<p>Hi, I know I've waited a bit too long to ask for help but I need some fast and was hoping you guys would have some answers. With only 2 weeks left til May 1st I still have no idea where to do. I have it narrowed down to Purdue University in West Lafayette and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.</p>
<p>In the application process I applied to the electrical engineering programs at both schools and was accepted, however I am not too confident that electrical engineering is what I am going to stick with. I am planning on staying in Engineering but I may or may not change subsets (I'm not sure).</p>
<p>I am interested in Aerospace engineering however the smallness, for lack of a better word, of the field scares me in terms of job opportunities leaving college. </p>
<p>If I go to UIUC I am considering doing a Bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering and a Masters in Aerospace in a 5 Year program. </p>
<p>The problem occurs where if I go to Purdue because it has a better Aerospace Engineering program I lose the breadth and opportunity that comes with the Bachelors/Masters Program at UIUC.</p>
<p>So here I'll make a pros and con list to help me clarify my thoughts and hopefully you can help me with this; tell me the good and the bad about each school.</p>
<p>Purdue:
Pros -
Better Aerospace program
ability to change within engineering (however almost all engineering disciplines besides aerospace are worse than their UIUC counterpart)
Cons -
About $10 grand a year more
almost all engineering disciplines besides aerospace are worse than their UIUC counterpart if I decide to not stick with Aerospace</p>
<p>UIUC:
Pros -
Highly ranked Electrical Engineering Program
Bachelor/ Master combo in EE/ Aero in 5 years
$10 grand a year cheaper
In-state (although both are about the same distance)
cons -
Incredibly difficult to change into certain disciplines within engineering (mechanical, material and biomedical)
A little bit less nice aesthetically than Purdue (but that doesn't matter as much to me being a guy)</p>
<p>Does anyone have any insight or advice for me? Any help is appreciated</p>
<p>Current UIUC student here (engineering physics), so right off the bat I’ll admit I’m biased. I do have a good sense of UIUC though, so I hope my perspective is useful.</p>
<p>Cost: it’s hard to say since I don’t know who’s footing the bill. If it’s you, that’s an extra $40k in student loans, which is considerable but not inconceivable. If it’s not you, well, it’s your own judgement call there.</p>
<p>If you want to stick with ECE, UIUC is fantastic – I know five or six ECE majors here and they all love it, plus it’s the engineering college’s biggest program so you should have tons of career fairs, etc. to help you get employment. If you want to switch – it depends on the department. MechE is nearly impossible to switch into. Matsci I don’t know about, but it’s fairly close to physics (which is not too hard to get into) and if you plan on going to grad school a physics degree would be fine – I have a few friends going into matsci for grad school from a UIUC physics major. Biomedical is literally impossible to get into. The straight up do not accept anyone but freshmen.</p>
<p>UIUC has fantastic programs in CS, AgE, ChemE, IE, NukeE, Aerospace, and Physics that you could transfer into (I don’t know off the bat which are hard to get into). As for purdue, I don’t know a darn thing so take this advice with a grain of salt.</p>
<p>What is this based on? Purdue has the “better” program but the difference is so small that overall, it isn’t going to make much difference if any (and most would argue it won’t make any). Why would a better program make you lose “breadth and opportunity” as you put it? This seems pretty opposite the truth to me.</p>
<p>Honestly, given what you have said, I think you would be silly to go to Purdue. The two towns are similarly marooned in fields of corn (Champaign is a little nicer IMO). The two programs are nearly identically great. Given that you are from somewhere in Chicagoland (based on the distance from both schools you cite) you are going to have tons of other Chicagoland natives at both schools. With all this in mind, it is essentially a wash and should come down to personal preference.</p>
<p>But here is the kicker, Illinois is $10k cheaper!</p>
<p>Barring some kind of crazy preference for Purdue or a completely lack of care about cost, I would think going to Purdue over Illinois would be silly for you.</p>