And, you’re certainly entitled to your opinion, which makes lots of assumptions. But it’s ok. It’s all about you, not me.
It seems I didn’t explain myself. My bad.
I was hoping to get stories from students about their experiences transferring to engineering because it’s the most competitive.
I also want to know if uiuc has data/numbers/stats about students transfers to engineering and other majors - such as how many students applied to transfer to engineering and other majors, acceptance rates, and stats.
Not many current students here, I would check Reddit.
You would need to contact people in DGS and ask these questions about admit rates, etc.
Engineering is tough, but I don’t know admit rates. Remember that engineering has its own separate undeclared students in Grainger, so those students are all looking to get into engineering majors, whereas only some portion of the DGS students are targeting Grainger.
If engineering is really what your kid wants, best to take a direct admit if they have that option.
My daughter was admitted to DGS as well, but her first choice was Gies. That too is a hugely competitive school, and she just didn’t want to risk not getting in, so she will be going to Kelley as a direct admit. She has many friends at UIUC, and their impression of DGS is not great. Highly competitive and poor academic advising.
If you’re looking for hard stats, you might be able to get that information from DGS or Grainger directly.
Great feedback @Sorrento17, thank you.
Yes, Business program is very competitive too.
Your daughter going to Kelley as direct admit. Is Kelley at the Business program? If so, how did she get the direct admit to Kelley?
My kid decided for DGS to get exposure to different majors as my kid has broad interests.
Is DGS competitive in a negative way? I mean when students try to undermine each other to get ahead?
Or is it competitive in a sense that everybody is an overachiever but they still manage to have a collaborative environment?
Poor academic advising? I’m guessing the advisor don’t really help students to find the best major for the student.
My daughter was admitted DA to Kelley (IU’s business school) through their petition process. She went test optional, so she submitted a review request in late September and was notified of her DA acceptance in late November. There are GPA and test score “hurdles” that will qualify you for DA into Kelley, but if you go test optional or have scores that are slightly lower, you must send in a petition (a review request).
From what she has told me, the students in DGS who want to transfer into either Grainger or Gies are super competitive (academically and with each other) from day one. Not only do they need a phenomenal GPA, but they do club activities and other things to try to differentiate themselves. And with all of that, there is still no guarantee that they will get in. UIUC is a great university, but I think if you go the DGS route, you need to be okay with having plan B and plan C if you don’t get into one of the competitive colleges.
I agree with this, and will note these students may be collaborative in class/groups, but yes anywhere there are limited spots where people have to compete to earn them, this can bring out the negative side of competition.
OTOH there are many DGS students who are not targeting Gies or Grainger, and love the DGS experience. In business and engineering, generally best to take the direct admit.
I don’t believe DGS is competitive in a negative way between other DGS students because how would they identify each other?…in what way would they undermine each other? As others have said, DGS kids will be competing for high quality involvement experiences but in my opinion it isn’t much different than college applications and eventual internship and post-graduation employment.
It is competitive in the sense that many DGS kids may want to transfer into business (and engineering about which I have less knowledge) with a very small timeframe to do so. My kids know DGS kids who were successful but it’s not like they took a few semesters to take a broad range of courses to figure out where their interests lie. Often DGS kids who want Gies did not get a direct admit.
The successful ones are those who are focused on excellent grades and campus involvement…and that involvement can be in a wide range of RSOs. Where the competition/collaboration dynamic is evident is the RSO selection. Some RSOs are very selective with online applications, interviews, etc. This requires a student to be organized and efficient with their time. Others may be less selective for participating but I believe the colleges can distinguish between a student who is just trying to “check a box” and the student who is a motivated contributor to the organization. One semester to show “what you’ve got” is a bit stressful, but is doable.
For instance my kids were involved in a selective co-ed business frat. This RSO would do their best to help the DGS kids get their transfer into business. In this case it was very competitive for the DGS student to get the opportunity to benefit from the collaborative nature of the RSO.
The next natural question is what do kids who are unsuccessful in attaining the desired major do. I know for business kids a lot will go to ACES (College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences) or Economics. I would research options before deciding to go the DGS route.
Not possible to get DA anymore for engineering at UIUC, unless I guess someone is waitlisted for one of the Grainger majors and gets off the waitlist.
What majors did your kid apply to at UIUC? They had two choices, what were they?
Since your kid could want engineering or business, they should go somewhere where it’s far less restricted to move into those majors (IMO of course). But of course some students do successfully move into Grainger or Gies from DGS, but they are top students and even then, getting into their preferred major is not fully in their control.
Exactly! We need to know the options available since the major preference could be business, engineering or something else. We don’t know and thus DGS. (We’re in a loop now)
Maybe start like this…if your kid did choose DGS, what classes are they going to take Freshman year (use all the links I already provided)? They will not be able to take all the required engineering and business classes that would keep both options open. I suppose they could do that if they stay in DGS for two years, but at that point, if they choose engineering, (or certain Gies majors), they will not be able to graduate in 4 years. Going longer than 4 years could happen too at another school, even one where it’s easy to change majors, simply because the engineering requirements are so onerous.
@88jm19, got it. Students get to DGS because couldn’t get a direct admit. In our case, DGS was the selection to explore different options.
Now, given the uncertainty for some majors, I guess more thinking to do. The same will be true in other colleges so it’s not just UIUC.
I’m not sure making a selection of major when you’re 17 y/o is the best approach or wise— in my own opinion. Of course, there are these kids who have a clear passion or the ones incline for majors that will provide high salaries.
I would also factor in AP credit when comparing schools. Exploring one’s interests can be an expensive path when certain majors are pursued due to course sequencing and prerequisites. A school like UIUC which I think is quite generous with AP credit can give a student “a little breathing room”.
Just beware that sometimes AP credit can be misleading. I’ve heard of instances where a kid got AP Calc credit but was not proficient enough in the subject. It negatively impacted attainment of the desired degree.
It’s great that UIUC is generous with AP’s. My kid has many.
Good point about AP vs proficiency in the subject. Is not the same.
Thank you for your comments @88jm19
You parents are very knowledgeable. I hope you don’t mind more questions.
Engineering & Business are ultra competitive. My interpretation is that even if the student has a 4.0 Gpa and meaningful leadership positions in their clubs/volunteering/etc., the student may not be accepted to the Engineering program ( no interest in only CS) or Business. Is my interpretation accurate?
How about the following programs? How doable is it to transfer?
CS + X in the College of Liberal Arts and Science
LAS science
-College of Media
For all the colleges we’re considering, we don’t know UIUC hence all the questions.
I’m looking for insights, experiences from your kids or your kid’s friends (info that cannot be found in UIUC website)
Does anyone know if honor program notifications are still coming out? Or, if we did not get one it means that S dis not get invited to honors program? This is for Grainger.