UIUC

uiuc.md

UIUC

Admissions Overview

• Overall acceptance rate: 42% (Class of 2028, from 73,742 applicants)
• Trending down: from 63% in 2020 to 42% in 2024; record applicants for Fall 2025
• Early Action: offered (Nov 1 deadline), no separate published EA rate
• No ED offered
• Testing policy: test-optional; 41% submitted SAT, 14% submitted ACT

Academic Profile

• SAT middle 50%: 1390-1520
• ACT middle 50%: 30-34
• Average unweighted GPA: 3.71 (middle 50%: 3.65-4.0)
• Top 10% of HS class: 59%
• Freshman class size: ~8,500

CS/Engineering Selectivity

• CS acceptance rate: ~6.7% (top-5 nationally ranked program)
• CS+X programs: ~18.5% acceptance rate
• Engineering overall: 20-30% acceptance rate
• This makes UIUC CS comparable to Ivy-level selectivity while the overall university is moderately selective

Yield

• Yield rate: 27.4% (Class of 2024, lowest in recent years)

Demographics (College Scorecard)

Net Cost by Income (College Scorecard)

Illinois Commitment program covers tuition for qualifying in-state families.

Athletics

• Division: NCAA Division I (Big Ten)
• Total athletes: 650 (354 men, 296 women)
• Sports: 21 varsity (10 men's, 11 women's)
• Athlete pct: ~1.8% of undergrads

Simulation Notes

• Category: flagship_public
• The dramatically lower CS acceptance rate (~7%) vs overall (~42%) is a key characteristic. For the simulation, using the overall rate is appropriate since we model university-level admissions, but the notable field flags this.
• Strong in-state bias (71% of freshmen are Illinois residents)
• Very generous financial aid for low-income students ($3,883 net cost for <$30K)

Community Insights (Reddit/Forums)

Admissions Strategy

• CS acceptance rate is the headline: ~7% for direct CS admission, making it Ivy-comparable in difficulty. CS+X programs are ~18.5%, a popular alternative pathway frequently recommended on forums.
• Massive gap between CS and overall: University-wide is 42%, but CS/CE are <7%. Forum posters stress that "UIUC CS" and "UIUC" are essentially different schools in terms of admissions difficulty.
• In-state vs OOS matters: RD acceptance rate is ~55% in-state vs ~35% OOS/international. In-state applicants have meaningfully better odds across all programs.
• EA is offered (Nov 1) but no separate EA rate is published. Forum consensus is that EA timing helps marginally.
• Test-optional but 41% submitted SAT, 14% ACT. For competitive programs (CS, Engineering), submitting strong scores is widely recommended on forums.

Campus Culture & Fit

• Engineering students describe their corner of campus as a "mini-campus" with coffee shops, food trucks, and maker spaces — a genuine engineering community.
• Students report heavy recruiting by top tech companies, making UIUC CS one of the best pipelines to Silicon Valley, Chicago tech, and finance.
• Campus is in a small college town (Champaign-Urbana) — nightlife is limited vs urban flagships, but the campus community is tight-knit.
• 71% of freshmen are Illinois residents, creating a strong Midwest identity. International student population (14%) adds diversity.
• Academic workload in engineering/CS is demanding. Students report a collaborative but intense culture.

Financial Aid Reputation

• Illinois Commitment program covers tuition for qualifying in-state families — very generous for low-income students ($3,883 net for <$30K).
• OOS tuition (~$35K) is standard, with limited institutional merit aid for OOS students.
• Forum consensus: UIUC is an incredible value in-state, especially for CS/engineering graduates who command high starting salaries.

Simulation-Relevant Takeaways

• Model overall university rate (42%) for the simulation since it's university-level admissions. The 7% CS rate is program-specific.
• In-state preference is significant (~55% IS vs ~35% OOS in RD).
• Low yield (27%) reflects that many OOS admits choose other options; in-state yield is likely much higher.