<p>I have the opportunity to go to either NU or UIUC for undergrad. As the title states, I will be going into engineering (mechanical, if it makes a difference). Basically the dilemma is the strong engineering program of UIUC vs the prestige, but weaker engineering program, of NU. Price is the same either way (after scholarships), so I'm mostly just concerned with which is going to be better for my future. My dad is completely convinced that NU is a better option because of the prestige. He is convinced that the name alone (no business minors/ double majors etc) will carry me much further into management and higher salaries. I'm taking the side that UIUC would be better for undergrad and then I could get an MBA from Kellogg later. Is my dad right about the prestige? And if so, how substantial of a difference are we talking about here?</p>
<p>Well, I’ll give you my $0.02, and that’s about all it’s worth.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t pick my undergrad school based even in part on ideas about what I might do later in terms of grad school. You might get there, believe it or not, and decide to major in something else. Where you might go get an MBA is irrelevant now (again my opinion).</p>
<p>Of course money and a million other things can factor in, but all else being equal (and I realize it seldom is), I’d go with with NU for more or less the reasons you give.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>PS: interesting username.</p>
<p>Are there any other factors besides ranking or prestige (overall or in-major) that you consider more or less desirable about either school?</p>
<p>@ucbalumnus There are, but I was trying to get opinions based solely on those factors mentioned above. To name a few, my brother goes to UIUC (good thing), more fun campus, partying, girls, extracurriculars (much better FSAE team most importantly). That being said these are relatively minor if NU will make me more successful.</p>
<p>NU Engineering isn’t exactly weak. Also, have you looked at engineering at these 2 schools at all? NU Engineering stresses holisticness while UofI is more traditional in that each department does its own thing.</p>
<p>BTW, are you a transfer? Otherwise, how would you have the opportunity now? And what scholarships?</p>
<p>@PurpleTitan To be honest I don’t like the holisticness. I’m rather excited to be finishing up English and History classes this year and would love to never have to take another. I’m getting a scholarship through a 3rd party and need to start finalizing which school I would like to go to. I haven’t been accepted to either but the assumption (by them) is that I will get into both (34 ACT, 36 ACT Math, 4.33 GPA, 2nd in class, etc).</p>
<p>@ucbalumnus I’m leaning towards UIUC at this point, but something just feels wrong about turning down a school with such a good reputation and that some people work hard all their life just to get to.</p>
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<p>Unless there are automatic admission or scholarship criteria that you meet, do not count your acceptances before you get them. Do you have safety schools in your application list? Does the third party understand that you do not have all of your admission decisions yet?</p>
<p>“I haven’t been accepted to either but the assumption (by them) is that I will get into both (34 ACT, 36 ACT Math, 4.33 GPA, 2nd in class, etc).”</p>
<p>Don’t assume anything for Northwestern. </p>
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<p>NU is not more “prestigious” in eng’g than UIUC…No employer is going to choose the NU grad over the UIUC grad because of school name.</p>
<p>AND…You would never get paid more simply because you graduated from NU</p>
<p>Your dad is crazy…once a person is at the point of promotion to management, no one is looking at the name of one’s undergrad. </p>
<p>This is just nuts…</p>
<p>My D faced the same choice @ 8 years ago… She resolved it by talking to a Prof at NU that did undergrad at UIUC and grad work at NU. He pointed out that NU is smaller - you can get better 1 on 1 opportunities, and that UIUC has bigger class size. My D selected NU and happy she did, and son is also engineering at NU. They both liked the Engineering First program, and me and their Mum had opportunity to see both kids & their classmates do their presentations. VERY impressive seeing all the projects - solving real-world problems for handicapped people! BTW - NU net out of pocket was less expensive that UIUC - YMMV. Go Cats!</p>
<p>You’re very likely to get into UIUC, but I don’t think you can be sure enough about Northwestern to justify agonizing over the choice. Your essays and activities will matter a lot there.</p>
<p>Why are you assuming scholarships to schools you have not been accepted to?</p>
<p>You said price is the same after scholarships? What?</p>
<p>@ucbalumnus, UIUC (other than CS within Engineering) would be a safety for many kids in IL. MechE is the biggest major in UIUC Engineering (even though CS probably gets more applicants). They take in a ton of kids. I would not worry about the OP not getting in to MechE@UIUC.</p>
<p>@mom2collegekids: NU may not open up more opportunities within engineering but definitely would in other career fields (and someone studying engineering may decide to pursue those fields rather than engineering). Note that the costs would be the same for the OP.</p>
<p>And again, I wouldn’t say that NU engineering is weaker (it has one of the strongest engineering schools of any elite private RU outside of MIT, CalTech, and Stanford); on the undergrad level, as @nugraddad pointed out, it certainly may suit a student better.</p>
<p>Agree with @Hanna. No one can assume an admit to NU (especially in RD), regardless of stats. Granted, if you are URM with those stats, your chances go up.</p>
<p>@DeaconBlues @Hanna @ucbalumnus At this point if have already “been awarded a scholarship to Northwestern” without being accepted to the school. Crazy I know. I am in the process of switching over to UIUC and was wondering if I was making a terrible mistake. I technically could still pull the plug on the switch but I think you have all convinced me that I shouldn’t.</p>
<p>Edit @ucbalumnus Yes, they know that I have only been accepted to Purdue thus far</p>
<p>It really comes down to whether you prefer to learn in smaller classes or not.</p>
<p>But I am a little puzzled over whether NWU actually render financial aid decisions before admissions decisions, if only for a handful of students…</p>
<p>@Catria: This is evidently an outside scholarship.</p>
<p>The only way this makes sense is if the scholarship foundation has some pull with NU admissions or runs candidates by NU admissions first so that they only award scholarships to those kids who NU has given the OK to.</p>
<p>The only thing I can think of is Evans Scholars.</p>
<p>@PurpleTitan Wow man you really know your stuff</p>
<p>They were there when I was in school. Own little house and everything.</p>
<p>FWIW, the NRC ranks Northwestern’s graduate mechE programs higher than UIUC’s in 8 of 10 categories.
<a href=“NRC Rankings Overview: Mechanical Engineering”>http://chronicle.com/article/NRC-Rankings-Overview-/124744/</a></p>