<p>hi, i'm a junior high school student and i have a question regarding U of I which i really want to go to especially now because i have a brother who's a freshmen there. To tell you the truth I don't deserve to go there because of what I've done in my first two years in high school. I was one of those kids that did very poorly, not because i coudn't, but because I didn't care about grades then. So in other words I pretty much threw away my first two years of highschool. But I have really change now and I am now doing very well in school.I have reconnected with myself and I have honestly turn my life around. Right now I have this very bad feeling that matter how well I do in rest of my two years, I don't have a chance. So right now I really regretting what I did. So my question is do I still have a shot into getting into a college like U of I?</p>
<p>Don't know how "bad' you are referring to. Chances obviously right now unknown. UIUC relies heavily on class rank and ACT (or SAT) score for admission. Also, for admission, the only class rank that counts is the one you have at the end of your junior year. Thus, you have only this year to raise grades. Usually you need to be somewhere in the top 20% for the liberal arts and sciences college and higher than that for engineering or school of business. Nevertheless, a high test score, along with a good essay, can often result in someone with a class rank below the usual ranges for UIUC being admitted.</p>
<p>Yeah me again. I have a question for class rank. I go to a very competitive school. Its in the top 50 in the nation. Do they take that into consideration. And also what should i aim for on the act tests</p>
<p>i'd say go for 28 or above.</p>
<p>UIUC in evaluating class rank does take into consideration the competitiveness of the school itself. As to ACT, the goal is to get as high as you can so you should not necessarily be looking at it as aiming for a specific score. For LAS, its mid 50% range ACT is usually in the 26 to 30 range and getting into the upper part of that or even higher (putting you in the upper quartile) would be helpful to offset a low class rank.</p>