. It still has a ways to go, but it is improving. So, the environment could be better…
The school is excellent. As a tech school, IIT is really top notch. Small, focused and with excellent faculty and facilities. As I meet faculty and learn more about what happens here on campus, the more impressed I am.
The campus is beautiful, has a 9-​hole disc golf course, and all the amenities you would expect.
The school has excellent public transportation, and good facilities on campus. I wish there was a better neighborhood infrastructure — more bars, restaurants and shops. But, if you are interested in school for school, IIT is an amazingly good choice.

NO NO NO! Don’t be fooled by the perks of city life. This place is in a very rough declining neighborhood of Chicago which certainly doesn’t create a setting for a good quality education. Went here for 2.5 years and hated it even more as time went on. All they care about is getting people through the door. Acceptance rate is 70% which is insanely high for a school that claims to be top notch in the area. Yes it is true that all freshman get complementary iPads upon their admission but sometimes things are too be true.
In the past, this used to be the «go to» place in the area since people like Mies van der Rohe were affiliated with the school. It still seems like employers look up to IIT graduates because of the name and the good reputation it has had in the past but I would rather learn things that are useful for the future rather than just have some name on my resume. Since I transferred I have to say I learned more in one semester at my new school than I did at IIT in one year.
The tuition here is insanely high considering that the campus is poorly maintained and that most professors are adjunct or underpaid. IIT believes that they should work their students to death and it can sometimes feel more like slave labor instead of just a really good quality education. IIT only cares about quantity and if you do go here you’re just another number. There are so many other places out there. IIT is just not worth it.

International graduate student majored in CS here. I have to say education and environment the school provided is not what I have expected or even able to live up with. On campus housing for grad stu is pretty old with mandatory one year contract if you entered in fall and random roommates. Course quality depends. And from my experience, skill set they taught are somewhat obsolete. Some of course instructors cannot speak fluent English and if this is the case you are going to learn by yourself with little assistance. This semester they even let a prof. in software Eng teach database, a totally disaster. I pretty interest in big data but the data science program here is awful. They just put some statistic courses and CS courses together then claim that this is data science, which means y ou going to classes full of students from all kinds of majors. Most of master students just want to get a quick degree rather than learning.
I strongly encourage anyone with admissions from other institutes do a thorough research before attending this school. Education here does not worth tuition they charged and also neighborhood of iit is not safe. Some of friends were robbed when going home afternoon.

I have an undergrad in finance and a master’s in marketing and called here 3 times for information regarding their certificate programs in finance. Each time I was transferred to the same person’s voice mail and I never received a return call. I also explained to the operator that I had called previously, never received a call back and would like to be transferred elsewhere. No go.

Let me start out by saying that my education here was really good — the graduate programs are generally well respected and rigorous. The professors are very smart and experts in their field of work.
With that said… here comes everything that’s wrong with it. The tuition is way high and I’m not sure where all that money goes to, definitely not to maintain the buildings or replace the furniture that’s from the 1950’s. Some of the chairs broke in class while students were sitting in it, there was this REALLY old couch in our student lounge that was super gross looking. They finally took it out, but never replaced it. In my Psychology program, there was also very little funding for anything.
The culture also sucks… well actually, non-​existent. Students here attend class and then go home, there’s not much of a social culture or pride about going to IIT.
So basically, go here for the education, don’t go here expecting the typical University culture.

I am currently a graduate student at IIT and a lot of the reviews are dead on. I don’t have much experience with the on campus activities and such, but I can speak to my experiences.
For graduate students, the program is ridiculously expensive. The assistantships are few and far between, so be prepared to pay. The bureaucracy of this place is also unreal. It is nearly impossible to get anything done with the university in a timely manner. The school is located in a decent neighborhood, but there are crimes on campus or nearby somewhat frequently. The buildings are somewhat outdated and a lot of the furniture in the classrooms/​common areas is damaged or outdated. The food on campus is mediocre at best and lacks any good options for the most part. There are some good options; the coffee stand and the pritzker club are decent choices.
There are some positive traits of IIT. The program that I am in is pretty well respected and provides a lot of good networking opportunities for students. The quality of the instructors is good, at least for my classes.
I have attended two schools prior to IIT and both were large state schools, so I am not sure if they are comparable. IIT is my least favorite school out of the three universities that I attended. For what they charge, IIT should be making more improvements.

