UCLA vs UIUC for BS in Computer Science

<p>Hi! I am an International Student and have been accepted into UCLA and UIUC (and also into GaTech and Texas at Austin) for Computer Science. I am trying to decide between UCLA and UIUC. I would really appreciate your help on which one I should choose.</p>

<p>Factors which are important to me:
1) Reputation (in and outside US)
2) Strength of Computer Science Department
3) Housing
4) Food
5) Diversity
6) Social Life - but not much of a party person
7) Internship opportunities</p>

<p>Thank you!</p>

<p>UCLA

  1. Reputation great within California, within the United States, and abroad.
  2. I don’t know much about our CS department, but I’ve read on this forum that we have big recruiters come here.
  3. Housing is expensive, but thanks to the renovations, are almost all very nice and new.
  4. Food at housing is good. You have lots of choices, including 4 all-you-can-eat dining halls and 3 quick-service cafes. Food on-campus is okay. Lots of places like Taco Bell and Carl’s Jr. for fast food, plus other places like Panda Express and Jamba Juice, and various other stores that sell sandwiches if you’re hungry on the go.
  5. Diversity is good. We have many in-state California students, but also a good number of internationals and out-of-states.
  6. Social life is what you make it to be. With the large student population we have here, you can make any kind of friends you want, and have every clique to choose from.
  7. Internship opportunities I assume are great because we are a prestigious institution in the middle of Los Angeles.</p>

<p>I had to Google what UIUC was.
My mentor went to Georgia Tech, and he made it sound sketchy.</p>

<p>This has been asked in the past, so I suggest searching this forum for UIUC.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>As a university, UCLA probably has stronger name than UIUC, though obviously that varies by region.</p></li>
<li><p>UIUC’s department, from what I’ve heard, is likely stronger. I’ve heard it referred to as a “Facebook engineer factory,” among other things. That’s not to say UCLA’s CS department isn’t also solid, but from my experience, Illinois has been well-represented at many of the companies in which I’ve worked, often more so than UCLA. They also seem to have somewhat of a hacker culture, which might be appealing. In terms of courses and instruction in general though, I’d imagine they’d be roughly the same.</p></li>
<li><p>I don’t know anything about UIUC’s housing, but I’d imagine that UCLA’s housing (based on the fact that they’ve done a lot of building recently) is (1) better and (2) more expensive.</p></li>
<li><p>If you’re not vegetarian, UCLA has historically ranked well in reviews of on-campus dining. If you are vegetarian, it’s not great at UCLA, and probably even worse at UIUC.</p></li>
<li><p>I’d imagine UCLA is more diverse because it’s in California.</p></li>
<li><p>People can be as social as they want at UCLA. I don’t know enough about UIUC to comment on how it is there.</p></li>
<li><p>There are plenty of opportunities at both universities. See my comments above, but I believe all of the big-name companies visit both campuses at this point.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>well, my detailed reply got eaten up so I’ll just post a quick summary: </p>

<p>UIUC is a college town which is fairly small and located 3 hours south of Chicago by car. It’s dorms are very much integrated onto the campus which is very flat (no hills). The weather can be a bit dreary, at least it was when I visited. The dorms are older, and squat. UIUC grad CS may be better than UCLA. When I visited we drove from one end of the colllege town to the other in about 15 minutes and there wasn’t much to see. It may have grown a lot more since then, but my impression was that the location felt like it was in the middle of nowhere. </p>

<p>UCLA is better known internationally. Dorms are numerous and brand new, while others have been remodeled. The dining hall “restaurant” style cafeteria’s are probably the best on the west coast and you will eat well. There is also plenty of cheap and mid-priced ethnic and american eateries right in Westwood just blocks from campus. About a 15 minute walk from the dorms is also Whole Foods for all your healthy and organic dietary needs. Although UCLA is nestled between the rich neighborhoods of Westwood and Bel Air, the campus and LA county itself is quite diverse. UCLA is very social, the dorms (particularly the residence halls with the shared bathrooms) are very social, with plenty of on and off campus social activities. There are also quite a few universities in the LA area so there’s quite a mix of students from different schools for off campus activities. Internship opportunities, I’ve known cs students to intern at UCLA Medical Center, various on campus departments, and small businesses around LA. There is also Silicon Valley in NorCal where many CS grads end up.</p>

<p>UIUC has the stronger CS dept. But UCLA"s is doubtlessly strong also. Would Illinois’ rep in CS be enough to override some of the things you might desire wrt atmosphere, etc? Put together a list of what you desire from a u and place numerical weights by each school, say, 1-10. See if one jumps out at you in addition to touring both.</p>