<p>I am from India, presently interested in Computer/ Electrical engineering and have got confirmations from UIUC, UT Austin & Purdue.....UMich results awaited and am in the usual dilemmna....which school to confirm to? </p>
<p>UIUC & UMich costwise/weatherwise are similar, Purdue is costs slightly less, weather similar.</p>
<p>UT Austin is economical & weather is also mild.</p>
<p>But my main factors in choosing a college are: Good Undergrad engineering program/ faculty and reputation of the institute.</p>
<p>For Computer and Electrical Engineering all the schools will offer you a fantastic education. </p>
<p>Choose for location you like better. For a more lively happening college environment, I would consider U Mich and UT-Austin over UIUC and Purdue.</p>
<p>Computer Engineering
(At schools whose highest degree is a doctorate)
1 Massachusetts Inst. of Technology<br>
2 Carnegie Mellon University (PA)
2 Stanford University (CA)
4 University of California–Berkeley * 5 U. of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign <em>
6 Georgia Institute of Technology * 7 University of Michigan–Ann Arbor ***
8 Cornell University (NY)
*8 University of Texas–Austin **
10 California Institute of Technology<br>
**11 Purdue Univ.–West Lafayette (IN)</em>
12 University of Washington *
13 Princeton University (NJ)
14 Univ. of Wisconsin–Madison *
15 Univ. of California–Los Angeles *
16 Northwestern University (IL)
16 Rice University (TX)
18 Univ. of California–San Diego *
18 Univ. of Southern California<br>
20 Univ. of Maryland–College Park * </p>
<p>Electrical / Electronic / Communications
(At schools whose highest degree is a doctorate)
Methodology 1 Massachusetts Inst. of Technology<br>
2 University of California–Berkeley *
3 Stanford University (CA) 4 U. of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign <em> 5 University of Michigan–Ann Arbor ***
6 Georgia Institute of Technology *
7 California Institute of Technology<br>
8 Cornell University (NY)
*9 University of Texas–Austin **
10 Carnegie Mellon University (PA)
11 Princeton University (NJ)
**12 Purdue Univ.–West Lafayette (IN)</em>
13 Northwestern University (IL)
14 Univ. of California–San Diego *
15 Univ. of California–Los Angeles *
15 Univ. of Southern California<br>
17 Univ. of Wisconsin–Madison *
17 University of Washington *
17 Virginia Tech *
20 Columbia University (NY)
20 Pennsylvania State U.–University Park *
20 Univ. of California–Santa Barbara *
23 Johns Hopkins University (MD) </p>
<p>There is absolutely no difference from an academic perspective. Choose for cost and other factors.</p>
<p>I agree with UCB for the most part. However, of the schools you have been admitted to, U-Michigan has the greatest prestige overall. I know how important that is to family and friends from your culture. :-)</p>
<p>Cost-wise, all 4 universities will cost $35k to $45k/year. Yes, $10k/year is significant, but you are going to spend a great deal of money either way. I would say go for overall fit and ignore quality (they are all excellent) or cost.</p>
<p>Elsewhere in these forums, I read that one should choose college which is most selective. Going by this parameter...
Ok UMich, if admitted, should be the 1st choice. </p>
<p>But as of now, its difficult to decide between UIUC & Austin.</p>
<p>UIUC: Ranked much higher, takes in higher SAT scores, More Prestigious, better connectivty from India (Delhi-Chicago direct flights)...but colder than Austin.</p>
<p>UT austin:Better weather, better campus, ( i do have somebody from the extended family staying in Austin.. so a bit of support system in Austin)......
but lower ranked than UIUC in both CompE & EE, lesser prestige & not so well directly connected from India.</p>
<p>Dad says UIUC..Mom`s vote is for Texas...so i am totally confused.</p>
<p>Kindly help to decide between UIUC and Austin. </p>
<p>Where do you get that UIUC is more prestigious overall than UT-Austin?? They are both excellent public universities with impressive academic breadth and depth and various strengths over each other in different areas. I don't think you can find any academic ranking that ranks one significantly higher than the other. While it is true UIUC is traditionally stronger in computer sciences/electrical engineering, UT is by no means a slouch in this area nor engineering in general. As with Illinois and Michigan, UT has been a pioneer in various areas of computer science and microelectronics. It can definitely be argued Michigan is "more prestigious" than UT, by virtue of higher ranked programs across more areas, but not Illinois.</p>
<p>UT also recently made the news due to a NSF grant that gave it the world's fastest academic supercomputer for open scientific research. It was obviously chosen since its reputation in computer science is far from mediocre.</p>
<p>By the way - just one more tidbit that may or may not interest you. UT-Austin has more faculty in the prestigious National Academy of Engineering (NAE) than Illinois and Michigan. Membership in the NAE is regarded as one of the highest academic honors an engineer can attain. UT is actually 4th after only MIT, Stanford, and Berkeley in terms of faculty with this honor. Clearly Michigan and Illinois have stellar faculties, but my point it UT can clearly hold it's own in this regard.</p>
<p>That wasn't my point... they are both excellent. My point was that there is no real (or even perceived) difference in 'prestige' - you need to go with fit based on the factors you think are important ('prestige' not being in the equation).</p>
<p>Personally, I think Austin is an awesome place to spend your college years.</p>
<p>1) UIUC is home to the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA Telnet and the first graphical web browser, Mosaic, was developed here).</p>
<p>2) Blue Waters, the world's fastest supercomputer, is being developed at UIUC partnered with IBM and NSF. It is projected to be 3 times faster than today's fastest supercomputer.</p>
<p>5) UIUC ECE department has a great history. UIUC professor John Bardeen was a pioneer who developed the most essential component of electronics today, the transistor. Integrated circuit, sound in film, MRI, plasma screen, and LED was also developed by UIUC grads and faculty.</p>
<p>6) UIUC has produced 21 Nobel laureates, and 20 Pulitzer Prize winners.</p>
<p>7) UIUC has the largest engineering library in the world.</p>
<p>I really think you can't go wrong with UIUC ECE :)</p>
<p>UIUC pros:
