<p>It looked like U Mich is always above UIUC on overall rankings, but UIUC is more known engineering-wise.</p>
<p>So which one would be the better choice to go to if a student got into both?</p>
<p>Again, when you're looking at engineering undergraduate programs, once you start looking at the top tiers, from what I've seen, a person's success has SO much more to do with having a good fit to the college than it has to do with the minute differences in quality between the institutions. There are good and bad points of every program, and there's so much variation that rankings are very inaccurate.</p>
<p>It'd be like going to buy a house solely based upon appraised value, and not going to tour the house to see if you like it before you buy it.</p>
<p>What I really wanted to know from this topic was which is better, prestige or quality of the program?</p>
<p>Michigan has a slight edge over UIUC in overall reputation, while UIUC has a slight edge in Engineering reputation. In my opinion, you really can't go wrong with either program, so I would consider other factors such as the campus environment and finances.</p>
<p>Flippy, UIUC is known as the MIT of the Midwest, and not by midwesterners! It is THAT good in Engineering. Michigan is practically as good to be sure and at the undergraduate level, probably is just as good. I agree with Im_Blue, chose based on what makes more social and financial sense.</p>
<p>Jack Welch, former CEO of GE, and Jon Corzine, governor of New Jersey and for c0-CEO of Goldman Sachs, went to U of I. Welch, I believe, got a PhD in EE.</p>
<p>Sam Zell, REIT billionaire, Charlie Munger, Warren Buffet's longtime business partner, and Larry Page, Google's co-founder, all went to U of M engineering.</p>
<p>I don't think you can go wrong with either.</p>
<p>Seriously, visit both campuses and make sure you pick the one you like best. If you don't like a place (some places are an acquired taste. Champaign-Urbana is one of these places...) then you're not going to get as much out of college.</p>
<p>Sorry to be a broken record about this. I just really think that the differences in quality and prestige between two places like UM and UIUC are so minute that personal preference can really tip the balance one way or the other, in terms of which school is the best... for you.</p>
<p>It also depends on what you want to study. I was at UIUC in Aerospace Engineering, and quite miserable actually, when my gf ended up going to GA Tech for her Masters...so i ended up transferring as well to Tech and haven't regretted since the Aero program at tech is leaps and bounds ahead of UIUC. However, for Civil, Matse and ECE I would pick UIUC over any other public school. Chambana is definitely an acquired taste though.</p>
<p>I wish michigan can give decisions out for deferred applicants already so i can actually decide which school 2 choose, uiuc or umich...SO slowwwwww</p>
<p>basically depends on what you do at the college and than the name of the college...esp at this level...find a place u like and think offers u the resources to step ahead</p>