Deep-dish pizza, the Cubs and the White Sox, midwestern charm, and a great range of schools. The Chicago area is a must-see destination on the college campus visits circuit. Just a short drive away from two major airports, Chicago O’Hare and Midway, you can easily get to know this vibrant college town and its diverse collection of colleges and universities.
Before you fall in love with a campus and start belting out “Chicago is my kind of town!” with Ol’ Blue Eyes, make sure you’ve cross-checked the admitted student profiles (like these from the University of Chicago and Northwestern) and prioritize visits to schools in your academic range. Below is a sample itinerary representing a wide range of vibes, sizes, settings, and selectivity.
CHICAGO AND THE MIDWEST CAMPUS VISITS: SAMPLE ITINERARY
Day 1: Downtown Chicago Campus Visits
Nestled in the historic Hyde Park neighborhood, the University of Chicago feels like an urban oasis. In fact, it’s often compared to Hogwarts due to its rivaling houses and gothic gargoyles that peer over leafy quads. You’ll find quite a few Harry Potter fans among the quirky intellectual crowd Chicago attracts, but what’s not fantastical about this school is its level of selectivity: only 6.5% of applicants were admitted to the class of 2025. These high-achievers spend the first third of their academic experience in The Core liberal arts curriculum, taking Socratic-style seminars of fewer than 20 students. Undergrads can then go on to pursue any of the 53 majors and 59 minors at this leading research university of roughly 7,000 undergraduates.
Pre-register for a tour of this campus that has been officially designated as a botanic garden, and prepare for some head swiveling as you take in the bold contrasts of the lily pads on Botany Pond with the glass dome of iconic Mansueto library, set of the sci-fi flick Divergent.
To complement the highly competitive University of Chicago, we suggest spending the afternoon visiting Loyola University of Chicago. A Jesuit Catholic university home to the stunning Madonna della Strada Chapel and approximately 50% Roman-Catholic identifying students, Loyola Chicago welcomes all faiths through campus ministries like Hillel, Muslim Chaplain’s Corner, Hindu Student Organization, and Protestant Ministry. Its two campuses straddle the city, a shuttle ride apart: the Lake Shore Campus, whose Information Commons student center/library was featured in Architectural Digest’s List of 15 Stunning University Libraries and offers jaw-dropping views of Lake Michigan, and the downtown Water Tower Campus (WTC), which houses the Schools of Communication and Business as well as a high-rise apartment building for older students.
Loyola Chicago’s vast undergraduate offerings for its roughly 11,600 students include the College of Arts and Sciences, the Institute of Environmental Sustainability, and Schools of Education, Engineering, Health Sciences and Public Health, Nursing, and Social Work.
Artists should be sure to include Columbia College Chicago (CCC) and/or the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) in their itineraries. The creative spirit of Columbia College is splashed all over the Wabash Arts Corridor, the college’s urban canvas of the South Loop, as well as on its list of academic programs: Music and Sound, Performing Arts, Media and Digital Arts, Visual Arts, Communication and Writing, and Business and Management. This eclectic campus is roughly the same size as UChicago, with just over 6,000 undergrads.
Just a few blocks away from CCC you’ll find Walt Disney’s alma mater, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, recently named “the most influential art school in the United States” by National Arts Journalism Survey. As its name implies, the school adjoins the Art Institute of Chicago, whose world-famous collection spans eras and continents, attracting 1.5 million visitors annually. SAIC is one of the smaller schools in town, with just shy of 3,000 students.
If you have time in between Chicago college visits, snap a selfie at The Bean, stroll along the River Walk, have a laugh at Second City, and maybe even catch a game at Wrigleyville if the Cubs are in town.
Day 2: Chicago Suburbs Campus Visits
Head 12 miles north of the city along Lake Michigan to Evanston, home to Northwestern University. Northwestern has mastered the magical formula: it is a highly selective university with an attractive and defined campus, it has an intimate student body without feeling too small (roughly 8,000 undergrads), and it’s located ‘just close enough’ to a major city.
In addition to its 7% acceptance rate for undergrads, Northwestern boasts top-ranked graduate programs in business, med, law, and journalism. Its state-of-the-art athletic facilities include the nearly 100K square-foot Ryan Fieldhouse with sweeping views of Lake Michigan, and training grounds for Division I powerhouse programs like the 7-time NCAA championship women’s lacrosse team. You might even catch some Wildcats fueling up at the Performance Nutrition Center before practice.
On your campus tour you’ll learn about traditions like the March through the Arch, where every incoming class is led through Weber Arch by the marching band to kick off their college careers, and “The Rock,” where you’ll find different students camping out every night of the year to paint it with everything from social activism slogans to marriage proposals.
