I live in the Chicago suburbs (near Indiana border). Actually let me rephrase, you’re right, any school within three hours should be okay for me. I do not have any cost issues.
Chance me: Indian male (Illinois resident) trying to get into Grainger College of Engineering (UIUC)
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What do you want out of your college experience? UIUC is a big school…is that your preference? Or do you have different size preferences? How important are intercollegiate sports or Greek life to you? How do you feel about urban/suburban/rural schools? (Urban and suburban seem ok, but what about rural?) What type of engineering do you want to study? Are there any particular experiences you would like to have in college? Knowing more about what you want will help in offering suggestions.
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Not trying to force you to anything. I hope UIUC works out. But it’s far from certain.
My point is Pathways is not easy.
If there’s a chance you’ll wake up in 6 months and ask - what did I do by not applying elsewhere - maybe it’s worth putting in other apps just in case.
You have - just to look at -
Northwestern (reach)
IIT
Wisconsin- low reach
Marquette
Milw school of engineering
Rose Hulman -
Purdue (will want to see test) but likely better shot here than UIUC
Bradley
UIC
SIU.
Iowa
Michigan State
A tad farther - Iowa State strong and Grinnell (CS).
And if 3 hrs - go to 6 and many more.
Just a thought. Do what’s best for you. But you might plan an acceptance or two so you don’t wake up in 6 mos saying oh crap.
The pathway requires a 3.5 in technical subjects. That’s a huge gamble.
SInce you are looking at computer engineering, rather than CS, the acceptance rate is probably the same as for the rest of engineering, so around 23%.
If you are taking the most rigorous course load in your high school, with a great GPA, you have pretty good chances, BUT it is not a safety.
If you want to stay in Illinois, your safety would be UIC. Their engineering program is growing and is really an up-and-coming program. It’s a far better choice than many OOS possibilities.
Otherwise, if you are looking for engineering, I would start looking outside of Illinois. U Iowa is a good place to look at, you could qualify for good financial support in Alabama, if you’re OK with living in Alabama. If finances are less of a problem, Purdue is excellent, but also likely a match, rather than a safety. Michigan State is a good choice, and your chances of admissions are pretty high.
At colleges where your qualifications put you in the top of admitted students, you could probably qualify for merit aid. Even if you don’t qualify for automatic aid, it is always worthwhile seeing whether you can negotiate for more financial or merit aid than you are initially offered.
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I was going to recommend Rose Hulman and Northwestern. Make sure you run the Net Price Calculators on the college websites with your family to get an idea of costs. Northwestern for example, came in way too expensive for our family so our daughter didn’t apply. But their engineering school is good.
I hope your plan A works out. Can you transfer from UIC to UIUC as a junior? Instead of going the community college to UIUC route?
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Somehow I missed that you mentioned computer engineering as your major. The schools listed below are all ABET-accredited and within a 3-hr drive of Chicago. I’d look most carefully at these (in order from closest to furthest away from Chicago):
- U. of Illinois – Chicago: 22k undergrads, 60 CE grads
- Illinois Institute of Technology: 3k undergrads, 29 CE grads
- Valparaiso (IN): 2500 undergrads, 20 CE grads
- Marquette (WI): 8k undergrads, 29 CE grads
- Milwaukee School of Engineering (WI): 2600 undergrads, 22 CE grads
- Purdue (IN): 38k undergrads, 233 CE grads
- UIUC: 35k undergrads, 422 CE grads
If you extend out just a little further (3h20m), then Rose-Hulman (2k undergrads) would be a great possibility to consider with 40CE grads and 15 Computer Software Engineering grads.
The schools below are some others that I considered, but did not make my cut for recommendations. As I had already done the research, however, I thought I’d share it for informational purposes (and one of these may strike your fancy anyway).
These schools have a smaller percentage of computer engineering grads as compared to the schools above.
