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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][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]
Well maybe based on cost alone, Illinois would be preferable.[/quote]

That's kind of the point.  Sure, plenty of smart Chicago kids might prefer UW-Madison's location and wish it had in-state tuition, but it's not a superior school in any meaningful way to justify paying 20k a year more if you get into U of I.   And so most smart Chicago kids who are going for a public university will go to U of I, upping its SAT scores.  Wisconsin doesn't have a similar giant metro area with similar elite suburban schools so its overall SAT scores are slightly lower.  [/quote]
I'm from Illinois and have a pretty good grasp of the college choice dynamics for students from UMC suburban high schools in the Chicago metro area.

There are a few issues with U of I that cause kids to go to nearby state flagships, even if the COA is slightly higher and/or the school is lower ranked.
- the location, as many people described earlier.
- Greek life dominates the social scene at U of I. At schools like Wisconsin and Michigan, Greek life exists, but it's not so in-your-face as it is at Illinois. Many students don't want that atmosphere. Additionally, rush is uber-competitive and inter-chapter relations can be a bit iffy. (As in, "Oh, you're a Kappa? You must be super easy." Your letters can really define you.)
- Lots and lots and lots and lots of engineers. Business is big too. These two divisions often seem to dominate the academic culture of the school, which can be off-putting for liberal arts-type students. 
- and the biggest one, which is the most important, IMO, is that the state of Illinois is essentially in financial ruin and year in and year out, funding for higher education is an issue. For obvious reasons, that is a huge a concern for parents and students. I won't get into the minutiae of it, but this article does a great job of explaining why it causes many talented students to not consider Illinois state schools: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-college-budget-crunch-met-20160331-story.html[/quote]

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