Engineering at UF or UIUC?

Hello everyone,
I was recently admitted to both UF and UIUC.
I’m an international US citizen and can’t decide between these two colleges.
Any help would be much appreciated…

Congratulations! Both around the same price for OOS. UIUC is a top 10 engineering program. Florida has the weather. What are your decision metrics?

First off thank you!
Secondly UIUC is above by approx $10k
I’m still to get my financial aid but I’m not expecting much.
Is Florida not in the top 10 for engineering? Also my major is Aerospace if that makes a difference.
I was admitted into engineering mechanics in UIUC tho

I was hoping you guys could help me find some decision metrics right now

UIUC is top 30 for engineering overall / top 10 for aerospace
Florida is top 50 for engineering overall / top 200 for aerospace/ME (combined dept)

Can your family afford the extra $40K?

You would have to do an intradepartmental transfer to move over to aerospace @UIUC. Anecdotally, I have heard that UIUC is reasonably reasonable about transfers, but you can’t take it for granted. Are you ok with staying in eng mech if your transfer isn’t successful?

I would say UIUC has better national reach but FL places well in the space center area where there are a lot of companies. UCF probably places the best there as it’s pretty close. Locally, UF has a great rep in engineering. UIUC has been a powerhouse for a long time.

You can do great from either. Where do you see yourself living long term? If it’s in FL I would definitely choose UF . Lots of other places, UIUC will have more gravitas if that matters.

They both are very strong engineering programs.

Florida. UIUC is in a corn field.

Florida is a nice 70 to 80 degrees now.

Illinois is quite cold 30.

UIUC is in Urbana-Champaign, a great college town.

But, if weather is your primary metric, then yes, FL has better weather during the academic year.

If based on ranking of engineering Illinois would be the pick. Weather should not be the option as I doubt that’s why your heading to college for the weather. Plus Boeing headquarters based in Chicago.

Rankings for engineering are almost meaningless compared to ranking value for other fields. Don’t discount UF based on a ranking. Besides, UF middle 50% ACT is 28-32, so you would be surrounded by very smart people.

We don’t know enough about your background or interests to advise. If my child were in the same situation, I would advise UF mainly because of the weather and the location (Florida’s economy is always going to top Illinois).

In general I agree with you, @OhiBro - but if the OP really does want Aero, not all engineering schools are created equal. As a small example, UIUC students start Aero-specific courses semester 1; UF students start in semester 3.

Just based on where my company hires - UIUC is regared highly nationawide for engineering. UF is also good but is not in the same tier as UIUC.
Given you are an US expat coming from another country - I would say the diversity is about the same in both schools but the weather is totally different - its cold winters in UCIC and warm throughout the year in UF. If your making a decision purely on college reputation then I would pick UCIC - all things being the same financially.

Good point, @collegemom3717 . You and most others in this forum will know more about the particulars of each school.

I was speaking from a broader perspective of getting a great education and being positioned geographically for happiness and success (acknowledging personal bias).

UF is actually more selective than UIUC for engineering.

UF has a lower engineering admit rate and enrolled engineering students have higher test scores than UIUC.

UF has a 36% engineering admit rate, 1395 SAT avg.

UIUC has a 44% rate, 1345 SAT avg.

Areospace job search shows more than twice as many jobs in Florida than Illinois.

UIUC middle 50% SAT average for Engineering is between 1430-1540. The 1345 SAT is most likely the schools average. Engineering and Business are the hard UIUC colleges to get into. While it may be true there are more aerospace jobs in Florida it has nothing to do with the two schools.