Graham, Visiting Campus and Camras Retreat

1. Last December (when I was a prospective student) I came to the Veteran's Day Open House, and remember walking that cold and windy walk from the lot behind SSV to Herman Hall. However, out in front of Perlstein, this guy in a trench coat greeted my dad and I with a smile and a firm handshake, and said how GLAD he was that we were here. He gave me his business card, and I looked at it as we walked away. I was flabbergasted. This guy, Jerry Doyle, head of Fin. Aid and UG Admissions, was standing in the cold greeting strangers like they were neighbors. WHAT THE WORLD?????? This and the warm welcome I received at the Open House sealed the deal - AWESOME!

2. The first ever Camras retreat I went on last month - We had a day of team building and good times at a camp out near Rockford. 17 Camras Scholars went - we all met near MSV in the morning, and we were bussed out to the camp. We played some ice breaker games to begin, and then moved to trust building exercises. In the afternoon, we did group challenges. I got to meet the upperclassmen Camras Scholars. There was a real sense of community and group bonding at the end of the day. We all agreed it was a success and we're gonna do it again. Just illustrates the amazing opportunities available in the students orgs. that we have on campus.

Muyiwa, All-nighters

Knowledgeable people say that experience is the best teacher. I would have to agree with them because the experiences in my life thus far have developed and shaped me into the person that I am today. These experiences span various stages of my life from birth to high school and now-COLLEGE! IIT has afforded me the opportunity to learn, meet a lot of people and have fun in the process. As such, through time I have nurtured and developed new friendships and together created experiences that are unforgettable. Most memorable of such experiences was one that happened in my first year of college.

When I first arrived at IIT as an International Student from Nigeria, I was really excited about coming to an institution that prides itself on a number of different ideals and traditions that are intriguing to say the least. One of such was the finals week tradition where students literally spend the whole week in and around the 24 hour library. I had the opportunity of experiencing that first hand with a number of friends in my first year. We pulled three consecutive “all-nighters” for our final exams in calculus, chemistry and physics respectively.

By the end of the third day funny enough; we were all so excited and jumpy to be finished that we could not sleep or so we thought. We planned to go grab a bite to eat in a couple of hours so I decided to get some shut eye before then. It was 5pm at the time and it was still pretty bright outside. I woke up, looked outside and it was still kind of bright. I figured I had only slept for a couple hours so I got dressed before realizing it was 8am! I had slept about 15 hours! What was even funnier was that everybody else slept till the next day as well! It was such an awesome experience and I would not trade it for anything other than actually studying on time…but when I think about it…nah! And by the way, the “all-nighters” paid off!

If you are a first year student and haven’t applied yet, it’s not too late. Our Early Action I deadline is coming up on December 9. If you are interested in our 5-year professional degree Architecture program or any of our Dual Admission/Special programs in Medicine, Law, Business or Research, please keep in mind your applications must be in by this EA I deadline.

By the way, if you have the chance, please stop by IIT and visit us!  We offer individual meetings with admission counselors and campus tours Monday-Friday at 12:45 p.m. Our Open House on Saturday, November 14 is a great way to find out if IIT is right for you. More info can be found here.

Have a great week!

Jill Sifuentes

Associate Director

Alicia, Homecoming Week

I have made many memories during my time here at Illinois Institute of Technology, that it’s hard to choose just one! One memory that stands out the most for me is when I first arrived as a freshman on campus. It was Homecoming Week, and I was just starting to meet new people. I was having a hard time with the transition from high school to college, so I joined quite a few different student organizations in hope of making new friends and to have fun on campus. There were quite a few different groups that welcomed me, including UB (Union Board), LIFE (Latinos Involved in Furthering Education), and SHPE (Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers).

During homecoming week, UB was in need to volunteers, and since I never had the opportunity to participate in such a huge event like homecoming at my previous school, I was very excited! When it was the day of the Homecoming Carnival, I actually helped create two golf cart floats for the Homecoming Parade and was asked to lead the parade! Everyone was very polite and friendly, and I created many new friendships with my fellow classmates. I am extremely happy to have made the decision to come to IIT, for I feel very accepted here and I don’t think I could find any other place that I would want to be.

