<p>Hey everyone, I'm a high school senior who is going to be extremely confused when trying to decide what university to attend for Electrical Engineering come March =D Might as well try to figure it out now.</p>
<p>I have been accepted to UIUC and Georgia Tech for EE, and I think I have a fairly good shot at getting into UCSD EE.</p>
<p>Under any other circumstances, I would have chosen UCSD hands down because it is cheaper and when I visited the campus I really liked it (no football team really sucks though), but now UIUC is tied with Stanford for rank 2 in EE....so now I'm really unsure whether I should turn down an insanely high-ranked program for UCSD, which is "only" rank 17 in EE. </p>
<p>Are there any opportunities that I would miss out if I went to UCSD instead of UIUC? </p>
<p>I also aim to go to a top grad school after undergrad, and while maybe (probably) unreasonable, I really would like to go to MIT haha. Would it be easier/harder/same to get in if I attended a more reputable engineering school for undergrad?</p>
<p>**Another thing to consider is that GTech is also extremely high in EE (rank 5), and they are 30K cheaper than UIUC. So maybe would going there be a "blend" of sorts between the cheapness of UCSD and prestige of UIUC?</p>
<p>Sorry for all the questions guys, but I'm totally lost. Any input would really be appreciated.
Thanks in advance!</p>
<p>p.s. If you're wondering why I'm not mentioning UC Berkeley, it's because I am pretty sure I won't be admitted to their EE program hah</p>
<p>Honestly, for a $75k difference, it may (read: probably) not be worth it to go to UIUC over UCSD. I am a UIUC alum, so I will be the first to say how great it is, but being in 75% more debt when you are done may not be the prudent choice.</p>
<p>As for grad school, having the UIUC name on your app will be something that could help push you over the edge if you are borderline, but the name alone won’t really do that much else for you on apps if you are clearly qualified or clearly underqualified. What it WILL do for you is give you a chance to work with some of the top minds in EE in the world, which can help a lot with grad school because you can potentially get them to write your letters of reference. A letter of reference from a world renowned researcher at a top flight institution saying how intelligent you are and how good you were helping out in his/her lab can help overcome an otherwise weak application.</p>
<p>Then again, UCSD is not a slouch either. It is a quality school that should still offer you plenty of research opportunities, a must if you want to get into a top grad school.</p>
<p>Don’t fixate on schools that are #2 or #3 today, because by the time you’re on campus it’ll change. Look for a school that does consistently well. What you’ll see from UIUC and GT is that that two schools are very closely tied in terms of academics. They have similar engineering rankings, similar overall rankings, similar program rankings, and similar reputation. The only things that’s really different are non academic factors: the campuses, diversity, and location. You can determine for yourself which school is better in those regards and what that is worth. Good GPAs from both schools will put you into any graduate school easily. UCSD is a good school and an “up and comer” but it’s just not at the reputation level of the other schools. In addition, you have to deal with the shadow cast in-state by Berkeley and (to a lesser extent) UCLA. </p>
<p>I’m not going to get into the debate about how much more School X is worth than School Y. I can tell you that if I lived in California and had to make the choice, I’d go to UCSD, but that’s just me. There are others on here that would turn down a full ride to Stanford to pay full tuition at MIT because it’s the #1 school. It’s all relative.</p>
<p>Here in Georgia, GT is regarded on par with MIT somewhat. Probably the most differentiating factor between the two is the fact that GT likes to trick potential students with their high admission rate (around 60%), then later kick them to the curb with their tails between their legs after a semester or two, and I’m positive that those top students that actually do apply to GT that get kicked out have this happen to them for a reason. I’m not too sure about UIUC, though I’ve heard they’re very good, under no circumstances should you underestimate GT, because they’re top ten in almost all engineering disciplines (Aero and Industrial I believe are their top two). I sound like I’m advocating a lot for GT (I am biased; I plan on going there), but you should definitely think about the $30,000 less that you will be paying to go there. It’s possible that their EE research is beaten by UIUC, and the fact that you’ll be spending that much money on a school that is almost the exact same in prestige (maybe even GT beats out UIUC in that regard, engineering is what they’re known for) is a bit foolish I think, though it seems to me that the costs of going to GT over UCSD are well warranted. Definitely going to GT will also not hurt you in trying to get into MIT for grad school, if for some reason you decide you don’t want to continue at GT (research programs and grad schools really are what makes GT what it is). You should also get into UIUC from GT fairly easily with good grades, if it is true that their EE research is world class like boneh3ad said.</p>
<p>GT is top notch, so if for no other reason other than cost you should choose it over UIUC. But make sure you research also the lifestyle, location, other not-so-academically-related stuff. Being happy is pretty important.</p>
<p>MIT is in a class by itself. But I would say that schools like Cal Tech, Berkeley, Stanford, UIUC are devalued in the Southeast.</p>
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<p>GT has a high admissions rate because it’s a state school. Look at all of the state engineering schools - 50 to 70% admission rates. There are a few reasons: 1) most top students (including the Ivy-Bound kids) use their state flagship as a safety, so state schools have a lower acceptance percentage from admitted students 2) state schools are much larger than private schools and must admit more students 3) state schools lack the “name brand”, so they get less junk applications (unlike a school such as Stanford that can throw out about a quarter of applications as soon as they arrive).</p>
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GT has a 93% freshman retention rate, which is one of the highest in the country. The freshman to graduate ratio is at 80%, which is also one of the highest in the country for engineering.</p>
I suppose that’s true about MIT, but for most people (atleast that I’ve witnessed), GT would be their #2 after MIT and while they’re known to be the big stuff, most don’t regard GT too far off from their standards. But I suppose this could be the same for any highly ranked engineering school in their region…</p>
