<p>Excellent school. I agree its strengths are engineering, sciences, and business, but don’t overlook the social sciences and humanities. Its faculties in English, History, and Poli Sci are all ranked in the top 25 nationally. It also attracts very good students. I’d say its downsides are high student-faculty ratio (at 17:1 notably higher than UC Berkeley, Michigan, or Wisconsin; among these schools it has both the largest student body and the smallest faculty) which leads to larger class sizes and more teaching by grad students than at the schools with which it’s directly competing. (According to US News, 27% of sections taught by TAs v. 14% at Michigan and 22% at Wisconsin). But for an Illinois resident it’s a good deal cheaper than Michigan or Wisconsin OOS, overall competitive with Wisconsin academically though less strong in social sciences and humanities, and arguably the best of the three in engineering. </p>
<p>As between UIUC and Northwestern, I’d say Northwestern has the advantage of better s/f ratio, smaller classes, less teaching by grad students, stronger student body, and a stronger faculty overall (though not in sciences & engineering). But for a lot of cross-admits it may come down to cost. With better FA, Northwestern may actually be cheaper for many, though UIUC will definitely be cheaper for those who are full-pays (or close to it) at both schools.</p>