@imthereal I would recommend UIUC because of the great career opportunities. As far as the University of Minnesota, the weather will be a little colder than UIUC’s weather and the campus and academics aren’t as nice(I’ve visited and heard a lot about both before). In general, I think you’ll find the people in the Midwest to be very friendly and social and since you mentioned that you like football, both University of Minnesota and UIUC have division 1 football teams.