I am a high school senior wishing to pursue chemical or nuclear engineering. I’ve gotten rejected or waitlisted at most of my top choices (Carnegie Mellon, Michigan, etc), so my current options are UIUC, Purdue, and Lehigh. I’m leaning towards UIUC since it seems to have the best engineering program, but I am worried about the size of the school being too pick and it not excelling in other areas I’d be interested in pursuing on the side (creative writing, things like that). Lehigh is smaller and seems to be overall a better school but I’m not sure if its engineering program is as top-tier as I’m looking for. Any thoughts are appreciated, thanks!
My D is finishing up her second year of chem E at Purdue. She turned down her acceptance at Lehigh to attend. She wanted a bigger school atmosphere and liked Purdue’s first year engineering curriculum better.
Other considerations for her were she wasn’t thrilled with the % of students that were in the Greek system at Lehigh, she thought the students at Purdue had a more collaborative vibe, and liked having access to a more developed co-op program at Purdue.
I’m happy to answer any Purdue specific questions if you have them.
UIUC is a great school, and highly regarded for engineering. It has a beautiful campus, and is known for being a really fun Big 10 school. Urbana Champaign is always listed as a top college town, which can’t be said for the other schools on your list. When we visited, we went to a basketball game which was spirited and really fun. We saw the active alumni in attendance at the game, but we also stayed over at the Illini Union so we saw lots of students working hard. Seemed like a great mix.
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Hi, I know this is very old posting but I need your advice. Among the schools that your D was accepted into, was there UIUC? We’re thinking between Purdue and UIUC mechanical and would like to hear from someone who were in shoes like us. Thank you!
My daughter picked Purdue, and graduated MechE last year. But both are excellent schools. Ideally, the student can visit both for at least a day or two, both formal admitted student events and just hanging around campus, and see whether either just feels right.
Also to consider - total cost appears to be $43.8K at Purdue and $59.6K at UIUC. Purdue has committed to a tuition freeze through at least the 2023-24 school year.
(For completeness, she was also accepted to Lehigh, but it was further down the list)
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