Lots of other businesses and services in this building, including CHA„ DCFS, YCCS, YCLA. Good café on ground floor.

an ARCHITECTURE, ENGINEERING, MATH and SCIENCE school, for EVERYTHING else, you are wasting precious time and money.
They should not pretend to have majors outside of the scope mentioned above. I am a second year psychology student, therefore I am transferring to a four year institution that actually teaches and values the study. I cannot take a 200 level bio course as it is too «specialized» however all the psychology classes are in fact «blow off» classes for the other «legitimate majors» — the program is not new, but is still going through growing pains, and is the only major that has grad students as professors, they would never THINK about doing the same to an engineer or architect.
Dont pay the same as an engineer for a sub par education without access to the equipment, quality professors, or honestly any type of education beyond a high school level AP course if you aren’t going to learn what you need to. If you’re trying to be a «cool» kid and go to a university for name recognition, realize what it’s named for.
And on the issue if diversity, yes, they have forty percent international students, so if you want to find your people in your circle you will, but the social structure isn’t designed for you to move out of that circle, and there really is not benefit. If you want to live in a fortress of circle jerkers who have no interest in interacting with their community (and constantly getting off on the sole fact they have the money to go to an over priced university in the midst of south side Chicago poverty, be my guest, if you want to get out of the cubical, I’d go elsewhere)

When I started at IIT in 2003, the tution was $ 17,000. When I finished, it was $ 23,000. Now it’s $ 34,000. That means that in less than 10 years, tuition has DOUBLED. Thank God they gave me a sizable scholarship.
The quality of teachers varies wildly. I graduated in fall 2006 with a BS in computer science. It scored me a job right out of college, which was good, but in retrospect, I could’ve gotten a much better education for far less money had I gone to OSU.
Regardless, the IIT name (which I think carries more weight than it ought to) got me a job. I even got an internship from another IIT alumnus who seemed to hire me strictly because I was an IIT grad. So I paid for the name, and got a passable education in computer science.
Education is vastly overvalued these days, and IIT leads the pack in that regard – taking advantage of naïve students backed by a government with artificially deep pockets.
People complain about the social scene here, but somehow we managed to overcome it without joining one of the Greek houses.
*dodges flying tomatoes*
We kept our doors open, played video games together, went out together, watched movies together, studied together, competed (and even won, frequently) together. It’s all what you make of it. Find like-​minded people and spend time with them – not everyone there is a recluse.
Oh, and everyone but the architecture people there figure the architectural efforts to be a joke. It’s pretty painful to put up with the school spending thousands of dollars apiece on uncomfortable chairs that make no damn sense.

Very nice campus. It balances an urban setting with a campus feel with beautiful buildings and architecture. The BOG is a fun spot to hang out, grab a drink, bowl, play pool, and people watch.

Nice for corporate meeting. Down fall, the parking is so far.

I currently go here and it’s pretty fucking terrible.

I am a third-​year undergraduate student at Illinois Tech. When I look back at all the decisions I’ve made in my life, none has been better than my decision to attend IIT.
All of my professors have been of the utmost helpfulness, some even leaving their own work when I drop in their office unexpected! Because of the school’s low student to faculty ratio (around 8:1, I heard!), you can go speak to the actual professor when you struggle, not some bumbling grad student or upperclassmen. This low ratio also creates a wonderful learning environment for students allowing the small classes to really learn and move through the syllabus together.
These professor are serious, though, and they expect commitment. There’s no denying that. But the education is worth it. A friend of mine who was an undergrad at the time had sought out a research opportunity at another university working with grad students. He was surprised to find he was the most knowledgeable of the group! Stories like these (and there are plenty) show that the hard work at IIt pays off.
To say more of my friend, he is a completely social and comfortable person to be around, and this is very normal for an IIT student, contrary to technical school stereotypes. With all of chicago available to them, IIT students cannot help but take advantage of the endless amount of activities distributed throughout chicagoland. From Millenium Park ice-​skating to shopping on world-​famous Michigan Avenue, an IIT student should be slapped for claiming boredom. And if, for some reason, he or she lacks the initiative to go find a way to make use of time, we have Union Board, or UB for short.
UB is a student-​run organization that promotes a social atmosphere among students by providing activities for students at an affordable price throughout the semester. The best thing it does is sell tickets to student at huge discounts. Some examples, I took my girlfriend to Mamma Mia! at the Cadillac Palace Theater for $ 10! Talk about cheap! And another time, my friends bought UB tickets to the new X-​men movie’s midnight showing and they all met Hugh Jackman! He was there and sat two seats away from my friend! The price? Three whole dollars! I’d say it was worth it.
To sum things up, all my experiences at IIT have been amazing. The professors and students are great mentors, colleagues, and friends. The quality of education should bring anyone here, while Chicago and all it has to offer is just a little bonus.

