Purdue, UIUC, or Rose Hulman?

<p>Hey everyone, so I got into three schools: Purdue, UIUC, and Rose Hulman and I'm unsure about which I should pick.</p>

<p>Major: Electrical Engineering (and Computer Science if dual)
Career Aspirations: Academia
Because I want to work in academia, I think research is HUGE (I kind of ruled of Rose because of this.)</p>

<p>Further, I'm looking for a school with:
1. Intellectual vitality and passion for learning for the sake of learning
2. Good people who are willing to help and not competitive
3. Interesting People- where everyone has a unique activity/background/experience/ etc.</p>

<p>Thanks in advance!</p>

<p>Net price at each? How easily can you afford them?</p>

<p>Scholarship decisions have not come out yet. But can we set aside the cost for now? I’m sure one or two could be ruled out looking at the quality or research</p>

<p>Well, you’re probably right to rule out Rose Hulman – although when we visited there, one of the CS profs we met had gone there undergrad, then went to, maybe MIT for grad, before taking the position there – so that kind of path is possible, if perhaps less common. Otherwise, the other two schools are fairly similar – large public schools, strong in engineering and CS. Somewhat of an edge to UIUC in a number of ways – better CS dept., better engineering, more national vs. regional opportunities, I’d guess more people going on to grad school. But I think you’ll find the kind of people you mention at either of those places.</p>

<p>CS is separate from EE at both of these schools. At UIUC, CS is in the college of engineering (well, there are other CS majors not in engineering – e.g., Math/CS – but I’m assuming you’re talking about engineering); at Purdue, CS is not in engineering – I think the school it’s in is the college of sciences. That could be a factor as well – I’d think it’d be another one in favor of UIUC.</p>

<p>Setting aside considerations of cost is fine for now, as long as you know you can afford these places. I’m assuming you’re not a resident of Illinois or Indiana, else the home state school would have a big edge.</p>

<p>If you’re not too far away from these schools, I’d suggest arranging a visit with them – ask to meet with a number of students, both undergrad and grad, and faculty, and talk about your plans and interests. If you have a specific plan, like going into academia, they should be willing to do that, and that should give you a better idea which of these schools would be best for you.</p>

<p>Guess I’ll add my caveat: I work at UIUC and my son is a HS senior planning to major in CS; he applied to (and has been accepted at) all three of these schools.</p>

<p>That’s awesome! That’s interesting-- I would like to know how that professor got to MIT from Rose. Thank you!</p>

<p>You can do research at schools like RHIT since undergraduate research is an important component of many schools these days. However, the other two are research universities and have graduate programs and as such, you would have the opportunity to work on funded research projects alongside graduate students. This can provide you with strong letters of reference for graduate school and a good view of what it is like going to graduate school.</p>

<p>Here’s Rose Hulman’s CS faculty:</p>

<p>[Faculty</a> & Staff - Computer Science & Software Engineering - Academic Departments - Academics | Rose-Hulman](<a href=“404 | Rose-Hulman”>Computer Science & Software Engineering Faculty & Directory | Rose-Hulman)</p>

<p>There’s only one person who went to Rose Hulman undergrad, and he went to UNC grad. So I’m probably misremembering the MIT thing (they have another faculty who went to MIT for grad school, but Navy undergrad). Still, UNC is a high level grad school.</p>

<p>Also, these schools/departments should be able to tell you what percentage of their grads go on to grad school, and where.</p>