Purdue vs Urbana Champaign? : Undergrduate Computer Engineering

[ishanwahi]

Hi,
I`m from India having not much knowledge of the American Universities.
I have recvd admit confirmations from both Purdue & Univ of Illinois at Urbana Champaign for their 4 year undergraduate programme in Computer Engineering and am in the usual dilemma... which to confirm?

Rankings ... Illinois is better ranked but Purdue is not ranked really much below and has a reputation of being a pure engineering institute.

I don`t know much about the quality of their courses,programmes, faculty and facilities in Computer Engineering undergarduate department.

Kindly guide me. Thanks a ton

 

[qspeechc]

Then maybe your decision should be based on factors other than the ranking- like fees, travel involved, campus life, residences, schlarships/bursaries etc.

 

[h2oski1326]

First off, as a Boilermaker (Purdue) I am obviously biased toward my school. Second, I am an ME and don't claim to know all of the details of the ECE program at Purdue nor Illinois.

That said, take this for whatever it is worth. As far as curriculum, the ME curriculum's between the two schools are VERY similar and I would assume the same is true for most engineering disciplines at the two schools. So, as far as knowledge you will gain, it is a tossup.

Both are situated in the middle of the American heartland. The towns are small and most at the university are from the state, so the culture shock will be similar. Champaign is a much neater town that West Lafayette, IMO. So the edge for location would have to go to Champaign, but very slightly.

The biggest difference is probably reputation. Purdue seems to have a better reputation than Illinois, particularly outside of the mid-west region. This is particularly important when it comes to job placement. This just comes from my personal experience with co-oping, internships, other job interviews, and etc. I have had several people who were convinced that Purdue was an Ivy League school before I met them. Of course, these probably won't be the people who are hiring you but I found it amusing.

I was born and raised a Boiler and can't really imagine being anywhere else, so I would convince you to become one as well ;).

If anyone else knows anything about Purdue or UOI ECE programs please chime in.