Which offers a better undergraduate experience: UIUC or the University of Richmond?

For a student prioritizing the day-to-day undergraduate experience you described, the University of Richmond has the edge. Richmond is built around a smaller, residential undergraduate community, with more discussion-based classes, closer faculty access, and a campus culture where it is easier to become known outside a major. UIUC offers exceptional academic scale, but its experience can feel more self-directed, especially in large introductory courses.

Classroom dynamics are the clearest difference. At Richmond, undergraduates encounter small seminars and liberal-arts-style interdisciplinary study throughout their time there. At UIUC, students have access to far more majors, research labs, and specialized courses, particularly in fields such as engineering, computer science, and the sciences, but lectures and large departments are a more regular part of the early undergraduate experience.

The campuses also produce very different social lives. Richmond has a polished, contained campus in a residential area of Virginia, with student organizations, athletics, and campus events serving as central gathering points. UIUC is a much larger Big Ten university in a true college-town setting; it has enormous variety in clubs, cultural communities, performances, athletics, and nightlife, but students need to take more initiative to find a smaller community within it.

Richmond is likely to feel more cohesive and personally supported from the beginning. UIUC can be more exciting for someone who wants a large, energetic student population and the freedom to explore a vast academic and extracurricular ecosystem, particularly when their intended field benefits from its depth.