<p>A few days ago, I called UIUC admissions office and asked them about what they preferred to see on a transfer application.</p>
<p>I recall asking if they put any weight into internships, and although the counselor said, "We would take that in consideration", I suspect they value high GPA over work experience given the fact that she repeatedly emphasized the importance of GPA during our phone conversation.</p>
<p>The reason I opened this thread is because there's a possibly that I'll be working part-time at Uni of Iowa's hydraulics lab during the fall of 2014, after working full-time during the summer. I am fairly sure my GPA will drop from around 3.7 to around 3.5 due to juggling studying and the part-time job.</p>
<p>Probably not. Admissions into college, at any level, is largely about your ability to succeed in college, while internships are specifically about preparing and evaluating your ability to succeed in industry. Look at the graduation requirements, because that is what they care about. About 95% of that is your ability to complete the coursework, so the thing they care most about is how well you have done completing coursework in the past… which is largely reflected in your GPA.</p>
<p>To be short, school cares about school, work cares about work.</p>
<p>To be shorter, no.</p>
<p>Huh… Well this is going to be a tough choice.</p>
<p>One of my parents is an employee at UIUC, so there’s a 50% tuition discount, which means the total tuition will be somewhere around mid $20K vs Uni of Iowa’s $40K out-of-state.</p>
<p>But I’m also fairly sure an HR recruiter is going to prefer an Uni of Iowa ME student with 3+ months of engineering work experience vs an UIUC ME student without any work experience…</p>
<p>I am curious - if you get to UIUC, what is going to prevent you from doing an internship there? You seem to be saying that if you go to UIUC, an internship becomes an impossibility. I do not see why that would be so.</p>
<p>Focus on grades and coursework now. Next year, whether or at Iowa or Illinois, go for an internship. There is plenty of time.</p>