UIUC

Source: uiuc.md

Admissions Overview

Overall acceptance rate: 42% (Class of 2028, from 73,742 applicants)
Trending down: from 63% in 2020 to 42% in 2024; record applicants for Fall 2025
Early Action: offered (Nov 1 deadline), no separate published EA rate
No ED offered
Testing policy: test-optional; 41% submitted SAT, 14% submitted ACT

CS acceptance rate: ~6.7% (top-5 nationally ranked program)
CS+X programs: ~18.5% acceptance rate
Engineering overall: 20-30% acceptance rate
This makes UIUC CS comparable to Ivy-level selectivity while the overall university is moderately selective

Illinois Commitment program covers tuition for qualifying in-state families.

Category: flagship_public
The dramatically lower CS acceptance rate (~7%) vs overall (~42%) is a key characteristic. For the simulation, using the overall rate is appropriate since we model university-level admissions, but the notable field flags this.
Strong in-state bias (71% of freshmen are Illinois residents)
Very generous financial aid for low-income students ($3,883 net cost for <$30K)

CS acceptance rate is the headline: ~7% for direct CS admission, making it Ivy-comparable in difficulty. CS+X programs are ~18.5%, a popular alternative pathway frequently recommended on forums.
Massive gap between CS and overall: University-wide is 42%, but CS/CE are <7%. Forum posters stress that "UIUC CS" and "UIUC" are essentially different schools in terms of admissions difficulty.
In-state vs OOS matters: RD acceptance rate is ~55% in-state vs ~35% OOS/international. In-state applicants have meaningfully better odds across all programs.
EA is offered (Nov 1) but no separate EA rate is published. Forum consensus is that EA timing helps marginally.
Test-optional but 41% submitted SAT, 14% ACT. For competitive programs (CS, Engineering), submitting strong scores is widely recommended on forums.

Engineering students describe their corner of campus as a "mini-campus" with coffee shops, food trucks, and maker spaces — a genuine engineering community.
Students report heavy recruiting by top tech companies, making UIUC CS one of the best pipelines to Silicon Valley, Chicago tech, and finance.
Campus is in a small college town (Champaign-Urbana) — nightlife is limited vs urban flagships, but the campus community is tight-knit.
71% of freshmen are Illinois residents, creating a strong Midwest identity. International student population (14%) adds diversity.
Academic workload in engineering/CS is demanding. Students report a collaborative but intense culture.

Illinois Commitment program covers tuition for qualifying in-state families — very generous for low-income students ($3,883 net for <$30K).
OOS tuition (~$35K) is standard, with limited institutional merit aid for OOS students.
Forum consensus: UIUC is an incredible value in-state, especially for CS/engineering graduates who command high starting salaries.

Model overall university rate (42%) for the simulation since it's university-level admissions. The 7% CS rate is program-specific.
In-state preference is significant (~55% IS vs ~35% OOS in RD).
Low yield (27%) reflects that many OOS admits choose other options; in-state yield is likely much higher.