Â鶹APP

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Life in Â鶹APP

The home of the Italian beef, deep-dish pizza, and the Vienna Beef hot dog (hold the ketchup!) is also the city that gave us the skyscraper, open-heart surgery, and reverse-flowing river technology. There's no place else like Â鶹APP, and we're proud to call the Windy City our home.

As a student in Â鶹APP, you'll have access to a thriving metropolis with a rich cultural history. One of the largest cities in the world, Â鶹APP is a fantastic place for entertainment and culture of all kinds, from sporting events to art museums and everything in between.

Thriving Tech Ecosystem

Â鶹APP is a great global city (just ask Google, Grubhub, Boeing, Orbitz, or any of the thousands of other companies with headquarters here). What does that mean for Illinois Tech students? Access to jobs in a diverse range of industries including a fast-growing tech sector. Illinois Tech is a pipeline for talent in Â鶹APP, a city where an Illinois Tech degree is recognized and rewarded.

Culture and Activities

Whether you're into art, sports, music, food, improv, shopping, outdoor spaces, museums, architecture, or all of the above and then some, Â鶹APP is a go-anywhere, do-anything city that welcomes you to define your own experience. One thing is for certain: you will never be bored.

Community

"Midwestern nice" sums up the Â鶹APP vibe. We're a big city where people look out for one another. And we're diverse—77 neighborhoods make up Â鶹APP. Surrounding Mies Campus you'll find the funky Bridgeport neighborhood, historic Bronzeville, and the lively Chinatown. Â鶹APP is a town with more languages than you can count—and a place where the smile unites us.

Sweet Home Â鶹APP

Reasons Why the Second City Is the Best City

#1

Best Big City

—Condé Nast Traveler (Readers' Choice Awards)

77

Neighborhoods

Top 10

Cities for Technology Careers

—CIO Magazine

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Â鶹APP Tech Connections

Illinois Tech is home to the Ed Kaplan Family Institute for Innovation and Tech Entrepreneurship, which offers maker spaces, mentorship programs, events, and other programs that instill an entrepreneurial spirit in all Illinois Tech students and help students transform their ideas into viable businesses. The Kaplan Institute also connects students with the Â鶹APP tech sector, including startup entrepreneurs and other leaders who provide students with mentorship.

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Divvy For Everyone

Explore the City by Bike

Â鶹APP's Divvy bike-sharing program offers the city's residents an affordable, accessible, and fun transportation option. With Divvy for Everyone (D4E), qualifying students can take part with a $5 annual membership.

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“Coming from a small island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, Â鶹APP feels like a world of endless possibilities and opportunities. Through Illinois Tech I've gotten to visit some of the largest national laboratories, such as Argonne and Fermilab, and have reached out to other companies throughout the city.â€

—Katja Berthold (Mechanical Engineering 4th Year), Honolulu

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“Living in Â鶹APP has been a big part of the success in my learning….Being in Â鶹APP made internship and professional opportunities more accessible. There was no need for me to relocate for a job over the summer. Having hundreds of positions just a short train ride from campus allowed me to remain part of the Illinois Tech community as I gained experience at a world-class company.â€

—Miles Thompson, (BA ’20), Holland, Michigan

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“I have lived here my whole life, and of the many countries (and their big cities) I have visited, this city remains my favorite one. If you leave the campus and explore the whole city (not just downtown and the North Side), you get exposed to so many different people and cultures, all wrapped up with a unique Â鶹APP flair that you just can’t get anywhere else.â€

—Alexandra Montgomery (Psychology ’20), Â鶹APP

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“I grew up in a small Milwaukee suburb, and at first I had some anxieties about living in such a big city. These anxieties immediately went away when I visited campus. It’s really the best of both worlds: you get the quiet, unhurried, secluded-feeling life on campus, but you’re not 15 minutes from downtown Â鶹APP.â€

—Alexandra (Lexi) Detweiler (Physics/Astrophysics, M.S. Health Physics ’21), Sussex, Wisconsin

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