My son has been accepted to Michigan State University, University of Illinois-CU, and Iowa State University (He is deferred/wait-listed at Univ of WI-Madison and Univ of MI-Twin Cities). He wants to study Mechanical Engineering. He was accepted into ME at both MSU and Iowa State but got his second choice, Industrial Engineering at U of I. He has spoken with the ME department ot U of I and they said it is very difficult to transfer into ME. I think he is caught up on the school ranking of U of I vs Iowa State, plus he loves a Big 10 school. (I think MSU is off the table because of cost). What do you all think? Go to the college you love but not first choice major, or go with your major. Everyone we’ve talked to said Iowa State is underrated for their ME dept and it is excellent. Any help/advice would be awesome!
Full disclosure: I have an unholy love of UIUC because I went there.
Now, with that out the the way, I really don’t see any reason why he’d pick Illinois over Iowa State in this situation. At most universities it is very difficult to transfer into mechanical engineering because it is usually one of the most popular majors and they simply don’t have enough seats. Meanwhile, Iowa State is a very good engineering school. I really loved Illinois and got a great education there, but it’s not worth it if you aren’t even getting the education that you want.
Ayy I think I saw your son’s post on r/uiuc.
ME and IE are radically different majors, so if your son really wants to do ME, go to ISU. If he also really likes IE and would be happier at UIUC he should go there.
Go with the major. ME is what he wants to study and there is no reason not to.
Rankings of colleges are just some kind of weird averaging exercise. It says nothing about how an individual student will do. The material you study will be the same no matter what the school. An individual’s performance is based on how much they put into it.
Look at it this way. As an engineering major you’ll be spending 75%+ of your time doing engineering related activities.
If you go the route with a major you don’t enjoy, you will regret 75% of your time. The other 25% of the time might be slightly more enjoyable, but at the end of the day the 25% won’t be getting you the job.