<p>“How do you know this? It’s unfair to judge from just your own app. Did you read that on their website?”</p>
<p>Since I’m from Illinois there were a lot of people in my school that applied. You can track the application status online, and for me and other people with high stats, it instantly changed from waited for materials to accepted, while for others with lower stats it said “in manual review” or something like that for quite a while. </p>
<p>Here are a couple of threads on the UIUC board that talk about it-
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=29548[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=29548</a>
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=26931[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=26931</a></p>
<p>It’s possible that I’m wrong but I’m almost certain that they do have a computer admit a lot of people. This ties in a lot with your next question:</p>
<p>“Not to argue with you, but why would they want that? If someone is an easy reject, thats an easy $30 , and it lower its acceptance rate.”</p>
<p>A few years ago U of I decided to publish all test score averages and GPA averages and not take the route that many universities were taking (to encourage poor applicants with almost no chance of admission to apply). This was to save money and going through way to many applications, and maybe to be honest with applicants also.</p>
<p>“Interesting note: Bioengineering looks insanely competitve, with a 1480-1600 SAT percentiles, and only 25 students. Biotech careers seem way overhyped (unless of course these kids are premed).”</p>
<p>UIUC just started their bioengineering program last year I think (maybe the year before that), which probably explains why it was competitive. Though in the current issue of US News their department is ranked last (which is to be expected since it’s brand new).</p>
<p>Thanks for the link (so that’s where it was hiding 
).</p>