What clubs and activities are “hard to get into”? I never knew there were restrictions on extracurricular clubs. Can you provide more details please? Additionally, on the topic of engineering major change, how difficult is it to change to a non-CS major? Would it be difficult to change fro EE to CE since they are same department? My son was admitted into first choice major (ee) and he is firm on that, BUT, being 17 years old it seems like there’s still a chance that he could change his mind after, you know, actually being exposed to what the whole thing means, lol.
So that is my one concern about UIUC. Locking kids in to a major they picked at age 17 without having any real idea of what they are getting into at a college level.
Not sure about the activities, but some honor societies like TBP have an application process.
Other than CS, BioE and MechE, I believe you can transfer from one engineering major to another without too much difficulty, provided your GPA is above a certain threshold that may vary with the major. EE to CompE may be even more straightforward since all the core classes will be pretty much the same for at least a few semesters and it’s within the same department. An engineering advisor can provide any specific requirements, like GPA.
You are right there are not outright restrictions, however your odds are against more qualified students. If you are not in the major or any sort of prior activity in high school, you may become less likely to get spot in clubs aligned with majors. e.g. if you are majoring in Ind Eng and want a spot in CS related robotics club, you are less likely as priority is for CS major, and vice a versa.
EE and CE are under same department, especially they are treating both at same complexity this year, it is going to be as difficult as any high demand transfer, provided there is enough capacity available in CE to offer spot for everyone. (just imagine hypothetical scenario that entire EE freshman class wants a transfer to CE, is it doable?).
Change of mind because of difficulties is not going to improve odds from EE to CE. Change of mind due to interest is certainly entertained by advisors and then follow the requirements of Inter-Departmental Transfer process and compete along with other hopefuls…
. It is misleading in the sense that lots of students admitted into high demand majors like CS, CE, MechE, BioE come on board with lots of knowledge and activities in their intended major during high school time (e.g. Robotics activities during entire high school time, they are already exposed to PLTW, some programing and other engineering aspects to expose them to various choices). There is another option for those truly undecided applicants, it is called Undeclared Engineering, however to my knowledge you can only pick as first choice in admission application.
So that partially answers my question…”getting a spot” implies limited number of spots…again, I didn’t realize it was limited (restricted by size)
As far as changing major, my concern is definitely about interest change. The only reason I specifically mentioned CE is because that is the only other interest DS has AND there is a lot of curriculum overlap so it seems (to me) that a major change with curriculum overlap would be easier to accommodate by the COE.
I would guess that the only real constraint is that they want to cap class sizes in the required courses. If your son has all As and Bs after 2 or 3 semesters of required coursework in ECE, I would have to think it’s just a matter of filing the right forms and meeting with the adviser. It’s definitely worth an email or call to see if there is a fixed GPA or other requirement to switch- https://ece.illinois.edu/academics/advising/ . Along with TBP and HKN honor societies, perhaps there are competitive teams that have an application or a maximum membership? Resume stuffers like these may help for returning student merit awards and perhaps even for transfers into competitive majors like CS, BioE and MechE.
I have an ACT of 34
4.0 GPA
42/862 top 10% of my class
Will graduate with 11 AP’s
Am my schools Career Technology Education student of the year
And I had a paid internship at a civil eng firm
I have a very basic essay and I’m running short on time. Do I need to make it a really good essay or will I be fine with a decent/mediocre one?
If you are applying for CS or another highly competitive major, then work on your essay a lot. Otherwise, your stats are good enough that you don’t need to bother.
Current UIUC student here. Just for the record, from what I’ve heard about going from EE to CE or vice versa, the process has changed significantly from years prior. It used to be essentially guaranteed, but presumably due to space constraints, I’ve heard that it’s actually become competitive. My good friend is actually in the same boat – wanting to switch from EE to CE, and she was told to take the 4 introductory freshman/sophomore ECE courses before applying to transfer. She’s entering his 2nd semester of sophomore year and she will be applying into CE this semester.
My daughter got an email yesterday that she is selected for Engineering Honors.
“It is also my pleasure to let you know that based on your outstanding achievements, you have been selected into the prestigious Engineering James Scholar Honors program.”
The number one benefit from being a James Scholar (regardless of college) is priority registration. You get to register way earlier than anyone else, meaning you get first dibs for what sections of classes you take, you can get into the more popular gen-eds, etc. That benefit alone is worth it. Especially for Engineering, registering for classes can be a pain. You will have to complete some extra projects, but it’s nothing too bad.
You can also apply and live in the Honors Learning Living Community. However, it should be noted that you don’t have to be in the Honors LLC to live in one of the nicer dorms. The Honors LLC is just one (maybe 2?) floors of one of the newer dorms on campus, Nugent.
What is the criteria for LAS honors program? I believe that I am an above average student with high ACT scores and GPA, but I did not receive an invitation to the honors program
@student89790 do you mind sharing your stats? For LAS, the top 12% of incoming students are invited, the criteria of which I believe is based mostly on GPA/class rank/test scores. You can apply to be a James Scholar after your freshman year if you have a 3.70 GPA