Jennifer
My HS is best known for sports i guess and my alma mattar is known for research and having a beautiful campus. My school is also known for extremly bright students, hard working students and the newest med school on the block. We are known for having great alumni and did i mention football.
Benjamin
Academically, our school is known for engineering. We have one of the highest rated engineering schools on the planet. In essence though, our school is known for its academics in general. We are a very prestegious college with exceptional professors and abundant resources. Not only are our academic scores through the roof, the options of extracurricular activities are abundant and also, highly notable. Ranging from academics to sports, we excel in our extracurricular activities putting emphasis on hard work and dedication while still progressively excelling in the classroom.
Joyce
I would say that our school is best known for its top programs in the country, such as in Psychology, Engineering, and Business. Major cities visit UIUC for interviews and job fairs to recruit some of the best and brightest in the nation. The students becoming the best and the brightest really, however, are from the widely-known Professors we have on campus.
Jennifer
Engineering, computer science, accounting, psychology. Also unofficial.
Jasmine
University of Illinois is best known for its Engineering programs, because we have one of the best programs in the nation. We are also known as a party school, because there is a very active Greek system, along with a variety of other parties.
Jordan
My school is best known for two things. The first is the Morrow Plots which were the first experimental agricultural plots at a University. They were used to find that soil quality matters when growing crops. The second thing is the best band in the land--the nations's premiere college marching band, your University of Illinois Marching Illini!
Danielle
My favorite campus tradition is by far Unofficial. Unofficial is short for "Unofficial St. Patrick's Day", founded because St. Patrick's day almost always falls over spring break, so no students get to celebrate together. Unofficial is huge here and students from all the surrounding universities beg their friends that go here to stay with them so they can experience the madness. Everyone invests in t-shirts, sweatshirts, jerseys, and whatever else they decide to buy. Everyone has fun and celebrates St. Patrick's day in whatever way they see fit.
Chad
Engineering and Research
Dillon
My favorite campus tradition was the chief, and now I guess it's trying to get him back, though I think that ship has sailed, sadly. Also Orange Krush, it makes the basketball games pretty interesting. And orange. Also Unofficial, our very own crazy made-up holiday, which is always a good time and one of the most memorable nights save maybe Halloween.
David
Since the mascot has been banned from campus, we have to stick to chanting "I-L-L I-N-I" at sporting events. That's our "go-to" crowd participation maneuver.
Besides that, we have a fun homecoming every year. I look forward to seeing how the Alma Mater will be dressed. It's that big greenish black statue near the Quad/Union. You can't miss it. The things we do to that poor statue... wow. Actually, I quite enjoy seeing what our students come up with next. It's held a guitar, worn a santa hat, a giant orange shirt, mardi gras beads, graduation attire, sun glasses, gold medals and the list goes on.
Corey
There are a lot of traditions on campus that I look forward to all year. The biggest and most-well known tradition is Unofficial St. Patrick's Day, or Unofficial. This exists because St. Patrick's Day, a popular drinking day across the country, usually takes place during Spring Break. Therefore, kids don't get to celebrate the holiday at college, which is preferred. Consequently, Unofficial was created for this purpose. Last year, it was funny that St. Patty's Day took place while we were at school, but we had Unofficial anyways. Unofficial is usually celebrated by drinking immediately when you get up to the wee hours of the morning. There are parties everywhere in apartments, fraternities, and the main street, Green Street. So even if you're not into drinking, a walk down Green Street during Unofficial can turn out to be very entertaining.
I also love attending sporting events, particularly football and basketball, which are rich with campus tradition. About 5 years ago, one of the best traditions in college sports was outlawed at the university. That tradition is the dance of Chief Illiniwek at football and basketball games that was in place for 81 years. I witnessed his second to last dance ever, a very memorable moment in my life. Even though the Chief is gone, we still honor him at halftime during football and basketball games by playing the song he used to dance to and following along with it.
Corey
There are a lot of traditions on campus that I look forward to all year. The biggest and most-well known tradition is Unofficial St. Patrick's Day, or Unofficial. This exists because St. Patrick's Day, a popular drinking day across the country, usually takes place during Spring Break. Therefore, kids don't get to celebrate the holiday at college, which is preferred. Consequently, Unofficial was created for this purpose. Last year, it was funny that St. Patty's Day took place while we were at school, but we had Unofficial anyways. Unofficial is usually celebrated by drinking immediately when you get up to the wee hours of the morning. There are parties everywhere in apartments, fraternities, and the main street, Green Street. So even if you're not into drinking, a walk down Green Street during Unofficial can turn out to be very entertaining.
