Looking for help in comparing CS major at Georgia Tech and UIUC (Grainger Eng School). Obviously, location and weather are complete opposites and that is something to consider. Anyone have experience coming from out of state (west coast) and adjusting to either?
How is the culture of both? Is it more collaborative or competitive? How does Georgia Tech being all STEM impact the experience vs UIUC being not STEM focused?
In terms of curriculum, my student will need to sit down and compare but if anyone is familiar with the differences, please share. Is either school known to be stronger in a certain area (such as AI, data science etc)? We know Georgia Tech has the “threads” that students specialize in. Is this chosen Junior year? I also heard UIUC has specializations as well- is this common for all colleges?
Job placement and recruiting? Are mostly local companies recruiting from these schools or are they nationally known and recruited from? Is one known for stronger job options? Reputation among employers? I hear many companies block out school names, not sure if that is the case so it matters less. I assume Atlanta, being urban, offers more internships during the school year (if that is a possibility).
Are classes hard to get? Can you easily graduate in four years?
How hard are the classes? Is grade deflation an issue?
How conservative or liberal? Does either school lean heavily one way? We’ve heard Atlanta is quite liberal so does Georgia Tech follow that? Any feedback on UIUC?
Is either school heavily Greek?
I couldn’t find the stats for UIUC out of state, some sites say 80% instate. Not sure if that is correct. Anyone know? I believe Georgia Tech says 70% are instate.
Are the US News pie charts showing ethnic diversity including both graduate and undergraduate students? Wondering how diverse the campuses are.
I think uiuc is half the size of GT. I see that as a positive. You can look at comparative sizes by googling the following: “scholarships dot com uiuc degrees conferred” and click on the link that comes up.
I can answer answer a couple of things. Georgia Tech is by legislative requirement 60% in state. It’s 30% out of state and 10% international.
Georgia Tech is known for its career services and job placement, which are outstanding. One benefit to being in Atlanta is if you live on campus and have an internship during the school year you can continue to live in your dorm while you work. People intern fall, spring and summer so this works out really well and saves quite a bit of money. Georgia Tech also has the largest voluntary co-op program in the nation, and many people co-op during the school year as well. When we took the campus tour with our oldest, the tour guide was going to be co-op ing with Delta the next semester and living in her dorm.
Many major corporations immediately around Tech including Microsoft, Google, Coca-Cola, Delta, etc. You can see Google from the Tech campus, and Microsoft just bought 90 acres less than 10 minutes away to create an Atlanta campus. Recruiting is national in nature, and a big emphasis. There is an all majors career fair each semester, plus every major has its own career fair every semester. My oldest son at Tech has gotten internships at both all major fair and at the civil engineering fair. He has had offers from multiple different states and is interning in New York City for the summer. There’s also a big emphasis on innovation and entrepreneurship, including incubators in Tech Square, InVenture competition and many others If your child is interested in that. It was very attractive to my committed high school senior.
Classes are a struggle to get at times but it all seems to work out in phase 2 registration. I don’t think lack of class availability would be a reason someone would not graduate on time. Most students enter with quite a few hours which helps with class selection, and class selection gets easier the more hours you have.
Everything we heard before we had a kid at Georgia Tech that it was very collaborative in nature, and that definitely seems to be the case. Plenty of project-based learning and not at all cutthroat.
25 percent or so participate in Greek life. Remember these fraternities and sororities are filled with computer scientists and engineers so most not stereotypical and so there truly is a place for everyone who wants to participate. There are also many other ways to be involved and find your “people“. Greek life is only one.
One benefit to Georgia Tech being mostly STEM is that everyone is working hard. Everyone has academic rigor at a high-level and it is full of smart people who study. I happen to think this is a good thing. Makes it easier to stay focused when all your friends aren’t going out on a Tuesday night🙂. Also the caliber of student at Tech is high across the board as all majors are competitive for entry. This is not true at some schools where engineering and computer science are super competitive, but the rest of the campus is significantly lower.
Wow, thank you so much! When kids intern during the school year, are they taking al lighter load of classes? Or taking the semester off? And the co-ops are internships? I thought co-ops involved community service?
Can you comment on how ethnically diverse Georgia Tech is? The pie chart on US News includes graduate and undergrads (I think) and I’m wanting to get a sense of the spread in the undergrads. And not wanting to get political, but interested in knowing, is there a strong leaning towards conservative or liberal? It is difficult to find this type of information without hearing from someone there! Thanks again!
I don’t feel like Georgia Tech is particularly conservative or liberal. It is in the city of Atlanta, which is generally democratic, and young people often tend to vote democratic, but lots of students are from all over Georgia which leans Republican. I think you’ll find support for wherever you live on either end of the spectrum and anywhere in between.
Co-ops at Georgia Tech are basically three semesters of work for the same company. They are full-time positions. I think a lot of computer science kids pick up part-time work during the school year because it’s flexible with their schedule and pays well. I don’t think a lot of other majors lend itself to that quite so easily.
