<p>I just graduated from Rose in EE. I had research opportunities, and I didn’t even have to look for them - a professor noticed that I seemed interested in the electromagnetics class, so he approached me about some research and we got the ball rolling. UIUC will certainly have more variety and probably more cutting-edge research, but Rose definitely has opportunities available. One potential advantage at Rose is that because the school is mostly undergrads (with a few MS students), all of the research is done by the undergrads. Although there is more research done at UIUC, as an undergrad I can’t imagine you will get the most interesting projects.</p>
<p>If you’re worried about getting into grad schools later, I can only say anecdotally that my friends and I had no trouble getting into very good graduate programs (top 5/10, although we only applied for masters). </p>
<p>I would say the biggest plus to Rose as compared to UIUC is the small-school environment. I loved having small classes and a cohesive student body. Professors taught all of the classes and really want to see you succeed; I would stop by my professors’ offices all the time to ask questions or chat - any time they are in their office it is an office hour and they are happy to help you. Additionally, the students are all STEM majors so everyone has similar interests and goals. Everyone on your freshman floor will be taking calculus (or diff-eq), everyone will be taking physics or chemistry, etc. Your floormates will be in your classes and working on the same projects. It’s a great atmosphere to be an engineer.</p>
<p>The biggest advantage to UIUC over Rose is its size. This comes into play in a couple ways: (1) there will be research opportunities and exposure to graduate work that you won’t find at Rose on the same scale. (2) the reputation of UIUC will be farther reaching. If you want to get a job in California when you graduate, more employers in California will have heard of UIUC than will have heard of Rose-Hulman - particularly smaller companies. UIUC has major pull nationwide because UIUC produces lots of great engineers and companies get exposure to them. Rose has an excellent reputation, but the farther you get outside the midwest the less exposure companies will have to Rose graduates and the less of an advantage the name is. This doesn’t mean you will have a hard time finding a job outside of the midwest, though - Microsoft and Amazon hire many Rose CS grads every year, for example, and I personally had job offers on both coasts with major companies. If reputation among employers is something you’re curious about, here is the [Rose-Hulman</a> career fair company list](<a href=“404 | Rose-Hulman”>404 | Rose-Hulman). And [UIUC](<a href=“http://expo.ec.illinois.edu/students/company_list/second.php”>http://expo.ec.illinois.edu/students/company_list/second.php</a>).</p>
<p>I agree with xraymancs: it’s a question of where you feel the most comfortable. If Rose is actually cheaper for you than UIUC, that removes a major roadblock that many people have with Rose. Because they are such different schools, I really think fit will be more important than any other factor - at the undergraduate level the academics are effectively equal, in my opinion. If you do well at either school you will have fantastic opportunities. Congrats on your great options!</p>
<p>EDIT: Just wanted to add that I don’t think you’ll find the resources at Rose lacking. In my research area we had fantastic labs - an alum doing his PhD at Georgia Tech came back to show us his research and he was blown away at some of our equipment: we had an anechoic chamber in-house that his group at GT had to rent for thousands of dollars. I’m in grad school at a large public university for CS, and the resources and facilities given to the CS undergrads here pale in comparison to Rose’s. Personally I’ve been frustrated with some of the computing infrastructure here as a grad student - I was spoiled at Rose-Hulman, I guess. I don’t know how it is at UIUC, but don’t underestimate Rose’s resources.</p>