Choosing between two peer universities: UIUC & Purdue

yimo123
Tue, 03 Aug 2010 13:25:19 +0000

I am a prospective engineering student from India and based on my stats, I expect to get into only these two universities. However, after doing a lot of research I have found that these two universities are very similar. They are similar in the following aspects:


Both are public
Both are HUUUUGE (32K+ undergrads)
Both are not very selective (70%+ acceptance rates)
Both are in the middle of no-where.
Both have an engineering focus.
Both are not very highly ranked undergrad institutions. (UIUC- #40, Purdue- #60)
Both have a large number of international students.
It seems that almost all Indian students get accepted to both these universities. (Every year almost everyone who applies to UIUC, Purdue from my high school get accepted.)
Party schools
Huge greek scenes.


These are the similarities. I have not yet found any differences between them, but after speaking to a couple of people I have found that Purdue has a better global reputation.
Could any current/former students help me make a decision by pointing out some differences between these two universities.