<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>
<p>Sounds like UW is a good choice. Much better campus than Illinois or Purdue. The weather won’t be that much different. Your son is likely to get in his engineering major with his abilities. Do go for the overall fit of the campus. Of course, we’re biased on the UW thread!</p>
<p>No comparison in college of engineering at Illinois to UT or Wisc. Illinois the best, but difficult. UT so big but great weather and music. Known for its business school though. Wisc great campus but lousy weather. Definite downside to not being able to go directly into college major. Toured all three.</p>
<p>UW Mechanical engineering is not restricted so you need only meet min stands for eng school admit–a 2.3 GPA I believe. If you can’t do that need a new major. The diff in weather between UIUC and Madison-meh. Austin–yes. Overall the UW campus is light years better than UIUC for overall scenery fun and appeal/spirit. UT=UW in that regard.</p>
<p>Germanshepmom: Congrats to your son. I have the unique perspective of being a parent of a newly admitted student to UW-Madison as well as having my undergrad in Mechanical Engineering from UW-Madison, and I’ve lived in Austin to add to it. All of the schools your son is considering are excellent and there are no bad choices in the entire group. I’ve hired and also worked alongside engineers from all the schools you mention. They all produce great engineers and companies consider them all in the same class. </p>
<p>Weather between Illinois, Purdue, and UW isn’t very different. We live in Chicago area now. Austin wins on weather, hands down. But is brutally hot in August. </p>
<p>Madison and Austin are both fun towns. Champaign not so much but put 30-40K plus kids on a college campus and I’m convinced the’ll have fun no matter what. I’m not sure why but Illinois is low on the list at our high school compared to Michigan and Wisconsin in terms of where kids “want” to go. </p>
<p>UT and UW alumni are extremely loyal/rabid. My wife and I are both UW grads and fall into that category. You can find an active UW alumni association in most major cities coast to coast, which is great for connections and settling into a new city after graduating. I assume the other schools have the same. Most Illinois grads I live around feel the need to apoligize for going there, which I don’t get. It’s a great school. </p>
<p>As I said at the start, no bad choices here. ME at UW is a great undergrad program and sets him up to do many different things after graduation. </p>
<p>We’re likely to be a third generation UW-Madison family next fall unless one remaining school he’s waiting on that was a stretch changes his mind. Good luck.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t go that far. Illinois is certainly excellent, but UT-Austin has more/higher % of faculty in the NAE than Illinois. In terms of raw number, UT is 4th after only MIT, Stanford, and Berkeley.</p>