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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]These rankings are a joke. Illinois ranked above Wisconsin? All the smart Chicago kids would rather go to Madison than Urbana Champaign.[/quote]

No.
Michigan over U of I, sure.  But there aren't a bunch of kids paying out of state tuition at Wisconsin if they get into Urbana Champaign.[/quote]
Yeah, whatever. Who wouldn’t spend four years in a cow town over Madison? [/quote]

If you're out of state, UW Madison's total cost of attendance is around 50k whereas in-state U of I is around 31k.   [/quote]

As an Illinois grad that was also choosing between Michigan and Wisconsin to go to school and decided on taking the in-state tuition (which I'd do 100 times out of 100 sitting here 20 years later and knowing what I know now with how the "real world" works). I'd agree with Ann Arbor and Madison are nicer college towns compared to Champaign, although to be fair, there are very few college towns that compare to Ann Arbor and Madison overall. That being said, I think a lot of people would be surprised by how Champaign has changed over the past 10 years - the campus area has turned a lot more cosmopolitan (with, for better or worse, a lot of new high-rise luxury apartments) with a huge variety of legit authentic ethnic restaurants (which is a reflection of the large international student population, particularly from Asia). Meanwhile, there continues to be a large bar and nightlife scene overall.

I've always characterized Champaign as an extremely fun town for [i]actual college students[/i]. It has a ton of inexpensive restaurants and nightlife with a lot of variety (e.g. not just fast food chains) along with Big Ten sports (albeit underachieving football and basketball programs, to say the least) and a large performing arts scene that punches well above its weight considering the size of the metro area (e.g. the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for a fraction of the price of seeing them in Chicago, the Ebert Film Festival, etc.). As a result, the average college student is going to have plenty to do (whether academic or social) in Champaign.

Admittedly, Champaign is just not that interesting of a town for adults, though, which is where Ann Arbor and Madison (and places like Austin and Boulder) certainly excel. The central areas of Ann Arbor and Madison have much more of a mix of students, professors and and other professionals, whereas the Campustown area of Champaign (which is the main area for campus nightlife) is almost entirely geared toward students. Natural scenery is also non-existent in Central Illinois, so outdoorsy-type people that are attracted to places like Colorado or Vermont aren't going to want anything to do with Champaign. All in all, though, if you're an [i]actual college student [/i]living in Champaign for 4 years (as opposed to an adult visiting for a weekend), the town fits what the average college student realistically wants (as opposed to what parents often think their kids *should* want) very well.[/quote]

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