Hey there, I’m in between NU and UIUC.
By the time I graduate, my overall GPA will be 3.89-3.9. Currently, I got waitlisted by Northwestern, but I have gotten into similarly difficult schools to get into.
What would the best move be here?
Where have you been accepted?
I thought in another thread you were asking about deciding between UNC and Wash U?
I wouldn’t recommend a gap year if you already have great acceptances. Nor starting the school year with the intention of transferring.
I also think EDing to a school that didn’t admit you the first time around isn’t a good plan.
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Unfortunately, my parents told me that they wouldn’t be able to afford sending me to either of those universities for a full four years.
I’m not willing to send them into debt for college, but I’m entirely unsatisfied with my options as well.
Gotcha. I’m so sorry this is coming up now!
NU just announced a tuition hike for next year. The cost of attendance will be over $95k.
If UIUC is your instate option and affordable I would look strongly to transfer there or start at a CC and then transfer.
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No, I’ve gotten into UIUC for CS + Econ. But, my parents said after my first year at UIUC, I can transfer out.
Problem with transferring is that schools often give less aid than they would if you were applying as a first year.
If you got into WashU and UNC - both meet need and can’t afford them, why would you sit out a year and apply ED to another pricey school.
A gap year is for someone who wants a gap year.
You could go to a school you can afford (yes, a lesser name), graduate, and get the same job.
Your local state school kids work with kids from the top state schools and even some privates.
You are going to derail your educational desires because you’re unhappy with a name? In the end, you will make your success - or not. That’s crazy talk what you are discussing.
So you committed to UIUC.
Let’s change the narrative - go to UIUC and have a wonderful four years. You can easily have as good a job as you would at NU. You might also get a better job or not as good. btw - this would be no different if you went to - name your state school.
Go to UIUC with the idea of loving it, kicking butt, getting a great degree, and having a great life.
You don’t go anywhere with one foot out the door - you are likely to do as well.
But taking a gap year to getting into a school you can’t afford - hmmmm - no.
When you have a budget, you build for the budget. You clearly didn’t.
There’s tons of Ivy caliber kids - at most state flagships. Why do you think an Alabama has, historically, the most or near most NMF kids? And guess who many work with - kids from top school.
This is just crazy talk that you would take off another year because you didn’t get into Northwestern. Either did 90%+ of other kids.
And btw - Northwestern doesn’t list WL stats - but some privates WL 20, 30% of all applicants - far more than they accept so in many cases being WL means little in regards to admit chances. They WL you in case their yield falls short, so they have options - not actually because you were a true candidate for admission. I can’t tell what NU does as they don’t show stats, but Emory, Miami, CWRU - schools like that - upwards of 30% of all applicants, far more than they even accept get WL - so I wouldn’t look at a WL as necessarily, I was close. Just being honest before you go off and make a crazy decision.
Go to college!!!
To be fair, my parents were not upfront about their finances until after I got my decisions back.
I was fine with going to UIUC (which is my state school) until, recently, they told me that they couldn’t afford my admitted colleges currently but they would be able to in one year.
My dad said that if I wanted NU so badly that he would let me take a gap year and reapply ED.
I want to go into finance, and from what I’ve heard, prestige matters. UIUC is not considered much of a target, neither is WashU or UNC, but NU is.
I know that success can be found wherever, and that I can also be unsuccessful at NU, but NU is my dream school, and I’m kicking myself for not ED-ing. I wasn’t viewing WL as a chance of an admit, but just as a way of saying; “Yeah the result wasn’t favorable. Could it be more favorable with an ED?”
In the end, you didn’t properly build a list unless you got into a school that you can afford. I assume UIUC is that school - and for CS, most would tell you it’s superior to NU anyway.
I feel sorry for you that your parents weren’t up front. Unfortunately, you are not the only one.
But now you know the finances - so why would you make the same mistake?
Guess what will happen when you reapply? Likely the same - or not -because what will you do in the next year to make the decision differently? And even if dad’s finances change, what makes you think he’ll be willing to pay what Northwestern will require - upwards of $95K a year?
Finance is all encompassing. For some jobs, “prestige” as you call it matters. For others, it doesn’t - you can do as well at Southern Illinois - at other schools.
As for IB, kids get IB jobs from a lot of schools - not just “target” schools - and there are various lists, and like a top 20, there are 50 top 20. You know who gets IB jobs? Arizona State kids. Virginia Tech kids. U of Houston kids. Yes, some may place higher (and it’s still hot) but you are not eliminated from IB jobs because you go to UIUC - that’s crazy talk. btw - one ranking (Peak which many use) NU at 21 and UNC 30 -not really different. But don’t forget, jobs place regionally. My son’s alum interviewer from Wash U was in IB in Nashville. NU might place in Chicago - as will UIUC.
Look up UIUC and investment banking on linkedin - lots of kids. Baird, TD, Evercore, Morgan Stanley and more.
