I am currently in between UIUC and UW-Madison. I got accepted into UIUC for AE and to UW-Madison for ME (also ME at RPI but don’t know if that’s better or not), not fully sure on which one to choose. I’m not qualified for in-state tuition so the pricing is approximately the same; however I’m waiting for them to return to me about my need-based financial aid.
My main conundrum is that I want to apply to top aeronautics companies like NASA, JPL, SpaceX, etc hence I’m looking to choose a prestigious option however I also don’t want to suffer through a bad college environment just because it is prestigious, which is what I heard mainly about UIUC. Didn’t hear anything good about UIUC apart from their quality of education and I’m not sure if Madison is that far behind on education to sway my opinion towards UIUC.
I visited UIUC last year and the campus felt very mild, it was OK but nothing super exciting apart from the laboratories. Maybe it was bcs the weather wasn’t really good but it wasn’t really appealing that it was really isolated and there was nothing but corn. I’m worried that the campus will feel dead and I did not read nice things about campus safety, etc.
Contrarily, I love Madison’s campus and location and the general city-campus hybrid life. But I guess Madison doesnt have the same prestige as UIUC when it comes to engineering or at least the space industry? Also madison doesn’t allow double majors inside the college of engineering and I’ve read that it’s really difficult to double major from two different schools.
I’m stuck between the two and need some help. I see many comparisons between these schools and they’re mostly about CS and I’m not sure if their engineering education/prestige is the same caliber as it is for CS.
You should go to Wisconsin - you clearly prefer it.
Name your ABET school in the country - and you can get hired by any of those organizations. And there’s a lot more organizations out there than that.
I mean, when I google NASA and mechanical engineer, the first school that comes up is New Mexico State.
Yes, UIUC is prestigious - but I’m not sure it really matters and I think you’re assumption of who gets hired at these places is a bit off.
Same with JPL - it won’t matter if you go to Iowa State, Florida Tech or North Dakota - you can still get to where you want. The first two SpaceX - Arizona State and Cal Poly.
So to me, Wisonsin is a no brainer - in your case.
Congrats on your acceptances, it does sound like you prefer Madison’s campus. IMO, the student experience will be similar at both schools. Maybe UIUC is more prestigious, but that would not be a reason to make that choice.
It is uncommon for engineering majors to have a double major, as engineering majors have many requirements. What are you thinking for a double major? I would talk with your admissions rep at each school and ask if a double major is possible.
You can look at outcomes data for Madison here and UIUC here
Lastly, regarding finances as an OOS student for both, UIUC will not give you any need based aid and Wisconsin only gives certain OOS students need based aid so unless you are in one of the groups on this page, no need based aid is coming from Wisc either. Are both schools affordable for your family? I define affordable as not requiring loans beyond the $27K total undergrad student loans.
ETA: You can find a job in space from either school, but it will require effort and hustle on your part.
As a parent of a child, I would say go where your heart feels drawn to. Yes, we all look at the all the possible data and outcomes to make these decisions, but at the end of the day, you need to go with your gut feel, since you will spend 4 years of your life there. You should be happy and thrive and not feel like you made a compromise for the prestige of the college. Putting up with anything for four years if your heart wasn’t in it, is not worth it.
Be aware of Wisconsin’s weed out requirements for engineering majors, including college GPA requirements that may be significantly higher than 2.0 for some majors.
Wisconsin’s weed out for mechanical engineering includes a 3.2 technical and 3.0 overall GPA. Since frosh year carries the highest risk of lower grades due to adjustment to college issues, that can mean some risk of the student being weeded out of the major even though the student may be getting straight B grades in technical courses.
How hard have you looked at RPI? is it similar cost-wise for you? It’s an excellent school, and you can get to NASA, etc., just as well from it as from UWi & UIUC. I’m not pushing for it in particular - I just want to make sure you aren’t dismissing it b/c you see it as ‘less’, b/c it’s not. All 3 will get you where you want to go, so choose the one that fits you best.
Affordability is your key component here. Be an active member of the school and separate yourself out and you can do pretty much what you want to. It’s about you not the school but…yes some schools have better track records. Look at outcome results and where students ended up at, at each of your schools. It should be on their website or just call the engineering department and ask specifically. They will guide you. You also have to spend 4/5 years there so which school has clubs /activities you might want to pursue? Take a deep dive on this one.
Not in the same field but when my son was recently hired from Michigan engineering his company hired students from GT, UIUC, Michigan, University of Cincinnati, Ohio State, Penn State, University of South Carolina. So hires come from all over.
