Has anyone here ever been to Urbana-Champaign Illinois?

[JVS]

If you have, please describe it.

[pmbryant]

1. Mid-size college town

Surrounded by cornfields.

Spent a couple weeks there in the summer of 1985, so that's about all I can really say.

--Peter

[Westegg]

7. Hey, me too!

About a week in the summer of '85. I had a couple of good pals from C-U, so I stopped there on a cross-country drive. I thought it was a fine, mellow college town with a very Midwestern feel to it. Whenever I see Linklater's movie "Slacker," I am always reminded of C-U. My friends both had parents who were profs at the university, but Urbana, by and large, didn't have a major "town-gown" division in terms of attitude and lifestyle, which I was glad to see. (I'd just spent four years in college in Ithaca New York, where there WAS that kind of schism.) My one friend, Leigh, was forever picking up "Solo" plastic cups and pointing out to anyone who would listen that they were manufactured in C-U. Ha!

[TXlib]

2. KCDem and I lived there as grad students for 8 years, 1992-2000

What do you want to know about it?

[JVS]

5. What are the costs of living like, is it a nice place, would I need my car

what is there to do there. That kind of stuff.

[Beaker]

8. as a student?

or a citizen?

it's an ok place to go to school...but I'd sure as hell never choose to live there otherwise.

[JVS]

9. Grad student

[Beaker]

10. what field?

and where do you live now?

truthfully- the place is a cow-town, and probably better suited to undergrads.

if it were me, i'd look for something more urban, or something with at least some natural splendor or climatalogical reason for going.

unless of course you're an all-study all-the-time kinda person.

[JVS]

11. Math PhD. I live in Pittsburgh right now.

Other than a couple years in Germany, I've lived in Pittsburgh all my life.

[Beaker]

14. well...they DO have some kick-ass computators

for the grad-kids to play with...but the area is a cultural wasteland...seriously...and very flat...in the middle of vast stretches of cornfields.

look for someplace warmer.

or at least closer to civilization.

[Beaker]

12. you wouldn't NEED your car...

but it would come in handy, especially if you live off-campus, or might get the urge for a chicago road-trip.

[JVS]

13. Do they get a lot of snow?

[greatauntoftriplets]

15. Yes, Champaign gets quite a bit of snow.

Also ice storms.

[Beaker]

16. they can...definitely.

and then you're trapped.

I was there in the early 80's, and there were some terrible fucking winters.

what are your other options?

[JVS]

20. They are the first ones to get back to me

Out of the math programs which I applied to they rank quite highly. I applied to University of California Santa Barbara for Economics, kind of as a last resort place to go. Other locations I might end up are Ithaca NY, Ann Arbor MI, Columbus OH, Hanover NH, Madison WI, Providence RI, Philadelphia.

[Beaker]

23. I'd take Madison over champaign any day.

all other things being equal.
even tho' they are farther north.

[hunter]

26. The Cost of Living in Santa Barbara SUCKS!!!!!!!

And there are many, many distractions.

I paid for my undergraduate education at UCSB by cleaning up 80 proof vomit and beach tar, and patching holes kicked in the drywall and painting everything in slum-style student apartments "Navajo White."

The women at UCSB were mostly very dangerous, and they drove much nicer cars than I did.

Oh yeah, I once got into a fight with an Economics TA, and got myself kicked out of school for a few quarters too.

But that was more than twenty years ago...

[JVS]

27. I am hoping for a stipend to go there.

It is on the beach, even though it is also next to the airport

[hunter]

30. Ah, the truth comes out....

You like Santa Barbara.

I was at that airport when Ronald Reagan and Queen Elizabeth blessed it. Reporters would always come into town like swarms of termites whenever Reagan was at his ranch.

I remember the reporters used to drink a lot. I suppose they needed to drink just to keep sane. Reagan was very frightening to watch.

I was just an ignorant student, so I didn't need any excuse to drink, especially when the reporters were buying.

[JVS]

33. I've never seen Santa Barbara but it has two things going for it

1) Beach

2) I should get in with no problem. One of my econ professors even went so far as to refuse to write me a letter or recommendation for UCSB, claiming that I really should go somewhere better.

I figured that if all the other places rejected me, I could do worse than to go to Santa Barbara

[Beaker]

36. why not University of Chicago?

good school, good city...

[JVS]

38. Deadline was Dec. 15th to apply. I had exams

I was only able to get get one application ready for Dec. 15th and that was to the Wharton School's risk management PhD program.

[midnight armadillo]

42. Hanover NH

Hanover is a swell little town, as is Ithaca NY. I'm eyeing Dartmouth for future jobs due to the cheaper housing up there compared w/ boston.

[TXlib]

45. Ithaca NY

Cornell, eh?

I was there for undergrad.

Let me know if you have any questions about that place...

[TXlib]

18. Yes, and it can get very cold.

[TXlib]

17. Our impressions of Champaign-Urbana (aka Shampoo-Banana)

Cost of living is pretty cheap.

