<p>I am native of Washington and got accepted in to UW, UIUC, GT and Purdue. I am having tough time deciding between UW and UIUC based on US News Engineering rankings. I am planning on majoring in EE/CS. Any advice appreciated.</p>
<p>You would be crazy not to go to UW. They have money pouring in for CS/ENG while UI and Purdue are struggling.</p>
<p>Data mostly drawn from USNWR</p>
<p>OBJECTIVE DATA</p>
<p>Undergraduate Enrollment:
U Washington: 27,488 U Illinois Urbana Champaign: 30,909</p>
<h1>and % of students who are in-state:</h1>
<p>U Washington: 23,640 (86%) U Illinois Urbana Champaign: 27,509
(89%)
Cost (Tuition & Fees):
U Washington: $5,985 in-state, $20,198 out-of-state
U Illinois Urbana Champaign: $8,716 in-state, $22,802 out-of-state</p>
<p>Graduation & Retention Rank
U Washington: 60th U Illinois Urbana Champaign: 37th
-% of Students expected to graduate in 6 years:
U Washington: 66% U Illinois Urbana Champaign: 74%
-% of students who do graduate in 6 years:
U Washington: 74% U Illinois Urbana Champaign: 83%</p>
<p>Faculty Resources Rank:
U Washington: 104th U Illinois Urbana Champaign: 81st
-% of classes with 50+ students
U Washington: 17% U Illinois Urbana Champaign: 14%
-% of classes with <20 students
U Washington: 37% U Illinois Urbana Champaign: 31%
-Faculty/student ratio
U Washington: 11/1 U Illinois Urbana Champaign: 14/1</p>
<p>Student Selectivity Rank:
U Washington: 58th U Illinois Urbana Champaign: 53rd
-Average SAT/ACT:
U Washington: 110-1320 U Illinois Urbana Champaign: 26-31
-% of students ranking in top 10% of high school class
U Washington: 82% U Illinois Urbana Champaign: 48%
-% acceptance rate
U Washington: 67% U Illinois Urbana Champaign: 75%</p>
<h1>of 1500 scorers enrolled:</h1>
<p>U Washington: 844 (3%) U Illinois Urbana Champaign: 2013 (7%)</p>
<p>Financial Resources Rank:
U Washington: 31st U Illinois Urbana Champaign: 49th </p>
<p>Alumni Giving % and Rank:
U Washington: 17% (83rd) U Illinois Urbana Champaign: 12% (132nd)</p>
<p>SUBJECTIVE DATA</p>
<p>Peer Assessment:
U Washington: 3.9 U Illinois Urbana Champaign: 4.0</p>
<p>For two schools that are so close in overall USNWR rank, some of the underlying comparisons show some rather marked differences. For example, UIUC has advantages in Graduation/Retention rank and Faculty Resources and even an advantage in Selectivity. However, U Washington enrolls a MUCH higher % of Top 10% students (82% for UW vs 48% for UIUC). U Washington has nice advantages in Financial Resources (perhaps influenced by factors such as barrons cites above) and Alumni Giving reflecting the way that graduates of U Washington feel about the state's flagship school. UIUC has strong numbers in 1500 scorers which is potentially a reflection of its strong engineering program which attracts some of the nation's top engineering students. Among academics, however, this engineering reputation does not produce much separation in how the two schools are viewed. </p>
<p>On the numbers, individual weighting of various data will push the advantage to one school or the other, but the cost advantage is sizable for an in-state Washington resident and would likely tip the scale to U Washington.</p>
<p>How much do you care about location? UW's location (big interesting city with cool outdoor activities nearby) is immensely better than UIUC's (corn, corn, and more corn) in my book...so much so that it might be the deciding factor for me if I could afford both.</p>
<p>Folks, Thanks for the responses. Looks like I can not go wrong with UW! On a related thread UIUC placement prospectus seems to be better based on few samplings. Is there a solid data that backs this up?</p>
<p>There are more high tech firms within 10 miles of UW than within 100 miles of UI. All recruit at UW. UW CS is HIGHLY respected.</p>
<p>So is UIUC. Both EE and CS ranks higher at UIUC.</p>
<p>Big whoop. UW comp sci is in the Top 10 and rising. UI is struggling to maintain its rankings due to poor budgets from the state. Both Gates and Paul Allen are giving BIG money to the UW programs. Allen paid for a new comp sci building. Engineering is a field were rank is far less important. The salaries out of UI will not be any better than UW. All the majors recruit at UW.</p>
<p>Another vote to UW. A friend went there and did very well. </p>
<p>If you really want to pay OOS tuition, you should seriously consider GT over UIUC. In my book, among all your choices, GT provides the most rigorous and well-rounded engineering training even though social life there is a bit lacking.</p>
<p>barrons is obviously biased towards uw….UW CS is a top 10 program but the recruiting and networking at UIUC is definitely better. UW has a very large presence on the west coast, but very little to none on the east coast. UIUC has a large presence pretty much anywhere, east or west coast. UW does have a lot of money, while UI doesn’t but thats not to say its not the better choice. On the other hand if you have instate for UW vs out of state for UIUC its a toss up depending on what scholarships you get.</p>
<p>Ok but this is 6 yrs old…</p>