UIUC vs PSU for Electrical Engineering

College Search & Selection
1

University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign: $34,000 / yr

  • Accepted in James Scholar Honors Program and
  • Scholarship of $12,000
  • Out-of-State and quite far (almost 750 miles), the drive is exhausting

The Pennsylvania State University - University Park: $29,000 / yr

  • No scholarships, did not apply to Shreyers honors (was unaware of honors programs before the deadline)
  • In-state and nearby, only 2.5 hr drive / 150 miles (close to family, some friends going to penn state)

Accepted to UC Berkeley but declined due to the financials($$$), and distance from home (>2800 miles). My education will be completely debt-financed by my parents and I, other than jobs or internships I can find during college.

My SAT C+R was 1500 (took once), and GPA 3.94

Hello, I am a first-generation college student (HS Senior) from PA intending to complete a BS in Electrical Engineering. I know that UIUC’s EE dept is ranked highly (~3/4 in country, right below berkeley), and that PSU’s is less so.

Is UIUC’s EE really that much better than Penn State’s?
Does undergraduate school matter all that much in the engineering fields?
Would going to a school like UIUC enable me to better maximize my potential?
Are there any clear benefits over PSU?
Is PSU EE a good program (not in top 20 in USNWR, don’t know anything else about it).
Would job opportunities be impacted by my choice of college?
Is it better to be a bigger fish at penn state than a smaller one at UIUC’s selective EECS dept?

I have scoured every thread on this site and others, amounting to hours and hours and hours of reading. I am really confused and have been trying to decide since February

My family & I would like me to stay relatively close so I can visit on holidays and weekends (or at all), something not possible for me at UIUC. Is the education at UIUC worth trading these things in for, as well as $5,000/yr (I know its subjective). My BIGGEST PROBLEM IS THIS: Is PSU’s EE good enough, considering I got into UIUC and UCB. Is there anything I will miss out on not going to UIUC, or can I do everything at PSU that I could have done at UIUC?

I enjoyed both campuses and would be happy at either, although the geography of PA is definitely more appealing (mountains and lakes allowing for kayaking, hiking, activities I enjoy). I apologize for the length of this post but this is everything that has been driving me crazy for the past two months. I just don’t know what values to place on the different factors I’m considering, and would appreciate any assistance that would help me to, somehow, make a choice.

2

If my post was too long - here is it reduced: I have to decide between UIUC (OOS) and PSU (in state) electrical engineering. UIUC = $34k, PSU = $29k, after aid and scholarships.

UIUC is giving me $12,000 and honors status, PSU is giving me nothing, didn’t apply to honors

The big downsides to UIUC are the distance from home (12 hr drive) vs PSU (2.5 hrs) and the cost ($5k more pear year). This makes transportation expensive and visiting home or family impossible, we drove 12 hrs to visit because plane tickets were too expensive.

I heard UIUCs engineering program is really really good, but heard engineering at PSU is also good. Would EE at Illinois be worth the distance from home and $20000 total more over 4 years? What would you do? Any help is greatly appreciated and I really need any kind of advice right now.

3

“My education will be completely debt-financed by my parents and I, other than jobs or internships I can find during college.”

How much of the aid that you have already received is student loans?

Before you put yourself and your parents on the hook for something like $120,000 of debt, you need to seriously consider how long it will take you to pay that down. That amount of debt is too much for any undergrad degree. Not to mention of course, that your parents might not qualify for loans for all four years. Sorry. Neither of these are affordable.

If you have the grades and test scores to get into these two programs, there are other less expensive options for you. Either start at a local Penn State campus and commute for two years before finishing up at the main campus, or take a gap year, and reapply with affordability in mind. Take a look here: http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/

4

Thanks for that link, I was unaware that these colleges gave free rides. I guess I could apply to Temple next year.

I think my parents would qualify for the parent plus, and could afford it it’s just that they never saved for college and I don’t know if they ever expected me do as well as I did in school or get accepted to these schools or a good college. My sibling got Ds in high school and went to a year of community college then quit, i don’t think I come from the traditional college-attending family. I was never pressured to have a high class rank in school and I did the college search process by myself. My parents aren’t poor or lower class, they’re just new to this and didn’t think to save for education.

The figures I gave were tuition + room& oard minus “free money” like grants or scholarships. The figures are without the financial “aid” that all the colleges gave which is actually federal student loans.

I can take loans of $5,500 first year, then $6,500 then $7,500 and $7,500 junior and senior year from the federal government.

I am hoping to make $10,000 a year so through my own debt and income I’m hoping to subtract $16,000 off those numbers above.

Thank you for taking the time to comment and I’ll have to think about cheaper options and talk about taking a gap year now. I would really like to know how penn state is comparatively to uiuc’s engineering, though, and whether one would really miss out on something by going to penn state for EE.

5

Engineering is very much the same everywhere because ABET defines what is to be included in the courses. The difference in quality is between the very top (Cal Tech/MIT) and the rest. There is no reason to pay extra money for UIUC.

If you decide to look at the full-ride list, or to pursue other merit-based and need-based options (check the Financial Aid Forum for more ideas), then you need to take a gap year so that you preserve your freshman applicant status.