Questions about UIUC's Engineering rankings compared to Wisconsin.

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
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I was walking down the hall today when my 10th grade Spanish teacher stops me to see my shirt since today was the day where all seniors were to wear apparel for the college they’re going to. She saw my Wisconsin shirt and asked, “What are you going to study?” I told her Electrical Engineering and she was shocked, “Why not Illinois?” and she went on to explain how even when she went there (she’s in her 60s) that UIUC was known for engineering. I know that Illinois is great for engineering, especially for EE and CE and I’ve been trying to tell myself that Wisconsin is just as good and that rankings don’t matter THAT much (Wisconsin is #14 EE, Illinois is #5 for CE and EE) because it is my fault that I’m not going to Illinois. I’m from NJ and I’m always going to regret not applying to Illinois. I didn’t because of a multitude of reasons, the main being my mom saying how Wisconsin had a much better college town and overall vibe, very shallow opinions she had with little to no evidence that for some reason I listened to.

I’m happy to be going to Wisconsin-Madison as I know it’s a great school especially for Chemical Engineering (I mean that Illinois isn’t ranked higher in EVERYTHING) but will I be at a disadvantage by not going to Illinois for EE due to its great reputation? I’ve read on other forums how rankings don’t matter as much as what you accomplish at your college and how you stand out. But, does Illinois’ ranking indicate better professors, classes, jobs, and overall better experience with EE and CE? I had come to terms that the only way I could go to Illinois would be a transfer and to not worry about it but the story from above urged me to ask on CC because it unsettled me with how shocked she was that I was going to Wisconsin, as I had come to believe that it was a great engineering school. What do you think? Does anyone have unbiased opinions about both schools and what they offer?

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As far as your mom’s evaluation of Wisconsin having a better college town than Illinois, my view, as one who is prejudiced toward Illinois, is that she is right on that point. The Wisconsin campus on Lake Mendota is beautiful and Madison is a friendly college town. Champaign-Urbana are OK but not in the same ballpark as Madison; heck, you can drive 60 miles in any direction from UIUC and never even find a lake .

US News engineering rankings on the undergraduate level are generally established by surveys completed by college engineering Deans throughout the country. The prestige of the university has an obvious impact on the vote as the Deans see articles by professors, hear about research programs, and hear more about well-known colleges than others. The prestige of a college that puts it higher in the rankings in engineering is usually the result of its graduate school and research programs mostly conducted through the graduate schools, where Illinois stands somewhat better than Wisconsin but both are top notch. For an undergrad learning experience in engineering they are on the same plane. Moreover, as long as you do well at either, many employemnt opportunities are likely to be available when you graduate and both have many summer and semester internship programs with private employers. Illinois gives you somewhat more prestige but Wisconsin is no slacker

Since you are out-of-state for both, cost will be expensive but probably somewhat less for Wisconsin.