#UIUC vs UW Seattle for Economics

17 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

obsidian minnow
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Schools: UIUC vs UW Seattle
Intended major: Economics at UIUC vs Pre-Social Sciences at UW
Similarities: Both are pretty reputable public schools, although maybe not so much for my major
Costs: $66,302 per year at UIUC and $67,800 per year at UW (so pretty similar). My parents will cover all costs without taking out any loans.

UIUC
School 1 Pros:

  • Pretty chill college-town location
  • Close to Chicago, a good hub for economics and other social sciences
  • Top 100 in the world for economics
    School 1 Cons:
  • Less accomplished faculty than UW

UW
School 2 Pros:

  • Beautiful campus
  • Located in Seattle, and hence will provide more opportunities and connections
  • Great faculty
    School 2 Cons:
  • Ranked lower than UIUC for economics
  • I got in for pre-social sciences so I'm not sure if I will be able to take Economics later on (I'm an international student so it'd be great if someone could explain why UW does this)

Tiebreaking considerations

  • I'm sure I want to do a Master's. Whichever university is more advantageous towards getting into a Master's program at an Ivy/Stanford/Oxford/Cambridge/LSE (if any of them even have an edge over the other) will be my preference :)

Preferences: I'd prefer living in a place which is lively but also not as insane as a big city. I personally find college-towns quite charming. Cost is not an issue, so I'd like to get the best academic and social experiences possible!

bronze knoll
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What do you want to do after a master's? Can your parents afford the extra 1-200k for a master's on top of your undergrad?

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Just curious, by which metrics do you consider the UW faculty to be better than the UIUC faculty

bronze knoll
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Also note that of the us schools you mentioned for grad school, only Columbia has a standalone master's in economics. Cornell has one in applied econ through the business school. The rest all only admit to their PhD programs

obsidian minnow
obsidian minnow
obsidian minnow
# bronze knoll Also note that of the us schools you mentioned for grad school, only Columbia ha...

yeah i'm aware of that. to be very honest, the us is just a backup for me. i have been admitted to Warwick in the UK as well, which is much better for economics than UIUC and UW. for masters, i want to target Oxford (MPP), Cambridge (MPhil in Politics and IR), UCL (MSc Social Development Practice) and LSE (MSc International Social and Public Policy) because i want to continue research/work in the UK or India (where i'm from). of course, if i get into a similar course in the US (you may be able to guide me on this as i don't know much about the scene in the US), i can consider that as well :)

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so i'm just going to enrol to one of these us colleges just in case something goes wrong with my UK visa

bronze knoll
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Have you done A Level Econ? Math? Fm?

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I have a hard time saying which is better

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UIUC gives credit for calc 1 and linear algebra for your A level exams, UW doesn't so you would probably want to take the honors proof based calculus at UW (unless maybe you don't like maths and didn't take FM) to keep things interesting

obsidian minnow
obsidian minnow
bronze knoll
bronze knoll
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Let me know if you end up attending either, as the US system can provide more flexibility to take graduate classes early and of course take math/stats/CS courses alongside

obsidian minnow
bronze knoll
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Speaking of which, it's easier to take CS courses at UIUC than Uwashington