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<p>It’s less than Northwestern, Chicago, Wustl, Notre Dame, etc. and the other schools labeled as “Midwestern Ivies” and that’s what the remark was in relation to</p>
<p>“UIUC engineering makes it a particularly outstanding school. Not too many public schools or even ‘ivies’ can say they have a better or on par engineering program according to ‘rankings’. Most of the time it is listed above Cornell(and all other ivies), UMich, and CMU.”</p>
<p>Michigan is about “on par” with Illinois in engineering. It is ranked only slightly lower overall in engineering, and higher in just about everything else at the undergraduate level.</p>
<p>UIUC is fantastic in its Graduate Studies (especially sciences and social sciences), it has a World Class (top 5 for sure) engineering program (both undergrad and grad), a great business school, fantastic computer science programs, a good music school and a good school of Law. These are why it is ranked so high and a “public ivy”. Outside of these however, it is not the best for undergrads not going into Business or Engineering.</p>
<p>^^^Just like most small colleges are not the best for undergrads who are going into engineering.</p>
<p>If the small college is Swarthmore, Harvey Mudd or Bucknell then they. Or you could do a 3-2 program. But Im not talking about small colleges. I am comparing U of I to other public universities.</p>
<p>“It’s less than Northwestern, Chicago, Wustl, Notre Dame, etc. and the other schools labeled as “Midwestern Ivies” and that’s what the remark was in relation to”</p>
<p>It should be compared to state schools, as it is a state school. It is more expensive than the vast majority of state universities, perhaps all of them.</p>
<p>I still think UIUC is a good school - even for majors other than Engineering and Business. The average ACT range for the Science and Liberal Arts is till 27+. That is still pretty good! At the very least, it is still an above average school. I certainly think the student body there is quite smart. I don’t think UIUC is quite on par with the local ivies such as Northwestern and the University of Chicago. However, this doesn’t mean that UIUC kids aren’t smart! I my opinion, they must be fairly smart (especially in comparison to many other schools). Certainly, the more competitive the major the smarter the kids get. Engineering and Business majors must be near geniuses 
. The rest of the departments appear to be, at the very least, above average. But, I don’t think many kids are just “average.” Last time I checked the average ACT score was only 22 or 23. The majority of UIUC kids are going to have way higher ACT scores than that.</p>
<p>In regards to the expense: Yes, UIUC is one of the most expensive state options. However, I do think the price would be worth it, and it is not that much different in cost from the other schools I have looked at. Also, I plan on living in an apartment, and I can live fairly cheaply (I have had to do so for my entire life and I have the hang of it now! ). After doing some number-crunching I realized that it would be much cheaper to live on my own than on campus. One thing that I have considered is that by going to UIUC, I will transfer with almost all (with the exception of 1-2 courses) my general education requirements. So, other schools, while they may appear to be only slightly more expensive or cheaper, will usually be more expensive in the long run because of the extra time I will need to finish their requirements. I have looked at many schools, and UIUC (and a few others) are the most transfer friendly of the options.</p>
<p>Is anyone familiar with the biology department at UIUC? If so, what are the classes, teachers, and fellow students like? I know that it must be hard to classify and generalize, but still . . . generally speaking what is the department like?</p>
<p>My biology teacher, who went to U of I, said that the department was good, but that any prospective biology majors should be prepared for a lot of large classes. Her experience was a while ago, so I don’t know how presently accurate it is.</p>
<p>Thanks silverturtle! I assume that there must still be many large clsses? Does anyone else know about their department? I would be greatful for any insight!</p>