<p>I’m a senior from Vermont and am interested in applying University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. I was looking over the [Fall</a> 2003 enrollment](<a href=“http://www.dmi.uiuc.edu/stuenr/FA03E.htm]Fall”>http://www.dmi.uiuc.edu/stuenr/FA03E.htm) and noticed that there were only 2 undergraduates from Vermont (from a school with 30,000 undergraduates!). My question then is, is this a good or bad thing? I know colleges all want to brag on their brochures that they have students from all 50 states, so does this increase my chances? Or does that fact that I’m an out-of-stater make it just as hard as from any other state?</p>
<p>And while we’re at it, anyone wanna guess my chances (Applying to the Computer Science dept.)? </p>
<p>I’m also applying to:
Brown - (reach) (had an interview/know someone…)
Carnegie-Mellon (reach/match?) (had an interview)
UIUC - (match?)
UVA - (legacy, match?)
Penn State - (accepted)</p>
<p>Unweighted GPA: 3.6
Class Rank: 32/225 (~14%)</p>
<p>AP’s/Honors:
Accelerated Alegebra 2 and Precalculus, now in AP Calculus
Honors American Studies (Combined US History and English 10)
Pre-AP Spanish
Lab Physics (highest level available)</p>
<p>Extra-Curriculars:
Snowboard Team
Tutoring middle-schoolers
Jazz Band
Independent Web Design/Development
Internship in Computer Lab (at my highschool)
Internship at MyWebGrocer.com (summer job)
NHS</p>
<p>I’m an Illinois alum (nobody who went to Illinois has ever called it UIUC) and can only guess at the answer to your question. However, it’s a guess that comes from knowing a lot about the school and with hundreds of friends and relatives counted as Illinois students and faculty.</p>
<p>Illinois is an incredible school, but an incredibly BIG school. A student has to want that kind of school. In some ways, Illinois is very diverse, but in other ways, it’s not diverse at all. Historically, Illinois has been disproportionately represented by two groups: Illinois kids (most of whom are from Chicago) and internationals (drawn to Illinois because of their amazing programs in engineering, computer science, and the hard sciences). Of course, there are a lot of students from adjoining midwest states, as well as many from the big population states like NY, NJ, and California. But, beyond making sure they can say “we got all 50 states,” there are very few from many U.S. states.</p>
<p>That being said, I can’t imagine that it could be anything other than a positive for you, coming from a severely under-represented state. And, because of budget problems facing virtually every State school in the country, you can also factor in the increasing willingness of most State schools to “up” the number of out-of-state students (paying the higher out-of-state tuition) at the expense of the in-state students.</p>
<p>And you obviously already know about Illinois’ reputation as a computer science school. I’m not qualified to compare Illinois with the other schools on your list, but it’s a very high-quality choice in your particular area, and I think is easily a match (likely match/safety) for you.</p>