The Top 5 Places to Study on Campus

Picture this: we are three weeks into the semester and your professor mentions Exam 1 is in one week. You start to freak out, and go straight back to your dorm after class to start studying. Minutes later, your roommate barges in with their four best friends. All of a sudden, it’s louder than a kindergarten playground in your room. What do you do? Check out these five perfect spots to get some studying done!

5. Caffe Bene – Gregory & Nevada Street

We start off our list of best places to study at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with Caffe Bene. Though there are two locations on campus, the Urbana location on the corner of Gregory & Nevada Street is the best to get assignments done because of its more secluded location. With some of the best coffee around (my go-to order is an iced vanilla latte), this caffe is a great place to sit on a comfy chair, relax with a coffee and a snack, and get ready for that midterm!

4. Huff Hall

Next on the list is Huff Hall. Huff is the home of classrooms, the women’s volleyball team, the wrestling team and the gymnastics teams. When you come here for a sporting event, it is filled to the brim with screaming fans and hours of fun. Visit during business hours, however, and you can often find an empty gymnasium with lots of empty seats. Though it might not seem obvious, the upstairs bleachers can be a really good, quiet place to study. The west end even has some tables with outlets to plug your laptop in and hit the books!

3. Main Library

The newly renovated Main Library, located just south of the Main Quad, is my personal favorite place to study on campus. I owe many of my good test scores to the hours studying in the Reference Room. The building has a vast number of rooms where you can find a table to sit down and get to work. There are even long tables where you can have all of your friends come study with you. Don’t be fooled by the big tables, though; this is one of the quietest buildings on campus, so don’t get too caught up in conversation. 

2. ACES Library

Finishing as the runner-up, we have the ACES Library. This library is located slightly east of the South Quad. Just look for the large hexagon; it’s impossible to miss. It is filled with study tables, textbooks you can check-out for free and even has a computer lab in the basement. Though it’s not as close to that many academic buildings, it is a very quiet location that you can easily spend hours getting lost in productivity!

1. Illini Union

Finally, we hit the top of the list with the Illini Union. The Illini Union is one of the ultimate landmarks on the UIUC campus. Sitting in a picturesque manor at the north end of the Main Quad, it is a one-stop shop for all of your studying needs. Not only does it have a Starbucks to keep you caffeinated and a food court to keep you nourished, but it has large, quiet rooms designed for studying. With huge glass windows that overlook the Main Quad, this beautiful room is the picture-perfect place to spend late nights cramming or finishing some homework in between classes.