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Southern Illinois History

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As seniors in high school, our minds are all about graduation and what the next step in our lives are going to be. Many students plan on going to college after they graduate; however, deciding what college to go to is one of the hardest decisions most seniors have to make. I have narrowed it down to two colleges, The University of Illinois and Southern Illinois University. After close examination of the factors of the history of the school, admission, tuition, campus, and academics, I decided rather then going to The University of Illinois I should attend Southern Illinois University.
The history of The University of Illinois and Southern Illinois University is not well known by most people. The University of Illinois was founded in 1867 …show more content…

John Milton Gregory, the first president, wanted the college to mainly be about liberal arts. This was a little odd because Illinois residents wanted the University to be more of an industrial college. When the University first opened, the original name was Illinois Industrial University; however, in 1885, it was renamed to The University of Illinois. The University changed its name because it added multiple majors that were not all about industrial education. Since the college became more well-rounded, more students, both national and international, joined in the early 1900’s. The student population is not the only number that grew, the library was and still is one of the largest libraries in the world ("University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign."). In 1869, Southern Illinois University was founded. It was known to be Illinois second best teaching college (“SIU History”). Between 1950 through 1980, the need for higher education increased; therefore, increasing the size of Southern Illinois University from 3,500 to over 23,000. Since the student population increased so much, Southern Illinois University …show more content…

The University of Illinois and Southern Illinois University both have beautiful campus’s. The University of Illinois is located in the middle of Urbana and Champaign area. For those who may not know where this is, it is surrounded by cornfields. Of course the two cities are right there, but once the city limits come to an end, the only view is cornfields and nothing else. However, getting over the fact that it is surrounded by cornfields, the campus itself is amazing. Since the University is quite old, the buildings have kept the same architect as before. There are twenty-two university resident halls and fifteen private housing buildings. The dorm halls are not too far away from the academic buildings, but on a cold,winter day it may feel like the buildings are miles away. During the winter, they receive a lot of snow. The weather at the University is similar to Chicago's weather. Besides the weather, at the center of the campus there is a quad and a bell tower. The quad is unusual. When they first built the campus, in the center of the building, there was a grass covered area. As the college grew, this became the quad. The quad is used for students to walk to class and relax in. The University noticed as the students were walking through the quad, the grass was getting worn out and just turning to mud. So, the University decided to put sidewalks where they noticed the

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