Does anyone hate it when people dismiss state flagship universities like UW Madison or UIUC as less prestigious schools?

[Anonymous]

Both UIUC and UW are increasingly difficult to get into out of state. I suspect that they will be in the low-to-mid 30s (OOS) this year and keep trending toward to the low 30s.

Wisconsin will likely return to required testing in 2027 which will be interesting.

These are both great schools that have great reputations. It really doesn’t matter if people on this board, at cocktail parties or at the Vineyard or Gibson Island don’t know or care.

[Anonymous]

MAybe easier to get into than "elite" schools but much harder work once in, and then that is the payoff.

I'd hire a Purdue engineering grad over most other engineering school grads in the top ten, excepting probably MIT, Caltech, Stanford CS (but not meche or cheme) and maybe...Princeton hard core engineering. Though maybe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MAybe easier to get into than "elite" schools but much harder work once in, and then that is the payoff.

I'd hire a Purdue engineering grad over most other engineering school grads in the top ten, excepting probably MIT, Caltech, Stanford CS (but not meche or cheme) and maybe...Princeton hard core engineering. Though maybe.

The copium comes out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MAybe easier to get into than "elite" schools but much harder work once in, and then that is the payoff.

I'd hire a Purdue engineering grad over most other engineering school grads in the top ten, excepting probably MIT, Caltech, Stanford CS (but not meche or cheme) and maybe...Princeton hard core engineering. Though maybe.

The copium comes out.

Not sure what you mean. I didn't go to any of these schools, and went instead to "elite" schools. I teach at an "elite" private school and have a startup. I'd choose to hire from these schools over the school where I work. How is that an emotional shortcoming? Or what are you meaning by "copium" these days, which honestly seems poorly placed here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is annoying. For UMD we have people at the same time:
1. complaining that it's too hard to get into
2. putting down kids that choose to attend

Which is it?

I am wondering the same thing!!!

[Anonymous]

The only people I know who dismiss flagships like those are:

1) older and unaware how much college admissions has changed
Or
2) pretentious, prestige/status obsessed kids & parents

The first type I understand, they normally get it once they have kids or grandkids go through the process. The second type, I know to steer clear because they’re stuck up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Schools like UGA, Purdue, UW Madison, and UIUC are extremely hard to get into now. I know people with straight As and 1500+ SAT scores who got denied from these places, even in-state. For engineering, UIUC has a sub 10% acceptance rate. You have to be a top student to get into these state flagships

Not true: only for CS.

UW Madison is a great school that’s surprisingly easy to get into. UIUC too, if not CS. UGA is a tier or two below the others.

These schools are not hard to get into except for engineering at Purdue and UIUC, and even then Purdue is easier.

+1. "Not hard to get into" as compared with trying to land a t20. I have an engineering kid at UW–Madison OOS who is having a great time learning/growing but I must admit that the school isn't too hard to get into compared to these crazy single-digit acceptance rate schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MAybe easier to get into than "elite" schools but much harder work once in, and then that is the payoff.

I'd hire a Purdue engineering grad over most other engineering school grads in the top ten, excepting probably MIT, Caltech, Stanford CS (but not meche or cheme) and maybe...Princeton hard core engineering. Though maybe.

What role do hire for where you hire majors in CS, MechE (but not at Stanford), and ChemE (but not at Stanford)?

Why not Cornell for CS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Schools like UGA, Purdue, UW Madison, and UIUC are extremely hard to get into now. I know people with straight As and 1500+ SAT scores who got denied from these places, even in-state. For engineering, UIUC has a sub 10% acceptance rate. You have to be a top student to get into these state flagships

Not true: only for CS.

UW Madison is a great school that’s surprisingly easy to get into. UIUC too, if not CS. UGA is a tier or two below the others.

These schools are not hard to get into except for engineering at Purdue and UIUC, and even then Purdue is easier.

+1. "Not hard to get into" as compared with trying to land a t20. I have an engineering kid at UW–Madison OOS who is having a great time learning/growing but I must admit that the school isn't too hard to get into compared to these crazy single-digit acceptance rate schools.

You still need perfect grades, string extracurriculars, and luck to get in UW Madison

[Anonymous]

Why do you care what other people think?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do you care what other people think?

Correct post!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:UW Madison is not easy to get into. It’s acceptance rate is below 20-30%

That is untrue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Both UIUC and UW are increasingly difficult to get into out of state. I suspect that they will be in the low-to-mid 30s (OOS) this year and keep trending toward to the low 30s.

Wisconsin will likely return to required testing in 2027 which will be interesting.

These are both great schools that have great reputations. It really doesn’t matter if people on this board, at cocktail parties or at the Vineyard or Gibson Island don’t know or care.

Where have you heard they will likely return to required testing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Both UIUC and UW are increasingly difficult to get into out of state. I suspect that they will be in the low-to-mid 30s (OOS) this year and keep trending toward to the low 30s.

Wisconsin will likely return to required testing in 2027 which will be interesting.

These are both great schools that have great reputations. It really doesn’t matter if people on this board, at cocktail parties or at the Vineyard or Gibson Island don’t know or care.

Where have you heard they will likely return to required testing?

The Wisconsin legislature is likely to vote it in during the current session. This is an older article, but the momentum has accelerated. https://www.dailycardinal.com/article/2026/02/republicans-push-to-restore-act-requirement-for-uw-admissions

The reality is that the school has moved from “testing optional” to “testing extremely preferred,” albeit unofficially. It seems that, at least during the EA round, nearly all accepted students submitted testing. For RD, there were certainly some admits that were test optional, but many many fewer than previous cycles.

To the previous posts, it’s obviously much easier to get into Madison than the Ivies or top-20 schools with sub-20% acceptance rates. The stat trends, however, indicate that the school is increasingly popular and that the OOS trend lines are moving into the 30s. I don’t think it will be anywhere near the most difficult of the public admits, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see it between 25-35% OOS in the next 5-10 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MAybe easier to get into than "elite" schools but much harder work once in, and then that is the payoff.

I'd hire a Purdue engineering grad over most other engineering school grads in the top ten, excepting probably MIT, Caltech, Stanford CS (but not meche or cheme) and maybe...Princeton hard core engineering. Though maybe.

The copium comes out.

Not sure what you mean. I didn't go to any of these schools, and went instead to "elite" schools. I teach at an "elite" private school and have a startup. I'd choose to hire from these schools over the school where I work. How is that an emotional shortcoming? Or what are you meaning by "copium" these days, which honestly seems poorly placed here.

Maybe your startup isn’t going anywhere? My kid attends an “elite” school and many professors have startups and it’s common knowledge which professors make terrible startup founders, the startup is kind of floundering and kids avoid, and which are going somewhere and literally almost every kid working at those attends the school.

Not to mention the startups founded by the current students getting VC funding.