- U. of Wisconsin – Milwaukee: 19k undergrads, 11 CE grads
- Western Michigan: 15k undergrads, 17 CE grads
- Grand Valley State: 19k undergrads, 15 CE grads
- U. of Wisconsin – Madison: 35k undergrads, 58 CE grads
- Trine: 3800 undergrads, 8 CE grads
These two are not ABET-accredited for computer engineering (though accredited for multiple other engineering fields):
- Northern Illinois: 12k undergrads
- Bradley: 4300 undergrads
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Thank you so much! Although I am pretty set on UIUC, it’s awesome to see all these other options, will definitely be taking these lists into consideration.
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Rule #1. Don’t fall in love.
We all hope it works out.
If it doesn’t then you need plan B. If you’re truly ok with a two year school and can make the 3.5, that’s great.
But if you want the 4 year experience, no reason to give it up.
Good luck.
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Northwestern would be a dream school, but that would be too expensive for my limits as well. I would indeed be able to transfer from UIC to UIUC, but one of the main reasons I would want to do it from my community college is because it is much cheaper to complete my basics there, and it is around 40 minutes closer.
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That is true, I need to keep reminding myself that. Thanks for all the info you’ve given, although I couldn’t respond to all of it, it truly helps a lot. Appreciate the time you took to have this conversation with me!
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That isn’t a good reason not to have a backup plan. UIUC is not a safety and your desire to attend doesn’t guarantee admission. Please consider some of the other schools that have been suggested here.
The two statements above contradict each other. Please get an explicit budget from your parents.
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As @DadOfJerseyGirl mentioned, you need to find out what your family is willing and able to pay on a yearly basis for at least four years without taking out any loans. That is your budget.
Your family needs to run the Net Price Calculator (NPC) at every school you’re giving serious thought to applying to. If the NPC asks for academic info (like your GPA), then it is also going to give you the minimum level of merit aid that you can expect. Do not judge a school’s price but what their sticker price is. Some schools, like Northwestern, only give money to those they think have financial need. But families with surprisingly high incomes can still qualify as having financial need for expensive universities. Other schools are very generous in giving out merit aid to students, no matter what their family’s financial picture looks like. I would suspect that you’d receive merit aid from a number of the schools that I recommended in my earlier post.
If a school does not offer merit aid and the NPC comes out as over budget, then go on ahead and eliminate that school. But don’t eliminate any schools because of cost before running the NPC and seeing what kind of scholarship aid is available.
On the non-financial front, what makes Northwestern your dream school? What is it that you like about it? Ditto for UIUC. You may get into either one of those, but they are definite reaches. If you share what it is you like about those institutions, then posters may be able to provide better suggestions of which schools could be a better fit for what you’re hoping to experience in college.
What will be your second major choice on the UIUC app? Maybe a CS+X major? Something else?
For the two major essays you will have to write, make sure to highlight your robotics experience and how that supports these major choices, along with any other supportive experiences you have had. Highlight classes/profs you want to take, a prof you might want to do research with, and clubs/orgs you will be involved in. Make these essays very specific, not generic statements like ‘I like the campus’ or ‘Grainger is such a good school’.
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Another vote to add Michigan State and Iowa State - big school vibes like UIUC and both should be safeties for you (and not too terribly far to get home for breaks).
I would have added Purdue as well but 82% of students reported their test scores and they have a different policy than most schools about reporting results:
*For Spring, Summer, and Fall 2023, Purdue is test flexible . This means that if a student can take an SAT or ACT, we prefer they do so. However, we recognize that possible cancellations and postponement of national standardized tests due to pandemic restrictions may be impacting students’ applications. With that in mind, we will move forward and review any application from a student who is unable to take a standardized test.
Purdue knows that students in IL were able to sit for exams, especially in Chicagoland, so they will expect you to submit.
For future applicants, Purdue is going back to requiring scores in 2024.
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I’ll ask my parents, so I can get a better answer.
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Tuition room and board is high 30s in state. Like 38k+
Can they afford that x4?
If not short of programs for low income, you would need to look elsewhere.
I, personally, would not go to a 2 year college if I want the 4 year experience.
Get us that budget and we’ll get you schools. Thx
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