@Collegefortwins yeah honestly even though I have honors at UF, I don’t get the sense that honors really does much for the class sizes besides offer primary scheduling and unique “honors classes” to take on top of your schedule. The online classes seem to affect a lot of business students at UF, which I am not really a fan of. UIUC is appealing because of the class sizes (and honors on top of that). I don’t really care where I end up after graduation, and outsider status is not that daunting for me
Good insights. By in no way will your UF degree be less valuable than Illinois in the northeast. I live here and my younger brother (UMich alum) is knee deep in the hiring end of things in your field. Sensata, Texas Instrument and Raytheon.
He gave nearly the exact opposite advice to a family member last year. UF is getting to be a pretty prestigious name. Illinois is great too but no advantage over UF. IMHO, FWIW.
@privatebanker yeah I am starting to feel that way. I am still planning on visiting UF and Ohio State over spring break, and I’ve seen UIUC so I still am trying to decide between the three but im a bit hesitant on UF in regards to business.
As we’ve discussed before, follow your instincts.
All three are world class options. Really.
Wherever you go, the opportunities will be yours to earn. Best of luck.
@privatebanker thanks for all of your insights! I am confident that I will make a good decision when the time comes
if you base it on the performance of their sports teams, I know which direction I would go in lol.
@ProfessorPlum168 yeah one thing that is a downside of UIUC is that their sports are pretty Bad…haven’t been good in forever
UIUC would be a great pick. However, let me respond to a few comments…
Well, OK then…
Yes, a lot of Business intro class are very large classes. Most of the sessions are online, but most classes also have live session options. However, most kids would rather watch the lecture online (and replay it as needed) vs attend a 100+ person lecture. Many classes have smaller discussion sessions that are live, and it’s only the lecture that’s online. There isn’t any issues with scheduling classes (any more than at any large university), and having online classes is one reason why.
There is a lot of discussion around online classes in the UF forum, if you want to read more on the subject.
UF is a top 10 Public University. It compares just fine with BIG 10 schools, and other large public research universities.
To some degree, where you want to end up after graduation should play a role in which college to choose.If you want to live and work in Chicago, then UIUC makes a very strong case. Like wise UF for the state of Florida.
Using LinkedIn, we find over 105K UIUC alumni living and working in the greater Chicago area. However, if you look at New York or Washington DC, UF alumni outnumber UIUC alumni. It’s about the same number for both schools in Boston (both around 3,300 to 3,500). Out West (LA, San Fran, Seattle), both have large groups of alumni (likely due to the large number of STEM majors both schools produce), with UIUC slightly outpacing UF.
If you sort Alumni by what they studied (Business Administration), then UF has twice the number of alumni (18K vs 9K in the US).
Both schools are nationally well recruited, especially for STEM, Finance, etc.
At UF, 18% of men participate in a fraternity. At UIUC, it’s 21%. It’s likely not a “bigger deal” at UF (or that big a deal at UIUC).
Looking at Fall 2017 numbers, 83% where in-state, 11% out of state, and the rest international/unknown. The state of Florida has 21 million residents but only enrolls about 6,500 freshman a year. I wouldn’t describe UF as being very clicky. It’s always a challenge going to school, far from home, but it’s not any more a challenge at UF than any other school.
Take a look at the Fall 2018 to see what Honor classes are typically offered.
http://www.honors.ufl.edu/current/courses/
To be honest, most are STEM, writing and humanities classes. As a business major, most would fill your “electives” slots.I would guess you would take 1 or 2 honor sections/classes a semester. More if you like the 1 credit classes (which look like fun).
“The online classes seem to affect a lot of business students at UF, which I am not really a fan of.”
Yeah, I think that’s inexcusable. IMHO, there’s no room for that at at a university with pretensions to undergrad excellence, which is not the same thing as high ranking or selectivity. The point of the brick-and-mortar university is for teachers and students to share physical space. The only reason for a full-time undergrad to take a class online ought to be that you want to study Setswana or some other language that even a giant university can’t offer.
Two points:
Probably nothing is more frustrating to us old-timers than seeing applicants fret over minor differences in rankings. Like “this one is #7 in alumni salaries, but that one is #12.” Just because someone quantifies something & ranks the results, it doesn’t necessarily mean there is a tangible difference in minor differences in ranking. The colleges you are looking at are roughly in the same ballpark academically, so stop expecting a ranking of any criterion to make your decision for you.
I always advise people to use logic (Do they have my major? Can I get in? Can I afford it? Is it close enough?) to narrow down the options. But once you are down to a few schools, & all would be acceptable, it might be time to let emotion take over for the final choice. Your gut is strongly pulling for one of these schools…one of them is where you want to wake up every day for 4 years, to be on every resume you will ever submit, & in your obituary.
Yes, it’s time for FIT to take over. Where would you have more fun, feel more at home, etc? This is about subjectivity now. Vastly different parts of the country, weather, environment, etc. Mostly floridians at one and midwesterners (I assume) at the other. Seeing a different part of the country vs. a familiar environment.
There’s no wrong or right answer. It’s about what you want to experience at this point.
Thanks to everyone for their inputs! I think both schools are very strong for what I want to major in, and hopefully I will have a better idea of what school fits me best after I visit Florida.
@aleluk555 I am hoping you have visited UF by now, could you please share your thoughts.
Just FYI, you are IL resident, and looking at UF vs UUIC from business degree perspective, on the other hand, I am FL resident, and looking at UF vs UUIC from ME engineering perspective. 
I think you should go to UF. I think it’s just as strong and what matters is that you take advantage of all the opportunities you are given. It feels most at home for you and that is most important. Best of luck!
@tpcraigs I actually have not visited UF yet - visiting Friday! Very excited! I know that UIUC has an amazing engineering program FYI, and I assume Florida is very strong in engineering as well. Glad to see that you are also deciding between these schools as well!
Also, I visited OSU this past weekend and really liked it. Seemed to have a strong business program, and I was admitted to honors which is also a plus. So now OSU is in the mix as well, lol. Im anxious to see what UF is like again, but I really like UF EXCEPT I feel as if the business programs as OSU and UIUC might be a bit stronger. Eager to see what UF business is like
Well I visited UF. Kinda sad honestly - it felt awesome at first, and I was super excited. However, when we went to the business school I found (I had known this before, but more in depth) that the majority of classes are basically online for core. You have an option of going to the lecture as well, but basically you do have to take online classes for two years. That was a big negative. probably going to go to UIUC or OSU.