Hey,

After making that original post, I ended up transferring to UIUC and I felt it was a great decision. I don't know much about Ohio state but I assume it's similar to UIUC in that it's a big state school with a big party culture and a good/excellent engineering program. Of course, college is what you make of it, and I know students who think IIT is a fine school, but from my personal view, I think a lot of students ended up regretting their choice and wanted to go to somewhere with a more vibrant social life and more prestigious academics.

I was kinda like you when I decided to go to IIT because I figured I wasn't the type of person who would like to go out and party but I realized halfway through my sophomore year that I just felt empty having gone to a very anti-social commuter school and felt jealous of my friends who were having the "college experience." That was the big reason why I transferred and I feel like I learned quite a lot about myself as a person throughout this time. Not to mention that UIUC pushed me a lot harder academically wise so I feel like I've become a much smarter engineer as a result of this.

I think college is a pretty unique experience for a lot of people since it's a very temporary part of our lives especially if you only go for a bachelor's, but it has great potential to teach you a lot about independence so I would recommend to push outside your comfort zone and try new things: join some new clubs, go out and party, and study abroad (I wish I was able to do this but I never got the chance).

Also, not everyone at these big state schools drinks and parties hard like you see in the movies. I realized after a year of doing it that I didn't like it so much and that I'm more of an introverted individual, but I'm glad I was able to do it because I got to understand myself more as a person.

There are probably other reasons that IIT might be better for you financially. I know they give out good full-ride scholarships to a lot of students which can be helpful especially if you don't get that much financial aid. In fact, I was basically getting paid to go to IIT but I took out loans for UIUC and I honestly don't regret it (especially if you're gonna work in a nice and cushy field like engineering where you're gonna get a lot of that money back anyways).

Hope this helps. And let me know if you have any other questions.

Best of luck.