<p>Lisa, my understanding is that UIUC selects students by major and specifically by major within engineering. Your son should be ok for all the engineering fields but the more popular or smaller programs will be harder to get into than others. I believe Mechanical and BioMed Engineering are examples of the more competitive specialties. It is also very hard to transfer into those majors if your son has a change of heart later on. Our HS strongly recommends the Nov 1 “early” deadline since spots are filled up on a rolling basis. At the info session at the school we were told that the admissions criteria are GPA and ACT - essays, extracurriculars, etc, really have almost no bearing on selection. Letters of recommendation are not accepted as far as I know.</p>
<p>CS is also more competitive than some of the others. From our school’s Naviance data, for the last 5 years, the highest rejection with a 32 ACT was a 3.3 GPA. Everyone above that was accepted. I’m assuming (although I can’t see) that these were acceptances into the more selective majors. There was one student rejected with a 35 ACT but the GPA was 2.7. Acceptances do go as low as 20 ACT and 2.7 GPA which I assume are for less desirable majors or large departments.</p>
<p>GPA (and rank), course schedule with many APs, and test scores give you a very good chance of admission into engineering except potentially for bioengineering. Be aware that SAT IIs and recommendation letters are not used for admission (even if you send them, those who make admission decisions do not see them). Also be aware that engineering has an annual tendency to defer large numbers who apply EA to final decision in February so it can see the entire pool before making decisions. Majority who are deferred are eventually admitted and thus if deferral happens do not assume it is tantamount to rejection.</p>