Western Illinois University Admission
Western Illinois University Undergraduate Program
Western Illinois University Application

The Facts

Western Illinois University is a rather large, public institution located in the town of Macomb, Illinois, and is home to over 10,000 undergraduate students and approximately 4,000 graduate and part-time professional students. The students are able to take courses in one of the university’s 5 undergraduate schools or 1 graduate school, which offer academic programs in the areas of the liberal arts, as well as preprofessional studies. These academic divisions offer broad majors in the areas of agriculture, biological science, business, communications and the arts, (which includes an excellent journalism program) computer and physical science, education, (home to a unique major in industrial sciences) engineering and environmental design, (which includes a unique manufacturing technology program) health professions, as well as the social sciences. Western Illinois University offers its students a fairly wide variety of majors in both the liberal arts and preprofessional sciences, however, some of the most popular with students include majors in the areas of accounting, chemistry, human resource management, communication, law enforcement, as well as justice administration.

Admission to Western Illinois University is quite competitive, particularly as more qualified out of state students apply with each passing admissions cycle. Last year, over 12,250 students applied for admission to the school and approximately 7,425 of those students were accepted. Eventually however, only about 3,000 of the admitted students actually enrolled for the coming Fall semester. The admitted students had an average combined SAT score ranging from 1080 to 1150, and an average comprehensive ACT score ranging from 23 to 30. Additionally, more than 80% of the admitted students were ranked in the top 10% of their high school graduating class with an average high school GPA of about a 3.75.

Western Illinois University has a very manageabable student to faculty ratio of 16:1, which is exceptional considering that it is a state-funded school of considerable size. There a number of general education courses that are held in lecture halls, however, they are usually supplemented by a seminar class where students get to discuss the content of the previous lectures. Normally, it is quite rare to find a class at any level with more than 18 students.

The Social Scene

The town of Macomb is quite rural, and doesn’t offer students much in the way of entertainment, unfortunately. The city of St. Louis, Missouri is about 151 miles away, and some students with cars make the trek on the weekends, however, most students just stay on campus, where there are certainly plenty of things to do. The university is home to 28 national fraternities and sororities, and needless to say, Greek life is a big part of campus life in general. The Greeks basically dictate the on campus social life, and a large portion of the student body belongs to a Greek organization. Drinking is the most popular mode of social interaction, particularly at the big weekend soirees.

The dating scene is quite diverse, and we hear there are some lovely midwestern lads and lassies...

What’s Good

“I love how everyone is so active in on campus social life. It makes weekends worth sticking around for.”

“Even though the school is big, our classes manage to be small, which is awesome.”

“I love being in such a peaceful, rural area. It makes focusing on studies a heck of a lot easier!”

What’s Bad

“There is just way too much partying going on. People lose focus of what’s really important.”

“We are literally located out in the middle of nowhere! There’s nothing for miles and miles and miles!”

“There are a lot of students here who haven’t seemed to move past high school. That really gets on my nerves.”

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