<p>I received two graduate admission letters from
University of IL at Urbana-Champaign and University of California at Berkeley. My major is computer engineering.</p>
<p>I want to know which University is better? It's difficult for me to make a decision.</p>
<p>I don’t know much about Urbana-Champaign, but Cal would be a great choice because of its proximity to Silicon Valley, since you’re in computer engineering.</p>
<p>Oh wow, graduate school. I would definately go with University of California- Berkeley. They both seem to be competitive with each other in teh engineering field, with Berkeley a small lead.</p>
<p>This shouldn’t even be a question, haha. Berkeley is one of the top 5 universities in the world, especially as far as graduate programs are concerned.</p>
<p>okay. in terms of graduate education, both UIUC and UC-Berkeley are top five in CompSci.
the rankings are not significantly different. USNEWS puts UIUC at 5 and UCB at 3. This is not significant and wont effect the quality of education. </p>
<p>Things to consider:
Cost: Are you from California? Illinois? Elsewhere?
Location: Look up both cities, and decide where you want to stay.</p>
<p>^ what whereshouldigo? said</p>
<p>actually, UCB is tied for first on USNEWS’ rankings</p>
<p>I’ve got to believe that being just an hour from Silicon Valley is a very significant factor. Are you talking MS or Ph.D.? If Ph.D., it’s all about the individual professor. You will be part of a 6-8 member team with a specific specialization led by that professor.</p>
<p>I want to pick UCB, but I have to pay out-of-state tuition. But, in UIUC, I don’t need to. It’s still difficult for me to choose.</p>
<p>^ so what cost difference are we talking here?</p>
<p>Then the two questions to answer are…</p>
<p>Do you want to live in the Bay area?</p>
<p>Do you want to pay more money?</p>
<p>Otherwise, you’re going to get a tier 1 engineering school either way.</p>
<p>Well this is graduate school we’re now talking about. Unless the costs are extraordinarily more, I’d say go to UCB.</p>
<p>This belongs in the graduate school sub-forum.</p>
<p>For CS I would normally say Berkeley, all else being equal, but there are bigger issues than rankings or reputation.</p>
<p>If you are going for your masters, go with the money - keep it as cheap as you can.</p>
<p>If you are going for your PhD, go with the better advisor.</p>
<p>^^ This is the correct response.</p>
<p>Have you spoken to the professors who would be your advisor? Who do you like better? Have you spoken with grad students at each school? Where did you feel more at home?</p>
<p>I went to UIUC for economics and had a horrible experience, both then and in trying to contact them for years afterwards, and would never recommend to anyone to go there - but many people love it!</p>
<p>California and therefore UCs are experiencing deep budget cuts.</p>
<p>If you’re going for MS: look out for class size/availability (due to budget cut) and opportunity to get a good LOR</p>
<p>PhD: as someone already mentioned, research fit! and don’t forget the funding!</p>