Hi, I’m a Senior looking to apply for computer engineering and I was just curious at what my chances were to get into the school as well as into my major.
Background is:
1/2 French, 1/2 Vietnamese
Male
WA State
First generation immigrant, moved from Belgium when I was less than one y/a, became citizen less than a year and a half ago (Dual French/American citizenship)
UW GPA is 3.91, school does not weight
School also does not rank
1410 SAT (750 Math, 660 Reading/Writing) taking Oct SAT
Took Math II and Physics SAT Subject Tests but bombed a bit, 750 and 610 respectively, probably won’t send these in if they hurt my chances
Taking ACT in Oct
Out of state student, from WA
APs (not that they matter in application process, but here you go): BC Calc: 5 (AB subscore of 5), AP Physics: 3, AP Environmental Science: 4
Taking AP CS, AP Stat, and possibly AP English/Lit or AP Euro this year.
ECs:
4 year High School swimming, varsity every year, captain this year
About 7-8 years of swimming overall with club
Cross Country for one season
Robotics for one (this) year
Silver medal for Le Grand Concours, a National French Contest. Basically I’m in the 85th percentile of people who took the test
NHS for 3(?) years. I think I joined NHS my sophmore year, since you can’t your freshman year
Not many community service hours, doing some tutoring this year to meet NHS requirements and look better for colleges
Worked for local HOA for about a half a year, read water meters in the neighborhood and recorded them
Besides my chances, I was wondering if it was worth it to do Early Action. UIUC is my top 1/2 choice, tied with UT Austin right now (UT does not offer EA or ED). My GPA is stuck where it is at regardless, semester ends mid January, so after both application deadlines. My second SAT score will come in time for the deadline while my ACT will not. Is it worth it to apply EA to ensure I get into the school and also my major?
UIUC provides its current year’s middle 50% range for test scores and GPA for each college, see https://admissions.illinois.edu/Apply/Freshman/profile. You are within the range with grades better than average but test scores in the lower end of that middle 50% range. Nevertheless, the math score is the more important score for engineering and thus your grades and test scores indicate you have a decent chance of admission.
As to applying EA be aware of the following in making the decision:
The EA app deadline is Nov 1 and any test scores must be in UIUC’s hands by that date to be considered for EA. If you are intending to submit the Oct SAT test, it may not get there in time, particularly if you wait to send scores until after you get them online. Your best chance of getting Oct SAT scores to UIUC in time for EA is to designate UIUC as a college in your test registration as one to automatically be sent scores upon release. That means you send them before knowing the scores. That actually results in the fastest form of delivery since scores are usually sent a day or two before you even get them online. In any event, you should send the test scores you already have by first week of Oct if you want to assure EA consideration. UIUC uses the test with the highest composite to determine admission except the engineering department will also consider a higher math score from another test.
UIUC does not use SAT subject tests to determine admission and thus you need not send them (moreover, sending them is pointless because, if sent, they are removed from the application files seen by those who actually make admission decisions). Same applies to recommendation letters. UIUC uses only grades through junior year to dertermine admisison for both EA and regular admission – senior year grades are used to determine if an admission given should be withdrawn. Thus, there is no reason to wait for later grades to apply RA.
Applying EA gives you some (and I emphasize only some) advantage for consideration for honors, for admission to highly desired programs, and for consideration for scholarships.
You can get one of four decisons in mid-Dec when you apply EA: admit; deny admission; admit to alternative program (meaning you have been rejected for first choice major and offerred admission to something else); or defer to regular admission. Be aware that the business and engineering colleges were known in the past, when there was EA, to defer large numbers of applicants because those colleges liked to see the entire pool of applicants before making many of the admission decisions.
In any event, overall it would appear your applying EA would be a logical choice.
The results for the SAT arrive October 20-something so I’m covered for that. My ACT will not be but I plan on marking UIUC as a school for my scores to be sent.
Thanks for your advice and I think I will definitely apply EA.