I am a senior in highschool who has acceptance into the engineering for computer science at university of Illinois at Urbana champaign and the arts and sciences college for computer science at the university of Virginia. I do live in Virginia so going to uva will be almost half the price of uiuc. Illinois is obviously the better school for computer science according to rankings but would paying twice as much for uiuc be worth it in the long run? I am currently interested in comp sci research rather than development but obviously my interests can change.
Both are good, and even if there is a difference, it would be very little.
So, go to UVa. It is not worth paying twice to go to UIUC when it is not necessarily better in CS.
Why do so many sites rank uiuc as a top ten school for comp sci while uva doesn’t even make top 30? Obviously rankings are not everything but I just want to know why such a difference in rankings doesn’t make you think uiuc is better.
The ranking also includes research fund, prrstige itself, size, faculty ratio, and anything NOT academic.
That being said, UVa is as good as UIUC
No, I don’t think paying twice as much for UIUC is worth it when your other option is UVa. I’m sure your Comp. Sci. at UVa should be solid at the undergrad level, and job opportunities, especially in the east, should be strong with the UVa degree. You also may want to think about taking some elective classes, or perhaps doing something like a minor, in one of the disciplines that UVa excels in – great to take advantage of the best UVa has to offer.
Just let you know, CS size in UVa is smaller than UIUC
Talking to some friends it seems that people are starting to look to uva for computer science. Like 35% of the graduating class apparently are going to Microsoft. Is this true?
35% to one company would seem awfully high to me. Though I don’t expect a solid performer to have trouble finding great jobs at top CS companies after graduation.
How sure are you that you are interested in CS? Unless you’re very committed, UVa might be a better choice (even without the price differential) because of its stronger overall reputation (albeit not a huge gap) in several other fields.
My impression is that (outside of CS where UIUC is reputed to be better than UVA) many engineering or STEM oriented students at UVA end up pursuing careers in business (consulting, finance related fields) than many of its peers.
Disclaimer: UVA grad but many in my family attended Illinois.
@paul2752 Are you an undergrad at U of Alabama?
There isn’t really comparison between UIUC and UVA. UIUC has the top 5 ranked CS department in US, and UVA is a school known for its business program but is a not name school in the field of computer science and engineering in general.