<p>Hi All....new to this site and I have a question. Have a senior who was admitted to several Midwestern engineering schools but has narrowed choice down to Univ. of Illinois and Univ.of Iowa. At Illinois he was accepted into his second choice of engineering major; at Iowa he would study first choice major... Iowa giving him merit $, Illinois giving Zip. Good student (32 ACT/4.0+ GPA). Because Illinois is the higher ranked engineering school, son is conflicted. Leaning toward Iowa but he's concerned about school's ranking reducing chance of getting better job after grad. Any thoughts on Illinois vs Iowa in terms of engineering?</p>
<p>USNWR Undergraduate Enginneering #6 Illinois v. #56 Iowa</p>
<p>there may just be enough of a difference to take a serious look at this</p>
<p>what are the majors?</p>
<p>are the majors very close to each other?</p>
<p>can one transfer later on into the desired major?</p>
<p>what is the difference in cost?</p>
<h1>6 and #56 is a huge difference. That’s like Stanford (#5) vs. Southern Methodist University (#56). The kind of job offers you get at Stanford is vastly different than at SMU. Illinois Engineering is well-respected around the world. Graduates are widely-recruited. The extra tuition is definitely worth it.</h1>
<p>This is a no-brainer. UIUC is the clear winner. Of course, if Iowa is almost free as a result of the scholarship while UIUC is full cost, there decision is hard to make. But should finances not be a major issue, Illinois is the way to go.</p>
<p>I understand this should be a no-brainer but…with my son’s stats at UICU he will def. not be in the top of the class with the stiff comp. in engineering. (With the rigor of the prog. a good # of students transfer out of engineering freshman year). He was put in civil instead of mech eng. Can transfer after 2 years with a 3.8GPA or >. (Thinking 5 yrs to get BS because of having to transfer majors and getting all classes of his major in). At Iowa, with his stats he could be a standout student and will be in mech.eng. With resident vs non and the merit $, the difference in tuition is negligible (except for the possible 5 yrs vs 4!). I guess the bigger question is do you go to an ok school and really standout or a great school and end up in the middle?</p>
<p>ZacalMom, you must be mistaken. There is no way that UIUC expects a student to maintain a 3.8 GPA to major in Mechanical Engineering. That seems way too excessive. Most universities have a 2.7-3.3 requirement for most Engineering majors. 3.8 would mean that Mechanical Engineering is only open to the top 5% of the Engineering majors and yet according to the UIUC, 15% of Engineers are in Mechanical while 25% are in Electrical/Computer Engineering. I would check again to make sure, but like I said, it is unlikely that your son would have to maintain a 3.8 GPA for two years at UIUC to qualify for Mechanical Engineering.</p>
<p>And yes, it is better to be a middle-of-the-pack student (3.3 GPA) at UIUC than a top student at Iowa. Don’t get me wrong, Iowa is an excellent university, but in Engineering, UIUC has a serious advantage.</p>
<p>My husband talked directly to the Undergrad Prog. Coordinator in the MechEng dept at UIUC and was told 60hrs of completed coursework (2yrs) and a 3.8GPA were the requirements to transfer from civil engineering to mech engineering. She was aware of the fact that my son was already accepted in civil eng. there. Seems unbelievable to me as well…</p>
<p>UIUC’s undergrad engineering program is ranked #6 because it IS so competitive, with the best and brightest in that program. The 3.8 gpa is not an expectation for a ME major - it is the minimum requirement to be considered as a transfer into the program.</p>
<p>While Iowa is an excellent school, a degree from Illinois in almost any discipline has more prestige, especially in the midwest. The issue for your son, or any other student not accepted into their #1 engineering program choice at UIUC, is what he will do if he cannot transfer into ME after two years.</p>
<p>Tamster, Michigan is just as highly ranked and competitive as UIUC in Engineering. A 3.8 GPA is practically impossible to maintain at the UIUC. I thought UIUC was like Michigan. At Michigan, you are admitted into general Engineering and can only declare majors after the first year. GPA requirements vary from discipline to discipline and range from 2.7 and 3.3.</p>
<p>The decision is obviously much tougher now. If your son wants to be a mechanical Engineer, I would probably not go to UIUC, though Iowa is probably not a great option either. Any other choices? Purdue or Wisconsin perhaps?</p>
<p>Thank you for all of your insights, I appreciate your postings. My son did get into Purdue but he wasn’t wild about the campus and since we weren’t too wild about the tuition, we haven’t pushed Purdue. He is on deferred status for Michigan. My husband is a Michigan alum and would love for him to go there but unless we win the lottery, out of state tuition is very steep at UM. Wisconsin was an initial contender that we visited because they have a good program, but my son ruled it out after the visit. He was also accepted at Minn which has a good eng. program and that school is out there on the perimeter of his choices…(but weather and distance might rule it out as a real poss.) Thanks again!</p>
