<p>I find it funny that people bash rankings when it’s convenient and use them at other times. When I was trying to choose between the two schools everyone was emphasising how much high NU is ranked. Regardless of rank though prateek does present a couple of good points. Class size: Yeah our freshmen classes are huge. Mostly. My calc classes were about 130-200 but then we had TAs for every 30-40 people. After that linear and diffeq my classes were down to 30-40 range.<br>
Chicago: That is a nice feature. It all depends on what you want. I’m not much of a partier so even though we have a ton of stuff to do other than parties, you are still in two fairly small cities. We lack the awesome cultural stuff in Chicago but I can promise you, you will not find the amount of parties there that we have here (at least until you hit 21). And it snows everywhere. It sucks here too. If you are from Illinois…suck it up. If not…welcome to our little slice of frozen hell! And we don’t have beaches…we have corn fields.
Nonetheless, I think the main point stands that it’s money. Idk what these guys were offered in aid, but the current COA is $55,982 for NW and about 31,801 (Both these figures take into account housing, books, etc.). The UIUC one is waaaaay too high. I live here in a one bedroom apt and combined with everything my COA this year will be a little under $23,000. If you get great aid, then just line up what you are looking for and choose. If NU doesn’t give you a lot, go UIUC. My aid and scholarships cut NW to about 30k and then after working and parents I would still be left with 20k a year in loans which to me seemed unjustifiable.
One last point and then I promise I’m shutting up. Through my frat I still keep in touch with many, many graduates. What I’ve found is that after your first job, your school really stops mattering and companies look at what you did at your jobs. When is the last time anyone asked you about anything from hs? Freshmen year right? Same goes here, all they care is that you got a valid degree and then they look at what you accomplished. Your first job might be a little bit influenced by school but after that, only you will really care about being from NU, Harvard, or a state school. What it ALWAYS comes down to is what you accomplished, not where you did it. Look at sites telling you how to write resumes. The only time they tell you to really mention school is when you are applying for first job. After that, they only want to know where you worked.
Anyways, I’m done since I think anyone who sees this thread will get great advice from this little back and forth. Good luck all and if you have further questions about UIUC feel free to drop a message :)</p>