@Zoesaw
I’m actually international; I’m from Taiwan.
It’s like my third or fourth choice( since some schools haven’t released yet
Is there anyone from TX who has been admitted? Could you PM me please !
@PPofEngDr CS+Stats is nothing like a stats major and a CS minor. CS+stats is considered to be a CS major officially with a focus in computational statistics. It’s under the CS department as opposed to the Stats department.
Sources: am a current student in ECE, have many friends in LAS CS/I know the curriculum
As a current student in ECE, to all of you who got DGS/Prep, but applied for engineering, DGS is not a good option if especially if you want CS/MechE/ECE/BioE. It isn’t as bad for other engineering majors, but still not good at all.
@kermit777 thanks for correcting. I though it is part of LAS. Here is the link for various CS+X at UIUC those are part of CoE.
https://cs.illinois.edu/academics/undergraduate/degree-program-options/cs-x-degree-programs
@PPofEngrDr CS+X majors are not in engineering.
@catsdogs54 my son is in the same situation, deferred from CS Eng and thinking about changing to Math+CS to increase his chances. He does not really care if he gets into CS Eng or Math+CS. He just wants to study CS and he wants to go to U of I. He loves math and almost applied to Math+CS during EA but chose CS Eng in the end.
I wish he could have put down a CS program as a 2nd choice as in prior years and I am not sure why Illinois changed it this year. He has applied to a number of other good schools and got into CS at all of them. Too bad the one he really wants he was deferred. Not sure what he will decides but as his parent I hope he gets in!
@kermit777 correct CS+X are not in CoE, but CS, Math & CS, Stat & CS are.
@kermit777 what is your rational for flat out not good at all?
@PPofEngrDr First of all, Math & CS and Stat & CS are not in engineering, they are in LAS. I say this as I type next to my friends in Math & CS and Stat & CS, who have themselves stated that they are in LAS (also check the website).
In regards to the second question, it is pretty tough to transfer into most engineering majors. While say, aerospace, might not be hard as CS, where many many kids with 4.0 GPA’s get rejected for transfer, it still is pretty tough, and you need to earn solid grades to be considered. Generally, I’d say if you aren’t a strong student capable enough to perform beyond the average of already accepted students, I wouldn’t recommend risking it. I’ve known several people in PREP who’ve entered here with the strict goal of pursuing engineering, only to be rejected/give up due to lower GPA/luck. They ended up switching to other majors or transferred entirely to another school. Per advice of Professor Jeff Erickson of the CS department (check him out on Quora and the UIUC subreddit), don’t come here for CS if you don’t get into CS. Same goes for other engineering majors (although to varying lesser degrees- ECE/MechE/BioE are going to be very very difficult)
@kermit777 no one is suggesting that getting into PREP is a walk-in pass for competitive capacity (CS/MechE/BioE) and now restricted capacity (CompE /EE) as well. Rather to educate most of parents and incoming students, as they are confused about various options available in UIUC. tbh, UIUC admission / advising is not doing good job and created a whole convoluted admission process.
Most of students fall into 1st choice declare major that closes the door for undeclared engineering which is flying under radar within CoE. At the same time so many qualified students placed in PREP, personal experience, their fault they simply applied for highly sought major that they think they are capable of based on their high school experience.
I am aware of what is being said on UIUC subreddit and often use that as reference information. What I have been seeing is that fear has been created for PREP program, rather than more holistic feedback and one can decide for themselves. What kind of environment is that professor/advisors are engaged in discouraging admitted students against admission, rather UIUC focused on success of students.
We got similar fear factor stories 2 years back and made an educated and calculated decision to accept PREP admission (yes we were advised against PREP by UIUC own advisors, yes we were denied the course enrollment for CS for which we drove 3 hours back in summer’17 and having a little skirmish to justify that my son should be given enrollment, how he performs is his fate). Guess what not just he ace academics, he is also James Scholar and made Dean list for freshman year.
It is obvious just like every applicant can’t get into CS/MechE and other highly sought majors, every PREP admitted neither. It is as simple as that. But responding to every one suggesting that everyone is not capable of getting into those highly sought programs is unfair to everyone.
I know as a fact bunch of students who get into CS this year from PREP, including my son (it doesn’t mean that it is possible for everyone, however there are success stories and need to be highlighted as well). Bunch of undeclared engineering students get into CS (back in Feb when PREP were busy w portfolio process) simply those students have taken advantage of admission process, even though most of them are less qualified then who came from PREP.
I have been advocating since last year, that undeclared engineering is redundant in light of PREP program. How can an undeclared engineering student be qualified for CS just after 6 months in 1s semester w/o even performing at CS standards dictated for PREP?. How can an undeclared engineering student with 3-3.25 GPA in 1st semester has walk in admission to CS, while PREP student with 3.75 GPA is left behind?
You will be surprised to learn that my son is doing much better than so many directly admitted CS students, academics wise, internship wise, college life wise
PREP is forced upon students, not a choice that student had applied for (it only comes into picture at decision time, at application time, no one from advising office is even talking about it), while Undeclared is only 1st choice that students are taking advantage and getting easy pass for highly sought programs. UIUC is not disclosing those statistics and every time you asked for it, those questions are dodged based on one policy or another.
