<p>Although UIUC is a public school, would you consider it to be prestigious?</p>
<p>"Prestigious" in what way? I'm not trying to be coy, but people use this term in so many ways, most of which are completely worthless.</p>
<p>Would UIUC be recognized as an outstanding overall, public, mega-university? To the average person on the street in the midwest -- definitely (midwesterners know Michigan, Wisconsin, and Illinois -- most think in that order -- are top state schools); to the average person on the street on either coast (or internationally) -- less name recognition, but people involved in academics know it's an outstanding school.</p>
<p>But, the real question is "prestigious" for what? I can assure you that graduate schools and employers know that UIUC is one of the world's finest schools in the following areas: chemistry, physics, engineering, agriculture, and accounting. I'm sure I'm missing others. While it might not be as widely heralded in other areas, it's likely to be at least very good in virtually every academic area.</p>
<p>Is it "prestigious" in the sense that students sit around, resting on their laurels, full of themselves for being admitted to a so-called "prestigious" school? Absolutely, categorically not.</p>
<p>Some of us would consider this latter fact to be a very good thing.</p>
<p>P.S. UIUC is an excellent school, but whether it's a good fit for an individual student is of course a personal matter. It's huge; the social life is pretty Greek dominated; the weather leaves a lot to be desired; the students are heavily Illinois residents and internationals; the campus town is decent, but it's no Ann Arbor or Madison; Urbana is kind of sleepy and Champaign is somewhat seedy. But these are my opinions, YMMV.</p>
<p>Attend a school if it's a good fit for you, not because it's prestigious. M.I.T. is absolutely prestigious, but it's a "good fit" for very few students (yet the best fit in the world for a select handful of students).</p>
<p>UIUC is highly regarded in academia. It's engineering programs are world famous and the University has a strong international presence.
Look at the list of companies that recruit there. Also many top professors are grads.</p>
<p>University of Indiana? Illinois? Errrr? University of Intelligent Universities and Colleges. I give up. What/where is it?</p>
<p>University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Located apprx. 140 miles south of Chicago
<a href="http://www.uiuc.edu%5B/url%5D">www.uiuc.edu</a></p>
<p>UIUC isn't really prestigious in the Chicago area outside of Engineering. Northwestern and University of Chicago (and Michigan to a lesser extent) are the prestigious schools in the area.</p>
<p>Its below the UNC, Michigan, UCB, UVA etc but above Ohio State, Indiana, etc.</p>
<p>If you mean 'prestigious' as in companies will hire you for the university name post-grad, I would say yes in many cases
(especially if you graduate with a science/engineering/agriculture degree).<br>
If you mean 'prestigious' as in your friends will say "you got in THERE?" I would have to give you a no in most cases.</p>
<p>Don't worry if your friends and relatives are impressed with your college choice...there are very few schools that will get oohs and aahs from your average joes (ivies, stanford, mit, cal tech, et al). But remember that those average joes aren't the people who will be reviewing your grad school applications and your job resumes in four years, so don't worry about them. UIUC has an excellent reputation among those people that actually matter, so don't worry about the WOW factor in the name of your school.</p>
<p>My advice is to always aim for a quality education at a low price for your undergraduate years, and then blow your money on the big-name school for your advanced degree.</p>
<p>"But remember that those average joes aren't the people who will be reviewing your grad school applications and your job resumes in four years"
-alicantekid</p>
<p>Glad to hear that. When I tell people (friends, parents) about UIUC, this is their reaction:
1) What's that? (a university, DUH!!!!)
2) Why would you want to go THERE?
3) Is it good?
4) What's its rank? 30 something? Oh...then it must not be that good.
5) so-and-so school is better, because it's ranked higher than UIUC. </p>
<p>After doing some research about the school, I find its academics to be strong in many areas, especially engineering (although I plan to major in business). IMO, UIUC has pretty good facilities too (and a nice campus).</p>
<p>Maybe it would help if you just called it the University of Illinois. That's what people call it in the Midwest. Anyone that thinks 30-something out of 1,000's is not good is not that smart. It has better facilities than all but a small handful of schools--especially the engineering campus and libraries.</p>
<p>UIUC is known internationally for it's engineering and computer science program. If you have Internet explorer, click on help and then about...you will see who made the Internet explorer ;)</p>
<p>it definitely depends on your field of study. my dad, who majored in (and got his phd and masters in) physics went straight from MIT undergrad to UIUC grad. so it is impressive out in the real world where your employers actually know something about colleges and the field of work.</p>
<p>boomer01: If you have Internet explorer, click on help and then about...you will see who made the Internet explorer</p>
<p>Wow that's really cool! Thanks for telling me!!! =D</p>
<p>Thanks for comments everyone. One more thing though. I often hear people talking about how great UIUC's engineering program is. And yes, I would have to agree that it's top notch and understand that it's known for its engineering program. But what about business? Doesn't its business program have a good reputation as well? When it comes to jobs, would recruiters recognize this?</p>
<p>The overall ranking of a university is kinda silly, especially if you are in engineering. If I were you, I will tell my friends that I'm studying engineering at the University of Illinoise, one of the top 5 in the country (and if you are in CE, you can say that you are #1).</p>
<p>I think prestige to most people is selectivity, not academic reputation. Usually they go hand in hand, but not for many public universities. Even the top ones like Berkeley and Michigan aren't as selective as comparable private universities.</p>
<p>So Illinois isn't prestigious, except maybe for engineering, but it's definitely a great choice.</p>
<p>Accounting program at UIUC is also very good...in the top ten.</p>
<p>BTW - Berkeley out of state is as selective as the ivys.</p>
<p>Mastercheifll --</p>
<p>Regarding the strength of the University of Illinois undergraduate business program, as boomer indicated their business school is best known for their accounting program. That discipline is really their star. I get the impression that in other business disciplines, the University of Illinois is a solid choice, on par with Ohio State, Iowa and Minnesota. Certainly the University of Michigan's undergraduate business program is considered by most to be a notch above Illinois' program. Probably Wisconsin and IU's programs are considered a half a notch above Illinois' program (in everything but accounting). </p>
<p>If you do well in Illinois business program, you will have many of the same opportunities as other Big Ten bschool undergraduates. In other words, Illinois is not thought to be an inferior program, and is very well thought of in the accounting field.</p>