<p>i agree that UIC and ISU are not terrible...but schools like NIU and SIU and all those are truly low tier.</p>
<p>I don't mean to harsh to those that say NIU is a good school, but trust me, NIU is a community college on steroids. It really, really, sucks. It might be a small measure better than Eastern or Western, but it's really, really bad. My school really sucks (average ACT is like 20), and NIU and my local community college are always the popular options for the "I want to college but I slept through high school with an ACT in the teens" crowd. SIU, IMO, is slightly better than NIU, but it does have the party school reputation. ISU I think is a pretty decent school, but certainly UIUC is head and shoulders above all the other public schools. IMO, IL has three good schools, they are UChicago, Northwestern, and UIUC, in that order. And let's not forget that UIUC has the top ranked civil engineering program in the country. I, an IL resident, think that more OOS kids would be great. It increases selectivity and makes more money. I'd rather have the smart IL kids paying less in tuition b/c the OOSers are paying more. I think UIUC's in state tuition is pretty bad, considering it's in state. In our global society anymore, it's kinda silly to think of UIUC as needing to solely focus on IL students. It's not that much harder or worse for a kid who can't cut it at UIUC to go elsewhere. Kids at my school this year are turning down UIUC in droves anyways b/c they are getting better deals at Iowa, Iowa State, and ISU. I don't think it's wrong for UIUC to make itself a better school, even if the instaters end up at ISU or Indiana or Purdue or the aforementioned schools.</p>
<p>i feel special...</p>
<p>You forgot Accounting</p>
<p>what about Pre-Med???? What ACT do you need for that, will a 29 cut it?? with a 3.2 gpa?</p>
<p>meh, sure.</p>
<p>"what about Pre-Med???? What ACT do you need for that, will a 29 cut it?? with a 3.2 gpa?"</p>
<p>Pre-med is not a major. You can be pre-med in LAS (example: biology major), engineering, or even business college and for pre-med you just have to take the science and math courses generally required for application to med school. A 29 is okay for LAS, but somewhat low for business or engineering. A 3.2 GPA is likely very low for all the colleges but you need to translate into class rank.</p>
<p>Class rank would be about 100/600. And I have taken all honors/AP, in state, very good hospital volunteer work and internships.</p>
<p>A 29 ACT, top 17% rank, many AP's/honors courses, gives you decent shot at most programs in LAS but lower chance at engineering or business.</p>
<p>ALS - Kinesiology also has a good number of premed students.</p>