Weighted GPA: 4.0
Unweighted: 3.55
ACT: 32
highest subscores: (32/34/31/33)
Started freshman year really bad and have improved every year since <4.0 freshman year 4.1 average sophomore and likely 4.33 average junior year
Taking AP Chemistry and AP U.S. History and self-teaching/taking calc AB at end of year
Planning to take calc 2 (or calc 1 if AP score not good enough) at local community college over summer.
Live in-state
Extracurriculars:
Debate
Math Team
Reading/writing tutoring students
Volunteering:
70 hours at library over various summers
Know how to program in java and C++ have made a few apps just haven’t published yet but I am planning too.
Side-note: How would you recommend that I demonstrate my knowledge on the application?
National honor society also
ACT seems low for UIUC CS. Consider retaking it or perhaps the SAT to see if you can get a better score.
My child had less than 32 on the ACT (although did have perfect Math score) and got into CS at UIUC, but also had a lot of computer competitions that he won.
Is computer engineering any easier to get into? Will a degree in computer engineering be sufficient for a cs based job in the future, possibly with a cs focused graduate degree?
The average ACT of accepted CE majors is lower. They get many fewer applicants. I would not say it’s a huge difference though as far as ease of acceptance goes.
There is a reason they don’t allow dual majors in CS and CE, generally. Think of a team building a product. Why would a firm hire members that know a good bit about software and hardware when they can hire individual specialists in each area?
Of course you can work hard developing your coding skills while earning an engineering degree and then apply for software jobs. If you are good, you will have opportunities to prove it. But that seems like a roundabout way to becoming a developer.
As far as grad degrees go, I would give this advice. If you are not accepted to Illinois, you are better off getting a CS degree from one of the many other great yet less selective programs than you are getting a CE degree from Illinois and then going off to grad school.
Lastly, it seems that the CS+X majors are still less selective than straight CS. If you have an interest in any of the Xs, this is probably a better path than going through CE.
I could not disagree with YZamyatin more. I actually am a CompE major here at UIUC. Computer Engineering major is made up of two different fields, EE and CS. The reason why you can not MINOR in CS while in CompE is because a large majority of classes overlap and you can take all CS electives if you choose that you like CS more than hardware. The reason why I chose CompE is simple, you can do the job of a CS major and have the same job prospects but you can also do more than just software if need be. ECE classes are way harder then CS and you learn a whole lot more. If you go to UIUC Reddit page made up of current and alumni at UIUC they will tell you the same thing.
If you do decide to come to UIUC you will see that the ECE department is easier to get into not because the kids are any less smarter than CS, it is just that ECE is the hardest department at UIUC and a large majority of them will drop. Also CS+X majors starting next semester will have the same requirements to transfer as CS ENG.
I will leave you with this, ECE is top 5 in the nation just like CS. We are more desired by companies and if you do come to Illinois for ECE rather than CS, you are not losing anything if not gaining. If you truly like software and can do a little bit of hardware then ECE is a good choice.
Don’t really see where you are disagreeing with me (the OP is obviously a high school student, BTW). I agree with just about everything in your post, but the comments aren’t really directly responding to the OP’s questions.
CompE is awesome, and very rigorous, at Illinois, for sure. Lots of good reasons to do CompE, but you highlight one of the main reasons NOT to do CompE if you are dead set on working on the software side…
It is very difficult!
Why work yourself half to death on something you are not interested in and not planning on using after school?
My +X comment was in reference to freshman admission. Illinois received very few 1st choice requests for the +X majors this past cycle, relatively speaking. Can’t say for sure, but it “seems” like they would be less selective than CS in ENG.