A first-year applicant is a degree-seeking student who applies for admission while attending high school and/or hasn’t graduated yet, regardless of the amount of college degree credit earned; or is a student enrolled in the fall term who attended college for the first time in the prior summer term; or who, since graduating from high school, hasn’t attended another post-secondary institution as a degree-seeking undergraduate student.
A beginning first-year student is required to remain in the academic community and the prescribed first-year program to which they have been admitted for at least two semesters of full-time study.
Review Process
In order to meet their educational missions, each academic community at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign seeks students who meet and exceed standards for incoming first-year students and have the potential to be leaders in their chosen fields upon graduation. When a student applies to University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, their application for admission is subject to a rigorous, careful, thoughtful, and complete review by admissions professionals from our office and the academic community to which they have applied.
A variety of factors are considered upon review. When reading an application, the admissions and academic community professionals review it using a holistic approach by combining the criteria being evaluated. Primary among these criteria are academic performance and coursework rigor. The other sections of the application—including the essay; major-specific questions; list of activities, achievements, and honors; and so on—will be given equal, careful, and thoughtful attention. Applicants should understand that every word of the application is considered in making an admissions decision, being sure to present themselves and their stories accurately and completely. Readers consider all evidence provided by the applicant, the context of the personal and academic circumstances, the opportunities available to them, and the strength of the applicant pool in each academic community and to University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign overall. The weight of each criterion in the admissions decision depends on the combination of qualities presented by the applicant. We have no set formula of weighting criteria. Final decisions are made on the evaluation of a variety of criteria and not by a single point system or formula.
Most applications receive at least two reviews. Our office checks all preliminary decisions in order to assure a high level of consistency while recognizing that professional judgment is being used to make individual decisions about each applicant. The multiple reviews combined with the consistency check create a system of quality control that leads to the best possible decisions of professional judgment.
Applicants have the opportunity to apply directly into an academic community and major. For this reason, an applicant’s strengths and experiences as they relate to their intended program of study will be taken into consideration. For example, The Grainger College of Engineering will focus on the student’s proficiency in math and science as shown through grades and rigor in those areas and subscores on the ACT or SAT (if provided). Applicants to talent-based programs in the College of Fine and Applied Arts, such as Art, Music, Theatre and Dance, must be academically eligible as well as pass a talent review either conducted through an audition or portfolio review. The College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences will make note of experiences or activities that directly correlate with the specific field of study the applicant has chosen. In other words, each of the 11 academic communities reviews applications with the goal of admitting students who demonstrate that they’ll succeed and thrive within their chosen academic program.
Guidelines for Accepting College Credits Earned by High School Students
Some students have the opportunity to earn college credit while in high school. A high school student will receive college credit for any transferable college course that appears on an official post-secondary transcript. If the student enrolls at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the grades earned in college courses will be part of the student’s cumulative GPA. Refer to Transferology to find out how your courses will transfer to University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
College credit is also awarded to degree-seeking undergraduate students who earn a sufficiently high score on the Advanced Placement (AP) Program examinations, the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme examinations, A-Level/GCE examinations, or the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Departmental Proficiency Examinations. The AP, IB, and/or A-Level GCE exams must have been taken prior to beginning undergraduate studies. The departmental proficiency exams, covering many university courses normally open to first-year students and sophomores including languages other than English, are typically offered near the beginning of each semester. Our current policy awards Composition I credit for sufficiently high scores on the following: combined ACT English and ACT Reading (summed from the same test date), SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing, either of the two AP English exams, or any of the seven IB exams that involve academic writing (English Literature, English Language & Literature, English Literature & Performance, or Film). Duplicate credit (earning credit twice for the same course) is not permitted.