The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is a public research university based in Illinois in the United States. It is the central member of the University of Illinois system. The university was initially established as the Illinois Industrial University in 1867 before changing its name to the University of Illinois two decades later. Illinois is especially reputed for its research commitment, particularly towards that of computer science and engineering, and has further been associated with several key start-ups. However, because it is a state school, the acceptance rate at the University of Illinois is somewhat competitive.
The university campus is based in between the twin cities of Urbana and Champaign. Located in a picturesque environment, the campus grounds consist of a mixture of academic buildings, historic landmarks, and formal gardens.
Academically, the university is organized in 16 academic colleges including the oldest Colleges of Fine & Applied Arts and Agriculture, Consumer & Environmental Sciences. The most recent addition to the academic structure is the Carle-Illinois College of Medicine that currently has around 40 students enrolled in the MD program. The university also maintains professional Online programs including Online MBA and Digital Marketing degrees. Collectively, the university offers over 150 undergraduate degrees and 100 graduate-entry degrees for the student community.
Illinois has become a world leader in research since its inception. The university spends over $600 million in research alone and has a high commitment to engineering and scientific research. Computer science-based research is also centric on the university’s infrastructure and it played a leading role in the development of the plasma screen invention. The university is also home to the fastest supercomputer in the United States and further hosts the National Center for Supercomputing Applications.
The Research Park at Illinois was established in 2001 and has grown to include over 13 research laboratories. It is also associated with numerous start-ups and companies such as Capital One, Yahoo!, Caterpillar, and John Deere. The university also maintains the Prairie Research Institute which focuses on a wide range of fields from biodiversity and ecology to disease and public health.
Illinois has a student enrolment of over 45,000 students. 25% of the student population consists of international students from over 100 countries. To be students here, they had to go through the acceptance rate at the University of Illinois. These students have access to around 1,000 different organizations and societies. Greek societies including fraternities and sororities number around 100 and recruit a large number of students from the community. The student experience is further maintained via the official University of Illinois Student Government. Furthermore, the academic community has access to the University of Illinois library system which is one of the largest collections in the world and holds over 25 million volumes and items.
The University of Illinois has produced graduates across several fields of study. Notable graduates include:
- 10 Nobel Laureates including Jack Kilby (inventor of the integrated circuit, Physics) and Phillip Sharp (Chemistry)
- 11 Pulitzer Prize winners including Barry Bearak and David Herbert Donald
- Fazlur Rahman Khan, Architect of the Willis Tower and John Hancock Center
- Max Levchin – founder of Paypal
- Hugh Hefner – CEO of Playboy
- Steve Chen – Co-founder of YouTube
- Brendan Eich – Inventor of JavaScript
- Joe Hewitt – Firefox
- Nick Offerman – Actor
- Carol Moseley Braun – First African-American Female United States Senator
Acceptance Rate at the University of Illinois
Although the academics at the university is very solid, the acceptance rate at the University of Illinois is 61%. This is a fairly high acceptance rate for a school as prestigious as the University of Illinois. So, if you want to attend a prestigious university but don’t have the scores and GPA, this university should be on your list of interested schools.
I hope that this article on the University of Illinois acceptance rate was helpful. If you are interested in studying abroad, check out the Available Programs for International Students!
