UIUC MAS grad - Ask me anything (even about MSA)

It's been a while since I've checked these forums and I've seen a lot of posts about UIUC so I thought I'd try to answer questions.

Background: US citizen, went to a different undergrad school for accounting. Graduated and applied to UIUC MAS - accepted. Now working for a Big Four firm on the west coast even though I never interned there.

As I mentioned, I did the MAS program but I know quite a few who got the MSA so I might be able to answer those questions.

Just to get started:

Pros:
-Relatively inexpensive
-Excellent facilities (huge new business building)
-If your goal is public accounting, this is a good place to be*. All the Big Four firms and below are present in force throughout the year. Not only for the Chicago offices but nationwide and even international
-Close to Chicago (2.5 hour drive/train/bus ride)
-Champaign-Urbana has its charms and has pretty much everything you need

Cons:
-Champaign is kind of boring if you're from a big city
-Most of the people you meet will be accounting or finance majors and mostly headed for the Big 4. Great networking opportunity I guess, but not a whole lot of diversity in terms of background
-Not really a con but the curriculum is very different from most schools. Emphasis on communication skills and theory vs. traditional application of accounting
-Be forewarned: 95% of the MSA student body comes from abroad. And most of the people who do the MAS program went to UIUC for undergrad and already have job offers


*I can say a lot about this topic, however, so there are major caveats.