Off-campus apartment (Town & Country Apts; I highly recommend them) are right on the Yellow bus line to/from campus, and a 920-square foot apartment cost us about $550/month in rent.

If you're an engineering or CS or physics grad, your stipend for teaching or doing research (50% time) will be about $1,200-$1,300/month. If you're in the humanities... well, I hope you like waiting tables.

If you have a graduate assistanceship, tuition is waived (except for law, MBA or med school).

There is PLENTY to do in Champaign-Urbana. There are so many student activities to choose from, for starters. There is a very large and cohesive ballroom dance club, if you like that thing (highly recommend), a homebrew club, you name it, there's a student club for it.

There are lots of interesting communities in the area to explore. Get involved in the community, so you feel a part of it, or you WILL feel isolated, and feel like it's a barren wasteland.

I would highly recommend a car, or else get a friend who has a car.

[JVS]

21. Sounds good

I've been at Pitt, which has an Urban campus. Rents get high because there is a lot of stuff in Oakland and young non-students also compete for apartments.

[Westegg]

24. But you can't beat "Original" hotdogs...

Sill, not enough reason to live there. I guess.

[JVS]

29. The true O food is the fries. Huge huge quanties of fries.

[Beaker]

3. yes.

a medium-sized college town in the middle of a vast nuthin'...but with so few cultural distractions, it's easy to stay concentrated on the studies thing- if that's what you want.

[Beaker]

6. also...

there's a 9-foot brick wall on the southside of IMPE that's easily gotten over, to give you full access to the football stadium in the middle of the night.

[displacedtexan]

4. It's Champaign-Urbana, BTW.

The area around the university is okay (nothing to write home about). Otherwise, it's pretty boring. Dallas and Company (magic and costume shop) is fun, especially in October.

[TXlib]

19. I've also heard Urbana-Champaign, but less frequently.

[Bossy Monkey]

34. Was, but at some point for some reason they changed it

which is especially odd since Champaign comes first either in alphabetical order or left to right and also is apparently the county seat. Go figure.

[PVnRT]

22. Basically, it's a college town

Lots of bars, things like that - it's an awful lot like Bloomington, IN, if you've ever been there. Nice place to visit and party in, but I probably wouldn't want to live there for an extended period of time.

[tishaLA]

41. You're 100% correct

Just like Bloomington, where I spent the wrost 1 1/2 years of my life trying to transfer to another grad school (thank god I succeeded!). The population in both places is incredibly homogeneous, it is a vast cultural wasteland, although people will isist otherwise (Oh! it has a museum and there are Jewish people! You can see an occassional foreign film in a dumpy theatre with bad sound and projection!).

If you are an undergrad in a frat, it's heaven. If you are married, it's probably tolerable, provided you can get away at every opportunity. If you like R&B and/or hip hop--or if you like to see a black or brown person every now and then--stay away.

[hunter]

25. I loved it.

The land is flat, and there's not much around the city but corn and soybeans. But, wow, I had a wonderful time there. The very least I did in Champaign-Urbana was to write some very wonderful image processing software.

The Mosaic web browser (precursor to Netscape) came from Champaign-Urbana, and so did Mathematica, by Wolfram Research. And PLATO... Need I say more?

Okay, I had access to the university computer network, and I was a computer geek madly in love with the queen of the universe.

We no longer live in Illinois, but we are still married, so perhaps my opinion is a bit biased...

:)

[scarlet_owl]

32. Yup. My dad worked on Mosaic.

He works at NCSA in Urbana. My husband's friend helped develop Mathematica. Lots of technology stuff around here.

[chiburb]

28. Davsand lives there...

PM her (Laura) and ask her anything...

[davsand]

49. I sure do live here! It isn't THAT bad!

OK, we don't have Da Bears or The Colts and we don't have The Rams--but we are about 90 minutes from Downtown Chicago, and about 90 minutes from Indy. It is about 3 hours to St. Louis downtown. We have Amtrak here--it will take you to Union Station for about 20 bucks--and you don't have to drive at all.

Hubby swears we have the best mass transit system anywhere-not having been a fan of mass transit, I can't speak with any authority. The MTD gives students free rides on the buses as part of your student fees--so all you have to do is flash your ID and you are riding for free anywhere in town.

If you DO come here, let me know--I have a couple buddies who are landlords and in property management, and they are good guys--we can set you up with housing that is both cheap as well as safe. You will pay a bit more to be on campus--but if you want to stroll or bike to class, it is great. Frankly, you can bike all over the area and be fine.

