<p>I know this response is well past being useful but for anyone caught in this dilemma like one of my friends recently, this might help.</p>
<p>I was accepted at a bunch of schools including NU and eventually chose UIUC engineering. They are both fantastic schools and their engineering programs are top notch. At first I regretted rejecting one of the top schools in the country. Now that I’m interviewing for jobs and have spoken to recruiters as well as graduate school counselors at various schools for engineering, UIUC is probably one of the best names in the country if you are going after names when it comes to engineering. They acknowledged that the NU program is great but you will very rarely see them being called equals. The schools we get compared to are places like CalTech and MIT.</p>
<p>The bigger point though is that while name carries a little bit of weight…don’t worry about it. What matters more is your PERFORMANCE where ever you end up going. What recruiters want to see is how well you did in school and what you contributed. I have been working in engineering labs since very early and getting actively involved. That’s what companies care about. If you just want to be able to tell the average lay person that you went to NU then that’s fine, go there. But frankly, it doesn’t matter. The best part about going to UIUC for me? I have $10,000 in loans and virtually everything else I paid for with scholarships and working in a lab. That is for a 4 year world class engineering education. Is that the norm? No, most usually have around 20k, but that’s about how much you’ll pay at NW for one year. </p>
<p>Sorry to drag this post on but I just wanted to refute a few points (my school is a matter of pride…a little 
)
Greek life: While NU might have a 35% participation in Greek…we have I think at last count over 7000 people in a frat or sorority. We have TONS of professional and social fraternities. I joined a professional one that helped me get the right contacts and skills. While that is less than 35% of our campus, in raw numbers Greek life is much more prevalent on our campus.
Being called a nerd: Please, you will end up spending a large chunk of your time with people from your major. You are all nerds. No one makes fun of it. And if they do, feel free to remind them that your degree is actually worth something. I’m double majoring and I’ve never been hassled about it.
Class size: This can be a disadvantage. You do have less face time with the professor so take that into account. Frankly, your first two years you will mostly spend time with TAs unless you choose to go to a prof’s office hours. After that class size drops drastically since the programs at UIUC are notoriously difficult (engineering still). Most of the TAs know what they are doing and we have an amazing amount of help available to anyone in any subject (usually for free through departments).
Recruiters: Many recruit at NU, but it’s not an anecdote about heavier recruiting at UIUC, it’s fact. I believe at last count we had in the range of a 100 companies recruiting just for engineers during Expo while on average NU expos get about 60 (yes, yes I know we also have more students trying to get those spots). Pretty much any company you can think of heavily recruits here with companies like Microsoft stating that they get the vast majority of their hires from UIUC.
Frankly, I think choosing UIUC was one of the best decisions of my life. I was planning on going to med school but chose not to and just stick with engineering b/c I love it so much. For the person asking about medical school-they don’t care much about name if you go to a university that is at least halfway decent which both UIUC and NU surpass by a long shot.
Chemistry: I’m in ChemE here so we are part of the chemistry department. It is amazing. So much funding it’s crazy. But the program is intense, be ready.</p>
<p>What this all comes down to. Both schools will give you a excellent education. Both schools prepare you heavily for real world applications. Your capstone classes are usually in coordination with top companies. What matters here is what YOU can do. At both schools you have the chance to get involved and excel. If you choose to just sit in your room and study or just party like crazy, you’ll struggle at both places (either you won’t have any social skills and experience or you’ll be failing every class).</p>
<p>Final choice: I would really say UIUC, even disregarding all the stuff up top purely for the cost. I’m going into the working world with a debt I can pay off with my first year of salary and then I will begin my life debt free and hopefully able to save for a house, car, etc. Either way, best of luck to everyone! (I’m horribly sorry for the long post, I just figured if I’m going to try to help, might as well be thorough :)</p>