UT v. UIUC v. Madison - Mechanical Engineering

Colleges and Universities A-Z The University of Texas at Austin
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<p>My son (Indiana resident) has been accepted to UT Austin, Illinois (Urbana-Champaign) and Wisconsin (Madison) as well as Purdue (with scholarship $).</p>

<p>I would love opinions regarding the pluses and minuses of each. Although Purdue is clearly the cheapest, it is at the bottom of the list. (Would like to see him get out of Indiana, plus Purdue does not seem to be as well-rounded of a university if he decides to switch majors.)</p>

<p>My concerns with each - UT Austin: size (enormous), distractions (son loves live music of all kinds) and distance from home (not even a direct flight) Illinois: intensity (engineering school super impressive but on a tour they seemed super stressed and appeared not to have seen natural sunshine in quite a long time) and popularity of Greek system (would rather not have to be a part of that), Wisconsin - weather (freezing, obviously) and reputation/placement for engineering students (not as strong as Illinois but still a top-notch school).</p>

<p>People unanimously praise Austin, Texas, but perhaps that is the city more than the University itself? My vote currently is for Wisconsin, where the students looked happy to be there, I can get to in about 6 hours, and has the perhaps the most loyal alumni ever.</p>

<p>One last thing: at Wisconsin son would have to apply to the Department of Mechanical Engineering - is not already in. While he is a National Merit Finalist, 2200 SAT, 33 ACT, top 6% of his graduating class, has juggled sport, music and volunteering at a giant competitive public high school I am a bit concerned about the workload for a first year engineering student at any of these schools, for a type "B" personality kid - NOT a super competitive kid, so far. I do have concerns about these schools' retention rates for engineering students, even after the first year.</p>

<p>So sorry to be long-winded - we plan to re-visit Wisconsin and Illinois, (and are waiting to hear back from several other schools) but would appreciate any input on quality of life at these schools in addition to thoughts on quality of undergrad instruction in engineering.</p>

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<p>Interesting. I think w/ an ME from any of these schools, jobs won’t be a problem – esp. w UT and prob w Illinois also. Madison and Austin have a lot of similarities. I don’t think he’ll have any problem finding himself at UT or Austin. I know a lot of people who went to UT and worked or returned to the midwest or elsewhere, and look fondly back to their time at UT/Austin (but many stay, esp in Texas bec of economy and opportunities in Austin area, houston, and dallas. Although from texas and didnt go to UT, Ive lived in midwest before and was surprised of the UT connections up there. Neither UT or Austin is too big for most people because there a lot of niches, groups can explore or fit into. Son is considering UI-UC, UT, and A&M as primary schools at the moment (waiting on few others). Ive spent a lot of years around UT and UT alums. UT is an especially good fit for independent-minded students, and perhaps, liberal, but doesn’t mean it’s not so for conservatives and those who prefer more 'of a “group”/ we are one environment (like A&M and many LACs). Having said that, we are going to examine how the “bigness” of Ut impacts such things as student-prof interactions and research oppts, as my son is interested in pre-med. Think a lot of that is addressed by honors programs, and the like – which he has available at other schools and not yet from UT.</p>

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<p>UT and Austin for music, outdoors, and cultural exposure (and diversity in thought, etc…)… is hard to beat , esp for at a time of your like like college and post college years.</p>