You are catastrophizing something that is a GREAT outcome - going to a “target” that someone names as such is no assurance of anything and going to a non-target doesn’t eliminate you. I don’t see Rutgers on any lists and they do great!!
Gies has the Investment Banking Academy - is it open to non-Gies kids - I don’t know.
But taking a gap year - huge mistake - when you may not even be close to an NU admission - and unless you spend that next year doing something impactful, you’ll be further away. A WL - may very well be a tease but not in reality close to an admission but rather a hedge just in case they need it. WLs are for schools, not for students.
Just being frank with you. You can do anything at UIUC that you can at NU - there will be many kids who want IB at NU that don’t get and kids at UIUC that beat them.
And what if you change your mind?
And if you want a corporate finance job? Then you can go - anywhere - E Illinois, S Illiniois - you name it. And yet you got into a world class program - world class. Don’t blow this opportunity.
PS - there are no dream schools - all have bad roomies, profs, food, dorms - what have you - there’s no where that’s perfect - and perfect schools would be affordable - and in a year, I don’t think dad is gonna say, sure I can afford $400K. So get dream out of your mind.
NU doesn’t publish ED data - at many top schools, there’s no advantage. Don’t forget, athletes and QB go ED - so it makes the admit rate seem higher but it’s often artificial. And schools say - we admit half the class ED. But guess what - when you look at stats and you can’t at NU as they don’t show the data - but other schools - high end, target type schools have to admit 5x to 7x the # of RD students who enroll - because the RD yield isn’t all that - meaning, some say - if I don’t ED I have no chance when in reality, they are admitting multiples of the kids that got in ED as RD - in order to build that other half the class. They are scare tactics, marketing - but I’ll call bunk. ED might give you a limited advantage at a school like NU but nothing like you would be made to think.
To sit out a year - in this case - is crazy. Lots of people get rejected at lots of schools and go elsewhere.
Show love to the one that loves you back. Heck, you got into Wash U - which is an NU sub - and you can’t afford it.
I think you are 17 and you are not thinking clearly long term.
I hate to be frank - but wow, you’re about to make a huge mistake with your life - in my opinion - and then you’ll be in a similar boat next year - if you’re lucky enough to get into UIUC again.
Yeah, you’re right. Just unsatisfied I suppose
UIUC CS let you in - so they know you can do it. So you don’t suck like you say. Yes, kids are at different levels - the entirety of CS kids at UIUC aren’t walking in - fully immersed in CS. If that’s what you want to study, you will be at your level - whatever that is - no matter where you went.
Stop comparing yourself to others. Guess what - your family didn’t have the $$ to send you. It happens.
My kids both chose safeties over reach admits. I thought my kid was crazy picking Bama for engineering over CS. Guess who he beat in internships (he went back, they weren’t inveted back - and he got a full time offer) - two from Ga Tech that he actually lived with during the sumer so stayed in touch with for a while. Guess who he works with - kids from Purdue,Michigan, UW, Case Western, etc. My daughter chose a regional public over one of the top LACs in the country - and got into a public service program post grad with a 10% admit rate.
I see you deleted most of your last message to say - you are just unsatisifed. You had noted your peer group is going to Duke, Stanford, etc. before you deleted it.
You are you - when you go to your 20 year reunion, if you apply yourself (no differently than them), you’ll have a great life. Guess what - I’ve had a Stanford admin assistant (secretary role) - Ivy kids flounder. Kids from SE Missouri State become millionaires.
It’s up to you - not the name on your degree. Life isn’t always fair - but you are given a great, great opportunity others can only dream about.
Good luck.
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You have an amazing acceptance at UIUC! Go and enjoy your four years and knock it out of the park there!
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To be clear, are you saying your parents can’t pay for UIUC for Fall 2026?
I don’t see anything likely to result in a different decision when you send in your app this fall, in just five months or so. Of course, it could work out too. Have you run that NPC to see if NU would be affordable?
Are you talking about finance, or something more specific like investment banking? All these schools have excellent results placing in finance jobs…but who knows what the job market will be like when you graduate in four years (many project finance jobs, including investment banking analyst roles, will be negatively impacted by AI.)
It is. Also notable at UIUC is that most career fairs, including those at Gies, are open to all students.
Yes, and what that means, assuming near 100% ED yield, is that over half the seats of the class are filled in ED. For NU Class of 2029 ED, about 55% of the class seats came via ED (assuming 100% yield.) I agree with you that schools/the press use the admit/enrolled verbiage confusingly.
Even though RD yield is obviously lower than ED, applying RD is still risky/highly competitive at many highly rejective schools because these schools are filling institutional priorities in RD (ones they they didn’t completely fill in ED.) So, if an applicant doesn’t fulfill at least one remaining institutional priority, they likely won’t see an admit in RD.
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if costs are a factor, this will be the case at most colleges.
