UMich vs. UIUC

UIUC Chemistry is actually pretty strong. Chemical Engineering was actually spun off from it and remains in LAS (LSA is for UMich). The engineering campus is beautiful there. However, if engineering is your primary interest, you should consider UMich instead of seeking for transfer the next year. Some majors at UIUC are very difficult to enter while at UMich you have pretty much the freedom to pick your major in most cases.