At Lake Zurich High School, there’s a variety of colleges that students typically attend. The list can be found here, on the school’s profile. While the majority of these schools are in Illinois, not all Illinois schools get many students from LZHS. While distance is not the only factor, it is a factor to consider.
Distance or Dissonance
While many students can be afraid of going to a college farther from home, there are some benefits. For example, according to the Honor Society, an organization dedicated to helping students find opportunities and colleges helpful to them, there are many pros of distance colleges.
One major example is independence. One is less likely to be expected to visit or get randomly visited at a college hours away from home. There is also a separation from other people at LZHS. For example, Colleges in the city typically have more people from the city, and more rural colleges tend to have people from more rural areas. This also means more diversity, as going to a college different from an area one grew up in can lead to new and diverse experiences
However, these colleges can come with downsides as well. Some students may have difficulty adjusting to the new environment. College raptor repeats some ideas as honor society but points out unique negatives. For example, in an emergency it could take hours for family members to physically arrive. It has the chance to create strain, due to distance from people already known.
As a junior, this has been one of the many factors that have gone into my college search, and a factor I’ve noticed when seeing others talk about college. Two colleges that, according to the Lake Zurich graduates list less than five people attend each year, these being Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and Southern Illinois University Carbondale. These are two colleges I have majorly considered, and while distance can be a persuading factor, there are other things to consider than just how far away it is.
Edwardsville
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville is a college 25 minutes away from Saint Louis and 4 hours from Lake Zurich. This is only one hour away from The University of Urbana-Champaign, which students from LZHS go to often, and the district receives teachers from according to their report found here.
SIUE, however, does have benefits for students. Sitting around 14,000 students, there is a class size of 20 students that allows for a connection with the educators. SIUE was built with the community, with an open arboretum covering much of campus. The college itself is also rather modern, being built in the 1950’s.
“Southern Illinois University Edwardsville is a student-centered educational community dedicated to communicating, expanding and integrating knowledge,” SIUE’s mission page states. “In a spirit of collaboration enriched by diverse ideas, our comprehensive and unique array of undergraduate and graduate programs develop professionals, scholars and leaders who shape a changing world.”
Edwardsville is also well known for their balance of academics and sports, having a D1 basketball team. They do not have higher education schools, which I personally do not appreciate as someone striving for law school. However, many of the qualities that they have do outweigh this as a consideration for undergraduates, as they have a Philosophy of law program and research options, such as Undergraduate Research and Creative activities, or URCA. This program would allow for research on topics working with professors, and having a one on one experience.
Carbondale
Southern Illinois University Carbondale is near the tip of the state, being about 6 hours away from Lake Zurich. This is one of the farther colleges, but is about the same drive time from LZ to University of Kentucky according to Apple Maps.
SIUC also is an R1 school, meaning they have research opportunities starting in freshman year. SIUC has a flat tuition with no out of state tuition, which allows for more diversity on campus. They have a variety of scholarships, such as for business and engineering.
“At Southern Illinois University Carbondale, overcoming barriers to discovery and education isn’t just our mission—it’s a commitment woven into the fabric of our community,” SIUC’s tuition page said.
The college is much older, having been around since 1869. This allows them to have a law school and a medical school, according to their front page. One of the benefits I would like here is their law school, and getting to go straight through. Another benefit is the weather, as Carbondale is a more southern city they tend to have warmer weather. SIUC also has a beautiful campus, with many hiking trails.
Overall, the choice is the students on where to go. However, these distanced collages should still be considered with distance not being as major of a factor.
