U of I does not care about in state students. You see they get your tax money whether you attend or not. They come out ahead financially when they accept out of state students and international students. The state is a mess and the budget for last year still has not happened therefore the payments from the state are back logged. I know that last year there was a huge article stating that they were going to try to focus on more in state students this year but that was before the budget crisis. Engineering and CSE provide the highest out of state and international student applicants so of course those are the programs that will accept way FEWER in state students. Basically, the reason you did not get in is because you live in Illinois!!!