U of I Receives Many Applications

The University of Illinois hit a milestone this year with a record-breaking number of applicants for the second year in a row.

The U of I set a record of 31,454 applicants last year, but broke it again when 33,178 students applied this year, defying previous expectations.

The number of applications is up in all categories, with about a fifth of the applications coming from other states, a little under a third of them coming from overseas, and about half of them coming from inside Illinois.

“Making sure students in Illinois still consider us as a choice and an option is very important to us,” University of Illinois Director of Undergraduate Admissions Stacey Kostell told the News-Gazette.

Of the applications that were received, 20,875 were admitted, 10,502 were denied and 1,531 are on the waiting list.

In addition, the U of I has also started a program that includes busing top students from Chicago high schools to its campus to see what life is like there. It’s primarily focused on juniors and seniors, but this year included a project to bring down sophomores from four Chicago high schools for “an interactive experience with professors to expose them to the larger college experience about what’s possible at Illinois,” according to Kostell.

The University of Illinois is considered a top college, and it is ranked as the 13th public university in the United States by the US and World Report. The same report ranks the U of I’s College of Engineering as the 5th in the nation, and its College of Business is ranked 14th in the nation.

Urbana High School students also have things to say in praise of the U of I. “If I wanted to study music, Harvard or Yale might not be the best school for music,” says UHS Freshman Nicholas Arroyo. The U of I might, though – its School of Music is among the top 10 music programs in the US, according to the US College Rankings.

Arroyo also said that “a lot of UHS students end up going to the U of I” because it’s close and they are often able to get a discount.

It cannot be denied that the University of Illinois is a successful university, and they have the numbers to prove it.