Hello everyone
My son has four very good options to choose from and we were looking for some perspectives/advice from people on this forum. He is interested in either Comp Sc. or Electrical/Computer Engineering starting Fall 2015.
- Univ of Illlinois (Urbana Champaign) - Admitted to Comp Sc. in College of Engineering (In state, total annual cost ~ $ 35K)
- UDel (Univ of Delaware) - Honors Program College of Engineering, Expected to get one of the Distinguished Scholars awards (could get full tuition or full ride - should know in the next few days)
- Ohio State - Honors program College of Engineering, Got a couple of good scholarships (total annual cost ~ $ 23 K)
- Case Western - Admitted to College of Engineering, Got a nice scholarship (total annual cost ~ $ 38 K)
The big question and decision might come down to UDel vs. UIUC.
With UDel he may pay nothing (if full ride) or about $ 15 K a year (if full tuition) vs. $ 35 K a year at UIUC (In State). At UDel he will be in the Honors program and a distinguished scholar vs. nothing special at UIUC. But UIUC of course is ranked in the Top 5 and has a stellar reputation for engineering, but is it worth the extra cost? And is UDel’s Comp Sc./ECE program a good alternative?
Thanks all for your input/advice!
@Proj101 Hey I’m in a similar position as well with UIUC and OSU. At UIUC I would be looking at $45,000 per year and at OSU for $5000 per year (just for housing) - What do you think is better?
@UATenista…that’s a total difference of $160 k over four years - huge - larger than the $ 70 k we are looking at for my son’s case. At those levels I would prob take OSU which is a great university and very well known for engineering. What major are you looking at?
I got into CS in CoE at UIUC
My biggest attractor to UIUC is the reputation it has from really great companies, which is really important for internships and getting jobs. I know OSU also had good connections with industry but not like UIUC does
Also, salary wise OSU cs grads start at around $60,000 while UIUC grads start at around $92,000. However, typically OSU grads get jobs in ohio or near around places which have much lower costs of living when compared to the places most UIUC grads go off to work (chicago, silicon valley) which have much much higher costs of living. Considering all of these factors, I was really stuck between choosing between UIUC and OSU, what would you say?
@Proj101 In my opinion, your son should go to UIUC. First of all, you got in-state tuition. Secondly, UIUC’s CS program is light years ahead (in terms of education and reputation) than the other schools you mentioned (in my opinion).
@Proj101 I am currently an honors electrical engineering student at UD (only out-of-state people call it UDel, probably because of the website url, but that’s ok 
). I’m also minoring in computer science, so I’ve taken quite a few of those classes as well. I have nothing but good things to say about UD and its College of Engineering, especially the honors classes. If you have any questions, let me know.
@EEBlueHen…I was laughing at UDel vs. UD too :)…thanks for your reply in the other forum as well…and good luck this semester!
@nagintapis…thanks for your reply. Could you clarify a little more about why you believe UIUC’s CS is far ahead of the other schools…for example, is it choice of courses, teaching quality, lab facilities/equipment, research topics, funding, presence of Tier 1 CS recruiters on campus etc. Clearly UIUC is ranked much higher than the other schools, I wanted to understand were there real differences with other schools that was driving the rankings or is it just “reputation/historical legacy”? Thanks
@UATenista…first of all, congrats on getting into CS at UIUC, I believe it was especially tough this year! You make very good points on some of the advantages of UIUC vs. OSU. It is definitely true that UIUC grads end up in higher salary companies and places compared to OSU (with Columbus, Cleveland etc. typically having lower salaries and also lower cost of living compared to Chicago or the West Coast for example). But an enterprising OSU grad, especially near the top of their class can also access the same companies/locations - perhaps with a little more effort. From my experience, companies will not decline even considering a candidate if they don’t go to their "on-campus’ school, it will all depend on alumni presence/connections from the person’s school. So even if say Google does not recruit on OSU’s campus but does so at UIUC, you should still be able to get through the door if there is a decent OSU alumni network in Google. The other thing is if Google is looking for say 10 students, the competition for those spots will be much higher at UIUC than at OSU, where the probability of being a top student and standing out is lower than at OSU. I experience this when I did my MBA at IU’s Kelley School of Business many years ago - I found myself among the top few students in the class that many top companies wanted to talk to, where as if I had gone to a one of the “prestige” name schools, I would have been one of many good ones and found it more difficult to stand out.
Long explanation, but what I am saying is it’s not straight forward, especially given the money involved ( you only have to imagine what you can do with that money - multiplied by invested compound interest - when you graduate!). I think a top student like you can get access to the top companies/top jobs regardless of where you graduate from - the question is do you value your graduate school already paid for (as an example) or graduate proudly from a “Top 5” school. The answer to that question will of course depend on how affordable the difference in cost is for you and your family.
As the days roll by, I am seeing my son being drawn more to UIUC (the reputation and his friends going there I think are his biggest factors), but let’s see what he ends up deciding in the next few days. Good luck with your own decision!
You’ve left out a big thing: The student body in the UIUC CS department.
The UIUC Reddit forum seems pretty good for picking up the vibe there: http://www.reddit.com/r/UIUC/
BTW, Kelley isn’t exactly chopped liver. It’s equivalent is probably UMD or UMass CS.