University of California- Los Angeles vs University of Illinois- Urbana Champaign

University of California Los Angeles and University of Illinois Urbana Champaign are two of the reputed public research universities in the USA. Illinois is the largest university in Chicago with 16 colleges under it, located in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. UCLA is part of the University of California System.

Overview Comparison
University of CaliforniaUniversity of Illinois
Collegedunia Score7.8 Out of 106 Out of 10
ranking (overall)# 15 US News 2024
# 18 Times Higher Education 2024
# 29 QS World University 2024
# 35 US News 2024
# 42 Times Higher Education 2024
# 64 QS World University 2024
Subject Strength# 16 for Engineering by US News 2024
# 18 for Medicine by US News 2024
# 14 for Law by US News 2024
# 11 for Engineering by US News 2024
# 48 for Medicine by Times Higher Education 2023
# 43 for Law by US News 2024
ProgramsUG Programs -23
PG Programs -42
Doctorate Programs -7
UG Programs -163
PG Programs -104
Doctorate Programs -4
Acceptance Rate10.8 %66.0 %
Exam ScoreGMAT - 680
IELTS - 7
SAT - 1330
TOEFL - 87
IELTS - 6.5
SAT - 1340
TOEFL - 92
Cost to StudyAverage Tuition Fees   42993
[For UG Program]
Average Tuition Fees  26544
[For PG Program]
Hostel + Meal - 34584 Per Year
Average Tuition Fees   43996
[For UG Program]
Average Tuition Fees  27323.63
[For PG Program]
placement (average package)

Graduate Employability rank: QS-#3

University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is one of the top public universities in Los Angeles, United States. It is ranked #44 in QS World University Rankings 2023.

Degree                                Average Salary

Masters in Finance                 $180,000 

MBA                                        $150,000 

Executive Masters                  $146,000 

Doctorate                                $136,000 

Executive MBA                        $135,000 

Masters in Science                  $101,000 


89% of graduates were employed or were working within 6 months of graduation. 5,700+ companies visited for campus recruitment. 

Degree                           Average Salary

PhD                                  $140,000 

Masters in Finance           $137,000 

Doctorate                          $127,000 

MBA                                  $94,000 

Bachelor (Other)               $85,000 

Bachelor of Science          $81,000


Campuses and B-SchoolsAnderson School of Management
NA
CollegeDunia Reviews8.3/10 Read 6 reviews7.7/10 Read 9 reviews
General Facts Comparison
General FactsUniversity of CaliforniaUniversity of Illinois
Type of UniversityUniversity
University
Established1919
1867
Student:Faculty Ratio18:1
21:1
Male:Female47% Male, 53% Female55% Male, 45% Female
Location Facts

Five mile from Pacific Ocean, Located in West-wood neighborhood of LA
Bordered by Beverly hill and Bel-Air


UIUC is located a few hours from Chicago, Indianapolis and St. Louis in east-central Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana.


Library

12 million print and electronic volumes
700 subscription database
100,00 current serial titles
950,000 e-books
Largest on-campus student employer


UIUC Library is one of the largest public university collections with over 24 million resources. Consists of 14 million volumes in 37 unit libraries. 53,000,000 people visit the online catalog every year.


Campus Life

Over 100 Student organizations
220 student groups
Around 60 sororities and fraternities
118 NCA Titles and 261 Olympic Medals
Theatre and Film School
Midnight Yells during finals week (break to study)
 


Campus facilities include multipurpose State Farm Center (16,500 seats); Memorial Stadium (70,000 seats), site of Big Ten Conference football games; the Activities & Recreation Center (ARC), Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, Krannert Art Museum & Kinkead Pavilion, Spurlock Museum, 4 theatres, 24 residence halls, etc.


Hostel#Room and Board - $17148
#Room & Board - $17436
-
Famous Alumni

14 Nobel laureates, 15 Mac Authors
Taylor Wang (astronaut), Randy Schekman (Nobel laureate-Physiology/medicine), Richard Heck (Nobel laureate-chemistry), Kay Ryan (US Poet laureate), Tom Bradley (1st African-American mayor of LA), Ralph Bunche (Nobel Peace Prize), Kareem Abdul (NBA superstar)


One of the largest alumni networks in the USA with 470,000+ alumni. 30 Nobel laureates, 2 Turing Award winners, 1 Fields medalist, 29 Pulitzer Prizes.

John Bardeen (Nobel laureate);

Jawed Karim and Steve Chen (Co-founders of YouTube);

Jack Welch (former CEO of General Electric);

Sushanth (Indian actor)


Weather
Comparison Notes

Programs offered at UIUC especially engineering programs are heavily research-based whereas the same at UCLA are theoretical in nature focussing on the practical aspects. Career fairs, Hackathons are a regular affair at both the institute and they contribute a lot to the Silicon Valley. Here is an overview of the differences between the two institutes: 

  • International enrollment at the University of Illinois goes up to 10,000 students from more than 110 countries. On the other hand intake at UCLA of international students from around 100 countries is around 7,000.
  • Illinois has more than 500 active institutional partnerships representing more than 50 countries whereas UCLA has agreements with 200 institutions in 50 countries.
  • Overall rankings of UCLA as well as subject-wise rankings are higher than that of UIUC according to various ranking agencies.
  • Admissions at UCLA are more selective than UIUC with an acceptance rate of 16%.
  • UIUC is more budget-friendly with a lower cost of study and the campus is rated as the most "disability-friendly" campus in the USA.
  • According to QS Graduate Employability Rankings 2020, UCLA ranks #3 globally while UIUC at #16.
  • The average salaries of UCLA (82,000 USD) graduates are higher than UIUC (77,000 USD).

Based on the points discussed above, UCLA would be the first choice among students looking to study abroad in USA. With higher rankings, better returns on investments, students tend to choose UCLA over UIUC.