<p>My Son who will be a senior in high school this year wants to go to Univ of Illinois for Engineering. He has the ACT, GPA and other to get accepted. My question is, at looking at the other Illinois state colleges, I think he would have a real good chance at a merit scholarship to either Southern at Carbondale, or Northern. I think the chance of getting a merit scholarship at Uof I would be rather small. Has anyone here studied engineering at either of the other colleges. I know they don't rate as well as Uof I. If he wants to eventually get a masters degree, would going to a lower tier college hinder getting into Uof I later for a masters degree?</p>
<p>Nothing wrong with either of those two schools. U of I has three things going for it, though. More competitive student body, more name recogntion, which leads to three, better job placement.</p>
<p>Recruiters have enough trouble finding GOOD candidates. They don't have the time or budgets to go to 200+schools, or interview 10 people a day. </p>
<p>If your kid can get admitted to U of I, the money difference(about 10k) per year is worth it.</p>
<p>SIU Edwardsville also has engineering majors.</p>
<p>My nephew will be a junior at SIUC, transfering from community college. I'll know more about it later in the year. I looked into NIU and SIUC while he was deciding what to do and was not impressed w/NIU's on line information. It just didn't look professional. My lackluster opinion may be colored by the unfortunate experience of an extended family member who attended NIU for 3 years hoping to get a mechanical eng. degree. He dropped out and was unhappy with the quality of the teaching, but it's hard to say how much his talent level had to do with his problems.</p>
<p>What major is your son considering?</p>
<p>I don't think attending these other colleges would prevent his attending UIUC later for a masters, if he did well getting his bachelors.</p>
<p>I am from Illinois and I looked at NIU way back when I was looking at undergraduate schools and I was not impressed either. I would recommend SIUC much more. They actually have a pretty decent program.</p>
<p>dr reynolds, I was impressed with SIUC too. I hope I'm not disappointed and I really hope my nephew falls in love there!</p>
<p>Can you comment on your impression of recruitment at schools like SIUC - not top engineering schools but good quality schools? Is it national or regional, or very limited?</p>
<p>bump please</p>
<p>I visited SIUC to see my nephew off. He's in an engineering dorm (most but not all residents are in engineering) and had a full day orientation a day ahead of move-in day for other SIUC students. In other words, move in was a breeze, & his RM is also in engineering so they'll be able to study plenty. The dorm was built in the 60's but has AC (thank heaven!) and a bath shared by 2 rooms (4 guys). Rooms are on one side of the hall; the other side is windows with a gorgeous view of mature trees. Many study tables and sofas line the hall. Nice dorm. Later I'll comment on the academics; it's too soon at present.</p>