We are not metro--in that we don't have large numbers of museums and theaters--but we do have some. We do get some name bands thru here as well as some excellent performers at Krannart Center for the Performing arts. We have several bars that feature live music, and we do have places to go dancing. We also have first run movie theaters--so you really CAN go see the new commercial releases...;)

We do have a Grad Student Union here, they won the right to collective bargaining a couple years ago. And, the local political scene is actually not that conservative there in town. In fact, Urbana is MOST progressive and is the butt of jokes that it is TOO much so! They just passed a city policy to offer same gender partners benefits, in fact. If you want to get active with local politics, I can certainly get you into that end of it as well. (BTW, do talk to me before you register to vote--our County Clerk is an A#1 ass-wipe.)

Our winters do suck. There is no nice way to say it--they just suck. It is cold and we do get about one ice storm per year. The good news is we don't get lake effect snow--so it is LESS than they get up in Chicago area.

It is flat here. Table top flat. It is also the greenest place you'll ever see in the summer. This is some of the richest farmland on the entire planet--and a lot of folks don't know that. I live just outside town up in the North East section of the county. It was settled by a group of Germans WAY back when--and it had been all swamp. They came here, saw it, and promptly put in drainage systems and had a huge bargain in the form of great farmland really cheap!

Property is still cheap here. The average house sells for about $110,000 and I'm talking about 1300 Sq feet that is under 20 years old... No huge crime issues, and it is safe to be out at night in most places. You can certainly sit in your back yard and not have to worry...

Anything else you want to ask, get hold of me--I like this area, and will be glad to do all I can to help you settle in!

Laura

[scarlet_owl]

31. I live there.

It isn't very big, and you can't drive through campus when school is in session, which is unfortunate because there are a lot of good restaurants on campus. I guess it's a place like any other. We have great park districts, of which I am proud to be a volunteer for. It is getting pretty developed in the north end, with all kinds of big-box stores and whatnot. It is EXTREMELY expensive to rent housing here. We pay $500 a month for a small, one bedroom apartment. Rent is even higher as you get closer to campus. We have two excellent hospitals. Anything else you would like to know, just PM me.

[hunter]

35. An "average student" apartment in Santa Barbara is $1100 a month.

A grad student does not want to live in an "average student" apartment. It's a fresh new "OMG!" almost every night and every day.

If I was ever going to attend UCSB again I would have to be absolutely certain I had quiet, secure and affordable housing.

Okay, the beach is nice, even with the tar. Say hello to it for me.

[JVS]

39. I think the post you were responding to was about Champaign-Urbana

[Beaker]

44. he was comparing the price of a student apartment-

scarlet owl posted that a C-U student apartment was "expensive" at $500/month...hunter was pointing out what "expensive" really means.

[JVS]

47. Ah

[scarlet_owl]

50. It's expensive compared to the average wages around here.

I know there are other places that are higher, but housing costs in Champaign are insanely higher than the surrounding area. A larger apartment in neigboring Rantoul is $350 per month. My mother bought a house for $32,000 in another town that, comparably would have cost $100,000 in Champaign. People in my income bracket usually make $7.50-9.00 per hour, so housing is quite a drain. High paying jobs for non-college educated people are hard to come by in Champaign. The highest paying job I have ever had around here was when I was making tips as a waitress, which usually translated into $10/hr.

[stanwyck]

37. It's the prairie

I'm from a small town about an hour away from Champaign-Urbana. The land is Illinois prairie. Or as we say, you can watch your dog run away...for 3 days. When we go back to visit my folks, I always say "it's so pretty!" Cracks up my family. But you get used to the minimalist landscape. Really. It does have its own beauty.

[scarlet_owl]

40. Here in Champaign, well actually Urbana,

we have a thirty acre restored prairie. I do some of my volunteering out there in the early autumn. I dress up as "Prairie Mary" and tell pioneer stories to school groups. Some of those grasses can grow to be ten feet tall and there are some really gorgeous flowers out there.

[stanwyck]

43. Wow! Guess what?

My mother, now quite debilitated by Alzheimer's, was the "Prairie Woman" in our area for many years. She went to schools, church groups, community groups, whatever, and educated people on prairie flora and fauna. She worked very hard to have acreage in our area (Iroquois County) declared "natural prairie" sd that it would be protected. It means so much to me to see your post! My thanks to you for your time and efforts to educate people on the wonderful history of my childhood home. I can't wait to tell my father about you; he'll be thrilled to know there's another "Prairie Woman" out there.

[scarlet_owl]

51. That's so cool!

There are three of us that handle the responsibility during the autumn. We see about three hundred children a week during that time. When it gets too cold, we take the act to the schools. It is so neat to know there have been other "Prairie Women" out there! God bless your mother and all the important work she has done. The prairie needs all the friends it can get!

[TXlib]

46. Hey, we used to go walking in that park!

That's the park that has the random sculptures along the path, right?

[scarlet_owl]

52. Yup. Meadowbrook on Windsor Road.

That's the sculpture walk and in the back, the restored prairie stretches for thirty acres. It is one of the best things about living here.

[Aristus]

48. I'm sorry, JVS......

I'm afraid I can't do that.

Urbana-Champagne. Birthplace of HAL 9000.