Shezami, IPRO Day Spring 2008

I was involved in an IPRO called “Designing an Artificial Pancreas”  which was concerned with developing a non-evasive method for measuring blood glucose level and injecting the appropriate amount of insulin at specific time intervals. Initially I had chosen this IPRO based merely on the fact that it sounded so interesting and innovative but once the project went underway I became very passionate about it.

About 3 million people in America suffer from Diabetes and the fact that we could maybe develop an equipment to relieve them from the pain, they have to suffer to get a drop of blood and inject insulin, really inspired me. This IPRO exploited my full potential and allowed me apply my knowledge in real life problems. It was an IPRO of only 10 students and we learned a lot from and about each other. This was a continuing IPRO and we had completely redesigned the existing technology.  After an entire semester of hard work and diligence, when IPRO day approached we were all suddenly nervous and low in self-confidence. But our instructor gave us the motivation and encouragement we needed. We gave our presentation to the judges in the morning and stood by our display explaining our projects to judges and visitors the rest of the day.

At the end of IPRO day, we realized that we had done our best and there was nothing else we could have done to make it a better project. We were extremely anxious when they were announcing the results for our track. It was shocking and exciting to hear that our IPRO project won first place – it was then that we had realized that all our efforts had paid well.

This experience, among many others, makes me realize how much IIT has molded me into the passionate person I am today about my goals and ambitions. It makes me realize that education is not just about doing good grades and a high-paying job but it is also about helping people.  

Halloween marks costumes, trick-or-treat and the Pumpkin Launch! Although it rained most of the day on Friday, it didn't stop the IIT students from competing in the fifth annual IIT Pumpkin Launch. There was even a sizeable crowd of IIT students, faculty, staff and guests cheering on the teams and enjoying the festive fall treats (including apple cider--my favorite).

This year the first place team, Trebuchet Guevara, launched their pumpkin 185 feet, the third farthest in IIT Pumpkin Launch history! The most accurate team was the Delts who also took second place in a distance of 91 feet.  

The IIT Pumpkin Launch was once again a success and even though the weather didn't cooperate the teams and fans had a great time!!

Hopefully next year you will be able to check it out too :)

The students' concerns were heard and the following Sunday, October 18 Governor Pat Quinn signed the bill restoring full Map funding! There were a few IIT students were among a select group of college students present when the bill was signed. Additionally, Julia Gonzalez (IIT student and Admission Intern) spoke to the group at the signing ceremony.

You can watch the WGN news story here.

Two weeks ago I had the opportunity to travel for IIT to Mexico to recruit more international students to campus. I thought that you may like to hear more about my trip which was AMAZING! Not only was the weather perfect (80s-90s and sunny) just when it was getting cold in Chicago but I met wonderful students and was able to do a bit of sightseeing. Let me start by saying that Mexican food tastes SO MUCH BETTER in Mexico! My favorite dish was this chicken rice soup with avocado and a smoked chipotle pepper…mmmm. Everything was made fresh to order which just enhances the quality of the dish—I miss it already!

So my week began in Guadalajara. I had a fair on Monday so I arrived Sunday afternoon, giving me a few hours to sightsee before it was dark. I took a double decker bus tour of the city which allowed me to see the main sights in the city. There is a great downtown area with lots of churches and historical buildings as well as squares for people to relax and enjoy their surroundings. I attended a fair at the American School at Guadalajra and then it was off to Queretaro.

Queretaro is such a beautiful city! We stayed at this 16^th century Hacienda that was magnificent and the staff was extremely attentive and helpful—I would recommend it to anyone visiting the city. The College fair was great and probably one of the busiest of the week. We had a student who enrolled from this high school last year so students remembered that and wanted to follow in his footsteps J.

