<p>Was wondering what people hear and know about the University of Illinois-Champaign? Prefer hearing from people outside of Illinois. thanks in advance.</p>
<p>I’m assuming that you want information that goes beyond a simple google search, in which I would recommend asking a mod to move this post to UIUC forum where you can get some intel from people who are OOS students.</p>
<p>I’m in MD but I’m in the college business, and UIUC has a very good reputation. It has long been known for its strengths in CS and other STEM, but it is also very strong in the humanities and social sciences. Great flagship institution. I saw somewhere yesterday that it was #2 in accounting. You can’t go wrong with this school if you have a mature, self-motivated student. </p>
<p>I live in California. UIUC has a reputation as an excellent CS school. Otherwise, I’d rate it as a good, not great, state flagship.</p>
<p>It’s definitely a good place for physics…</p>
<p>I’m from IL but I’ve lived on both coasts. I would say that people in CS, engineering, accounting and a few other fields like physics will recognize that UofI is top-notch in their field. When it comes to people from other backgrounds, I would agree with @simba9.</p>
<p>Really, though, I think you’re asking the wrong question. The right question, IMO, should be “where can UofI get me?”</p>
<p>I live in Missouri and UIUC is very prestigious. UIUC is a prestigious engineering school nationwide. And not just for no reason - it really is a good engineering college, among the likes of MIT, Purdue, UMich, UMinn, and many others.</p>
<p>“I live in California. UIUC has a reputation as an excellent CS school. Otherwise, I’d rate it as a good, not great, state flagship.”</p>
<p>UIUC is much better than just a, “good state flagship.” Good state flagships are schools like Alabama and the like. UIUC is clearly a step up from good. By the way, UIUC is also a stellar school for engineering.</p>
<p>@rjkofnovi: eh, I would say 'Bama is an average flagship (because among all flagships, they would be average), which would make UIUC above-average or “good” (but why quibble).</p>
<p>In any case, I would say that UIUC is a lot like IU or NYU, where in a decent number of fields, it is very highly-regarded, and in others, not as much.</p>
<p>Yeah. I would rate Alabama as an average state flagship. To me the only great state flagships would be Berkeley and UCLA, maybe Virginia. Under that you have the good state flagships like Texas, North Carolina, Michigan, Washington, Wisconsin, Illinois, maybe Ohio State. Under that would be places like Alabama, Oregon, Colorado, Arkansas, Arizona State…</p>
<p>UIUC is one of the top engineering schools in the country. I’m from OH and have lived fro coast to coast.</p>
<p>@simba9, I would say you’re West-Coast-biased.</p>
<p>While Cal is an Ivy-equivalent if you look at alumni accomplishments ( <a href=“Ivy-equivalents - #31 by PurpleTitan - College Search & Selection - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1682986-ivy-equivalents-p3.html</a>), UMich and UVa are just below as near-Ivies.
I would place UCLA in the next tier with UNC, UT-Austin, and UW-Madison (by alumni accomplishments those schools are together). Then come the average flagships, and there are a lot of them. (BTW, the way I’m splitting this is paper-thin; so each tier is really more like a half-tier, and there is almost no difference if you go up or down a half-tier, but there’s a bigger difference between Cal/UMich/UVa and an average flagship).</p>
<p>Schools like UIUC, IU, UDub and engineering/STEM schools like Purdue, GTech, and UCSD (and maybe A&M) can’t really be placed like this since their reputation really depend on area/industry. They have major fields where they are regarded as highly as the top flagships (or top schools in those fields, period) and other fields where they are considered just average.</p>
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<p>Maybe. I grew up in Ohio and tend to view the Big 10 state flagships as rather similar to each other. I’ve also lived in New York, Texas, Washington State, Alaska, and California, and no state is as obsessed with the academic quality of its top universities as California.</p>
<p>simba9. That you would “maybe” include Ohio State in the same “good” category as Michigan tells me that you did indeed grow up in Ohio. LOL</p>
<p>I do feel that Michigan is living off its past reputation.</p>
<p>^^^^That’s ok. Thank goodness most of the world is better informed. </p>
<p>Years ago Michigan was a top 10 school. Now it’s around #30. </p>
<p>“Years ago Michigan was a top 10 school. Now it’s around #30.”</p>
<p>So was Berkeley. USNWR changed their methodology effectively making it that no public schools would be ranked in the top twenty. If you look at the PA scores at USNWR, you will see that Michigan still has a very high rating. Higher than many schools above it, including UCLA and UVA. </p>
<p>UIUC has one of the best engineering programs in the country and most OOS students go to UIUC for engineering. It is a good flagship school but top 5 for engineering. Look at its stats and its OOS pool. Not many would consider UIUC as an OOS student unless it is for engineering due to its land locked location. It has the most Chinese students in the country mostly again for engineering. Stats are public since this is a public school, you should review before you make a choice. My D is in engineering and if we could have afforded Berkley she would have went there, she was deferred luckily and University of Michigan too expensive. I am from Illinois and my daughter said hands down if we could have afforded OOS tuition she would have chosen another school due to her loving the city and being around water. </p>
<p>UIUC’s computer science department has a great reputation. My son has applied there, along with a few other “top” comp sci schools like Berkeley, CMU, Georgia Tech, and UT-Austin. He has been accepted to UT already and is anxiously awaiting word from the others. If he gets in, UIUC will be a strong contender.</p>