I guess I should have seen this coming but I got rejected (not even a deferral) from UIUC for College of Engineering/CS major. I was hoping/expecting to get in no problem (for some inexplicable reason) and I didn’t think I would mind since it wasn’t my first choice but now I’m feeling really crushed.
I’m an Asian female from Michigan, and I have a 3.916 UW/4.172 W GPA + 1560 SAT (790 math/770 rw, took it once). I have a really rigorous courseload for my school; I’ve taken five AP classes already and gotten 4/5s on all of them plus six this year. I’m president of my school’s Science Olympiad and I’ve done a summer program abroad teaching English. I thought I’d be solid and this was one of my safety(ish) schools.
Just wanted to vent, and maybe get some thoughts. Any cheerful thoughts/honest thoughts about my chances for UMich would be really appreciated. (Also sorry if this is in the wrong category, I don’t use this site often.)
You have a strong GPA, great SAT, and being in-state for Michigan should help you. Michigan is a great university. Being out of state for UIUC might have hurt you.
Good luck. I hope you get into Michigan. Let us know when you find out.
@riririn You are rejected because you are from MICH and with your scores you will get ALMOST guaranteed admission to U MICH in which case you will reject UIUC. So, they rejected you in advance. This would have been the guess work on behalf of UIUC admissions staff.
I am positive you will get the best school for you. Cheer up.
TomSrOfBoston-- thanks for a reaffirmation. I wish I had done more research on UIUC before (I decided to apply last minute and wrote my essay much later than my other applications), I knew it was really strong in CS but I didn’t realize exactly how competitive it was.
DadTwoGirls-- Thank you for the kind thoughts! I’ve been accepted to Michigan State and another backup close to home, so if I don’t get into Michigan (it’s actually my top choice) I do have a couple of other places I can go to
I know it is not what you want to hear because a rejection is a rejection but don’t worry something better is out there. Too bad UIUC did not see what an asset you would be to their school. Good luck and drop UIUC from your thoughts
@riririn Michigan students have it pretty good - MSU, UM, and MET to pay for it all! It will be all good. When I took my eldest to UIUC, there was a car with Michigan plates parked in front of us in the unloading zone line. Why leave to come here as OOS? MI has its act together!
@riririn If it makes you feel any better, I got rejected too for CS major. OOS, 1500SAT, 800 SAT Math II, 800 SAT Physics, 4.37 WGPA and pretty good ecs. What I don’t get is that I have friends who have similar stats and were deferred but I was denied. I keep 2nd guessing myself and wondering what in my application makes them not want to give me a second look. Depressed…
IL2023-- Thank you! I really am lucky to live in Michigan and have these great schools close by
kansha-- I can totally relate… My friends were accepted (also for CS) and I had a slightly lower UW but higher WGPA and better SAT. I hope you and I can both feel better about it! I think we’ve both got good credentials, so I’ll hope for the best in both of our upcoming decisions
I live in Michigan…we are lucky that Michigan doesn’t make you choose your specific engineering major beforehand. And that means you will likely get to do your first choice major ata great school with in state tuition. Good luck on the decisions coming out next week for Michigan!
36 ACT, 800 in SAT Math 2 & Physics, 4.11 W GPA, ECs with leadership and 2 of those major related as well. I never was sure about this, but I was hoping deferred would be the worst case scenario for me. For a school that seems to indicate that they don’t use GPA to rank students, I was hoping this would be one place where I could get away with the relatively low GPA. Guess not.
Where did you read they don’t use gpa? That is contrary to what I was told by an AO. In fact UIUC does some sort of gpa recalculation that excludes any non core classes, so your uw gpa is likely even lower than what your own hs calculates unless you have straight A’s.
@adaorange I agree, it put me at ease when I didn’t need to decide immediately lol. Thank you!
@DocJake I’m sorry you were rejected as well but it does make me feel better to know I’m not the only one; misery loves company, you know? Good luck in your other decisions! Your stats sound good to me, I’m sure you’ll find your place
Keep in mind that every school is “building” a class. They can have only so many high Stat perfect score kids. They all want diversity. So why did you get rejected and someone with a lower GPA /Stat get in? I would point to EC and essays.
Remember though, it’s not you… It’s what their looking for on that day. I told my kids you will be accepted, deferred, denied and wait listed by some great schools and they were. Time to get excited about another one of your choices.
