#34 University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

The flagship school of the Illinois system, the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign boasts some of the top STEM programs in the U.S. The school is consistently ranked as one of the top schools for engineering and computer science. Computer science courses include the popular virtual reality elective that teaches students about the geometric modeling and optics behind VR. The school offers a range of merit and need-based scholarships, including the Illinois Commitment which guarantees free tuition for Illinois residents

with family incomes of $61,000 or less. More than 7,000 students are a member of one of the around 90 Greek organizations on campus. On the field, the Fighting Illini compete in the Division I’s Big Ten conference and have captured 23 national championships. Silicon Valley venture capitalist and tech entrepreneur Marc Andreesen, actor and comedian Nick Offerman and Paypal cofounder Max Levchin all attended the university.