I accidentally submitted my application prematurely

So I wanted to find out how much the application costed and I pressed continue. However, I did not know that the application submitted without taking a payment, so now I have an application submitted for which I didn’t really prepare for… I contacted UIUC admissions first thing and they sent me a reply:

Thank you for writing to the Undergraduate Admissions Office at the University of Illinois. No, there isn’t a way to ‘unsubmit’ your application. Do you just need to submit the fee? If so, log back into your myIllini account and follow the appropriate links.

My application was still submitted, so I asked if I could cancel the application, So I promptly sent another reply but they haven’t sent one back. It’s been 3 days and I messaged them twice already without a reply. I don’t know if they are deliberately ignoring me or something. It would be nice if they at least replied and directed me elsewhere… Anyways, where should I proceed now? Thanks a lot!

I know I made a huge screw up, but I am trying to cut my losses.

Can you not afford the application fee? Did you use a fee waiver for SAT? Then you should be able to get application fee waivers through your collegeboard account.

@mommdc

It’s not that I cannot afford the application fee. It’s that I want to cancel my application if unsubmitting it isn’t allowed. However, after I emailed the UIUC admissions office, they aren’t responding to how I can cancel the application, which is an option on the website, so that I can resubmit it again. On the website, it seems that if you cancel an application, you aren’t able to submit another one… I might be wrong, so i wanted additional confirmation from UIUC.

I would try calling on Monday and talking to someone about it.

So you didn’t fill out the application completely or what were you not ready for?

http://admissions.illinois.edu/apply/freshman/process

Did you use this website to get to the application? Right under the ‘apply now’ button it lists that the application fee is $50 for domestic students

@mommdc

Thanks for the help. Yeah, my rational thinking was there when I clicked continue. I reasoned that it wouldn’t submit my application until I paid the 50$ fee. Anyways, I guess I will call them. Any reason why they aren’t responding to my emails though? I mean, I understand if they cannot cancel my application, but couldn’t they at least reply and confirm that or direct me elsewhere?

I don’t know. I guess you will have to wait for a reply or call next week.

If you are still interested in applying to UIUC, find out what the situation is before you cancel the application. It is possible that once you cancel your application, you might not be able to apply for the same major for another year. I really don’t know. Editing might be a possibility. You should be able to add any required items that are missing (like SAT scores, GPA info, etc). Not sure if you can edit essays that were submitted.

I know that if you want to choose a different major after you are accepted to UIUC, the original acceptance is cancelled and the new application starts the entire process again without a guarantee of admission. If not accepted to the new major, the applicant does not get the prior admission back. But this is a little different situation than the problem you have with the original application. Call Monday. Good luck. Let us know what you find out.

I looked online at one of the UIUC blogs where someone asked if they could withdraw their application because they made several errors in their essay. The response, “You cannot withdraw your application. I suggest you call our office and speak directly to an admissions counselor. The admissions counselor will be able to assess your application essays and advise you further.”