PLEASE HELP!! I committed to Illinois and put down the deposit, but I just got offered a seat at UW-madison. Both are about the same cost for an OOS student. I honestly just do not know which one will be a better fit for me. I like that UW has a smaller class size, but I also like that Illinois has a larger class size with more out of state students. I also feel like Madison would be a more fun and entertaining city to live in for the next 4 years than urban-champaign. I do not know what I would like to specialize in so I haven't really taken that into consideration for each school. BUT ANYWAY I am just super conflicted and would love to hear feedback about both schools!!!! Thanks!
Illinois vs UW-madison (OOS for both)
- Thread starter LOVEpup24
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Went to Illinois for 5 years and enjoyed my time there.
Was very active on campus, but can't really speak to how the town was cause I didn't go out frequently except for social events.
Class size is very subjective cause it depends on your class culture. 2020 was 160 strong and a lot of them did well together. I did not jive well with them as my original class and did much better in 2021. But that wasn't because it was 130 students instead; it was an overall different culture.
School pick is a very minimal consideration for specialty overall. I wouldn't worry about that.
Was very active on campus, but can't really speak to how the town was cause I didn't go out frequently except for social events.
Class size is very subjective cause it depends on your class culture. 2020 was 160 strong and a lot of them did well together. I did not jive well with them as my original class and did much better in 2021. But that wasn't because it was 130 students instead; it was an overall different culture.
School pick is a very minimal consideration for specialty overall. I wouldn't worry about that.
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@SportPonies @SkiOtter for other recent grad/about to graduate opinions.
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is cost of living/housing expenses part of your “costing the same” or is that just tuition/school fees? IIRC Madison has a much higher COL than chambana because it *is* a bigger city. You can always travel to more fun cities during school but save money in rent each month. It’s 4 years of living somewhere and then you are free to live wherever you want, especially if your loans are a good bit lower
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In your position, my choice would boil down to cost of living (as discussed by Ski) as well as distance to home, but I’m more attached to my family than some students are.
I live basically smack between both Madison and champaign and both cities have their merits. I’d consider them comparable as far as student life and activities seem to go. Champaign is surrounded by a whole lot of nothing, but is deceptively good at providing things to do within the city itself. It is a Big 10 school, after all.
Remember that you’re going to be spending 80% or more of your time either in class or studying, so while student life is important, it’s not going to make quite as big of an impact on your quality of life as it may seem now.
I live basically smack between both Madison and champaign and both cities have their merits. I’d consider them comparable as far as student life and activities seem to go. Champaign is surrounded by a whole lot of nothing, but is deceptively good at providing things to do within the city itself. It is a Big 10 school, after all.
Remember that you’re going to be spending 80% or more of your time either in class or studying, so while student life is important, it’s not going to make quite as big of an impact on your quality of life as it may seem now.