So to clarify, students work full time in these co-ops for three semesters, so they are not taking classes at this time? Does Georgia Tech have partnerships or agreements with certain companies in the area? SO it is a formal program (not just a student finding a job on their own)?
Yes students do these jobs full-time, and don’t take classes. Many co-ops are offered at the career fairs for interested students. My son decided not to do a co-op because he did not want to work for the same company three semesters. He wanted to use internships instead to explore various aspects of his field.
Really the only distinction is in a co-op you commit to work for the same company for three semesters. This doesn’t necessarily have to be at the same place. You can co-op in multiple offices, and some students use one of those semesters to co-op abroad. One example that was given to us was a recent student who co-op with Porsche North America, which is located near Tech. He spent two semesters in Atlanta and one semester in Dublin Ireland working for the corporation. Co-ops give you some job security, relieves the necessity of repeatedly looking for an internship, and often ends up in a permanent position. They also pay well, so more than a few students use them to help pay for their education.
I have a second year student at GT and he is currently applying for CompE internships/co-ops, and he is doing this on his own. There are fairs and connections and opportunities, but students have to find their own jobs.
He loves GT and has found it very collaborative, loves being in Atlanta, and spent last semester in Europe for a study abroad. It is hard work, but a great environment with bright, innovative students.
My son is a senior ISyE. He’s had an internship and is doing a co-op. He also works as a TA. It’s easy to mix and match. He’s had success with fairs and searching on his own.
The problem is so many kids think it’s Google or bust. There are so many small and midsize companies that need and want help.
Some things to consider. There’s a two semester rule. If you don’t enroll for two semesters you have to reapply. Not sure how much it’s enforced. Son’s workaround was to take a summer class which stopped the clock.
Also, surprisingly a fair number of students don’t complete all 3 semesters for their co-op. I think my son mentioned you don’t get to have it on your diploma but it doesn’t seem to hurt employment opportunities.
As for politics @VirginiaBelle is spot on. Atlanta is one of my favorites. Also easy to get flights.
Thank you for pointing out that doing a coop does not preclude also having internships and to look at smaller companies.
My D’s co op company recruits at GT for engineering. Their program is amazing but no one has ever heard of them even though they are a good sized company.
I think it’s good for students to intern at different sized companies. My son got tons of hands on experience at one internship. It was a smaller company.
He turned down one internship. It was a dairy farm with supply chain issues. They were ecstatic that someone from GT applied. He liked the people and it would’ve been good experience.
Internships are a great way of experiencing different work cultures. Our S was able to intern at a small (8 person) startup, a privately held medical research, a very large publicly traded company (yes, Google), and a medium sized unicorn startup. Those experience’s definitely shaped how he chose his final employer.
One clarification about the two semester rule. Yes Georgia Tech does require that you don’t take more than two semesters off or you must reapply. Summer counts as a semester. However, the workaround for this Is to register your internship or co-op with the school. This keeps you “active” in their system. It also allows you to pay some money and get football tickets, have access to the gym, etc.
My son had internships two semesters in a row. It ended up working out that way this summer after his sophomore year because he got a fall internship with an amazing company, and then later got a summer internship. He decided to do both.
Both were in Atlanta. He registered both with the school, and lived in his fraternity house the entire time. Registering with the school allowed him to purchase student football tickets for the fall even though he was not taking classes.
Opportunities at UIUC include their Research Park https://researchpark.illinois.edu/, and many of the university’s institutions, like Beckman, are constantly looking for interns from CS. If you check out Grainger’s student calendar, you can see how many top engineering companies have organized activities for recruiting students. Grainger is a very top engineering school, and companies come to them to recruit.
So in all honesty, I wouldn’t have the slightest bit of worry about finding an internship at UIUC. A student would likely have to go out of their way to avoid recruiters.
It’s probably the same at GTech, as well.
For Grainger, 55% are in-state, 25% domestic OOS, and 20% international. Overall, UIUC is 71% in-state.
So both schools in CS will get you the same jobs prospects. UIUC and GT students are highly sought after with jobs, internships etc. UIUC has Chicago in their hip pocket also…
I would look at the courses, specialities, clubs etc. Both programs are intense. UIUC is Big Ten sports. What is your child looking for. Both degrees will lead to the same /similar companies and jobs. Again, both are highly sought after.
If it’s me I would go with fit and affordability…
Thank you, I hadn’t realize they have their own research park with so many companies. We were told by a local that its in the cornfields and being so far from Chicago, we didn’t realize there are local opportunities. So do kids at UIUC also do semester co-ops during the year? Or just work part time during the year? I hadn’t realized Georgia Tech had a co-op program. (we always hear about Northeastern having one).
I would encourage you to dive in to the official social media accounts for both UIUC and GT. I have been following GT for several years and it is really unbelievable the opportunities they have. I am sure UIUC is similar. Highly recommend! For example - we are very familiar with Tech Square where the bookstore is. Found out about this on social media and was amazed at the number of start ups just steps from campus (highest density per square foot in the southeast). Tech Square Official social media is a great resource!
