<p>Hey y'all! I'm stuck in a difficult position. I am from Illinois, so, if I go to UIUC, I'll be getting in-state tuition. I will accumulate about 10k more debt each year by going to UMich. I have gotten into both engineering programs (duh), but I am wondering what is the best option for the ultimate goal of a hopeful transfer or admit into MIT grad (please no bashing on my goal haha). Like which school looks better in the eyes of an MIT admissions officer? That would mean which school has better research opportunities/is more highly revered. To be honest, I think I love both schools equally, and this is probably the toughest decision I have ever had to make. Thanks CCers!</p>
<p>Both are really good schools in engineering though University of Illinios Urbana Champaign is one of the best schools in the world to study engineering. University of Illinois Urbana Champaign engineering school is as good as MIT. Which ever school is more affordable would be a better choice.</p>
<p>MIT!!! You have got to be kidding. You better re check your facts.</p>
<p>@coolbrezze && cookie1</p>
<p>hahaha.</p>
<p>i think i’m gonna end up going to UIUC.</p>
<p>You would be absolutely silly to pay $10k more to go to UMich. It is a great school. Absolutely great. But it and UIUC are essentially equal in terms of engineering so the extra money would just be silly.</p>
<p>And UIUC is not as good as MIT by most people’s line of thinking, but it isn’t that much of a drop off. It is somewhat silly to say they are equal, but it is equally silly for cookie to react they way he/she did as well.</p>
<p>just visit both schools</p>
<p>UMich in my opinion has a higher reputation</p>
<p>I’m from out of state and got into UIUC but I really regret not applying to UMich (both have very similar test/gpa demographics).</p>
<p>One of my friends got into Umich on 20 Nov. 2009 for 2010Fall and she thinks Umich is better than UIUC just because Umich is more selective and “prestige” than UIUC. Anyway, engineering in both schools are good and go Umich if cost is not a big problem.</p>
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<p>There are a few things wrong with that statement. Worst of all is the implication that the selectivity has anything to do with the quality of the program. I bet you could go poll all the major companies and ask what has more prestige and they would say it is equal. In fact, if you are one of the people who follows the USNWR rankings, UIUC is the more highly ranked engineering program. UMich as an entire school is ranked higher, but UIUC is ranked higher for engineering. I don’t necessarily put a ton of weight on USNWR rankings, but I think they do have it right in this case, at least when it comes to the rankings of these two schools relative to each other.</p>
<p>It also depends greatly on what this person wants to major in. Different programs have different advantages at each school. That is probably what it will come down to for this guy since both schools are great and he got into both of them. Honestly, though, I don’t think him taking on $40k extra debt is worth it to go to UMich over UIUC for him.</p>