UIUC is a great school. You likely can achieve your goals with dedicated work while in college. There is no need to transfer from UIUC to another college. Get your bachelors in CS, and look forward. Maybe you can apply to places like Northwestern for grad school after a couple of years of work…post bachelors degree.
You need to start looking at this cup as half full instead of half empty. You have the opportunity to attend a great flagship university, and honestly, I don’t see a good reason for you not to do so.
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I do not understand why you would even want to transfer elsewhere.
UIUC is a very, very good university overall, and is superb for computer science. At least the last time that I looked, I thought it was ranked as one of the top 5 or 6 universities in the US for computer science. If you wanted to transfer out of UIUC to somewhere higher ranked and you are a CS major, then one big problem you might have is that there is vanishingly close to nowhere higher ranked to transfer to.
Now, given that you are in-state for UIUC, it is likely to be at least more affordable compared to most other options.
With regard to economics, again UIUC is very good.
A bachelor’s degree at UIUC and a master’s degree elsewhere is of course entirely possible. If you were to go to pretty nearly any master’s program anywhere, you would most likely find that the majority of students came from undergraduate schools ranked lower compared to UIUC.
If there is some family reason that your parents cannot pay for this upcoming year, but they could pay a year later, then you might want to mention this to UIUC admissions and see if you can defer for a year. I would not do this to try to get into a “better” school (if there even are any). However, doing this either because there is something that you would want to do for a gap year or because of the family financial situation does seem potentially reasonable.
But for someone majoring in computer science plus economics (which to me sounds like a double major, but a very reasonable and I think very interesting double major) UIUC is a superb option. Being in-state is a big plus (due to cost, and minimizing travel, and already being used to the winters, and having family relatively nearby).
By the way, to add a bit of personal bias, to me both CS and economics are areas where you would be well served to also take some mathematics. Things such as linear algebra and probability and statistics (and of course multi-variate calculus) would seem valuable for both of these majors. Some understanding of algorithms might also be useful but a bit of this is likely to come with a CS major.
There are various types of “finance” jobs. For the stressful high end jobs, I do not think that anyone can really expect to get into them, and I am not clear as to why anyone would want to.
Even there, to me it seems like a better plan to do what seems obviously right, and then see how it works out down the road. A bachelor’s degree from UIUC to me sounds right in this case. This could optionally be followed by a good job at a lot of different places, or by a master’s degree. Where you might go for a master’s degree is likely to depend upon how well you do as an undergraduate student, what sort of internship or job experience you get along the way, what you decide you might want to get a master’s in, and just where you want to be at the time. I do not see UIUC as placing any limits at all with regard to where you could go for a master’s degree.
Personally I think that UIUC is a superb choice for CS plus economics, regardless of whether you start in September or defer for a year and start a year later.
Congratulations on what to me looks like a great and probably well deserved admit!
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I would highly suggest NOT making final occupational decisions out of high school. I promise, once you mature in college, you’ll see things much more clear. First off, a CS degree at UIUC is very prestigious and it’s heavily recruited by top companies. I promise you’re going to be fine. Chances are, you’ll probably change your major once you figure out where your real passions are.
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Really? You’ve admitted that you can’t afford it right now. An ED application without knowing your budget ahead of time would have been a HUGE mistake. And really, what assurances can your parents give you that they can afford it next year? IF you get in.
Go to UIUC. It’s your best option.
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Another vote for going to UIUC and having a great four year experience. Stop focusing on unaffordable options.
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The most likely result is getting waitlisted again if you reapply as frosh to the same college that waitlisted you the first time you applied as frosh.
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OK, let me provide a bit of possible brutal honesty here. Your parents did not address affordability of any of the colleges you applied to until you weren’t accepted to Northwestern. When you were waitlisted to Northwestern, they told you that they could not afford any of the colleges to which you were accepted (except UIUC in-state, from which they want you to transfer) but that they will be able to afford Northwestern NEXT year.
It seems to me that, had you been accepted to Northwestern this year, they may have been able to afford it.
Northwestern cost of attendance is $50K a year more than that of in-state UIUC, and UNC OOS is $28K more. Unless your parents expect a huge increase in income, I cannot see how they will be able to afford Northwestern this year, if they cannot afford UNC OOS this year.
In March, you wanted to major in Public Policy, and that was only two moths ago. You really cannot be certain what will interest you once you have started college. So choosing your college, and taking a gap year for that, based on interests that change every few months is not a good idea.
It’s absolutely OK to have changing interests - that’s actually very common, and if you also look at how many people end up with jobs that aren’t related to their college major, you’ll see that most high school seniors will not have careers in the major that they choose when they start college.
Taking a Gap Year is only a good idea if you have real plans for that Gap year. If you’re waitlisted and then rejected by Northwestern this year, and reapply after taking a Gap year during which you haven’t done much, you likely won’t be accepted, even if you do apply ED.
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