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Makes sense. Still seems like a bit of trickery is going on here (non-intentional of course, but some students seem to not know what they’re getting into), as shown by the low median GPA of freshmen that go to GT.</p>
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That’s funny. I must’ve seen some faulty statistics. Coupled with a few scary stories about Tech’s freshman year and intro engineering courses, I suppose it could’ve made some sense. One stat I saw for the retention rate for the school of engineering put GT’s at 33%. Sounded a bit far fetched so I suppose it’s not surprising.</p>
<p>Anyway, my apologies for that…</p>
<p>EDIT: Okay, here’s the link that I’d originally looked at for that statistic:</p>
<p>I suppose I mixed up a few things. It says 33% of freshmen graduate by their fourth year. That statistic is right above the retention rates statistic. Sorry again. But that statistic still says a few things about the rigor of the school.</p>
<p>boneh3ad, G.P. Burdell, & hadsed: Thanks for your input guys, this has really helped me clarify my thoughts. I think you’re right about saving money by attending UCSD, because it is still pretty decent and they are big on research as well. I think it’s settled then. Unless I get that 12k/year scholarship from UIUC…haha I won’t get my hopes up, being OOS and all.</p>
<p>3.75 is low? Remember, that’s out of 4.00, not the 5.0 or 6.0 your high school might use for AP/IB courses.</p>
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<p>The retention rate for the school of engineering is different than for GT as a whole. Tech doesn’t report the numbers, but you can back the following out from some sources: Retention Rate for the College of Engineering (freshman to graduate): 42%. Transfer from Engineering to Management: 33%. Leave GT completely: 25%. Those aren’t official numbers, but approximations cleaned from multiple sources. I also don’t know how they compare to other schools.</p>
Are we talking about the college of engineering still? The grade distribution report on Tech’s website says that around 30 percent receive A’s, 29 percent receive B’s, and 19 percent receive C’s. Seems like the median is in the B range… I figured we ought to be talking about the engineering school since that is the OP’s intended major.</p>
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GT does post the statistics, I corrected myself later in my post and posted the link.</p>
<p>I would personally also go with UCSD; UCSD engineering is very good and alums who do well are very successful (I would say they are on par with alums from Georgia Tech and UIUC). This is a biased response but I would not want to pay $40k for a school which most people attend for around $13k (Georgia has the HOPE scholarship). In terms of selectivity and student quality, I would say UCSD is at least a peer of UIUC and GaTech.</p>
<p>I agree that UCSD has a shadow casted by UCLA and Berkeley but this is not even comparable to the shadow casted upon my engineering school, WPI, by MIT. But still there are many WPI grads who do well are getting good job and grad school offers and who get great scholarships (they gave me a good scholarship). UCSD engineering is a peer to UCLA and recruiters in California probably think quite highly of it.</p>
<p>Don’t worry about grade deflation too much. If you work hard enough, you can defeat most challenging classes. Engineering is more about a tough workload and tough projects than fundamentally mind-boggling concepts. If you show superior effort and quality in your work, you will be earning good grades at most engineering schools. And grades really aren’t everything.</p>
<p>No, GT posts the statistics for students that leave the Institute as a whole (Georgia Tech). They do not post the statistics for the students that move between specific colleges or majors (e.g. from Engineering to Management). To get at that, you have to look at the registration by semester, assume some steady steady, and perform a mass balance or two.</p>
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<ol>
<li><p>You basically made the claim that the College of Engineering admitted unqualified applicants based on a low average GPA. </p></li>
<li><p>I replied that the average high school GPA of an admitted applicant was 3.75/4.00, which is not low. Edit: the average GPA of an ENROLLED applicant is 3.75/4.00, which means that the average GPA of an admitted applicant is higher.</p></li>
<li><p>You then replied that my numbers were wrong because the average college GPA of an already admitted candidate is somewhere in the high 2’s (which is about standard for an engineering college).</p></li>
<li><p>?? I’m lost.</p></li>
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I did not mean to say that they were unqualified really, rather I was trying to demonstrate the difficulty of the school by showing the performance of freshmen in the college who were top students in high school. I think this is where we got mixed up.</p>
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Yeah, I didn’t mean the GPA of high school applicants, I meant the GPA’s of first year engineering majors. Again, miscommunication I suppose.</p>
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I was under the assumption that most schools that aren’t quite at the higher echelon that GT is in have higher GPA’s than that. If not, then I’m probably taking in the wrong information, as I’ve just based that off of stats I’ve seen talked about on this forum.</p>
<p>I would keep your choice between Illinois and Georgia Tech. Even though Illinois is slightly better for electrical than Georgia Tech, if you’re worried about finances, go to Georgia Tech.</p>
<p>You know if we are talking money I would suggest you look into cost of living; figure that in too you know? A nice midwestern town like Urbana champ. might save you a lot over a big city in Cali and offset that tuition. </p>
<p>I’ve never been to cali but I can say that here in the midwest I live 4 min from campus in a super nice and new apartment building for $400/month. I’ve seen how my friends live in chicago man…it’s a different world in the city cost wise. Then again i’ve never been to cali. or urbana</p>
<p>Hey everyone!! I am an international applicant from India. I just got accepted into Gtech and UIUC for EE. I have no idea what to choose, coz althought the engineering fields are well represented in both Gtech has a very low female population(Im a girl) and UIUC is considered more of a party school( correct me if I am wrong) . I would really like to hear some of your opinions. Please help…</p>
<p>I would take Illinois for the option of a more traditional American university experience. You don’t have to be a part of the party scene. Illinois has 7,000 engineering undergraduates - it can be your typical anti-social, boring tech school if you want it to be. Or you can go out drinking every day and attend the giant football games. Your choice. Not to mention there’s a much wider selection of non-technical courses. Better to have options, no?</p>