How hard is to disclose those statistics so that families and students can make educated decision rather than some fear factor in social media? Its same trailer being played year over year. Even on UIUC blog you will find only one article about PREP from last year and since no further details being disclosed. Excuse during 1st year, it is a new year we are learning too and 2nd year, no one from UIUC is even bother to post any info into public domain.
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@PPofEngrDr Looks like your son in particular is doing very very well if he got into CS- it isn’t surprising to see that he performed well above the average CS student to transfer into the program given his acceptance. Nonetheless, this doesn’t negate the fact that it is extremely difficult to get into CS from DGS- it only supports it. Despite a “bunch” of students getting into CS, they are yet a very small minority of all who applied.
While there are certainly a few students in DGS who were academically qualified for regular admission into engineering, I would say the majority, from my experience aren’t - most I’ve met seem to be searching for a “back door” into the program.
In other words, DGS should never be seen as an easy backdoor into engineering. For all intents and purposes, it is much harder to get into engineering through regular admissions than through DGS. You should be extremely proud of your son for making such a competitive cut. In past years, it’s been said the acceptance rate for CS engineering through PREP is a sub 5% rate.
As you could probably see, my position hasn’t changed since the last post. You should only come in for PREP if you know you are a strong student who can perform well above the average student in your intended major.
@kermit777 if someone is getting into UIC, Purdue CS and then transfer junior year into UIUC, or use pathway program , are equally backdoor programs. So many students, who failed to get into CS from direct admission, get into CS by virtue of non-direct admission methods, PREP, transfer from other colleges, pathway etc. You may want to see actual enrolls on following link and realize how CS enroll count balloons by the time senior year.
Its not everyone dropping a semester to do some 6+ months internship and all of suddenly everyone comes back and enroll count become 6-8 fold, so it is obvious those admissions are being given through backdoor programs while keeping initial freshman acceptance rate too low that every parent and student freaks out to begin with.
DGS is never an easy backdoor for engineering, rather PREP is now being used to filter out DGS for CoE.
UIUC should publish PREP experiment statistics from 2017 admitted students (I have rough numbers, but nothing officially) and currently 2nd batch is in PREP to help out families and students for upcoming 2019 fall, at least PREP admitted students and families deserves that info to make an educated decision for their future,
@PPofEngrDr As I’ve mentioned in another reply to one of your comments, the DMI report is not accurate, or at least what you think it means. Per my friends in engineering CS, there are a few hundred freshmen in engineering CS specifically, as opposed to the 65 (what?) mentioned in the DMI. In addition, ECE, which has ~400 freshman, is listed in the DMI as having less than 200 freshmen, which is definitely not the case.
The bottom line is, no, the CS department does not fill most its ranks with transfer/PREP students, and there is no backdoor (you seem to have misunderstood what I meant by backdoor, and by that, I mean an easier way to get into the school than the standard admissions process) . Based on your previous comments, it seems as if you aren’t too familiar with the school. Please do not post such blatantly misleading information- it will become a pain in the rear for others when they actually need to deal with this.
@kermit777 backdoor meant other viable options to be considered, not in literal means of sneaky options. surprise that you are questioning validity of DMI numbers (in other words if that is true, you are acknowledging that UIUC is not transparent enough in terms of educating potential students and families), if you open up those spreadsheets there are so many CS entries in it, but CS engineering is only one of them and those are the data to be talked out.
As per DMI total CS Eng undergrad are 1045 and 1012 for 2017 and 18 respectively, which is in line with statistics published on CS website https://cs.illinois.edu/about-us/statistics, 1123 and 1054. When new student is enrolled, they may have higher academic standings (sophomore/junior level) and therefore number may be skewed.
That is not just the case for UIUC but all high ranking CS schools in country. Direct admission is best option for any major.
well nobody is taking social media as only source of info, 2nd part if I have misstated something, I have courage to correct myself and acknowledge it, not just put a spin zone and create fear mongering environment. I guess sometimes straight questions are too painful to answer, If you have understood my previous comments, I am not afraid of sharing our experience with UIUC admission and post-admission and that is not blatantly misleading.
So ask simple question, how many new CS kids pops up during sophomore/2nd year (not academics standing)?
On average how many are coming through virtue of transfer and other viable routes to CS?
How come Undeclared Engineering is not so publicized and year over year families are learning that hard way?
What is the PREP statistics in first year of 2017?
These are hard questions and its answers that current applicants need to know in order to make educated decision. Academics vigor on subreddit is one thing and making an educated admission decision is another when so many families are dealing with first college admission experience.
Anyhow don’t want this EA thread to be felt hijacked for PREP and CS only and happy to discuss by PM.
@PPofEngDr
“As per DMI total CS Eng undergrad are 1045 and 1012 for 2017 and 18 respectively, which is in line with statistics published on CS website https://cs.illinois.edu/about-us/statistics, 1123 and 1054. When new student is enrolled, they may have higher academic standings (sophomore/junior level) and therefore number may be skewed.”
