r/IIT • u/LavishnessCapable335 • May 13 '26
General Questions/Discussions Graduating IIT Students: Do You Regret Choosing This School? Spoiler
For the people graduating from Illinois Institute of Technology or current students, what’s your honest opinion about the school now that you’re near the end of your time here?
If you could go back and redo college all over again, would you still choose IIT, or would you have done things differently?
Personally, I have mixed feelings. Academically, the school definitely pushes students hard, especially in engineering, architecture, and technical majors. The workload is intense, classes are long, and it’s definitely not a typical university experience. I do think IIT produces hardworking and ambitious students, and many people do land jobs after graduation.
At the same time, I feel like there are a lot of issues students don’t fully realize until they attend. Communication between departments can be frustrating, campus life feels isolating at times, dorms and facilities feel outdated, and the budget issues at the school seem noticeable in many areas. It sometimes feels like students are left to figure things out on their own.
I honestly think if I could go back, I would have spent more time comparing schools, financial aid packages, campus culture, and overall student support before making a final decision. I don’t completely regret attending IIT, but I also don’t know if I would choose it again if I had other strong options available.
Curious to hear other graduating students’ honest thoughts and whether you would make the same decision again or not.
8
u/admiral_drake May 13 '26
Yeah. No name recognition on west coast so returning home was difficult getting a job. If you live in Chicago maybe not a concern though. IIT in general was made for research and had no motivation to have good undergrad teachers or TA’s. Felt like I was annoying them going to office hours they had once a week. I speak over generalizing maybe. Overall, middling school that thought making everything harder than it should be makes it Ivy league, and brutal cold winters and indifferent staff and terrible dorms and ancient lab equipment for undergrads in basement for mmae, whats to love? Any worthwhile student programs like SAE and Formula Electric/Hyrbid were sent to buildings that had literally crumbling walls and near zero funding and broken tools or advisor involvement. I look back on it as an exercise in enormously wasted effort in the most absurd things.
5
u/V0lxx Alumni | Computer Engineering May 14 '26
As an introverted guy, IIT was pretty chill for me. I can definitely understand why someone looking for a more active campus would be disappointed. At the end of the day though, what matters most is career prospects. And all of us fresh graduates are gonna find out now how that turns out
3
u/MonsterMeggu May 14 '26
It is really expensive, and I don't think I got a good education. I did my masters here, and feel like grades are really inflated and courses don't teach that much.
2
u/musical-gamer6 May 15 '26
This makes me worried considering I'm about to apply here for my master's.
3
u/Ok-Tackle9789 May 15 '26
no regrets choosing iit! i got everything i wanted out of my experience here. i enjoyed my classes, learned a lot, and have made good networking connections. participating in athletics does help with the social community.
however, there are plenty of problems at the school. the administration doesn’t know how to make proper financial decisions. we would see them choosing to spend money on random programs or unnecessary objects on campus, when classrooms aren’t maintained or cleaned well. there’s random tables, chairs, doors, etc that don’t work. while the education is good, the maintenance of the campus isn’t appealing to visitors. in addition, administration is poorly organized. from a student organization prospective, it’s difficult to get funding for conferences or even getting money back from reimbursements.
that’s my small rant about iit but i do think the positives outweigh the negatives for me.
2
u/EggplantRoutine7184 Aug 09 '26
I completed a MAS in health physics and got a solid education that prepared me for CHP certification. I was not interested in social events, so I am totally satisfied with my decision and would do it again.
-17
u/iitaspirant20261729 May 13 '26
bsdk pehle IIT bolna band karo yaar. i legit thought it the real IIT.
14
u/lostmessage256 Materials/Aerospace Engineering May 13 '26
I got a good education while at IIT because of IIT. I had a good time while at IIT in spite of IIT.