<p>My son has to decide between UCSD Computer science and University of Illinois Urbana Champaign Computer Science, both in school of engineering. Few questions
- Quality of education
- How do we compare internship opportunities during 2nd year and 3rd year.
- Job opportunities - # of companies offering jobs.
- Faculty access to students.</p>
<h2>- Are there any difference for first 3 semesters in each with respect to access to faculty, CS courses.</h2>
<p>I am out of state for both UIUC and UCSD.</p>
<p>Replies are appreciated. Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>Having moved to the community a few years ago, I can tell you UIUC is an amazing, amazing school. The friendliness of this area is almost startling and UI is not resting on their laurels in research or academics, and in fact they’re cutting edge in several areas. The guy who invented the LED is still on campus as emeritus, and I recently saw a presentation on 3D printing and how UIUC is one of the two or three leaders in the entire world on this - they have folks coming from all over the planet to get educated on the 3D world. </p>
<p>I think those kids have zero trouble getting hired out of college - read that most Fortune 500 companies interview on campus, including eight of the top ten, and almost 6500 companies come to UI to hire. </p>
<p>And while I can’t speak to internships directly, I’m guessing they’re great. My S#1 went to Notre Dame in Computer Engineering and has worked in his field in Chicago and New York since graduation in '07. When we told him we were moving to this area, he got really excited because … whenever his Fortune 500 company hired computer guys the coworkers always asked where they had gone to school, and if the hiring person said, “Illinois” they were all relieved and happy, because they now knew the new guy would be smart, a team player, hard worker, friendly and able to communicate (a rarity in comp sci hah). It has held true for years for them and we hear it from other friends in this field across the country. They love those Illinois engineering grads!</p>