1. Ranked higher in both Overall( 5th) and Computer Engineering (5th)
2. In India, its considered more prestigious.
3. Supposed to be very good for both Computer Engineering and Electrical/ electronic engineering.</p>
<p>UIUC cons:
1. Cold
2. Cost: 45K per annum ( this is not a serious factor though )</p>
<p>UT Austin pros:
1. Mom`s cousin stays in Austin .so a bit of family support system in place.
2. Better weather and better campus/town.
3. Cost: 35K per annum ( not a big factor )
UT Austin cons:
1. Lesser Ranked : Overall ( 9th) and Computer Engineering (8th)
Regarding Faculty and undergrad programs at these two schools..I don`t have much information and cannot think of any other major deciding factors.</p>
<p>Although the website reads 45k, I doubt you have to pay all 45k to attend the school. Its actually more like 37~38k instead according to other internationals who has received their financial package. The tuition on the website seems exaggerated to certain extent.</p>
<p>What do you mean regarding faculty and undergrad programs? Everyone has already pointed out both have stellar faculty. UT has the edge in terms of NAE representation, but it's essentially meaningless when you're comparing schools with engineering programs this strong.</p>
<p>Here's another figure to look at... it's just a composite ranking of the top universities based on USNWR grad program and professional program rankings, so schools with strong programs across many areas did well. Look at UT and Illinois... difference is miniscule.</p>
<p>Total PhD Program Rank
1 University of California-Berkeley
2 Stanford
3 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
4 Harvard University
5 Princeton University
6 Yale University
7 University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
8 Columbia University
9 University of Wisconsin-Madison
9 Cornell University
11 University of California-Los Angeles
12 University of Chicago
13 University of Texas-Austin
14 University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign
15 University of California-San Diego</p>
<p>Professional School Ranking
1 Stanford
2 University of California-Berkeley
3 Harvard University
4 University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
5 Northwestern University
6 Columbia University
7 University of Texas-Austin
8 Duke University
9 New York University
10 University of Wisconsin-Madison
10 University of California-Los Angeles
12 University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign
13 University of Virginia
14 University of Southern California
15 Indiana University-Bloomington</p>
<p>In terms of international prestige, that may be the perception in India, but UT has tended to score higher overall in the London Times World University rankings. Again, since these are the top university rankings in the WORLD, it doesn't really matter that UT came in ahead 20 or however many spots on some given stat - the point is they're both excellent.</p>
<p>This decision really needs to come down to which you prefer in terms of 'fit'.</p>
<p>Again, I think Austin is a wonderful college city - larger than traditional college towns, but also still small enough compared to major cities that the youth/college vibe predominates. Austin is perpetually mentioned in every sort of "Best Cities for..." rankings. For people that choose to stay in Texas, there is a strong tech industry in Austin and very strong and diverse job markets in relatively nearby Dallas and Houston.</p>
<p>Like JWT86 has pointed out, you really can't go wrong with either schools. I am personally biased towards my alma mater, but the difference is negligible. </p>
<p>As for the TIMES ranking, I don't think its worth viewing it. I never saw a ranking where schools fluctuate in rankings so much over couple of years. Sure, institutions are bound to change over time, but not as fast as TIMES implies so.</p>
<p>Shivkhemka,
You obviously don't know much about UT and Austin (post #10). One important factor to consider is career/internship opportunities. Austin is known as the "silicon valley of the south". It's the HQ of DELL and home to over 2000 high-tech companies. Besides, Austin is one of the fastest growing cities in the US.</p>
<p>Austin is a fun college town. You can google to find out what is in Urbana-Champaign.</p>
<p>Btw, UIUC's campus is a good 3 hr drive from Chicago O'Hare.</p>
<p>Michigan Engineers are not going to have trouble finding internships or full time jobs. That's because Michigan has a national reputation and attracts recruiters from all over the country. </p>
<p>Below is a link to Michigan's CoE career services. Pages 11-14 list all the companies that recruited on campus in the 2006-2007 school year. </p>