<p>Illinois Engineering is held in very high esteem nationally. Not that Iowa is a poor or inferior choice. Incidentally, the best Engineering (Mechanical, Materials, Aerospace, Civil) in Iowa is Iowa State University, which also has somewhat of a national reputation, particularly in Aerospace Engineering.</p>
<p>That being said, you probably won’t be hurt in the job market by graduating with a degree from UIowa, as far as engineering goes. Particularly if you plan to reside in the midwest. And graduating with minimal debt is a big plus.</p>
<p>ZacalMom, Purdue and UIUC have much in common. I would seriously recommend you reconsider it, assuming cost is not too difficult to cover. I would also choose Minnesota over Iowa. I just don’t think Iowa will offer your son the best opportunities for an education and career in Engineering.</p>
<p>“The College of Engineering admits highly qualified transfer students from both community and four-year colleges… The minimum grade point average to transfer into mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, computer science, or computer engineering is 3.2 on a 4.0 scale and is slightly lower for other curriculum.” [Transfer</a> Students - MechSE Department - Illinois](<a href=“http://mechse.illinois.edu/content/for/prospective_students/transfer_students.php]Transfer”>http://mechse.illinois.edu/content/for/prospective_students/transfer_students.php)</p>
<p>This is for external transfer including transferring from community colleges. I wonder why they make it harder for internal transfer.</p>
<p>I have a hard time understanding how one would rule out Wisconsin versus Iowa for engineering or overall. I can see Illinois on ranking alone but not on overall attractiveness as a place to go to college. Also UW’s mechanical engineering in involved in all kinds of fun engineering competitions and wins its share. Was it one of those I did not like the tour guide’s haircut deals or …? Just wondering.</p>
<p>What are the out of pocket cost differences going to be between UIUC and Iowa?</p>
<p>Mechanical and Civil engineering are related, but different. Mechanical engineering, IMO, is the jack-of-all-trades, “all around” engineering. Civil is more focused on architecture and big infrastructure projects. UIUC has a great civil engineering program, but if that’s not what your son wants and they make it sorta prohibitive switching disciplines, I would seriously look elsewhere.</p>
<p>If you’re worried about Iowa, ask their career office to give you a list of companies that have conducted on-campus interviews for engineering majors. Compare this to Chambana.</p>
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<p>No, the difference is not nearly that large. You need to look at overall quality of the university in addition to the quality of specific programs (i.e, engineering rankings). </p>
<p>In my experience engineering firms are willing to hire engineers from a wide variety of schools, and the difference is mostly regional. But UIUC might have more recruiting and it might be a bit easier to get a job from there.</p>
<p>al6200, the #6 and #56 were the ENGINEERING RANKINGS, not the overall school rankings</p>
<p>
I think the undergrad program coordinator (admin staff), Jenny Ehrnthaller, gave you the wrong information. She probably mixed up the requirements for outside transfers.</p>
<p>Here’s the intra-university transfer guidelines for ECE:
[Transferring</a> to ECE Guidelines - ECE ILLINOIS | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign](<a href=“http://www.ece.illinois.edu/students/transfer/guidelines.html]Transferring”>http://www.ece.illinois.edu/students/transfer/guidelines.html)</p>
<p>There is no requirements for completing 60 credits and maintaining a 3.8 GPA. The only requirement is the intro course ECE 110, and</p>
<p>“Only students who are doing well overall will be considered for transfer to ECE. This means you should be getting mostly Bs and As in math, physics, and ECE 110, while taking regular technical loads of classes each semester. For example Math 231, Phys 211, ECE 110, Geog 101 is considered a typical load (three technical classes, one non-technical class).”</p>
<p>Note that this is for transferring between colleges, hence the math/chem/physics requiements. Transferring between departments in the College of Engineering should only be easier.</p>
<p>GoBlue81…yes, Jenny is who my husband spoke with. He will recontact her to verify again. Thanks for the post.</p>
<p>al6200…thanks for the post. I agree. We have spoken to several professional engineers and of course some have a bias to their own alma mater, some indicated the ranking of the engineering school carries a lot of weight, while others indicated it isn’t so much the school but what you do while at the school (grades, internships, co-ops etc).</p>