<p>I'm an international student with a major in ME. Now I have narrowed down to two schools: UIUC and NYU. I know UIUC has a great engineering program but the student-faculty ratio there is really high(around 1:18), while that of NYU is only around 1:10. Also, I heard that UIUC is a huge party school...I'm an international and not really into Greek life & party & drinking...those stuff. In other words, I'm kinda worry about the whole studying atmosphere in UIUC. This is actually my first post here at CC, and probably there's a lot of things I don't know here, so thank you very much if you can take time and reply~:)</p>
<p>NYU isn’t known for its engineering. UIUC is the obvious choice. Parties will be everywhere, you can choose not to participate. Don’t worry you will find non partier’s.</p>
<p>Alright~thanks!! 
I just think that UIUC is too huge, and many class discussions are directed by TAs…class size is big as well, which is actually not what I like most.</p>
<p>NYU’s engineering school is definitely not a party school. If you come to poly, you are going to work hard and study most of the time because of its difficult course load. </p>
<p>Poly is ranked number 4 on payscale. <a href=“http://www.payscale.com/college-salary-report-2013/full-list-of-schools[/url]”>http://www.payscale.com/college-salary-report-2013/full-list-of-schools</a></p>
<p>According to USNEWS ranking, UIUC is ranked 7th in ME with the score of 4.4 while NYU-Poly is ranked 93rd with the score of 2.3. I know this ranking is not everything and it can be subjective sometimes. But this huge difference is something to keep in mind.</p>
<p>[Best</a> Mechanical Engineering Programs | Top Engineering Schools | US News Best Graduate Schools](<a href=“http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-engineering-schools/mechanical-engineering-rankings]Best”>http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-engineering-schools/mechanical-engineering-rankings)</p>
<p>Don’t worry brother, classes will get extremely small after you start your junior year. The big classes are just weed out classes where you learn a valuable lesson that nobody is going to hold your hands and motivate you. Besides, you need to experience what kind of fun it is to sit with 100 students.</p>
<p>Isnt this graduate school? Poly is ranked 57 overall for engineering. [Best</a> Engineering School Rankings | Engineering Program Rankings | US News](<a href=“http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-engineering-schools/eng-rankings/page+3]Best”>http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-engineering-schools/eng-rankings/page+3)</p>
<p>I heard grad school rankings are abit more accurate than undergrad since they based undergrad on opinions.</p>
<p>Then UIUC is ranked fifth in the nation on the overall engineering school ranking that you brought up. That means UIUC is almost as good as MIT. 5th and 57th is still a very big difference.</p>
<p>Large classes may not be for everyone, but they do have certain advantages. For one, you will be around a more diverse group of students so the likelihood of finding a group of peers with whom you get along well for group work and group study is greater. For two, at schools like UIUC, you can still get that personal attention from the professors, you just have to work for it a bit rather than having it forced on you. For example, sit near the front, ask thoughtful questions and attend office hours and many professors will get to know you.</p>
<p>Also, PayScale is about the absolute worst way to rank college programs for several reasons. For one, basing your decision solely on money is a terrible idea. Second, the site is comprised of self-reported data, meaning is almost certainly doesn’t accurately capture a cross-section of the engineers graduating from the programs.</p>
<p>Finally, the data and conclusions from PayScale are heavily based on geography. A school like NYU-Poly tends to have a large portion of its graduates staying in New York and New England since it is relatively unknown outside of the region and its average starting salary will reflect the heavy influence of these regions where cost of living and salaries are already very high. A school like UIUC or Purdue or Michigan, which sends recruits nationwide and worldwide, will tend to clock in much closer to the national average starting salary simply because of the fact that its graduates are not staying in one high-priced region. In other words, on PayScale, smaller schools located in high-cost-of-living areas have a built-in advantage, so someone like NYU-Poly will obviously do very well, while places like Missouri S&T (formerly University of Missouri - Rolla) will look artificially poor.</p>