Chance Me For UIUC CS transfer with unique situation [3.97 GPA at community college]

Chance Me / Match Me!
,
1

So long story short, a couple of years back before I was on my adhd medication I was a complete different person. I did horrible in high school, and did a couple of weeks of a semester in college in 2019 before (unofficially) dropping out and getting Fs in 2 basic courses. Since then I gained a ton of maturity and motivation, decided to get on my adhd medicine, and go back to school. After my first full year I received an A in every class, including my previously failed courses (except a B in a 1 credit intro to college course) and now have a 3.97 gpa, with classes including calc 1, calc2, economics, English 1 and 2, and more, all while working 40 hours a week (and taking calc 1 and calc 2 in the middle of my work shift for my lunch break).

I want to transfer somewhere for Computer science, and UIUC is my dream school, but I know how competitive it is especially for a transfer student.

Demographics

  • Live in Illinois
  • Average small public community college
  • Male, half white half black*:
  • Other special factors (first generation to college, legacy, athlete, etc.):

Intended Major(s)
CS or Math & CS

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • College GPA: 3.97
  • Not really a rank, but the average grade in my calc 2 summer course was a D, but I pretty easily got an A from a pretty rough professor.

Awards

  • $5,000 Scholarship, which was apparently a prestigious scholarship for our school, and is only given to 3 students in the school for academic performance, essay answers, and a great letter of recommendation from my calc 1 teacher who said my work ethic is insane.

Extracurriculars
(Include leadership, summer activities, competitions, volunteering, and work experience)

Not much, other than just working full time.

Essays/LORs/Other
(Optionally, guess how strong these are and include any other relevant information or circumstances.)

I would say pretty strong. Even though my terrible past can be a really big negative, according to my one of my scholarship readers, it makes for a pretty good essay.

Cost Constraints / Budget
A scholarship would be nice, however I’m not too concerned with the standard tuition

Schools
University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana

2

Good job turning things around. UIUC does reserve some CS seats for transfers and they do prioritize Illinois students attending community college. I can’t chance you but make sure to work with your CC adviser.

Read this, and make sure you satisfy all requirements for CS transfer applicants. https://www.admissions.illinois.edu/content/docs/handbook_eng.pdf

Make sure to apply to some schools where your admission is more likely, including at least one affordable safety. Do you want help building the rest of the list?

6 Likes
3

CC’s are basically in the business of helping you transfer to 4 year colleges and yours seems to think very highly of you. Use them as your resource.

3 Likes
4

Thanks! I’ll try to work with my advisor, but every time I go to them, they seem like they don’t really know how to go about certain situations a lot, and kind of just tell me to check the UIUC website for transferring help.

In your opinion, do you think it’d be best to go for the pure CS major or the Math & CS major? I heard it’s a lot more likely to get accepted in Math & CS, and the degrees are essentially equivalent in the work field. However the requirements are a lot different, I’d be able to finish the requirements next semester for Math & CS, but the CS major would require me to take 3 physics classes, and a chemistry class, on top of what I need for Math & CS, and if I get denied for that, then I’d be taking those for no reason right?

Also, in response to you asking if I want help building the rest of the list, if you had time I would really appreciate it. Since my situations seems very different compared to most people on the internet, I find it kind of hard to decipher what would be likely, or a reach for me.

Thank you!

5

Thanks, will do!

6

I don’t know the relative transfer acceptance rates by major. If your CC advisor can’t help, see if there is someone else in that dept that can help you. Also, it’s ok to reach out to a UIUC admissions counselors and ask questions. Do a virtual transfer admissions session first: Prospective Transfer Virtual Admissions Info Sessions

You do get to apply to a first and second choice major. I would apply to the major you most want. UIUC Transfer Guide: How to Apply, Step by Step - UIUC Admissions Blog

In terms of the rest of the list, do you have any other schools on it so far? Do you have cost constraints? If so, what’s the budget?

2 Likes
7

As of right now I don’t really have any other schools on it, I’m pretty open to it though. I’d prefer something close to Illinois but at the end of the day, I really just want to go to the best possible college that can help get my foot in the door with a big named company.

1 Like
8

There are a few downsides to the CS+X majors, most notably being ineligible for the fifth year masters program that is available to straight-CS majors. But if that isn’t a priority for you, I’d think that Math+CS would be a fine major and probably a more likely admit.

If you can afford to full-pay for UIUC, you could probably afford Iowa State as well, and their programs are also very strong, but not ridiculously hard to get into and also not terribly far away.

3 Likes
9

Since it seems to match your strengths better, go for CS+Math.
Obviously the acceptance rate makes it a reach but you definitely have a shot -they’re lookinf for more CC transfers and if your academic adviser can say you’re the best in your year (or among the top 5) then it should really help

UIllinois-Chicago could be a safety

as well as SIU Carbondale,

and why not go for broke and apply to Northwestern’s CS department in addition to UIUC? Your odds there are even more minuscule than at UIUC but your record sounds exemplary and you have your CC’s backing. You’d have to email the CS dept to see if it’s even a possibility and Admissions how they handle financial aid.
This would likely be your track:

2 Likes
10

So at UIC as stated, IIT in Chicago and Rose Hulman you are in merit contention. Don’t blow off UIC. They are building a huge brand New CS department.

Which CC did you go to?

Also your situation is not unique but be really proud of yourself.

2 Likes
11

We do need to know OP’s budget before we know if any of the suggested schools are affordable.

3 Likes
12

Thanks, I’ll look into it!

13

Thanks for the reply! Will definitely check out all of these schools. Would NIU really be worse odds than UIUC? I thought UIUC was regarded as a top 5 school for CS?

14

I think I’m pretty lenient with my budget, I’m not sure what exact price to set, but I’d rather pay more in student loans if it means I can go to a better college that can help set me up better for my future.

15

For each of junior and senior year, you will be able to take out max student loans of $7.5K/year.

Does that make UIUC affordable at roughly $43K COA (tuition/room/board less the $7.5K loan? Or UIC, say around $25K COA less the $7.5K loan?

3 Likes
16

Will check those out!

I’m attending Kankakee Community College, not sure if you heard of it or not.

Is it really somewhat common? When I was talking with my advisors about different options of fixing my original failing grades, she said she wasn’t really sure how to go about it because she’s never seen a student make that big of a U-Turn. Thanks though! I’m definitely proud of myself, and motivated to go as far as I can.

17

Do you know if it’s possible to get an apartment near campus with my girlfriend and about how much cheaper that’d be? I held her down financially while she was in college so she agreed to pay at least half of rent if we get an apartment near campus. Otherwise, I think I should still be able to afford it somehow, I’d apply to some cheaper options in there just incase I decide it’s too much closer to when I decide, but I definitely don’t want to rule out UIUC or any other college around that price.

18

P.S. Sorry if I got a lot of dumb questions lbs, as you can tell, I’m pretty new to everything college related and just being a transfer student in a really competitive major makes googling certain things like acceptance rates a lot harder.

19

You will have to research what apartments cost around each of the schools you are considering. Generally, you can save on rental and food costs if you live off campus.

Are your parents unable to contribute? If you were a 2019 HS grad, when do you turn 24?

1 Like
20

There are no dumb questions!

2 Likes