<p>So is UIUC dramatically better? Also, why do both of these schools put such a big emphasis on ACT and a very little one on SAT. UIC doesn't report the SAT scores on college board.</p>
<p>There is no disadvantage to submitting the SAT. All Illinois public universities take either test and do not favor one over the other. Because Illinois is an ACT state -- every junior in high school takes it -- the UI campuses get far more ACT tests scores submitted than SAT and thus use it as the main one to report ranges but SAT is perfectly welcomed.</p>
<p>Also, to the comment above that midwest colleges "prefer" the ACT. That is not true for any midwest or US college that appears in any list in the USNEWS rankings. All of those now take either SAT or ACT (except some require no test) and there is no longer a "preference" for one test over the other.</p>
<p>UIUC is Illinois' public flagship university and thus is the most difficult public university in Illinois to get into.</p>
<p>part of the difference is that UIC focuses more on a student’s high school performance since it serves a population that does not traditionally do well on standardized tests. Even though, on average, a UIUC student is stronger, the BEST students in the state tend to gravitate toward UIC and their Professional Admissions program known as GPPA.</p>
<p>I live in Illinois, and UIUC (U of I) is much MUCH better. UIC is really where a lot of kids in the middle of the class at my school go, while U of I takes a good portion of the upper portion. The only case I can think of that UIC is better is GPPA, in which case, UIC is stronger than U of I.</p>
<p>The state school totem pole looks a bit like this:</p>
<p>1 U of I
2 UIC
3 Northern, ISU, maybe 1 SIU
4 the rest</p>
<p>UIUC Engineering is more demanding in that they teach you more in one course, sometimes, double, than UIC. I always thought UIUC was hard because the teachers were awful, but it is also harder because it truly is more demanding according to transfer students who have been to both.</p>
<p>UIUC Engineering opens the door to the country and the world. UIC Engineering opens the door to Chicagoland.</p>
<p>You have to pick the school with the better major program that you are interested. I was in the top 10% of my class of 1000 students and I was accepted to both UIUC and UIC but I picked to attend UIC because the Architecture program is a lot better than UIUC due to UIC’s overhaul of the entire program. So you can’t truly say “Oh since UIUC is rated overall better than UIC then I must obviously go there” because it’s not always true that UIUC is better it just depends on the major.</p>
<p>You don’t necessarily have to pick the school with the better major program.
How many people go to Harvard for pre-med or business when they could go to JHU or Wharton?</p>
<p>Some students who excel know they will do fine in the job market regardless of major program and just go to a top school for the experience (and often the prestige).</p>
<p>I understand the philosophical reason why one would say prestige shouldn’t matter, but try to tell a student who is in the top 10 of his/her class that they should go to worse schools than classmates who he/she feels are worse at academics.
17-18 year olds, especially the gifted, have pride. If they can get in to Cornell civil engineering and U of I civ. (where UIUC has a better program and Cornell is overall a better school) and all other things are independent of the decision, do you really expect most students to pick UIUC given they would have the choice?</p>
<p>I think you should always pick the college that is right for you. I am in the Northeast and many students want to attend college in a big, northeast city. I get the same vibe as far as Chicago is concerned. Chicago is a world class city full of many opportunities where Urbana-Champaign is a college town pretty much surrounded by corn. I went to UIS for my master’s and that is in the state capital where many state government opportunities exist. I personally don’t understand the purpose of keeping different campuses this separate and think that the other campuses should break off from the U of I and just earn respect on their own merits. At Penn State it is customary for students to spend two years at their local campus then transfer to the main campus. They got their own issues of course like high debt and lack of transferability of community college credits.</p>
<p>People need to keep in mind the programs that each school has to offer. I’m a nursing major, so UIC is the obvious choice, since UIUC doesn’t have nursing. If I were to do engineering, I would have definitely applied to UIUC. You can’t just combine all the schools and colleges within one university and generalize.</p>
<p>I attended UIC as an undergrad and have graduate degrees from Northwestern and Auburn. I don’t believe UIC is any less an academic institution than UIUC. The difference is status and mission. More kids want the Champaign campus because it offers the traditional college experience - Big 10 sports, Greek life, etc… The history and tradition is at UIUC. UIC is geared more towards service Chicago’s inner-city first generation college students and local area students who prefer to live at home and commute. The former is the reason for the more lenient admissions standards, but the quality of education is very high and compares favorable to Northwestern (personal experience) and Auburn (personal experience). </p>
<p>I was accepted to both UIUC and UIC as an undergrad, but decided to stay in the Chicago Area. It’s more about prestige (and having a reputation of admitting on the “best and brightest”) and demand (more applicants from all over the U.S. and The world apply). </p>
<p>There’s value in brand name and UIUC has an advantage. </p>
<p>Are programs ranked “higher” at UIUC than at UIC on U.S. News and World Report? Yes. But, at the end of the day, those rankings mean little in reality. You sit in an accounting class at UIUC vs one at UIC and I don’t think you would notice any significant difference in quality as a student. </p>
<p>I think the overall college experience will be better at UIUC, but there are a lot of advantages to attending college in the City of Chicago too that Champaign-Urbana doesn’t have. Traditional, what the movies depict as the “college experience” will be down state. But, classroom experience will be very, very comparable.</p>
<p>Good point someone made - several programs offered on one campus aren’t offered at another. I was a Criminal Justice Minor at UIC. UIUC didn’t have a Criminal Justice (or similiar) Department. That was another reason for me choosing to attend UIC.</p>
<p>That could apply to literally any two schools, but that does not mean there is not much difference between UIUC and UIC academically. Someone who graduates with a 4.0 from Portland State University could easily get into the top tier grad school over the Berkeley grad who barely made it through. That does not mean there is not much difference between Portland State and Berkeley academically.</p>