I can go one better. Deferred UMN and accepted UIUC. 
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Congrats. Our son started in the Architecture program in Fall 25. Loves it. He is excited about the year abroad in Barcelona.
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I’ll go one more. Deferred UW Madison and accepted into UNC, GTech, and UIUC.
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Got in EA! In-state, applied for Industrial Engineering (Grainger), 4.5 W GPA, 1400 SAT, 9 APs, okay extracurriculars (summer internship, NHS, volunteering), okay awards (volunteering, honor roll, AP Scholar w/ Distinction)
Think my essays were the redeeming factor 
Good luck to all in RD <33
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Anyone have any inside information on the admitted student day(s) (Illinois Bound?) - no access thru D26 Illinois portal but there’s website information that lists Sat March 28th 2026 as the/a date with no others listed.
Can anyone confirm this date and or generally if other dates are usually added. She currently has a conflict with the Kelley DA weekend (March 27/28th) already registered.
I don’t have any other info than that, but we signed up last night for the March 28 Illinois Bound. I was curious why no info on an admitted student day so I just Googled it and found it that way (though you had to put in your MyIllini credentials to get to sign up). Sorry about the conflict, hope other days are offered!
Yep. That’s what she did as well. IU-Kelley has two weekends for their Direct Admit students currently, which we signed up for a few weeks ago, and their alternate date is now full.
They have a host of ‘admitted student’ session and tours throughout the months - but the only Illinois Bound Admitted Student day we could find is that March 28th date.
I guess she can email Gies admissions to ask if they have information on unofficial days that will potential be offered.
We also have a conflict on 28th. The 16 Feb and 10 April “community bound” signups seem to be a smaller version of the big day. We registered separately for a department tour on the day we chose, which seems to be timed to coincide with those. From the FAA department website for admitted students :
We have four different options for ILLINOIS BOUND, which include campus-wide opportunities. Saturday, March 28, is our large visit day, and other ILLINOIS BOUND events are February 16, February 27, and April 10.
description of the “community bound” agenda (it’s a full day):
As families arrive on campus, we’ll start the day off with a welcome program including open remarks from Student Affairs. You’ll then meet with your new academic community before having an opportunity to learn more about Illinois communities through open houses, a campus resource fair, student panels, facility tours and more. Participating communities include our cultural centers, faith communities, student organizations, scholars programs and housing.
We’ll provide you with a full agenda of the day’s events when you arrive on campus.
It’s not clear to me if any other programming will be added.
Has anyone heard anything about (1) honors, or (2) merit $? Any info on timing other than “no later than” April 1? Thanks!
I read somewhere (but don’t remember where) that merit for EA comes out between middle and end February. Sounds like they are generally not very generous with merit for OOS students though.
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A post was merged into an existing topic: University of Illinois Urbana Champaign Class of 2030 Official RD Thread
FYI. If you are interested in any off campus events for admitted students in College of Engineering, you can sign up here.
My daughter received invitations to both the Campus Honors program and James Scholars (College of LAS) last week. I’ve been out of the country for a conference and she didn’t even bother to let me know until I texted her and asked cautiously if she had any news :). No merit information except the $1K per year that comes with the Campus Honors/Chancellor Scholars program.
I’ve seen on Reddit that those invitations come in waves, not sure how accurate it is.
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I don’t understand this school. S26 was rejected for his first choice major (one of the cs+) but admitted to his second major in Grainger. But found out over the weekend he was awarded two separate merit scholarships from the college of engineering totaling $13,000 yearly.
It’s so frustrating and confusing.
I’m not sure why this is frustrating. Merit at UIUC is hard to come by so congratulations to him. Some of the scholarships are awarded by major. So perhaps your son has received some merit awarded to whatever the second choice major is.
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Yes, one of the scholarships was from the major and the other was a general engineering one.
So admitted students - time to check your portals - merit announcements are out.
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Does anyone know if all merit announcements go out one shot or do they do it in waves or something? We haven’t seen anything yet. Trying to understand if they are all out or not.
My (possibly flawed) understanding from Reddit is that the university-level ones come out at the same time but departmental ones can come out at different times so there may be more of the latter to come.
My daughter just got the email for James Scholar Honors Program (Applied Health Sciences), so those continue to roll out. Still no word on merit.
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Thanks for the reply, I wish they would communicate these more clearly