The University of Illinois Urbana - Champaign

The college of engineering at UIUC prepared me well for the job I am currently in. I have heard differently from friends of mine who graduated in similar programs. But fo me, I am doing fantastically in life. I was able to get the job I dreamed of having (currently helping design NASA's Orion Project, a lunar transportation system), at about the same salary I've heard from friends in engineering jobs they hate having (and at a much higher salary than friends who went into fields of education and low-level busienss).

The fact that I was from UIUC meant little to the people who hired me. They seemed to feel that it was a notable school, and deserving of the respect given to any high-end engineering school, but beyond that, they didn't give much attention to where I was coming from, more so just that I had a degree from a decent school. What really got me the job was from having made many friends at UIUC. A classmate got me an interview with Lockheed Martin, through which I was able to present my case, and the coursework I had done, and was given a job that I am very much enjoying. I never would have ended up here if I hadn't made friends with that particular student; and I'm sure that many other of my classmates, or possibly faculty, would have been able to do similar for me in another year or two (once they're settled). So, in the end, I still have U of I to thank for helping me get my job. It is, in my opinion, a top notch education; but the fact that there are so many thousands of students attending puts it leaps and bounds above many other universities, just because of the social network you can develop.

Alumnus Male -- Class 2000