I am considering both Universities but wanted to know what you all think! Please be honest and tell me what they are known for and their similarities and differences!
My vote, IU of course. 
Illinois is probably “higher ranked” in most polls. US news has it 52 for U of I vs 90 for IU. U of I has an engineering program which is probably one of its stronger programs (IU doesn’t have engineering). If business is your thing, then I think IU wins that battle.
IU is a better campus, in a better town, in a better state. Bloomington is a great college town. And Little 500 is a blast. Period end.
U of I is feeling the constraints of IL’s dire financial situation. They will deny that it is hitting the classroom, but it is obviously hitting the grounds and structures – lots of deferred maintenance (that’s what we saw on our summer visits). Champagne/Urban is kind of dumpy. It’s a good in state option if finances are an issue.
My kid saw both and chose to apply to IU and put U of I on the “never mind” list.
Son of a family friend went to IU. He loved it.
I disagree with yourmomma’s opinion concerning UIUC.
UIUC celebrated its sesquicentennial last year. Yes, there are buildings that need updating…looking at you, education building…but the campus is constantly updating buildings and dorms. The engineering quad and the business buildings benefit from corporate donations. I hope you visit the campus and see it for yourself. But in case you can’t, I’ll share some links you may find helpful.
Aerial https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lXbFu91a0t4
BIF https://business.illinois.edu/bif/about-the-facility/
Lincoln Hall. https://www.traditionalbuilding.com/projects/lincoln-hall
https://www.cannondesign.com/our-work/work/university-of-illinois-at-urbana-champaign-lincoln-hall/
As for finances, Larry and Beth Gies recently donated $150 million to UIUC’s college of business, which has been named in their honor.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-met-univ-illinois-donation-20171026-story.html
Now I’ll share a little about me. I have a daughter who graduated from U of I last year. She is currently employed as a consultant in Chicago. My son is a junior there, double majoring in Accounting and Finance and minoring in Technology and Management.
I am biased, but we did consider Indiana. I’ll share some of our thoughts. While cost would be roughly the same (my son was a Kelley direct admit with scholarship money which would have made it cheaper than UIUC), there were differences we couldn’t ignore. We chose Illinois.
Two areas we foucused on were the college experience and post-graduation outcomes. As we researched the two campuses, we considered what opportunities were available/appealing to us and more importantly, how likely would my children be able to participate in them. We immediately listed semester study abroad programs and leadership opportunities as important to us. Therefore, we did our admitted student visits with that in mind. It became apparent at our Kelley visit that the sheer size of the incoming class would impact both of them. In 2015 when we asked Kelley how large the incoming freshman class would be, they told us over 1200. U of I told us it would be around 600 or 700.
If you are interested in joining a business frat, think about how many spots there are and how many people will be going for those spots – the same with the competitive consulting and IB workshops, and of course, study abroad programs.
Then we looked at outcomes. We live in a western suburb of Chicago. My children want to work in Chicago post-graduation…not Indianapolis, not St. Louis, not Columbus, etc. UIUC has very strong placement in Chicago…Kelley, less so.
https://kelley.iu.edu/recruiters-companies/undergrad/statistics/class-profiles.cshtml (click on Class Demographics)
https://business.illinois.edu/bcs/recruiters/statistics/ug-stats/
Anyway, in my opinion, I would only choose Kelley over Gies if you have a strong interest in Investment Banking or the cost of attendance is much lower. If you have any questions feel free to ask me and I’ll try to answer them.
Both of them are very good for me. You know better which one will be best for you. Good luck!
Both are very similar, I don’t think one is really better than the other overall, it really depends on the program you are interested in and possibly finances. For example if you are in-state for one, it doesn’t make much sense to go to the other.
I wasn’t really talking about major capital improvements re U of I. More day to day stuff. And the deferred maintenance was typical at IL schools vs. other state’s schools. Like it or not, IL budget issues are having a negative effect.
I loved Illinois! Beautiful campus, great facilities, social opportunities. Nothing is as beautiful as golden fall days in Illinois. Huge!!! Library. Chicago is close. Oh, Illinois…