Thank you for taking the time to send me a message, it is very kind and generous. Honestly, it is really helping us!!
tsb, UIUC - at least the main quad - is actually a pretty campus. Our problem was that it had not been maintained, suggesting a lack of resources.
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Thank you everyone who has provided detailed information about Purdue. Are there any thoughts out there about the aerospace engineering program at UIUC? Looking for information about undergraduate research opportunities, housing, living learning communities, study abroad, internships, job placement, continuing on for masterās degree (at UIUC or other institutions), etcā¦.
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If you donāt mind sharing, did you D participate in a living learning community in her fist year? If so, which one and did she find it to be a valuable experience?
Yes, my D was, and still is, in honors college. She also had many friends in Epics and other LLCs. They help make a large school feel smaller. I would highly recommend!
D also did study abroad for Maymester. Great experience! It wasnāt possible for her to do a longer term because of coop but Purdue does have a program called GEAR for engineeringās wanting to do longer periods abroad.
Iāve never been to UIUCās campus and I know very little about the university, other than it is ranked highly in many areas. If it is indeed cash starved and under-resourced, what keeps it highly ranked in a resource dependent discipline like engineering?
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You may consider starting a UIUC AE or just engineering chatā¦calling all Illini grads, etc.
In the year or so Iāve been on the CC - it seems like Purdue is nationally desired and no matter where a student is from, itās on their list.
No doubt UIUC draws nationally and obviously is highly rated in several disciplines such as engineering and accounting- but you rarely see a mention or chat focused on the school or program itself (at least relative to Purdue).
Perhaps if you start itās own chat (sans the Purdue name), it might draw a larger response. Or perhaps thereās a discussion on it deeper in the CC or Reddit library.
Engineering departments may be able to gain some of their own funding from research grants and the like. Also, college rankings tend to be associated with admission selectivity and academic strength of incoming students; UIUC can be highly selective for the more popular engineering majors.
Thanks for the tip, itās much appreciatedš.
I have a junior in UIUC AE program and wanted to share our experience:
My S19 picked UIUC over CU-Boulder and Purdue based on visits. I think the admissions director at UIUC was a key input in his decision. She sounded very knowledgeable and answered all the prospective studentās questions with a lot of details and background which sort of convinced that the department had a great insight into what the industry was looking for. We didnāt get the same feeling at CU-Boulder or Purdue.
The career/intern fair in his first year was great, but he had planned a summer course and hence did not apply seriously and he did mention that the recruiters were looking for junior students.
He was able to get an internship after his sophomore year - by directly applying and was fortunate enough to get it 10 miles from our home (he was home due to Covid pandemic).
He had 4 offers this year (summer after junior year) including a reach out from his previous yearās internship company. He picked one based on the interactions with hiring managers.
The career fairs did switch to partial in-person this year, but he said it was not the same as the first year. i am assuming it is same for other institutions as my company also has switched to recruiting virtually for this year.
He is happy with the UIUC AE program. But i canāt compare it to Purdue as we have no experience with it.
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Thank you so much for this information. My son has done summer programs at both schools and likes them both for different reasons. He was a little nervous about UIUC because it seemed to him like Purdue really sold itās internships/job prospects. Itās nice to hear your son had great opportunities as well. This will be a very hard decision.
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Which school was picked?
Just saw this comment about the ugly campus. I never really noticed while I was there or when my older kid was at UIUC a few years ago. With my youngest, someone mentioned this to me so I paid attention on the tours. For having spent billions on beautiful new engineering buildings with fantastic facilities in recent decades, campus itself (outside of the main quad) is not on par with similar schools. In particular, the engineering quad and surrounding areas are just not as nice as Purdue and other schools. Universities like UIUC and Wisconsin have traffic criss-crossing main campus areas. Purdue, UCLA and others have a central campus area dominated by pedestrian and bike paths and greenery instead of roads. Probably doesnāt matter at all to many who just want the best chance at grad school or job placement for the lowest amount of money. To others, it might make a difference, especially if costs and placement rankings are similar for the major.
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Hmmā¦I visited both 3 years ago with my D and she actually really liked the Illinois campus. Maybe because it was a beautiful spring day but she thought it was pretty and liked the layout of the campus next to Green Street where a lot of bars and restaurants are located. And the new engineering quad was very nice. But I guess I was looking for shabbiness but maybe I missed it. My D ended up applying to Illinois but not Purdue. Both are great schools for engineering.
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Exactly. Everyoneās opinion is different and thatās totally fair.
Iād also add that schoolās change, grow, develop.
My kids spent a lot of time at UTK as kids in things like destination Imagination and didnāt like it. The school routinely showed up (and still does) on ugly campus lists. Yet on the CC there is total love for the school.
Everyone has a school they like and they donāt and thatās what makes it fun. We r all individuals.
I mean my kid didnāt like Syracuseās campus (my alma mater) and I think itās gorgeous 
Thereās a lot to like about the Illinois campus and it was even used as a film substitute for Harvard in ā With Honors.ā Not a fan of posters who feel the need to constantly bash colleges.
Proud to have one child graduate there and another possibly attending this fall. Not to bash my alma mater, just happened to think some peer universities we toured have prettier campuses and nicer campus towns. That said, UIUCās is still pretty nice. Downtown Champaign is MUCH nicer today than when I was there. Also looking forward to 4 more years of Courier Cafe, Timponeās and Papa Delās.
Papa Delās is awesome and LaBamba āBurritos as big as your head.ā
Totally forgot about La Bamba! Opened when I was on campus lol. Have not been there in a long time, will have to encourage an admitted student visitā¦ Looks like they moved out of campus town, like Papa Delās.