Georgia Tech vs UIUC

College Search & Selection
1

I am an international student from Europe and I narrowed down my choices to Georgia Tech and UIUC. I want to major in EE in both. Although I don’t know if I will want to pursue a graduate degree in EE, I want to get a graduate degree in highly prestigious universities(Stanford, MIT etc.) and become an academician in those universities(This is the most important thing for me right now. I am basically asking which school would help me the most to fulfill this goal of mine). Therefore, I am interested in undergraduate research. I am also interested in entrepreneurship and want to be in the university where startup culture is more prevalent. Thus, I would be grateful if somebody could help me to choose based on these points.

Georgia Tech
Pros:
-High engineering ranking
-More research opportunities
-More internship opportunities
-More prevalent startup culture?
-Close to airport of a major city(means easier international transportation)
-More selective
Cons:
-Grade deflation(Will this affect my chances to get into graduate school?)
-Little social life?(Although I don’t want to be in a fraternity, I want to go out and relax from the stress of classes)
-60/40 male-female ratio
-Urban area(Higher crime risk?Does anybody know the reality about this crime rate?)
-Not as good as it is in engineering in different areas

UIUC
Pros:
-High engineering ranking
-Balanced focus on different areas
-50/50 male female ratio
-Less crime?
Cons:
-Slightly lower in engineering than Georgia Tech
-Less selective
-Harder transportation
-Huge party/drinking scene(I am not into parties/drinking)

Also can somebody tell me about party scene in both universities? I absolutely don’t like drinking and I am not so much into partying. I heard due to stress, alcohol is a big problem at Georgia Tech. Can somebody illuminate me on these issues?

2

Bump…

3

I would pick GT in a heartbeat. Atlanta is the tech capitol of the south, GT is better in academics, and you are in the middle of Atlanta so there is plenty to do. Emory University is nearby (via shuttle bus) so social opportunities can span 2 universities and the huge Atlanta metro area. Illinois has major budget problems which are affecting all public universities including UIUC. You will also find many internship opportunities within easy transport of GT.

Crime is not an issue on campus, GT has its own police department. There are some crime prone areas nearby but not much in the area students frequent.

UIUC also has many tech companies like Wolfram but it is a smaller town in the middle of farm country. You will never have the same density of opportunity like in a major city.

Both will be great for grad school preparation. GPA deflation is only an issue for law or medical school. Engineering is going to be stressful a both too.

4

Both of these schools are well represented when looking at Engineering faculties across the country. You really can’t go wrong with either.

Things I wouldn’t worry about…
Georgia Tech:

Grade deflation: This isn’t much different at UIUC or any other rigorous program. Don’t worry about it.

Little social life? Living in Atlanta is fun, and you’ll find plenty to do. They key (at GT or UIUC) is to get engaged with campus, join a few clubs, and try to meet new people, especially during your first year.

60/40 male-female ratio. Yea, this is true, but Atlanta has several other colleges that help counter the problem.

Urban area (Higher crime risk)? Campus (and much of Atlanta) is fairly safe, but you do have to be smart. I wouldn’t think twice about sending my own son or daughter to Tech, but we would talk about what steps need to be followed to stay out of a high risk situation.

Not as good as it is in engineering in different areas. Tech’s very focused on Engineering, but it also has a very well respected business program. Still, it’s not as comprehensive as UIUC or other state flagship universities. But keep in mind the other colleges in Atlanta. You can even enroll in classes at these schools (they have a cross registration agreement) and hang out with them doing other activities.

UIUC

Slightly lower in engineering than Georgia Tech. Not by much if at all. It will not matter for your goals.

Less selective. It’s very selective. GT has gotten more selective for OOS students, due to strong in-state student demand, as well as OOS. Really, it’s not much of a difference.

Harder transportation. True, this is part of the College Town vs. Urban campus comparison.

Huge party/drinking scene(I am not into parties/drinking). Like GT, you can avoid this issue, but you’ll need to make it a point to make friends and get engaged with campus.

