<p>im having a hard time deciding between going to uiuc and rutgers, my state school. for uiuc ill be paying like 48k, but its third for materials science, which is what i want to do. for rutgers, ill be paying 10k because of in-state tuition, but for engineering its not as good. ive heard that rutgers materials science students are successful in going to good grad schools, but uiuc is #6 in the nation for engineering. it would be nice to go to college 45 min away from home, but im fine with going to uiuc. what should i do??</p>
<p>Same here buddy except I’m deciding for computer science which UIUC and rutgers are on completely different ends. I am about 30mins from Rutgers New Brunswick and same price for me too. What do you guys think? My parents although they can afford to just by a little, want me to go to UIUC and I do too but it is in the middle of nowhere so beware of that I visited it last weekend.</p>
<p>You need to be miles off campus to be “in the middle of nowhere”. Both Champaign and Urbana are vibrant towns more than able to keep you from wandering in corn fields for entertainment. The bus service is free for the surrounding area, and can get you anywhere you can’t walk to that you need to be.</p>
<p>Rutgers and Illinois were my daughter’s top two choices too (Broadcast Journalism). She is west coast so either would be far and cold. In the end she went with Illinois because of overall school reputation and she just fell in love with the school when she visited - it was orderly, clean, easy to get around and just gorgeous. Unfortunately Rutgers and Illinois were the only two of 8 schools she was accepted to that offered NO financial aid…even with an EFC of $9300. Ouch.</p>
<p>I have to say of all the schools we looked at Rutgers by far was the best at marketing themselves at a very personal level. Because of that it was a difficult decision.</p>
<p>You’re in the UIUC forum so beware some people might be a tad biased, but I feel that Rutgers is the better deal. If you can do as well at Rutgers as you can at Illinois in terms of job recruitment and grad school, then I don’t see why you can’t save your money. And if you plan on going to grad school, you should REALLY choose Rutgers and save your money. Rankings are just that. Rankings. If both schools offer decent programs for your major, then I don’t think it should make too much of a difference. </p>
<p>Also, “The middle of nowhere” can mean different things to different people. If you’re from Chicago for example, and used to city life, then Champaign and Urbana would be considered the middle of nowhere to some people. OP, its technically classified as a small city or suburb. I don’t think you’ll be completely bored.
Okay, I went a little off topic, but I say Rutgers!</p>
<p>Engineering is one field that so long as you go to an approved decent engineering school most firms will look at you-they are not ranking driven like Ibanks etc. Go to RU. Do well and you will be fine. If you decide on grad school you will have another chance to go elsewhere.</p>
<p>as one who came here from nj, and was seriously considering going to rutgers, i suggest going to rutgers. as the guy said above, rankings only matter so much, and rutgers engineering is fine. i know a lot of engineers who screwed around here and are getting the shaft grade-wise. if you do well at rutgers, you’ll be just as successful. also, uiuc out of state is expensive as ****. just cause this state is broke. i know nj is also broke, but when i was deciding, they at least gave me some scholarship money. i was stupid and turned down money from rutgers to come here, where i got none. if you’re going on to continue your education in grad school, don’t bother racking up so much debt. i made that poor choice and regret it.</p>
<p>as for the locations, uiuc is basically surburban kids from chicago, while rutgers is kids from the suburbs of philly and nyc (depending on whether you’re from north, south, or central jersey). rutgers is pretty close to new york, which is really nice, and what i miss most. urbana champaign is literally in the middle of cornfields and there’s only so much you can do. i think there’s much more to do at rutgers, with the two cities being close. as for me, i didn’t want to go to college with my high school, and wanted to travel to different places, which is my main reason to go to uiuc.</p>
<p>tl;dr go to rutgers and save some cash. nyc>chicago =]</p>
<p>Parent of ECE newbie from NJ.
Almost one year in UIUC, we still talk about transfer back to Rutgers:</p>
<ol>
<li>Save a lot (yes, a lot) of money</li>
<li>Anyway, he will go to grade school</li>
<li>Middle of corn field.</li>
</ol>
<p>Rutgers engineering is fine. Got family out there who graduated and had no problems landing jobs, yes…if you do well there, they have good career placement. Proximity to NYC helps.</p>
Now that your child must be done with engineering, what is your feedback now on Rutgers vs UIUC computer engineering…
Champaign
Rutgers, due to the massive difference in cost.
Rutgers is NJ’s flagship public research university and its programs are not so inferior that it’s worth paying $100,000 more over four years to go to a different flagship. (that’s generally how I feel about in-state vs. OOS publics, unless an OOS school offers a program your flagship doesn’t)
guys this thread is from 4 years ago
The problem is still the same though. UIUC or Rutgers computer engineering with 80k difference in total cost.