Tired of the conception that going to the University of Illinois is the safe option? Dana Al-Qadi says it's about time to give that line a rest and acknowledge the excitement and opportunity that is available at one of the top universities in the nation.

DANA AL-QADI
Gargoyle senior editor
Posted Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Opinions

I GUESS IT is time for me to get over my self-imposed rule of not donning Illinois apparel, considering I am attending UIUC next fall. But I guess more importantly, it is time for me to get over the nagging feeling that I am not fulfilling my potential by “staying” here.

People who know me also know that I can be fairly subtle, and my response to my involuntary relocation to Champaign-Urbana almost three years ago was no exception. Call it juvenile, but I simply refused to flaunt the blue and orange of the Illini. But refusing to wear the clothing of the university you will be attending transcends immature but satisfying reactions and creeps into the territory of absurdity.

Yet how can I do that when I feel that my excitement for next year is slightly dampened at times by the prospect that attending UIUC is perceived as the safe option?

In the fall, Uni college counselor Lisa Micele came to the seniors during an English class to walk them through the UIUC application.

“Don't forget, you have to respect the application and treat it as you would treat any other college application,” Micele warned. “It reflects poorly on you and Uni when admissions officers see that you are treating their college as a backup. And trust me, they can tell.”

The reality?

I completed my UIUC application the night before it was due. Of course, I made a point to make sure that my essays were spiffy and that my application came across well, but I did not nearly invest the same amount of time into it as I did other applications.

Not only was the sense of urgency that I felt with every other application missing, but the adrenaline rush and excitement of actually filling out a college application was also lacking. Maybe this was because I was not particularly afraid of rejection.

The Uni home page says that Uni is “a unique part of the University of Illinois campus.” And ultimately, Uni is a lab school for UIUC, yet unlike most lab schools, Uni answers to the provost rather than to the College of Education. But according to Micele, the connection that Uni has with UIUC does not mean that Uni students are “shoo-in” applicants.

“There has always been a myth that all Uni kids are going to get in,” she explains. “But that's not true. UIUC wants to attract bright students, and many of our students fit that bill. In fact, sometimes when I go over and do a pre-application review, they will tell me that a student looks risky and may not get in. And then I have to sit with that student and talk to them.”

Perhaps part of the allure is lost because it is an in-town university and one that Uni students are so familiar with. In my two short years at Uni, I have already frolicked across the Quad, spilled grease from a Derald's burger, attended lectures at Lincoln Hall, and done things I probably should not have at Grainger. I haven't even seen my high school diploma yet, and I've probably experienced more on campus than some current UIUC students.

“It's probably really easy to forget that UIUC is one of the top schools in the nation, especially in engineering because we've spent so much time here that it becomes ‘just the U of I,'” says senior Rohun Palekar, who will also attend UIUC in the fall.

As yet another Uni achiever who hates to settle for less than impeccable, I don't want to “just” attend a school or “stay” at a school. I want to feel that I am off to new and better things.

And I am.

According to Uni 2006 alum and UIUC freshman Josie Chambers, UIUC is vast enough to provide a very different experience for incoming Uni students than what they're used to.

“In general I still felt like it was a new environment for me with new college friends and college classes,” she says.

Another Uni 2006 alum and UIUC freshman, Roveiza Irfan, adds to that sentiment.

“At least for me, I had a very false image of UIUC coming from Uni,” she says. “Although Uni is on the same campus and utilizes a lot of the same resources, you can't even compare the experience of being in a class of 60 on this campus to being in a class of 7,000 on the very same campus. I don't think there is any part of the UIUC freshman experience that is remotely similar to going to high school on the same campus for five years.”

And as I've talked to more and more professors, I realize that there are so many opportunities that I can tap into as a student to create a successful career for myself that I did not even know existed.

“UIUC is a huge school, but the perk is that you can make a large school smaller, but you can't make a small school bigger,” adds Irfan.

I've also realized that I am not “staying” anywhere and I am not “selling myself short”; I made a choice that suited me and the directions I would like to take in life at this point.

College is exciting. It is an opportunity to take what you've gained in high school and flaunt it at the next level. It is also an opportunity to kick up a notch whatever was lackluster before.

I am excited to start a future that I am determined to make as impactful and interesting as possible. And UIUC is not only not a bland step on the way to that, it is an experience I look forward to.