Hello I’m a student from California and I’m debating between two different colleges in the Midwest. The first college is University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana and The Ohio State University. I would easily pick Illinois over Ohio because I feel like it has a better name and I really like the campus. And it has a great business program as well which I was accepted into. However, Ohio state’s business program is good as well and I am recieving 17,000 dollars a year through the Morril Scholarship and I was admitted to the scholars program with a living and learning community in a residence hall. My father attended Illinois and my grandparents live three hours away from the college so at least I’m close to someone. I was also admitted to Wisconsin however I was not a direct admit to the business program so I’m not really considering it even though it is a great college as well. And I do not really want to attend the colleges in California I was admitted to such as Santa Clara, UC Irvine, calpoly, UCSB, etc. because they were not my top choices in California. I would love to have anyone’s feedback as I am currently undecided. Thank you!
And I’d like to add I am not recieving any financial aid besides loans from Illinois.
UIUC has a better ranked business school, but OSU will be significantly cheaper and have a better on campus life. OSU also has a better alumni network. If you are paying $10,000 tuition for OSU vs $30,500 for UIUC, go with OSU.
OSU’s business school is actually rated significantly higher than UIUC.
I have two children who are current students in business at UIUC. They never looked at Ohio State, so I am obviously coming from one direction.
Reading your post, I can’t tell how much of a hardship the difference in cost of attendance will affect you and your family. If it is a considerable amount, I would attend OSU. If it is not a problem, but it would be lovely to spend less then I would do a little research and self-reflection before deciding.
Do you have a major in mind? If you are interested in accounting, you may consider U of I worth the investment. If it’s marketing, then perhaps the extra cost isn’t worth it.
What are your post college graduation plans? Do you plan on going back to California? I only ask because I did a quick glance at job placement and it looked like a high percentage of graduates stay instate at both schools.
79% of the class of 2015 stayed in Illinois>> https://business.illinois.edu/bcs/recruiters/statistics/ug-stats/
63% stayed in Ohio from this report>> https://fisher.osu.edu/careers-recruiting/salary-outcome-data
It’s just a snapshot but it may give you an idea of future employment opportunities.
I would also review what kind of AP credit to expect at each school. You want to make sure you can graduate in 4 years and also have enough flexibility if you want to double major or do a study abroad program.
And since I mentioned study abroad, UIUC’s College of Business excels in this area.
I have some errands to run, but I hope this gives you a little food for thought. Good luck with your decision!