I think the definition of two-​star reviews on Unilocal defines this place. «Meh. I’ve experienced better.» I thought it was kind of weird to review a university on Unilocal,but I’ve seen weirder.
The biggest problem with Illinois Tech is its student body. It’s got the typical tech school reclusive, socially-​inept crowd covered. There’s a city’s worth of society phobes there.
The non-​faculty staff all pretty much rule. The Dean of Students is the nicest man I’ve met in my life. Student activities has their stuff together. Res. Life has their moments. Housing is kind of clueless, though.
The faculty are mostly self-​serving. The CS department head is one of the only professors who cares about students, and that’s probably only because of his non-​faculty staff role as head of the department (and because he’s a damn nice guy). Most of the professors are only doing it for grant money to further their own research.
The student body at large seems very disgruntled with this university. Nobody likes living next to the housing projects… People feel like Financial Aid is out to get them. The Bursar’s office employs drunk people (They fired someone in ’03 for showing up drunk). The biggest problem I’ve personally had with this place is job specialization in things like scholarship processing and payroll. One person is responsible for processing scholarships. She always seems to be on vacation. One person can process payroll. He or she does it one day per two week period, and if there’s a problem with your paperwork, you have to wait two more weeks and hope it goes through next time.
If you’re considering attending this place in lieu of going to a trade school, do it. If you’re considering attending this place in lieu of MIT or University of Chicago, don’t. Their degree programs are definitely worth it, but nothing can compare to going to a university that FEELS like a university. The architecture program is rigorous and world-​renowned… But it just doesn’t seem to make the rest of the place worth it.

I got my Bachelor’s degree here and it’s served me well, just read my reviews!
Seriously, the coursework was demanding, I liked almost all of my professors, and the IIT grads with whom I now work do stand out above others– and I don’t believe that where you get a technical education is the be-​all end-​all, but people who choose IIT somehow are pretty cool by me and tend to be well-​rounded, down to earth types who are independent thinkers and make good leaders.
Unilocal content-​The old dorms were fun– there’s a huge sewage tunnel running down 33^rd street, you can’t imagine what it was like to watch the black bile bubble up from the drains in the cafeteria when there’d be a «flood!» But the cafeteria workers were always prepared– they’d smear it around with a mop and then get out a big fan and blow the stink into the eating area! Ha– I hope the plumbing and food has changed since the 90s! Plus if you’re in to D&D, there’d always be a huge party of those guys in the cafeteria on Fri and Sat nights– they’d be there when I left and they’d be there at 4AM when I returned– many worlds were conquered, I’m sure.
I wasn’t in a Frat, but this may be the only school on earth where being in a Frat is actually cool! Seriously! When the geek factor’s this high, being in a Frat just means you have a couple of friends and have had a beer before. I liked the Frat guys– man is it weird typing that! The frat houses are pretty cool too– a compound of square, cinderblock cubes!
There are some pretty cool underground tunnels all over the campus too, and the student radio station was pretty cool. And those new dorms are amazing– talk about having a Kool haus!
And when I was there they had a bar in the student union called the BOG– terrible bands would play on Thursday nights– I once watched a guy dance with his own chair– don’t laugh, he had the best looking date in the place! (insert rimshot) Unfortunately I heard the BOG is gone, but students here are just a short bike ride from Skylark in Pilsen, so I don’t feel sorry for them one bit. Plus you can walk to Sox Park, Chinatown and Bridgeport’s going to be fancy one day– I never would have believed it, but it’s changing!
So I love IIT, and I’m glad I went there. I worked my tail off, met some good friends, and had some great college experiences too– just be prepared to supply your own girlfriend, and when you do, don’t let her near those drooling D&D guys.

The Illinois Institute of Technology campus was one of the great creations by legendary architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Crown Hall is one of the world-​renowned buildings and has been commemorated on postage stamps. The new kid on the block is the brash bright orange McCormick Tribune Campus Center by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas. It is a shocking contrast to the Miesian grid of the campus, but it is a breath of fresh air. If you are in the neighborhood to see a White Sox game, check out IIT too.