<p>
</p>
<p>1) That has been mentioned several times here, so I don’t need to go into it too much. Outside of the engineering community, most East Coast-ers are perfectly fine living their lives without even knowing that there is anything west of the Appalachians.</p>
<p>2) The acceptance rate is high because it is a state school. You can look at any highly ranked and respected engineering program at a public school and it is going to have a decently high acceptance rate because they are huge schools and have plenty of room. That doesn’t mean that the education isn’t any good.</p>
<p>3) This has been one of the biggest complaints I have heard from people, including other people I know in the alumni network. My younger brother, who grew up being brainwashed by my dad into liking Illinois, didn’t even go there because this fact was such a turn-off to him (though he wasn’t engineering). I guess they are probably just looking for things to push since it can’t really play up things like its location. I can definitely tell you that despite this tactic, I went there and had an absolutely wonderful experience in my 4 years.</p>
<p>I had friends taking jobs all over the country before they even graduated in the middle of the recession. East Coast, West Coast, South… it didn’t matter, UIUC graduates are highly sought after nation wide.</p>