That may be a pretty good explanation for why the DMI is skewed. Nonetheless, to use the stats to imply that Illinois uses Prep/transfer to fill a significant portion of their rank (as you did before) would indeed be misinformation.
Daughter accepted EA for CS+X - 4.3W, 1570 SAT, 35 ACT, 800 SAT II, good essay, OOS.
Is the 65% acceptance rate true for CS in LAS also? Doesn’t seem very selective for a program that has such a stellar reputation (currently ranked #5 in US for CS). Thought?
@kermit777
so how many prep/transfer really happens on average?
so how many UE ended up in highly sought engineering majors?
What was UIUC prep experience from first year of 2017?
Why UE, less qualified students then PREP, have given free pass to highly sought engineering major, in same year as my son?
You are not addressing the questions I had raised, rather act like an UIUC advisor, not a student. Either you don’t have that information or you don’t want to share with upcoming hopeful applicants, and turning the personal attention on me. My attempts are not questioning UIUC academics credibility, rather a transparent environment where information is not playing hide and seek with hopeful candidates and provide clear perspective.
I can give academics standings benefit of doubt, between freshman/sophomore, but similar skew is happening between junior/senior year. If fall’17 junior standing count was 297, then you expect that Fall’18 senior count ~300, not just skyrockets to ~500 in fall’18. Is there another admission process from Jr to Sr year that increases the count by 66%?
What does it suggest, a) that is incorrect b) if it is correct something is not right. Either way source of information is UIUC, not me.
@tj2019dad, you do not mention which X program you are talking about. The university wide admission rate, 62% percent for this year’s freshman class, is just what it is asserted to be, a university-wide admission rate. The rate of admission among the colleges, and then among the programs in those colleges, can vary significantly to the point that one can possibly get a no to the question, “Is there any particular program that has a 62% admission rate?”
If you have been following this thread, you can see the problem that exists in determining any particular program’s admission rate – it is not information provided by the departments or the university. We know, for example, that engineering had a 37% admission rate for this year’s freshman and LAS a 66% rate, because those figures are provided by the university, but the programs within those colleges do not have the same admission rates, the rates can vary widely, and those rates are not provided.
From secondary evidence and hearsay one might conclude that CS Eng probably has the lowest admission rate on campus and it might be in the teens and maybe lower. Some evidence that might indicate that is: (a) CS Eng’s middle 50% range – 33-35 ACT and 3.72-3.95 unweighted GPA, (b) some reports that claim about 5,000 applicants to engineering requested CS Eng (something that really needs to be taken with a grain of salt including not just its reliability but the fact that applicants last year for entry into this year could list CS eng as their second choice major and a large number of them really wanted and probably got some other program as first choice; and © varying assertions as to the number admitted and enrolled as freshman; my own hearsay information is that CS Eng is usually looking for an entry class in the two hundred range, although that info is from a few years ago and my understanding is that UIUC has been trying to expand the program somewhat since, but even that number tells you little about admission rate because you do not know the yield rate and how many actually get admitted , the majority of whom likely go elsewhere. Bottom line as I look at is that the very high middle 50% range is probably the best evidence currently to indicate CS Eng has a low admission rate.
Math and CS (32-35 ACT, and 3.6-3.95 GPA) and Stats and CS (32-35 ACT and 3.54-3.95) also have very high middle 50% ranges, well above LAS’s ranges as whole ,and a little under that for CS Eng. I doubt either is anywhere near as low with an admission rate as CS but they are likely low and far from that 65% range you mention. Other CS + X majors also have high middle 50%, e.g.,Linguistics and CS is actually the same as Stats and CS and the others are in close proximity.
@PPofEngrDr
“So ask simple question, how many new CS kids pops up during sophomore/2nd year (not academics standing)?
On average how many are coming through virtue of transfer and other viable routes to CS?
How come Undeclared Engineering is not so publicized and year over year families are learning that hard way?
What is the PREP statistics in first year of 2017?”
I wasn’t sure if you were telling me to ask the questions or answer them, based on what you’ve said… They don’t release such information to my knowledge officially, but based on word from actual students who’ve gone through the process, lots of really qualified kids got rejected from CS/Eng transfers through PREP.
UE on the other hand, is a better starting point to transfer because the students there have been admitted into the COE, and spots are reserved for them in every engineering department. DGS PREP students, on the other hand, were never admitted into the COE itself even. Knowing students in UE, it’s not like UE students can be crappy students and transfer straight into CS. It just isn’t crazy hard to the degree than many 4.0/Deans List students are getting easily rejected.
“I can give academics standings benefit of doubt, between freshman/sophomore, but similar skew is happening between junior/senior year. If fall’17 junior standing count was 297, then you expect that Fall’18 senior count ~300, not just skyrockets to ~500 in fall’18. Is there another admission process from Jr to Sr year that increases the count by 66%?
What does it suggest, a) that is incorrect b) if it is correct something is not right. Either way source of information is UIUC, not me.”
I think you’ve explained this yourself before. It is likely that the data is referring to academic standing, rather than actual grade level. Most students in engineering come in with sophomore/junior standing.
That being said, you seem to be angry at me. I am a student here, not an employee. You can direct your anger to them, not me, if you are so upset with their processes.