USC, UIUC, UCLA, UCSD or UVa for Electrical Engineering

SISTOKID
Tue, 05 Apr 2011 19:07:58 +0000

I had a friend who had similar options and ended up choosing UCLA over UIUC. It really depends what you are looking for - UIUC will be as one poster wrote “the classic american college experience” - fraternity/sorority parties, football/basketball games, complete university town in the middle of a large rural area. You could get by without a car - minus an occasional weekend Chicago rental.

UCLA is a 50/50 dorm/commuter campus. It has access to all parts of LA but public transportation is not great in LA outside of the downtown area - so you would need a car to really appreciate all the city has to offer outside of West LA. L.A. is also much more international and diverse, BUT there is a large number of international students at UIUC and they have a pretty good support network.

My friend opted for UCLA because he was bringing his wife and LA was more comfortable/less isolated for her. He said if he was single, he might have opted for UIUC because of the reputation, but he was happy at UCLA.