UIUC vs Georgia Tech Engineering - Please Help!

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
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@literallymarx - Thank you so much for taking the time to answer all my questions! My son and I were really impressed by the school when we came to visit and I got the impression that the student body is comprised of really smart and motivated young people. My concerns about the weather/winter may be just that. My son typically spends time with his friends playing spike-ball or football or they hunker down for a long game of monopoly. I don’t think bad weather will restrict a good monopoly or spike-ball game.

I am also glad to hear about the vibrant music scene in Urbana. @mybstnw also mentioned this so I am encouraged that he will have the opportunity to spend some interesting evenings out. I guess I am relieved to learn that its not just a heavy party scene on the weekends. That’s fun too but can get old if that’s all there is to do.

Best of luck with the PhD and thanks again for taking the time to provide such thoughtful responses.

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@literallymarx . appreciate the detailed input. very helpful.

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Transferring into any engineering major (yes, that includes both computer engineering and CS) from undeclared engineering (not PREP!) is relatively easy, as long as you don’t get bad grades.

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@kermit777 Can you please define what bad grades are in terms of GPA needed to make it relatively easy to transfer into CS from another engineering major? With everyone else wanting to do this, I have to imagine it is still pretty competitive to get one of those spots and my understanding is that it also helps to have done well in the CS track courses, which aren’t always easy to get into if you are not a CS major with priority scheduling.

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@illinoisx3 , they’re referring to the “Undeclared Engineering” major, which has somewhat special rules. All majors set aside a few seats for Undeclared Engineering, so even say a B student can get into highly competitive majors if they’re Undeclared Engineering

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I have a son, junior at GaTech, studies computer science, math, with some engineering classes. We did not consider UIUC, although its super strong in EECS if your son can get into the program he wants (We thought UIUC was more graduate student focused, and lots of Chicago cliques that seemed to be hard to break into, and an isolated set of mainland Chinese students who stick together, seemed somewhat unfortunate, that there is less than optimal mixing of students ) but did consider CU Boulder engineering.

There are NINE maker spaces at Gatech, all with different emphasis, so aerospace, materials science, innovation,
mechanical etc. Clubs form around these maker spaces, so students meet like minded students right away .
https://www.gatech.edu/innovation-ecosystem/makerspaces

At GaTech, students from Asia mix well with other students, there is a fairly high number of Asian Indian Americans, and international students from India. Computer engineering is fabulous at GaTech, the combination of labs, and theory is outstanding. He will get the full benefits from the computer science programs, math programs and engineering programs. The campus is somewhat more compact at GaTech compared to UIUC, and the student body a little more narrow, and smaller, although architecture, business, international studies are all good sized majors at GaTech.

Its very easy to travel to and from Atlanta, and use MARTA to get to campus, Atlanta is a major hub.

Bussing from Chicago to UIUC is a bit of a pain, but clearly many students can manage to get there on their own.

The administrators really care about undergrads at GaTech, and teachers are very available to undergrads. There are both capstone project and research degree options, and internationally focused bachelors degrees in computer engineering.

GaTech offers four years of on campus housing, Greek life, great school spirit, a large Olympic pool from the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, with fabulous Rec center.

Outdoor education at GaTech is very strong, and its pretty easy to enjoy the city and go for a hike in the same weekend. Rock Climbing, Kayaking and mountain biking are some of the trips from campus. Rock Climbing
is just as good at Boulder, north of Atlanta, near Chattanooga. GaTech Rock Climbing club has transportation.
https://crc.gatech.edu/outdoor

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@literallymarx Ah, thanks for clarifying! I should read more carefully…

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@Coloradomama - Thank you for your detailed response. I had not actually considered impact of in state students sticking together and how this would impact an OOS student. My S has a few students from his HS that are also considering UIUC and I assumed that they would initially rely on each other but would eventually branch out once they met other students. Something to consider and probably less evident at GT as they draw more OOS students from all over the US.

I loved the maker spaces when we visited GT and personally think they are a perfect fit for my kid. He loves to draw and tinker and these seem like the perfect place to do both those things.

Well only a few days left to make a decision…

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@sdmom3 Good luck with your son’s choice! @coloradomama 's description makes me want to go to GT lol.

A few final thoughts-

Points 1&2: It’s a big U and a big state flagship campus, plenty of stuff to do, despite being a couple hours away from anywhere. Obviously, if you don’t like snow or cold, it’s probably not the best choice, but it’s really not a hardship. My daughter goes to school in Minneapolis where it can get crazy with snow and cold and even there it isn’t like you are shut in for the winter. CU winters aren’t usually too bad.

4: There is a co-op and internship program. I did this many years ago, but not sure how many are active in it each semester now. https://ecs.engineering.illinois.edu/careers-for-your-major/internships-co-ops/

8-10: My son is doing great after almost 4 semesters. Got a great internship last summer and is now in an awesome ongoing research project. I know there is a modest percentage of Chinese national students, as international tuition and enrollment increases are how UIUC has managed to keep solvent. I haven’t heard of any major issues my son has had, though.

I wouldn’t be too worried about in-state students sticking together. Sure, there will be people who went to high school together within any state school, UIUC, GT, etc. I can’t imagine this becomes anti-social to the point of excluding anyone. You meet a ton of people in your dorm, clubs, classes, I wouldn’t think anyone cares if you are from out of state, especially at big schools;-)

It may be a tough decision, but honestly these are two great programs so you shouldn’t have any regrets after making the choice! If the urban setting gave the right vibe for your son, that’s a good reason since the programs are both solid otherwise.

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@illinoisx3 I refer to anything below a 3.0, which objectively speaking, for the first 2-4 semesters, is absolutely horrible.

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Undeclared engineering has spots reserved in CS, so it isn’t too difficult to get into - I have an acquaintance who got into CS from undeclared engineering, and his grades, while not bad, weren’t exactly stellar to say the least.