@wldb15 Unfortunately, what @YZamyatin said earlier will hold true - the response dates of applicants is negligible because the school’s goal is to create the most diverse, academically motivated class. Some of the students applying late are those that have been denied elsewhere - perhaps at higher ranked institutions - meaning that they could be students chosen over those who followed the deadline (you and me, for example).
Additionally, it must be noted that as long as the application is open all decisions made are most likely confirmed regardless of the date the application was sent in due to the admissions committee’s goals. The admissions committee’s job is to judge applicants based on their merit and *probably/i don’t get told to worry about the date because as long as the application is in… it’s in. I also would wish to argue that if the application submission date is not available on a status page, then there is certainly no difference. Nevertheless, it is. If it wasn’t, then all applications would be virtually indistinguishable by date of application.
I initially thought that there were less applicants and thus the applicant pool would be slightly less competitive this year. Now it looks as though this extended deadline has allowed students denied from other schools to apply as well. Do you think that admissions this year will be easier, the same, or harder than in previous years with all that has happened? Especially since the application is still open.
Ok…Yes I agree that the ivy rejects and deferrals can apply…
In our school we can’t add a new school to the list after a certain date…so it might be possible that some of these ivy rejects or deferrals might not be able to add uiuc … At least I hope so…
There is no telling whose applications are coming in now, or how many of them there are; this is all just speculation. Obviously though, the application would not still be open if the numbers were what they wanted (and yes, the app is still open), so I believe it is safe to say that numbers are still down from last year University-wide.
Although the school has kept the app open in hopes of capturing more applications, there is no evidence they have been successful. My own guess is that the cancellation of EA has been an unmitigated disaster. It probably hasn’t affected in-state students too much, but I bet OOS applicants to Business and Engineering fell off a cliff. Who knows how much ground they have made up in the last month?
I would just like to add to the discussion that UIUC is not alone in extending the application deadline. I believe University of Pennsylvania, University of Chicago and Dartmouth are just a handful of schools that have also done so.
Fair enough, they are not alone, but none of those schools have done anything remotely close to Illinois’ five week plus no-end-date-announced extension.
I’ve seen lots of Early deadlines extended, but only a few RD extensions, and just about all of those have been just a few days.
I don’t believe any of these school BTW, with their various explanations. They are all just trying to pile up the apps. In the case of Illinois, the cancelation of EA really set them back in my guestimation.
I will add that many of this year’s extensions (from the fancier schools) are the result of rough comparisons to last year’s app numbers due to all the deadline extensions (last year). Schools used the Commmon App technical difficulties as an excuse to pile up more apps with extended deadlines last year. Total BS as the tech difficulties were widely known far in advance. The real purpose of last year’s extensions was to stockpile more apps to reject. Schools that pulled this stunt now have to work hard just to match last year’s app numbers, hence the extensions this year.
OTOH, I think Illinois’ extension at least has a legitimate explanation (a boneheaded move to cancel EA).
“Also, numbers for this years application cycle have not been finalized yet, but we are currently over 34,000.”
Commented by the writer of the blog titled “Get Ready for your Admission Decision!”
Apparently CS and Bio E were the only Engineering majors to see apps increase. So, that’s a little bit of good news for applicants to the other ENG majors I guess.
I think it’s a complete disservice to students who actually made the effort to get their applications in on time and now might not get accepted because they extended the application period by more than a month. There should be some sort of priority points given to those who had them in timely. The excuses I read on one site for why people didn’t get them in on time is also ridiculous. It’s not like no one knew the deadlines. Why would anyone wait until the last second to get their application in order. I’ll be amazed if no one sues over this.
The school isn’t gonna get sued over the application deadlines. They set the dates, they can change the dates.
Of course I can’t prove it, but I’m convinced that essentially all applicants received a net benefit from the cancelation of EA and the deadline extension via reduced overall apps to compete with.
^ Except CS. Also I don’t think the deadline extension helped those who submitted early - some who submitted late might just be ones who weren’t on top of their game - others had a chance to hear back from their top choice ED or EA schools and then submitted here. Those can only hurt everyone’s chances.
No, not except CS. I bet you would have seen hundreds more CS apps if they hadn’t canceled EA. Students pile on apps to schools (or strong programs) with unrestricted EA. Illinois was taken off a lot of lists when they canceled EA, at least that is my supposition. Now the extension brought some extra apps in, but my comment spoke to a “net” benefit between apps lost due to no EA and apps gained due to extension.
I might be wrong, but I don’t think so. Apps to almost all majors went down, even with the extension. This speaks to a strong impact from the cancellation of EA. Apps to CS went up, but they would have been up a lot more if EA hadn’t been canceled. Well, my guess anyway; no way to ever know for sure.