<p>I am an international student from china, wanting to major in engineering. And the options for me are UIUC and Carnegie Mellon and UCLA. I have pretty much knocked out UCLA since their engineering progarm doesn't seem as good as the other two.
I am not sure which specific engineering I want to do but I am interested in Chemical E, ECE/EE, Material E or maybe BioE. I know that UIUC is ranked higher but is it that different bewteen 4th or 9th on the engineering ranking? I am drawn to CMU by it's reputation considering the fact I might come back to China to work. But I might go for grad school too, not sure.
I went on both school's career center website and looked up their recent graduate salary report. In some majors UIUC have higher starting salaries. But are those statistics reliable? Am I relying too much on the statistics?
Since I am internation, I can't visit them and feel which one I might fit in. Ang suggestion of which I should say yes to? Any input is greatly appreciated. Thanks~~</p>
<p>UIUC has a great program and it is inexpensive to live in Urbana Champaign. You will also find a great cohort of international students at UIUC. I have a friend from Pakistan and one from Mexico who went there and they loved it. I believe tuition is cheaper too. It is also top 5 in the nation for engineering overall. I would go there. Also the winter is not as harsh as it is in Chicago, but what is nice is that Chicago is only a couple of hours drive away. Yahoo and a couple of other companies also have offices on campus. (One of Yahoo’s founders graduated from UIUC) </p>
<p>That said, are you coming with a family or a spouse? If so, Los Angeles does have a LARGE Chinese population and you might consider that. A friend of mine from India opted for UCLA over UIUC because he felt his wife would be more comfortable as L.A. has a large Indian population and access to Indian grocery stores etc. If you are married and are bringing your spouse then I would think about UCLA. He is happy he made that decision as his wife was not as isolated.</p>