Reviewed on Jun 25, 2025(Enrolled 2023)
What Students Say
Likes
- Professor are very friendly and supportive
- Diversity of students and culture where you can celebrate every festival
- Campus is good and cozy and nice
Dislikes
- There are very few such as limited lab resources
- Overcrowded classes as it made difficult to cope-up
- Late-nights lecture flexibility like at night it's isn't safe and cultural events sometimes overshadow academic process like exams, assignments deadline and projects.
Course Curriculum
10
- My course curriculum was easy and not much of a hurdle. It was a mix of both. Like there was a lab manual and theory lessons too. For me, a positive aspects was i was able to learn a few things that are required for my career goals and a negative aspect was that only limited subjects could be registered for in a semester. This makes it a hard decision which one to go out in.
- During my time i used to have 3 classes in day and weekly, only 2 times I had to go to uni. Usual timings would be during the morning and afternoon and evening, 6-9pm. My branch has an average of 15-20 students. Most of them were indian only 2 were american.
Admission Experience
- I applied to five universities for the Information Systems programme: Northeastern University, Syracuse University, Illinois Institute of Technology, Pace University, and DePaul University. While I was waitlisted at Syracuse University due to a deferral to the next fall intake, I received admission offers from the other four universities. I choose to go with the Illinois Institute of Technology.
- I chose Illinois Institute of Technology because they had courses in which I wanted to learn deeply, and they gave scholarships to students who got a 3.8 gpa higher during their bachelor's, so I was one of them. Admission process was simple, as I applied in mid march my application fee was waived due to women's day. The documents needed were academic transcripts of bachelors, a statement of purpose, letters of recommendation from 3 professors/managers and a scholar report. Eligibility criteria were 94 marks in toefl, 120 and above for duolingo and gre was waived off. I gave duolingo exam and scored 145/160 marks. If I have to describe my overall experience, it was smooth because I was in touch with campus advisor Ryan Nelson, who helped me with all doubts and supported throughout the application.
- I applied to the fall intake as I graduated with my bachelor's degree in May 2023 and i dont want to have any career gaps so went with the fall decision. I started applying in March and gave my exam in december and the application process took 2 months for me, from March to May and in June I scheduled my visa interview immediately after I received my admission in mid-May.
Faculty
10
- The faculty-to-student ratio is good, so we get personal attention and support. Teaching is practical, with real-world examples and projects that help prepare for jobs.
- Some professors also share job or internship leads from their networks. I admire Prof. Steve Rubinow and Prof. Ramesh Rao for being very supportive and always ready to help students inside and outside class.
Campus Life
10
- Our university has four campuses. The main campus is in Mies Campus, which is located in Bronzeville, Chicago. Second is The Conviser Law Centre in downtown Chicago, which hosts Chicago-Kent College of Law and business-related graduate programmes. Third is The Rice Campus in Wheaton, which focuses on information technology and management programmes, particularly for working professionals. Lastly Lastly, the Moffett Campus in Bedford Park is dedicated to food safety and health research, housing the Institute for Food Safety and Health. All the facilities are available, such as a swimming pool, zumba classes, a gym, a badminton court, a volleyball court, a library, an interview room and a library space room for group discussion. All the festivals are celebrated, such as ganpati, some cricket matches, badminton matches, and volleyball matches by the ISA organisation, and TEDx talks by TEDxIllinois Tech as I was part of it and many more.
Part Time Jobs
- Most of the students secure TA and RA positions, and the pay range is around $15-20 per hour. Other on-campus jobs are working in commons i.e kitchen or library assistant or student assistant like there are several on-campus jobs; you can check it on the Handshake portal and you can see the openings. Maximum hours allowed are 30 hrs/week, depending upon the job position; some might go up, and some might go down. It's not that difficult or neither easy; it's medium and if you have referrals or know someone, it's easy to get it. But it's a subjective answer. My friend got without referral and some got with a referral.
- Typically they earn more than $15 per hour, and again, it's a subjective answer; it depends upon how they secure it. Most of them get part-time jobs easily. Usual process is you need to talk to the career services club and then look for permission to work like you need to have permission from the uni that you want to work part-time; this is typically known as CPT and then once you file it, it's a win-win. Then go to handshake upload your resume and offer letter and some certificates provided and helped by career services. Once they approve you, you will get a new I-20, and you are ready to work. Typical time is 2 weeks.
Placement
8
- Now the job market is bad so it's difficult to secure a job. I believe after 1 year it might go well. Some have secure jobs; some haven't. Average salary range depends upon the position you apply for. Like for CS it starts from 80K; for project manager, it starts from 70k. Major companies like JP morgan Chase, Amazon, and Microsoft—and yes, my batchmate is working there.
Accommodation
Off Campus
8
- I used discord and my consultancy shared some numbers of those who were in my university. My monthly rent includes $325 with utilities like a fridge, gas and water. The only challenging part was not being able to be in touch with the broker or owner. Because of the time difference, it took quite a long time to finalize a house. So I suggest you find it as soon as possible.
- I would say search on linkedin; reach out to seniors and ask them if they have any leads and they might share whatsapp group of accommodations. And my house is like 10 minutes away from uni by walking.
Exams
- Back in 2023 duolingo and toefl were enough. But nowadays each university is asking for GRE, Toefl and very little in duolingo. The documents needed included my Statement of Purpose (SOP) explaining why I wanted to study the course, Letters of Recommendation (LORs) from my professors and some certificates showing extracurricular activities to show a balanced life.
- There was no interview as part of my admission process. My application was judged based on my grades, test scores, and submitted documents. The whole process was online and pretty straightforward.
Fees
- Tuition fees were $33,294, Living expenses were $15,790, and health insurance is 1,973 so the total is $51,057. As I got a scholarship of $12,000 each semester, I had to pay less in fees. Cost estimation: if you are living in a shared room, then the minimum it will go for is $400, and utilities are like $110 per month and internet is $12 each and for transportation, if you take a travel pass from college for 3 months, it is $158 for unlimited travel and for groceries, it will go for above like $75, plus depending upon one's needs.
Scholarship
- Yes, I received a scholarship. To be eligible for a scholarship, you need to have a 3.8 gpa or higher during your bachelor's degree. Few of them received scholarships along with me. But if you choose Computer Science branch and score a 3.5 gpa and higher you will get a scholarship. It depends from branch to branch. Not sure about average but a few of them surely get it.
