What is the general reputation of this school, in Illinois or Chicago?

it's one of the best universities on the world...

top 10 probably

i wish i could go there

Yeah... but it doesn't get the same reaction as Northwestern (another top Illinois school). I heard a lot of people confuse it with the state school in Chicago.

I wanted to know what the Illinois people think because where I live, most people barely knew about it until it started going hardcore with the advertisements.

It is a very good school if you are studying social sciences and humanities. Never heard anything about it outside those fields.