Priority admission

<p>Was applying to UIUC as priority admission a good idea?
My counselor wanted me to apply as RD but I insisted on applying early to show my interest in this school as it is one of my top choice and now I am worried because I am reading threads saying most people who applied to UiUC for EA get deferred.
Does EA for UIUC lower your chances??
Just wondering. :(</p>

<p>Priority date application at UIUC gives you “some” advantage over those who apply later but you should not assume it is much. It definitely does not lower your chances of admission. Moreover, if you get deferred that does not mean rejection since majority deferred are usually admitted in Feb.</p>

<p>If the application was deferred, then it’s same as RD? Will it be considered again? Does UIUC accept new score for this application?</p>

<p>Deferred Definition: Withheld until a future date. Since the Regular Decision period is the only decision period after the priority decision period is over, and your decision has been deferred, then you do the math. It has also been said that they accept new scores for the application on several threads. I will, once again, validate that here.</p>

<p>Well I thought applying ER to UIUC is a great ideal, I did it myself. A deferrel isn’t great though, I was recently deferred at University of Michigan. I’ve looked into reasons why school do deferrels ( thanks to cc) and basically the school have actual intentions of not referring back to deferrels at all, the entire expectation is to have more qualified students become admitted through RD. Only advantage of a deferrel is probably not getting a direct “reject” letter, or being reviewed before the waitlist candidates.</p>

<p>^Coolbreeze…I think you are absolutely right…</p>

<p>^
Yeah, I’ve looked into this and this was my impression, I also got information from other students who looked into it ( sorta like double checking I guess). I don’t know what I would do with another deferrel, my list seems like it is being limited each and everyday. Basically if you get deferred from Illinois ( or anywhere likely) and if all goes well to the school expectations with regular admission then deferrels simply don’t get in.</p>

<p>Well, you better look a bit deeper, because it’s my understanding that most engineering decisions for example, the majority according to Drusba, who I believe has close connections to, and may even be part of, the UIUC Admissions Office, are deferred, and the majority of those are admitted during the regular decision period. Your reasoning doesn’t make sense. A deferral occurs because the applicant is borderline in terms of historical factors associated with previous freshman profiles. A deferral means that you’re application puts you into the shallow water of the competitive pool of applicants so far, but not everyone has jumped into the water yet, and many of those that have been offered the warm towel of admitance during the priority registration period have not chosen to accept it. Depending on how many of those choose to accept, and after looking at a more complete picture of the entire pool of applications for a given year, a deferred applicant may, or may not be offered a place in the incoming freshman class.</p>

<p>A deferral may then become an admit, a waitlist, or an outright rejection, but getting a deferral is nowhere near the end of the world that you make it out to be. The university is telling you that they are interested in you, but their goal is to assemble the most competitive class of freshman applicants that they can in a given year, and if, after full consideration of the whole body of applications, you fit, then they will definitely admit you.</p>

<p>It’s a balancing act that the colleges go through every year. If they make too many offers, and/or the historical percentage of those offers that accept spikes for some unknown reason, then they are committed to house, feed, and educate them (as long as the student forks over the cash). They’re cautious (meaning a good number of deferrals) for a reason. They certainly have no interest in stringing people along with a deferral. What possible benefit would accrue to them from doing so?</p>

<p>I guess, for me, I simply don’t agree with the whole deferral mentality to begin with. If you are advertising “priority admission,” it seems like those candidates should be given more preference if they apply early. I know at our school, so many students get deferred at UIUC for the priority period. Yes, some may get in…but I think it causes students to backpedal and consider other alternatives rather than wait for February. A couple of years ago, Wash U in St. Louis waitlisted everyone instead of giving outright rejections - and that gives a false sense of hope to many students. This is similar in many respects. I think students should be truly rewarded for applying early because they have the most interest and are motivated. I am not talking about engineering, per se - which is probably more self-selecting than LAS…but I know so many very qualified applicants who are deferred, when at other schools they will be gobbled up. I think that is why schools like IU/Bloomington are having a field day with their rolling admissions and grabbing up very talent and qualified Illinois and Chicago area applicants who don’t necessarily don’t want to wait for news at UIUC. At many state public schools, I can see where a 3.0 GPA and a 25 ACT might be borderline…but when you have kids applying to UIUC with 3.7 and 29 or 30 ACTs…that is downright disturbing. So again, for me, I just disagree with the whole process. If UIUC wants to be so selective and the most qualified class each year…than just boil it down to one admissions date and do away with “priority admission.”</p>

<p>^^,^
Well trust me I’ve looked much into it all considering my deferrel at my once top choice. I also agree with RSquare, its been known that schools do not give out right rejections to early response candidates, typically either a deferrel or acceptance reguardless of stats ( at least from all of what I’ve looked into). Though I could possibly in some ways have a miss understanding about deferrels ( the both of us could, three including RSquare) but I’m confident I’m no where far from the impression of how the process is done and deferrels are given out. Though if a school like Illinois gives out rejections to ER also, then a deferrel is a relief ( an acceptance would be even more ofcourse), but when only one of the two are given out you simply “just don’t know”.</p>

<p>Don’t get me wrong…this is just MY opinion. UIUC is a top quality school…bar none. Every Illinois resident wants to go…and the school simply can’t accommodate them all. In Illinois (different in some respects from many state schools), it is perceived there is a huge dropoff between UIUC and the next best state public school here. Are Illinois State or Northern Illinois good schools? Certainly…but not the caliber of UIUC. For many…it’s UIUC or bust. And with the economy the way it is, more and more IL students will opt to prefer going to state public schools.</p>

<p>The other UIUC problem is that it is a STATE school…so its student body needs to broadly and fairly encompass students from Chicago, the north suburbs, south suburbs, and downstate. For a lot of us here in the north suburbs, where there are many rigorous, high achieving high schools…it is possible that a higher percentage of students at these schools may indeed meet or exceed UIUC’s admissions qualifications…but they can’t take them all at the expense of not taking students from other schools around the state.</p>

<p>Coolbrezze- I’m not really sure how easy/difficult for out of state students to gain admission to UIUC…but I wish you all the best!!! Remember…what is meant to be is meant to be!!!</p>

<p>^Thanks
Yeah I’m out of state and I have heard mix reviews about getting admitted. Last time I spoke to one out of state was a subsitute at my school, he claimed he applied to the school and was rejected ( must have not been long ago since he was young and seems really smart which makes me even more nervous of my chances), but he assumes they are looking for out of staters now due to economy.</p>

<p>Its feels like I’m on a long rollercoaster ride.</p>