<p>Hi! I recently received an acceptance email from UIUC, and I had a few questions I wanted to ask the people of CC.</p>
<p>1) Around what time of the year does UIUC send it's financial aid letters? I submitted my FAFSA form around the 15th of February while UIUC's deadline is March 15.</p>
<p>Will I receive my financial aid information earlier or will all the letters be sent out at around the same time?</p>
<p>2) I was accepted into the college of business, if I decide to accept my spot at UIUC around April does it mean I will lose my spot in the college of business and be shoved into general studies?</p>
<p>3) This is more of a personal dilemma for me:
I'm currently a resident of Louisiana and I've been accepted into the LSU as well. However, because I qualify for instate tuition, qualified for their flagship scholarship and TOPS, I will pay nothing if I decide to attend LSU. Whereas if I decided to attend UIUC I would be around 104k in debt (worst case scenario) when I graduate. While an education at LSU would be free, I'm also aware that there are many more opportunities for me at UIUC.</p>
<p>Do you believe it's better for me to attend UIUC with student loans than attending LSU? I understand I'm jumping the gun since I haven't received any financial aid information from UIUC yet, but it is also my #1 choice.</p>
<p>Not sure if this is relevant but my planned path was a double major in accounting and finance or business management.</p>
<p>Thank you everyone in advance for your input.</p>
<p>More opportunities for what? For employment? No. For career and salary advancement? No. Those of us on CC get a big kick out of college rankings and like to act as if they reflect real differences. They generally don’t represent a whole lot. There will never be an employer who likes the way you interview, but says “You know, I’m going to hire someone else because they went to UIUC and this one “just” went to LSU.”</p>
<p>You’ll be working for the next 40 years after graduation. That $104,000, compounded at 5% per year for 40 years will be > $700,000. Going $100K into debt for UIUC is simply unacceptable.</p>
<p>LSU’s placement report outside accounting is pretty grim. If you want to do finance or higher level marketing there are multiple more jobs coming out of Illinois. LSU lacks even a placement office just for business. As far as I can see the average starting salary is $10K less or about 20%. The issue is at graduation day most LSU grads don’t even get seen by major companies outside maybe some in Houston. The only thing I’d go to LSU for is accting as all the big firms recruit and hire there.</p>
<p>I talked with my parents after this, and we all agreed that the best idea was to go to LSU where I would just have to pay for textbooks and other miscellaneous expenses. </p>
<p>1moremom: After I graduate I would really like to work outside the state of Louisiana. Maybe a bigger city like Chicago, New York or even Atlanta. I’ve lived in cities larger than Baton Rouge, and I like the hustle and bustle of the city life.</p>