Sneak a peek of the historic Grosse Point Lighthouse, catch a free screening at the Block Museum of Art’s cinema, or take a picnic lunch to lakefront Dawes Park before hitting up your next campus.
Another 16 miles north along Lake Michigan you’ll find Lake Forest College, a liberal arts college of about 1600 students with a more generous acceptance rate than Northwestern’s (roughly 50%). LFC’s academic offerings notably include a Self-Designed major — like recently designed “Anthropological Linguistics,” “Aesthetics in Television”— and a Social Justice minor with courses like “A Study of Black Life in Chicago” and “History and Theory of Freedom of Expression.”
LFC notes that they are looking for students who value access to a big city, are active community participants, and seek adventure. At the heart of the LFC experience is a required for-credit experiential learning opportunity which students can complete during a Chicago residential semester at Lake Forest College In The Loop or 200+ off-campus locations.
Lake Forest is only currently offering self-guided tours, but as a bonus for visiting, you will receive a $2,000 visit grant toward your tuition if you decide to attend!
Day 3: South Bend, Indiana Campus Visits
Head an hour and a half East around Lake Michigan to South Bend, Indiana and the University of Notre Dame, a private Catholic research university that put this Indiana town on the map. With its “Knowledge in the Service of Justice” approach to academics, Notre Dame has six undergraduate schools for its roughly 9,000 students: the School of Architecture, College of Arts and Letters, Mendoza College of Business, College of Engineering, Keough School of Global Affairs, and the College of Science.
From the road approaching campus you’ll see the iconic Golden Dome and statue of Mary atop Notre Dame’s Main Building, a prominent symbol of the university’s faith-based mission. Another is the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, the largest of the school’s 50 chapels, with stained-glass windows dating back to 1873. If you tour campus on a Saturday in the fall, you might even catch the football team heading into the Basilica for their private pre-game mass. The Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes, constructed in 1896 to replicate the famed French shrine, is another spiritual spot where students go to light a candle and have a quiet moment of reflection.
Your tour guide will be sure to regale you with tales of the residence halls, where most students live for all four years. From broom ball tournaments to homemade sailboat regattas, Notre Dame dorm traditions run deep. Rudy fans hoping to tap the famous “Play Like a Champion Today” sign in the football locker room will need to register for a separate stadium tour where they’ll get a view of “Touchdown Jesus,” a massive mural towering over the North end zone from the wall of the Hesburgh Library.
Female-identifying students should head across the street to check out St. Mary’s, the liberal arts college often referred to as the “sister school” of Notre Dame. You’ll approach campus via “The Avenue,” a tree-lined drive that gives way to a wooded landscape on a bluff overlooking St. Joseph River. St. Mary’s students are eligible to take Notre Dame classes as well as participate in more than 70 ND clubs, organizations, and intramural sports. Similar to LFC, St. Mary’s visitors-turned-students will earn a $500 visit award to apply to their tuition.
At the end of your South Bend day, treat yourself to Rocco’s, a favorite student pizza joint.
Days 4-6: Extended Itinerary in Michigan or Wisconsin Campus Visits
If you have extra time after South Bend, you could continue northeast to see Kalamazoo College, a small liberal arts school of 1400 students in the vibrant cultural hub known by the locals as “the ‘Zoo.” If your visit falls on the first weekend of June, kick off Kalamazoo’s sunniest season with the Do-Dah Parade, the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts Fair, or the Kalamazoo PRIDE Parade. Foodies will especially enjoy the ‘Zoo’s craft coffee crawl and taco trail.
If KZoo isn’t your vibe, continue due east to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, a highly selective public research university with 14 undergraduate schools, 32,000 students, and Big Ten sports teams that foster a hard-to-rival atmosphere of school spirit.
Alternatively, after South Bend you could loop back westward around Lake Michigan to Wisconsin, hitting up Marquette in Milwaukee, a mid-sized private Catholic Jesuit university of roughly 7,500 undergrads. A bit further north in Madison you’ll find the picturesque and robust research institution of the University of Wisconsin, whose location on an isthmus surrounded by lakes earned its distinction in 2019 as Sports Illustrated’s best college town.
STAY TUNED
In our Campus Visits Clusters series, we are highlighting different regions of the U.S. with our suggested itineraries. We’ve covered Boston, SoCal, NorCal and now Chicago and the Midwest. Next up: New York City!
Anita holds a BA in Philosophy from Princeton, where she is an alumni class officer and former interviewer, and an MA in English from Middlebury. At Princeton she also contributed her drive and competitiveness to the women’s lacrosse team, winning an NCAA Division I National Championship and three Ivy League Championships while earning national scholar-athlete academic distinction and the Connie McAllister athletic department award for “effort, selfless dedication, enthusiasm and heart.” She brings these qualities to her relationships with students as she helps to bring out the best in them.
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