Alcohol can be a problem at any of these schools. It has more to do with being young and free, than anything else. You can avoid these issues, but you’ll need to be open to trying new things. For example, I had one cousin that attending GT that got into caving “spelunking” in Georgia.

http://www.crc.gatech.edu/orgt/content/495/caving

That’s just one example of many activities available at either school.

Good Luck!!

5

Hi Starlor, I am faced with the exact same decision at the moment (as I am sure quite a few others are as well). I wish you the best of luck in making your decision. Also, I really like the questions you’ve asked so far and am looking forward to the answers.

I’m not sure if I should make a new thread for this (if I need to, I’m happy to delete this post and start one), but here are a few questions of my own that I have.

  1. What is the "intellectual environment" like at both campuses? Do people like learning for the sake of learning? Do people like having serious discussions with one another fairly often? I.e. will people talk about philosophy with me? or if I say, this idea about xxx app/invention etc. just popped in my head. Will they discuss with me about it for a few minutes? Hope that makes sense. Overall, are there a good portion of students who are generally passionate about what they are doing?
  2. How important is "Honors" at UIUC and at GTech? I'm in the scholars program fro UIUC but not at GTech. In both instances will that really help or hurt in any way?
  3. Both schools are fairly big (UIUC even more so). Do students feel like if they make the extra effort they can get to know their professors? Do people feel connected in a classroom, and not like an individual in a movie theater?
6

@LizBay12 Let’s hope to get through this dilemma together with this thread(if you haven’t made your decision yet)

I talked with several students at Georgia Tech but I don’t know anyone from UIUC so the only direct information I have is Georgia Tech. So to shed some light on stuff that happens at GT and hopefully help others that are in the same torturous dilemma I am in, I will share the information I got from the conversations I had with GT students.

1- People are really nice and helpful. That is the thing I heard over and over. They said everyone is really bright and has a friendly nature. Therefore, there is a closely-knitted community. And LizBay12 they said most of the students really love learning and intellectual environment is very lively. Conversations on intellectual topics are really usual.

2- Classes are hard but not that hard that people show it to be. They said classes are generally hard but manageable with good time management and they said you don’t study 24/7 at all. You get plenty of free time.

3- LizBay, I haven’t asked if you need to make an extra effort to get to know your professors but they said there are free tutoring services everywhere and it is really easy to get tutoring for classes you struggle.

4- Research opportunities are vast but require hard work and time. Professors are easily accessible if you want to get into their research but you need to show them you love learning.

5- Counseling is great and counselors really help you on which classes to pick depending on your performance and interests.

6- If you want to be social, then you can easily be social. There are social activities but you need to be willing to get into them.

7- Security is great inside the campus. Although campus is safe, if you feel uncomfortable while walking inside the campus, there are posts with devices every 100 m or so and you can call the security to escort you to whatever building you want to go.

8- Freshman classes are quite crowded as in usually 200-300 people but after freshman classes get smaller like sophomore 30-40 people, junior 5-20 etc.

That’s what I learnt. Pretty positive but I want to hear the experience of a UIUC engineering student so if a current UIUC engineering student share their experiences with us on these matters, I would be incredibly grateful.

7

Thanks for responding @Starior ! These were some really helpful comments.
1-I am really glad to hear about that!
2- I’m a little skeptical of “plenty of free time”. That’s not what I have heard haha. I expect some free time, but engineering at Georgia Tech is extremely rigorous, so I wonder about the “plenty” aspect. However, it’s good to know that students seem to see a balance in their life.
9-I realize this isn’t a make or break issue, but did you/students from Georgia Tech feel like there were hardly any stores/restaurants nearby? We checked out midtown and there didn’t seem to be too much activity outside of the Starbucks.

Sorry I didn’t get back to this thread earlier. Have you made a decision yet? I am still contemplating! >.<

By the way, I sent you a private message about a few more details about what I’ve gleaned about each college (you should see it in the inbox on your profile/home page). It’s ridiculously long so I figured I shouldn’t post it here.