Monterrey was the third city of my trip and I was disappointed that I didn’t have time to explore the city as well as the natural areas including the mountains, canyons and forests (the scenery is gorgeous). Did you know that it is the third largest city in Mexico after Mexico City and Guadalajara. It is one of their biggest tech cities in the country and seems very modernized. Next year I plan to spend more time here! Anyways, so I went to the fair and one of the reps accidentally went to the wrong school location. He was supposed to give the Engineering presentation and they needed another representative to present instead of him. Guess what… I had an engineering presentation prepared for the American School in Mexico City so I jumped into it and wowed the students. Well, I don’t know if I would go that far, but I gave the presentation and I think it went well for a last minute substitution. There was a fair following the presentation that was great too! We have an exchange program with Tec de Monterrey which is a top university in Mexico so I met some transfer and exchange students from their school too!

My final stop was in Mexico City. Let me say that I LOVED MEXICO CITY! I was a bit hesitant because you only hear negative comments about crime and the size of the city but I really enjoyed my time here. It was nice because I had four days so I was able to get a good flavor for the city. I attended three college fairs and have two engineering presentations (luckily I had practiced in Monterrey J) so I was quite busy in Mexico City. The fairs were REALLY busy and I met with really students who had thoughtful questions (trust me, reps really appreciate questions that cannot be found online or in the viewbook) about IIT and our specific academic programs.

I would have to say that my favorite part of Mexico City (besides shopping) was when I walked over to Chapultepec Park. This area houses the Castle of Chapultepec as well as numerous museums and monuments. It is a nice area to walk around or just sit on a bench and enjoy a nice book. 

Unfortunately, I did not have more time to go into the museums but next time I will set aside a day for this. The National Museum of Anthropology was highly recommended from colleagues from other schools who were also on this trip.

Oh, I almost forgot. They had wastebaskets that were made out of pop bottles—very environmentally friendly! I had never seen this before and thought it was pretty neat!

As you can see, this was a great trip! I loved Mexico and look forward to going back next year. Hopefully, some of the bright and talented students that I met with will join the IIT community next fall!!

Adios,

Carolyn

We are here to answer any questions that you may have about the different application deadlines to IIT. Please ask us if you have any questions!!

Read the article here.

If you weren't able to make it out this past Saturday but are still interested in visiting the campus, don't worry -- our next open house is coming up on Saturday, November 14. Details and registration are available here. We won't have any more giant birthday cards, but it's still sure to be a great time.

Photos from this past Saturday are available in our gallery.

What does IPRO mean?

IPROs = Interprofessional Projects Program.

What is an IPRO?

An IPRO is a project-based course in which students from various academic disciplines work together to solve a real-world program. Each team consists of 5-15 students from sophomore to graduate students from a wide-range of majors. The IPRO course teaches students how to excel in the workplace by providing them a pratical experiences that reinforce their classroom knowledge, providing students with richer learning experiences.

Does every student take an IPRO?

All undergraduate students must complete at least two 3-credit IPRO courses. There are some majors that require students to complete at least 3 IPRO courses (Chemical Engineering is one example).

What is IPRO Day?

At the end of every semester the IPRO program orgaizes IPRO Day in which all IPRO teams will present their work and research they completed throughout the semester. Each team will compete for special awards including cash prizes!

View IPRO Day Videos

What is a typical IPRO project?

There is no "typical" IPRO project which allows for a wide range of research projects to be introduced each semester. However, there are various IPRO categories including Applied Research, Development and Planning; Process Improvement; Sustainability; Service Learning and Venture Development. The Venture Development projects including our EnPROs which are Entrepreneurial Projects.

Is that all?

Of course not! There is so much to learn about the IPRO program. You may visit their webiste to learn more about the history and tradition as well as current IPRO projects: http://ipro.iit.edu/project-listings.

Also, I encourage you to visit the student blogs as they frequently write about their IPRO projects. Kunle Apampa just posted yesterday about his EnPRO--check it out!

Let us know if you have any other questions about the IPRO program at IIT!

Carolyn