UIUC vs UW Seattle

College Search & Lists
1

I have been accepted in both UIUC and UW Seattle.As an international student ,research is the major factor in choosing between the two schools.

So,research wise which school would be better for me?

I go as an undecided major.

Thanks in advance for your replies.

2

undecided… so you were not admitted to any major?
What majors are you thinking of?
Because many majors have competitive admissions.
by research, do you mean “undergraduate involvement in research”?
Were you admitted to the Honors College?

3

One of the best features of UW is the Undergraduate Research Program:

https://www.washington.edu/undergradresearch/

https://www.washington.edu/undergradresearch/students/

https://www.washington.edu/undergradresearch/about/

https://www.washington.edu/undergradresearch/symposium/

A lot of top research in a lot of areas:

http://www.washington.edu/news/2017/04/03/uw-lands-at-no-9-with-45-subjects-ranked-in-the-top-10-in-center-for-world-university-rankings-inaugural-subject-list/

http://247wallst.com/special-report/2017/04/04/universities-investing-the-most-in-research-and-development/4/

http://www.washington.edu/news/2016/09/28/uw-ranked-among-the-top-five-most-innovative-universities-in-the-world-by-reuters/

Also, very few of the 180 majors at UW (some engineering, biochemistry, business administration, and computer science) offer admission to a small number of freshmen. Many students, like OP, are undecided about their majors when they enter college.

https://www.washington.edu/uaa/advising/academic-planning/majors-and-minors/overview/

4

At both UIUC and Washington, many majors are selective admission (meaning that you need to do more than pass the prerequisites with C grades or a 2.0 GPA):

http://dgs.illinois.edu/declaring-your-major
https://www.washington.edu/uaa/advising/academic-planning/majors-and-minors/list-of-undergraduate-majors/

Consider your possible majors and see if they are selective admission, and how selective they are, at each school. Obviously, some majors like CS and engineering majors are highly selective at both schools.

5

@MYOS1634 I apologize for my late reply.As of now I am really not sure about my major.Something in engineering or Humanities.

What really matters to me is the undergraduate research.And ,yes I mean undergraduate involvement in research is what matters to me.

Thank you for your reply and I again apologize for my late reply.

6

@ucbalumnus I am confident that I can get into most of the majors in both the colleges ,though I am inclined towards engineering or humanities.

7

Research opportunities are great at both of these universities. They’re both strong research universities.

Perhaps you should consider other factors alongside research. For one, they are in very different settings - Seattle is a large city and Urbana-Champaign is a small college town.

8

As a non-engineering undeclared student, getting into an engineering major at either school is likely to be harder than you think it is.

9

@julliet Pardon my naiveness but I don’t understand.

As an international student I cannot intern outside of the university​,right?So,how would living in Seattle or Urbana make any difference?

Also,should I look into some other factors too?

10

@ucbalumnus I understand that getting into engineering would be competitive ,but I am ready do put the effort given that I like a subject.

11

Competitive means that all students will try hard but only about a third will get in.
As an international student, you can intern anywhere (CPT, OPT).

12

I will say, some engineering at UIUC is nearly impossible to transfer into, while others are not that bad. If you’re interested in MechE, CS, or BioE it’s almost impossible to get in transferring majors; kids get 4.0 GPAs and denied from CS.