This might be really unfamiliar to majority of you guys. So I attend British international school where we do IB (no gpa nor ap). And im graduating from my high school in 2017. I seriously want to study in UIUC as a general studies major (but in the essay, I will explain how I’m conflicting between economics and civil engineering); and I serioulsy need advice or clarification whether I can get into this school
IB (predicted so far): 38
New SAT (my old sat results are just hopeless): 1410
Math 2c: 750
No idea of my class rank
Experience:
Year 9&12&13(we do in “years”, yr 13 = gr 12)- form captain
Year 10&11- charity manager
School Badminton team (captain)- Yr 9,10,11,12,13
School Basketball team (captain)- Yr 11,12,13
School Swimming team- Yr 12
School Javelin team- Yr 11
Model United Nations- Yr 11.12
Baseball- 4 years, nominated for all star team
Founder of the baseball organization (both school and country wise)
Coach for baseball team- 2 years
Korean school service- 4 years
James Law Architect Inc internship- 1year
School renovation committee
AYP ( Award for Young People)- Bronze
Vietnam facility service
and there plenty more which I just cant be bother to write hahah sry
Though I am setting my major as general studies, should I explain that I have ambivalent passion for both econ and civil engineering in the application essay? Because I know UIUC has insanely high reputation + requirement for civil engineering, would my acceptance rate diminish if I were to write this major for my considering major? (hopefully it makes sense hahah)
You have a decent chance and you need to be aware of a few things based on what you have said:
SAT subject test scores (and recommendations) are not used by UIUC to detemrine admission. If you send them, the persons who actually review your file and make admissions decisons will not be provided any subject test scores (or recommendations).
When applying as a freshman, the application form allows a first choice major and second choice major. The process of evaluation is as follows when you list two. You are considered for first choice major. If accepted, process is over. If rejected for that major, you are considered for second choice. Again process is over if accepted for second choice. If rejected for second choice, you are then considered for the Division of General Studies (for undecided majors, which you called “general studies”) even though you did not list it as a choice. Note, you must put both a first choice and second choice major in your application for that process to be followed. If you put only a first choice and leave the second choice blank, you will be considered only for first choice major.
In other words, as long as you put both a first and second choice major in your application you do not need to put general studies (an undecided major) first to give you a chance for admisison as an undecided. You can instead take your chances with majors you might want to pursue to see if you get accepted. If you choose general studies as your first choice, you are not really mproving your chances of admission to general studies and are essentially giving up any consideration for admisison for other majors.
Also be aware of the transfer process after you are admitted. If you are admitted geeneral studies, you can later attempt transfer to civil engineering but it is not a guaranteed transfer and you will need high college grades to have a chance. Transfer to economics is easier although you still need decent grades. In other words, your choosing not to take a chance on civil engineering admission now does not mean you will have some better of getting it via transfer; the same is true of econmoics but to a lesser degree.
In other words, if you really want to be considered for admission to civil engineering and economics now, put them as your choices. If you are turly undiecided, put that as your first choice but do not assume you are changing your chances of admission as undecided by doing so, and do not assume being able to transfer to civil engeneering or even economis later will be easier than being admitted as a freshman…
thank you for your quick reply. So if I were to clarify from what you have mentioned, choosing undecided for my very first major is rather useless as it gets rid of other chances. So if I were to choose my first major as econ and second as civil, would that mean I have to write 2 app essays for each majors?
Also, would I be able to transfer back to general studies once I get admitted to one of the majors I’ve applied (civ & econ)?
If you put general studiies first, and are accepted, you will not be considered for any second choice. Moreover, general studies is the easiest choice to be admitted to and thus you should not expect to be admitted at all to a second choice if gemeral studies is first choice and you are rejected for it. If you list two major choices, econ and civil engineering, you will need to submit essays on both.
If accepted to a major other than general studies, you will not be able to transfer to general studies for at least one semester and I am not even sure one can trransfer to generla studies since I do not know anyone who ever tried to do so, but it is probably possible if done before second year. Basically, the Division of General Studies is supposed to be something you stay in only one year or at most two and then transfer into a real major. If you start in a real major and decide you want another one, you usually do not consider transfering to DGS first, but instead seek transfer to the new major you want. If you really want to avoid choosing a major when applying then probably choosing general studies as your firsyt choice is the way to go.
indeed, at this very moment, I am just rather ambivalent to study one specific major only. Based on your comment and the previous one, it seems like choosing general studies as my first choice seems risky and may not worth at all; however, at this stage, I just want to learn more about both of these majors at the level of higher education, and want to make that definitive decision by end the freshmen year.
And, surely general studies is not the easiest major to get admitted to? As far as I know, DGS is as equally as tough other majors due to the fact that majority of people apply to this major, which it makes the selection process more subjective and competitive.
So i think it is either go big or go home for applying to DGS as my first major. I might actually rue if I get rejected hahaha
Oh, and also do you know anybody who got accepted into uiuc for dgs?
It is easier to be admitted to the Division of General Studies than most majors. In fact, many that are rejected businees, engineering and even LAS get offerred DGS.
^ however it’s much harder to get into a selective major (and so many AR uiuc are) from DGS than as a freshman applicant.
Generally speaking UIUC admits by college or even by major and is very strict about switches (like cal poly slo for instance.)
So, for someone who’s undecided, it’s not a very good choice. You’d be better off at a LAC without distribution requirements (Amherst, Hamilton…) or a university that admits you regardless of major.
I got into DGS this year, and it was the only major I selected. I personally felt that DGS was a great choice for me, as my choices of major are not particularly selective from my understanding!
When selecting majors and the preference order on your application, read the directions carefully, and/or follow up with questions to admissions staff. Sometimes there are changes from year to year, so don’t assume, especially re DGS as an alternate major. In years past, if an applicant was not admitted to specific major choices, admissions automatically offered DGS to qualified applicants. Last year, applicants had to actively select DGS as an alternate major choice. If not admitted to other major choices, that was the end of your application. Denied! It doesn’t hurt to put DGS down to keep options open. Order of selection priority: each selection is evaluated, and admissions goes down the line and stops when an applicant is admitted, so if you are admitted to your first choice, that’s it, and subsequent selections are not evaluated; lower selections do not affect how higher priority selections are evaluated. Good luck.
Last year was the first year applicants other than engineering students could choose a second, alternative major. The rule beginning then and still is that if you are rejected for first two choices, you will still be considerd for admission, meaning to DGS, although some could be offered admission to something else, e.g., someone with high stats who chooses and is rejected from bioengineering as first choice and computer science in engineering as second choice (two of the hardest engineering programs to currently get into), could be offered some other engineering major or engineering’s undecided major instead of DGS. However, if you fail to provide any second choice major and are rejected for first choice, you are done. Thus, what is important is to provide two choices. One of those, of course, can be DGS but if rejected by DGS, you should not hope to be admitted to something else
nah I have decided to only apply to DGS as my first major and no other hahha I know it is really risky but, I think, as long as I show how enthusiastic I am for DGS (which I actually am) and show that clearly on the essay, hopefully, I might have a higher chance than those who are forced to go DGS because they got rejected for both of their majors.
Seriously, go big or go home