I also love attending sporting events, particularly football and basketball, which are rich with campus tradition. About 5 years ago, one of the best traditions in college sports was outlawed at the university. That tradition is the dance of Chief Illiniwek at football and basketball games that was in place for 81 years. I witnessed his second to last dance ever, a very memorable moment in my life. Even though the Chief is gone, we still honor him at halftime during football and basketball games by playing the song he used to dance to and following along with it.
Martin
I-Help at the beginning of Homecoming week focuses on a mass blitz of various local charities. It is a great way for new students to get involved in service and meet other like minded students.
Aniya
My school is best known for the ranking of the colleges, the diversity, and for being a big ten, ivy league school. Many students choose to attend the University of Illinois for graduate school because of what the colleges has to offer far as jobs, help, and other connections. The diversity on the campus allows students to experience the ideas of different cultures and to branch out and meet others as well. My school also had an amazing football and volleyball season, and is currently havng an outstanding seasn for the women's and men's basketball team.
Emily
There are sooooooo many traditions that happen at Illinois that I could write a novel! But just to name a few, I would have to start with Homecoming. There are a variety of traditions that occur during the week of Homecoming such as dressing up the Alma Mater, everyone wearing orange and blue on the Wednesday of Homecoming week, the parade on the Friday night before the game, all of the alumni coming back, Greek life welcoming back their alumni with traditions, the list goes on and on.
Other traditions include Quad Day which is when all of the registered student organizations (clubs...we have over 1200 of them) line the Quad and students can go to the booths and sign up for the email lists, get information and talk to executive members of each organization.
Other traditions include the annual wheelchair basketball for charity game in which our men's and women's basketball teams will sit in wheelchairs and play our men's and women's wheelchair basketball team which is an epic and fun game to watch!
There are so many traditions that I would have to speak to you in order to talk about all of them!
Ivy
The University of Illinois is best known for its Big Ten Membership(Go ILLINI!), the campus pride atomosphere, its prestige, and its research-driven curriculums. U of I students work hard, and play harder. The campus is brimming with very smart students who know how to have a good time, and who are making the most out of their college careers. U of I is known as one of the top sientific research universities in the nation, and also as a campus that encourages cultural diversity, as the campus encourages and works well with study abroad programs.
Lauren
I think one of my favorite annual campus traditions is football season. And yes, many schools have football teams and have the fall-football atmosphere and excitement. But at Illinois, football season has always struck me as being a unique celebration on this campus. Illinois is a Big Ten school and therefore has a Division I football team, which means that the hype around the games is bigger and more exhilarating. In addition to that, Illinois has a HUGE alumni base (400,000+!!), and many alumni enjoy journeying back to their alma mater to see old friends, grab a tailgate spot, and settle in for an action-packed football game. It's a special tradition to have so many people who love Illinois in one place, and it really begins to feel like a big family come fall semester!
Betsy
One of my favorite campus traditions is the marching band. The University of Illinois marching band is the oldest band that actually marched while playing their instruments. Every year the performances they put out are more impressive than the next.
As a sophomore I played trumpet in the Marching Illini. On the inside the band has even more traditions than those watching from the outside. It took nearly an entire season for me to get used to the chants and jokes the band had within itself- not to mention playing the music itself!
John
My favorite campus tradition is probably football games. I am in a fraternity so we have what is called block. This is when a fraternity and sorority pair up and rent out part of a bar for the mornings before all the football games. Every game day we get up extra early and head to a bar. Block is a great way to meet a lot of people and get your school spirit going. After socializing for a while we'll head over to the stadium for the game. It's a great feeling walking into the stadium and seeing everyone dressed in orange ready to cheer on the Illini. The student section has specific cheers planned out for different parts of the game like kickoffs, first down, and touchdowns, which can be pretty entertaining. There's just something about fall weather and football that make the campus atmosphere that much more exciting.
Genevieve
It is best known for engineering and business. I can definitely testify to this because a majority of my friends are engineering students. I am not an engineering students, but you can find me hanging out with one most of the time.