As I entered high school, I was dead set against going to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. I wanted to get out of Illinois. I wanted to go to an Ivy League. I wanted to go to one of the top ten universities in the United States. I told my parents that U of I was in-state, so I couldn’t go there. Plus, everyone goes to U of I. One in sixteen seniors in my graduating high school class went to U of I, so clearly it was the easy way out and it wasn’t impressive enough for me.

And then I visited U of I. I didn’t want to, but my mom forced me to check it out because going in-state meant fewer loans. I went in with a bad attitude and was assuming that I would hate it because it was not what I had in mind when I thought “college.” It wasn’t ugly, but it wasn’t the most beautiful campus I had ever seen. I was immediately thrown off by that because I wanted to go to a gorgeous school in the greater US.

I sat down for the presentation that the admissions counselor were about to give me and was taken aback by how impressed I was and at ease I felt. It was a standard “come to my school” speech, but something was different. While going through the slideshow, it was hard for me to find much that I didn’t like about the variety of programs and clubs and activities available. Though I was warming up to the school, I still felt as though because it was in state and “practically everyone goes here,” it wasn’t good enough for me.

Then the tour began and I fell in love with the campus. I don’t want to be cheesy, but I felt at home. Walking across the quad I could imagine myself walking to class some warm afternoon. I could tell that even though the school is huge, it has a very inclusive and communal feel. At that point, I was sold.

That day, I was not aware of how competitive U of I is. I was not aware of the acclaimed programs that are offered. I was not aware of the high rankings of the school or the rigor of the classes.

I’ve had friends say that U of I is a safety school simply because it is in-state, public, and a gigantic campus. I am here to say that that is not the case. To all prospective students, I advise you not to write it off simply because of these things.

I have sat in on many classes at different universities after being a student at UIUC, and I can tell you that very few of them compare to the level of difficulty of the U of I classes. I have compared my workload to my friends’ workloads at different schools, and I can safely say that U of I has one of the heaviest.

I love college and I love the University of Illinois. I did not write this to say “poor me, I have the hardest college of all my friends,” because that is not the case. College is hard wherever you go. I wrote this piece because people do not give UIUC the credit that it deserves and it truly pains me because people are missing out on such great opportunities by making assumptions about the campus based on what they think they know.

To all of you, I leave you with one last statement: The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is NOT a safety school.