<p>I'm a white male
3.4 GPA
31 ACT
8 years football(includeing pre-hs)
8 years wrestling(includeing pre-hs)
Active Church Youth Group
Math Club
Computer Science Club
Cyberfair International Web design contest 2nd place</p>
<p>I was wondering what my chances at University of Illinois were for Computer Science. I have taken the most strenuous curriculum that my school offers (Almost all Honors of AP classes), also my school is ranked in the top ten acedimic high schools in the state. They're also interested in me for Football and wrestling if that makes any difference.</p>
<p>If your GPA can bump a little more by your senior year, I would also advice you to try applying at higher schools (if every other thing such as financial, your tastes, campus life.. all fit well). </p>
<p>Because you're an athlete with smarts, and a lot of colleges LOVE those people :p</p>
<p>Actually, we need to know your class rank. A 3.4 GPA indicates it might not be in the upper decile or even quartile but I do not know for your school. UIUC uses class rank and test score as the most important factors for admission. Computer science is part of UIUC's engineering department which is the hardest college to get into there and computer science is also one the hardest programs to get into in the engineering department because it gets a high number of applicants as compared to some other engineering programs. Thus you should not rely on above comments that you are a shoo-in. Computer science is also one the fastest programs to be filled by applications in the fall once they start the rolling admissions process and thus it is important for you to get your application in early once applications start to be accepted (usually about mid to late September).</p>
<p>"Being interested" in you for football or wrestling doesn't mean anything unless and until they are actually recruiting you for a scholarship slot. However, they cannot start discussing scholarship with you at this early date (junior year). If that occurs, your chances of admission will virtually become certain; if instead, they consider you a back-up player that they would just like to have come but don't want to use a scholarship on you, then being recruited is not going to help much in getting you admitted.</p>
<p>I'm in the top 20% of my class, but barely, litterally like 19.5%. Also, and I should have specified this before, I wouldn't be going into the engineering school. I'm more interested in thier MAthimatics and Computer Science Degree, which is acctully in the Liberal Arts/ Sciences</p>
<p>Hey woods, take a look at this chart <a href="http://www.oar.uiuc.edu/prospective/ugrad/ugchancespop.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.oar.uiuc.edu/prospective/ugrad/ugchancespop.html</a>. If you fall at the higher end of the scale, then you're virtually a shoe-in. Most likely they probably wouldn't take the essays into heavy consideration (my guess is that they prob won't even read the essays of GPA and test scores are on the high end). If you fall in the middle, then you still have a good chance of getting in and need to write a good essay that will make them give you the benefit of the doubt. If you fall within the lower range of the bar, then you will have to impress them extracurricular hook related to you're major and/or an amazing essay. It looks like you are a little bit higher than the exact middle 50%, so I couldn't say you are a guaranteed admit. Write a nice essay and try to do some type of activity related to you're major and then I'd say you are almost sure to get in. When I was at Scholar Days, I remember the guy said that they basically work their way from the ends of the score ranges (accepting those on the right ened and rejecting thos eon the left end) and then come toward the middle scores/gpa to see who gets in or not. Wow... that's a long explanation. Hope that helped. If anything is confusing just ask and I'll try to answer.</p>