I don’t see a conversation about this… Anyone welcome to join who has applied EA for 2025. I am a parent of an applicant. Decisions look like they come out mid-Feb. I understand why schools have lengthened the time they are going to announce - but it doesn’t make the waiting any easier 
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Exactly!! Some schools are releasing decisions earlier this yr so it doesn’t make sense to tell us so late. Aren’t RD hearing back the same time as EA?
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Yes. I went to an admissions virtual event and they explicitly said that EA decision will come out same time as RD but that EA decisions would be “made” earlier but not released for some reason. Not sure what they mean by that.
Hi I have applied EA to UIUC Gies College of Business
Sounds illogical to me
Me too. But 100 percent what was said at the event.
I have a student that applied to UIUC in 2014 and they had this same policy back then. They did it for 2 admissions cycles and then trashed it because they lost a lot of great applicants to ED schools. I’m sure they will have that happen again this year, but I think since in Illinois especially so many tests were cancelled they wanted to give everyone the best chance to have tests taken if they wanted to submit a score. If you didn’t submit a score for consideration then you can’t later submit it to be used for placing out of a course so if their goal is to give everyone a fair shot I guess that makes sense.
Also they do release on the exact day they say, and not earlier. It may be an hour earlier as far as time, but it won’t be a day earlier. So yeah everyone is stuck waiting until mid February.
A parent here as well from 4 years back admission cycle. My S is graduating this year in CS and he had accepted 5th year MS with UIUC. EA and RD on same day is certainly unique for me as well. Quick thinking, in the past EA in mid-December would allow differed students to change their gear for RD choice. e.g. If one failed to get into CS during EA, may switch to CE/EE for RD. I guess that is not doable this year and certainly puts kids at disadvantage. Feel free to DM for any PREP, Undeclared eng or other daunting questions. Good luck to everyone applying this cycle.
Daughter applied EA. So bummed to wait it out now. We are IL residents so this is just another punch in the gut from the state. 
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They’re constantly tweaking their process and I wouldn’t really call it a punch in the gut considering some of us had to go through this type of cycle a few years ago when they did it in 2014 and again 2015 before they changed how they did things again.
The bigger concern is how many more applications they will wind up having this year and how that affects things and admittances for applicants especially RD, although so happy we did EA at least I feel that gives my kid a better shot if he has to go through it.
@PPofEngrDr Yep 4 years ago was the second year of the cycle. My son got into CS as well but ultimately decided to take another career path altogether. Then two years ago I had one daughter do ED in CS elsewhere, and another also got into CS at UIUC but decided on a different program at a difference school now my #4 just applied for CS. With our luck since the two other sibs blew off UIUC CS they will just reject this one altogether, lol. I don’t believe if you’re deferred in the past that you could switch your major. I think it was just that you can stay on the deferral list or not as I remember from my girls cycle those were the options and sometimes kids were offered the pre-engineering program.
@srparent15 I beg to differ here for differed status. Remember very well back then, as it was one of those family discussion for few days what to do after EA decisions were out and my S was adamant not to switch to CE/EE and you right he ended up taking PREP journey when Feb RD decision came. Oh boy that was a gutsy call he made, one more gutsy call last month, let go FAANG FT offer for next summer and embark on MS with Thesis route at UIUC.
If that differed status process is changed in subsequent years, I am not aware then.
If your son is just graduating undergrad this May, then he was in a different admissions cycle than when they had this. They did it this way with all EA and RD on one date in Feb for 2 years only. Both for the class of 2015 and 2016. It sounds like your son is Class of 2017 high school so we’re talking about different things. So back when my son applied and the following year you couldn’t switch. And two years ago when my daughters applied one was accepted off the bat to CS and the other pulled her app because she did ED elsewhere. Anyone deferred could pull their app or stay on the list but I don’t recall anyone being able to change to a different major at that time. So maybe they changed as they have been trying to tweak their process to get the best applicants. If they wanted to do that they should really have an ED period and give more merit scholarship opportunities instead of the few they do have.
Conquer that, indeed we are talking 2 different cycles (15,16 vs 17 onwards). It brings back original issue back, What would be real meaning of EA differed this year, if there is differed status? or EA will be either accepted and waitlisted (no differed status at all), RD follow the same status boat. (so no differed status at all this cycle)? I don’t know answer, but worth to explore.
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My son is applying OOS EA and this is really frustrating. He’s a legacy (both of us and his grandparents) and the randomness of this decision really turns me off from recommending Illinois. Virtually every other school will provide an EA decision earlier and I’m certain Illinois will lose some talent as a result of this. What’s the point of EA if there is no “early”?
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I am sure as an applicant/parent we may not like this change, but certain that university has valid reasons in current pandemic environment and affecting many applicants than just few for its decision. Only talent loss will be someone who had applied ED somewhere else, irrespective of decision time. Technically, all acceptances have until May 1st to decide, means plenty of time to decide once decisions are released.
If the reason is the pandemic, they should have called off EA, and put everyone in RD. We would have two more months to polish the application. This is very frustrating.
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Straight from their website “In order to allow you additional time to potentially retest and to provide a thorough holistic review during the COVID-19 pandemic, we are suspending the early action notification for the 2021 application cycle”
I am not sure if the applicant is ready to apply for EA what else an applicant could polish in 2 more months especially most of classes and activities are remote. In fact, due to pandemic, lots of applicants couldn’t apply to EA because their standardized tests were canceled left and right and forced to apply RD.
I respectfully disagree. While yes students have until May, the reality is that most applying EA won’t wait because the whole reason they apply is to make a decision earlier. Further, many schools have gone test optional and NOT changed their EA policies due to the pandemic. Finally, in my son’s case he is an athlete and most college coaches won’t wait until May for a decision.
I continue to believe that this is a mistake for the university and really doesn’t benefit the majority. Also agree with the comment that if you are going to consolidate your dates why even bother with EA this year? Either switch to only RD or rolling.
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Well May 1st is applicant deadline to accept the admission, not college or athletics department deadline. So if they release the decision by mid-February, I am sure you have enough time to decide as you may already have decisions from other colleges by then.
I am not aware of a school who offered an EA in December would revoke admission because athletics department didn’t get a commitment by mid-February.
There would be cases that this policy indeed didn’t help, but as a public university they decide as a whole and intention is certainly to help mass audience if can’t all.
My children all applied for EA this fall. It is tough on them knowing that in a normal year, they would have heard from U of I by mid December. I am wondering if anyone has a feel for how good a benchmark the “middle 50%” data from the current freshman class that U of I publishes is for determining chances for admission? My kids all fall into the middle 50% for the areas of study they applied to, but I know the website says this isn’t a guarantee for admission. While they wait to hear, I remind them they have managed things very well in a challenging year that none of us have ever experienced and stay positive!