<p>From what I've heard, Illinois is money when it comes to engineering, and that's a great thing for me since I HATE repetition and engineering doesn't mean a repeating profession. So a few questions coming from a rising senior who discovered Illinois about six hours ago.</p>
<p>a) How competitive is admissions for engineering? Is it so tough that kids who can get into top 30 schools struggle with engineering?
b) Basic overview of my stats: 3.67 GPA UW, 2340 SAT, 790 Math 2 710 Chem. Is Illinois a safety, match, or reach?
c) What's the student life like at the engineering school? Cutthroat? Warm and friendly? Social? Parties 24/7? (I hope they're not all on campus.) This is important to me too.</p>
<p>Thanks in advance :)</p>
<p>EDIT Yes I started researching. I just wanted more opinions and such.</p>
<p>I got in, and your GPA and standardized test score are better. You’re a definite match, unless you want Bioengineering, which you are probably still a match for, but not a guarantee.</p>
<p>It doesn’t really matter what your major is as far as the social scene goes; engineers live in virtually every dorm and it isn’t like you are isolated from everyone else.
It’s a flagship state school. So yes the school is social and if you want to party 24/7 I’m sure you could. There are a lot of student who do party. There are a lot who don’t. The social scene will be what you make of it. It is noteworthy, though, that UIUC has the largest greek system out of any school in the US. But going greek means social, and not necessarily partying.</p>
<p>Be wary of the cost, though, especially as an out of state student. It will probably push around 45k per year, not far off from top private schools, and the financial aid you get will be mostly (if not all) loans.</p>
<p>Middle 50% range last entry class: 30 - 33 ACT, 1920 - 2160 SAT, top 9% - 2% class rank. You look like you are in range as a match but cannot tell what your unweighted GPA actually represents at your school and courses you have had are also important. Most difficult for admission is bioengineering for which the usual admitted candidate has 34 or above ACT or comparable SAT (which you have) and is in top 5% of class.</p>
<p>Note that SAT IIs are not considered (if sent those who make admissions decisions will not see them or know they exist) and recommendations are not wanted and will be ignored if sent.</p>
<p>My course rigor’s rigorous, I definitely took one of the hardest possible schedules. I just saw that too that SAT IIs and recommendations aren’t looked at. But I did notice the total cost too, $45K out of state, about $5k more per year than Purdue, and while I can probably afford it I wonder if it’s worth it. </p>
<p>But other than that, I doubt I’m going into Bioengineering (maybe electrical or civil if at all), so I’d assume it would then be easier (than Bio) right?</p>
<p>There is no tangible way to tell whether one focus of engineering is more difficult than another.</p>
<p>Bioengineering is more selective because of how popular the major is versus how many seats it actually has (the program is only about 5-6 years old at UIUC, so it isn’t massive), so don’t assume selectivity means it is more difficult. It could be more difficult, but don’t assume so because it is subjective. Do you think Organic Chemistry is harder than Theoretical and Applied Math? It depends totally on the person.</p>
<p>does bioengineering department has scholarship opportunities for incoming freshman. it appears that eecs has so many because of its history. may be because there are fewer students opportunities are probably the same per student basis. web site is not clear about the type of departmental scholarships available. can any one comment on relative scholarship $$ in bioengineeing vs. other departments for incoming freshmen offered ion addition to university and college of engineering schoalrships.</p>
<p>“But I did notice the total cost too, $45K out of state, about $5k more per year than Purdue, and while I can probably afford it I wonder if it’s worth it.” </p>
<p>Note that Purdue is not only cheaper in total cost but you will find that it also is far more generous with merit aid than UIUC.</p>