UIUC vs UCSB for Electrical Engineering

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
1

Posting here as well in addition to the college search and selection forum - since we are really in a dilemma and not able to help our son decide

My S got into both these programs for electrical engineering. He definitely wants to be in Engineering, with Electrical Engineering as his top choice. He may consider computer engineering as a possibility.

Now the dilemma is as follows:
UCSB would be in-state for us, great weather, great location. For a CA kid, born and lived in So-CA all his life, this would be ideal. But the Engineering school ranking is much lower than UIUC, and school is not that highly recognized as a great engineering school. In addition, there is no business school, so no option for minor in Business.

UIUC would be OOS and really far from home. It is a great school, very highly ranked and well regarded in engineering circles. Additionally, all engineering majors are highly ranked, so even if he was to change majors within engineering, these are highly ranked. Rankings are ever higher for graduate schools, and the business school as well if future minor is to be considered. But location is a concern - long travel travel to get there. Plus, for a CA kid, the cold weather in Illinois may be difficult to get used to.

Cost is not a major concern, we are willing and able to cover the costs in both schools.

Any opinions are greatly appreciated.

2

That’s a tough choice. If cost is really no object and your son liked them both equally otherwise, UIUC seems like a somewhat better choice based on your comments. Worst case, do well for 1 or 2 years at UIUC and if he doesn’t like it, then perhaps a transfer to UCSB or UCLA or somewhere is an option?

If cost is any concern, I’d be hard pressed to encourage my kids to attend an Illinois public school OOS if they have a good, lower cost alternative, especially with the budget and state financial mess here. Yes, it’s worse than California! Especially since UCSB is still such a good school overall, even if perhaps a tier lower in EE. On the flipside, UCSB might not be much if any disadvantage if he is interested in a job on the west coast? All the big tech companies recruit UIUC heavily, but I’m sure the silicon valley companies are equally aware of the quality of UCSB. Also consider that if grad school is a possibility, it’s uncommon to attend the same school for undergrad and grad. I’d say save the money and do undergrad in-state, then target UIUC and other top EE programs for grad school where it should be essentially free as a teaching or research assistant. When seeking employment with an MSEE from Purdue or Texas, no one will care if the undergrad is UIUC or UCSB;-) That’s the same advice I’m giving to my son right now!

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I worked as an electrical engineering for 15 years, for CA based companies (Seagate and HP).

I really prefer UIUC for EE, and so do many employers. UIUC department of EECS looks like MIT’s department in a different and not altogether bad, location. All top California companies recruit at UIUC. Santa Barbara does have a good materials engineering program and outstanding physics major, but UIUC also offers those majors and ranked even higher. UIUC is top five in computer sciences, which is important for today’s electrical engineering jobs too. UIUC,Chemistry is top five in the nation too. My chemistry professor friend at UCSD does all her sabbaticals at UIUC, because they have the best spectrometers for her work. Business programs are top at UIUC. I would let my own son go to UIUC if I could afford it, as the intellectual community there is phenomenal. He will have that edge because his classmates and friends will be more ambitious and that is a big part of college. UIUC has a wonderful performing arts center on campus, with dance, theatre, music and more:

https://krannertcenter.com/

Summer farmers market, if he stays summers:
http://thelandconnection.org/market

Winters at UIUC are not nearly as bad as Chicago or Boston. In fact there is too little snow in Central Illinois to cross country ski some winters. It varies and 18 year olds adjust very quickly.

Both UCSB and UIUC get an A+ for parties, so no worries there!

Football culture and social life surrounding that, is big at UIUC.
But we know tennis players who love UIUC, and there are New York City kids from the top science high schools to interact with and party with. These kids choose UIUC on purpose over other good east coast options.

If you send him with a car, there are state parks to explore,

Illinois has very good wilderness, believe it or not!

Kickapoo is a larger reservoir. I like Starved Rock State Park for weekend outings. He would need a car for that.

https://www.dnr.illinois.gov/Parks/Pages/Kickapoo.aspx

4

And for travel, there is another thread, but here I will past it here for @DShiela

Going from the Chicago airports to Urbana-Champaign by ground has 3 good options.

  1. Take a Peoria Charter bus
  2. Take the subway from the airports to union station and then get on an Amtrak train
  3. Rideshare

There are pros and cons to each of the options
Peoria Charter:
-expensive, ~$55 roundtrip
-can be slow if leaving during rush hour and getting stuck in traffic
-most direct route, will pick you up at either airport (O’Hare has more times though) and drop you off at a number of locations in the area

Blue/Orange line -> Amtrak:
-theoretically the shortest time if you can match up a flight to a train
-tickets can be very cheap if bought in advance, I’ve gotten roundtrip tickets for <$30
-only three trains daily
-drops you off at Illinois Terminal in downtown Champaign, about a 5-10min public bus ride from campus
-the most comfortable option
-trains can get delayed due to heavy freight traffic, the line only has around a 60% on-time rate

Rideshare:
-requires finding someone in the UIUC ridesharing facebook group
-also subject to road conditions
-cheapest option

5

Thanks for your reply! We really appreciate getting a perspective from an engineer working in the industry. We work in the medical field, and have very little knowledge about the engineering/technology industry employment scene. In our field the college and university of graduation is of prime importance in getting good job placement, and continues to play a role in influencing our career progression for a long time.

For our son, we want to make sure he gets a good name school for that reason. Knowing that UIUC EE is highly regarded by employers is good information to have. Although UCSB is tempting due to the location, we don’t want to make a decision based on just that - especially since it may affect our son’s career too. We are more inclined to choose UIUC over UCSB, he will just get acclimatized to the weather!

6

UC Santa Barbara has a very respectable rank too, but older engineers and managers, especially out of state employers, may remember the days when Santa Barbara was less rigorous. All California employers will probably recognize the positive changes Santa Barbara has made.

UIUC has had a high rank for over 50 years, or more. So thats what some employers may focus on. So its a slight edge if your son does not want a masters degree, to go with UIUC.

There are four beautiful seasons in Illinois. LL Bean sells good winter clothes at a reasonable price, with no shipping charges.
https://www.llbean.com/

7

I may be biased for UIUC because I have an EE degree from Illinois, but I appreciate wanting them closer to home, too. My son is narrowing down his options as well. I actually put UCSB on his list, since it’s on the same tier as UIUC for physics. I think he ruled out a lot of schools since he didn’t perceive them as significantly better than UIUC and they would cost more. Can’t fault him for that logic! He is accepted in Engineering Physics at UIUC and I think it may be his top choice at the moment.

Good luck to your son wherever he chooses. One perk at UIUC if you didn’t do the engineering tour- The EE building is brand new and it is beautiful. They even have a state of the art Intel funded clean room nano fab for classes and research. The newish Siebel computer science lab is very nice, too. I’m envious of today’s undergrads; the whole engineering quad and all the new private housing and apartment buildings around campus town in recent years are pretty impressive.

8

UIUC its a great school with a great engineering program that is much better than UCSB. I would chose UIUC based off that

9

@DSheila I recorded my thoughts about your son’s position:
https://youtu.be/z2C3vMBAIGI

Either way he is in great shape. Congrats!