How to Apply to Engineering at the University of Illinois Chicago: Thirteen Undergraduate Majors in the College of Engineering, Eight Engineering Programs Accredited by ABET, and How Admission and Prerequisites Work for Local, International (Including Chinese) and Transfer Applicants

At the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC), the engineering degrees sit in the College of Engineering. This guide follows UIC’s website and the 2026-27 Catalog and is split into U.S. applicants, international applicants and applicants from China, with a section for transfer students. Computer science, computer science and design, and data science are also in the college; computer science has its own guide on this site, so it is not covered here.

1. Degrees in the college

• UIC says the college offers 13 undergraduate majors and 10 minors. Engineering majors: biomedical, chemical, civil, computer, electrical, environmental, industrial and mechanical engineering, engineering management and engineering physics; the other three majors are computer science, computer science + design and data science.
• Departments: Biomedical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Civil, Materials, and Environmental Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Mechanical and Industrial Engineering. Engineering management is offered jointly with the College of Business Administration and engineering physics with the Department of Physics.
• ABET (Catalog): nine undergraduate programs are accredited. The Engineering Accreditation Commission (EAC) accredits biomedical, chemical, civil, computer, electrical, engineering physics, industrial and mechanical engineering; the Computing Accreditation Commission accredits computer science. The Catalog says accreditation has not been sought for engineering management; environmental engineering is not on the Catalog’s list, so confirm its status with the college.
• Credits: 128 for the engineering majors; 122 for computer science and design and 120 for data science.
• Orientation: all new freshmen take the engineering orientation course ENGR 100 (one hour that does not count toward graduation hours) in their first or second term; transfers take ENGR 101. The recommended first-year program includes academic writing I and II, chemistry, mathematics, physics and an engineering or computer course.
• Internships: the Early Access to Paid Internships Program (EAPIP) ensures qualified freshmen and transfer students have a paid position for the summer after their first year.

2. How admission works: declare a major on entry or by the end of term one

• Admission to a major: the Catalog says every student entering the College of Engineering must declare a major at entry or by the end of the first term in order to be assigned a departmental advisor; changing majors later is done by petition. The pages read do not describe undeclared engineering entry, GPA-based sorting or per-major capacity. This is not published; ask the college.
• College criteria: UIC Admissions says each college sets its own criteria, and STEM majors, including engineering and computer science, may have different expectations for high school math and science.
• Admitted profile, several versions: the engineering admissions page says successful applicants in past years ranked in the top 15–20% of their classes, and the middle 50% of admitted students had an ACT composite of 25–29 (math 26–31), corresponding to SAT 1200–1380 (math 610–710). The Admissions first-year page gives the middle 50% of unweighted GPAs for the fall 2026 admitted class: for engineering, 3.3–3.8 among applicants reviewed without scores (with an average of 6–9 honors, AP and IB classes) and 3.6–4.0 with SAT 1310–1470 (ACT 28–33) among applicants who submitted scores. These are not cut-offs, and about two-thirds of applicants chose to be reviewed without scores.
• Moving in from another UIC college: students in other UIC colleges may apply to the College of Engineering at any time during the regular semester, and the Catalog points to the transfer section below for the specific requirements.
• Double majors are not available in the college; double degrees are possible with at least 30 additional hours of 300- and 400-level coursework.

3. Prerequisites

• Engineering admissions page: four years of high school math and three years of lab science, in addition to UIC’s requirements in English, social sciences and electives.
• Course recommendations from Admissions (not requirements, but they make an application more competitive): for STEM and business majors, four years of English, four of math (precalculus or above highly recommended), four of science, three of social science and two of a second language.
• Placement exams (Catalog): the beginning math course is MATH 180 for students who pass the mathematics placement exam, and others are placed into preparatory math; chemistry also has a placement exam, and students who do not pass may take CHEM 101 first.
• AP and IB: Admissions says AP and IB scores are not required but are reviewed if provided. AP credit conversion is in the Catalog’s Academic Standing section, which was not read course by course. For example, a 3, 4 or 5 on AP English Language and Composition, an ACT English subscore of 27 or higher, or an SAT Reading and Writing score of 630 or higher earns credit for ENGL 160.

4. Rounds, materials and testing

• Deadlines (the Admissions page prints years): fall 2027 first-year Early Action is November 2, 2026 (the application must be complete with all documentation by the deadline) and Regular Decision is February 1, 2027; spring 2027 first-year is October 1, 2026. The scholarship priority date is November 2.
• Application: the Common Application, including UIC’s specific questions and essays; the application fee is $70, non-refundable.
• Materials: official high school transcripts. Letters of recommendation and the Common App mid-year report appear as tips on the first-year page, not required items; Honors College and Guaranteed Professional Program Admissions (GPPA) applicants submit an essay and two recommendations. Whether the college has a supplemental essay is not stated in the pages read.
• Testing: SAT/ACT is optional. If you submit a score you must provide a score report; UIC does not accept self-reported scores or superscores. The engineering admissions page also says UIC has moved to a test-optional model.
• Honors College: you can apply at the same time as UIC; applicants must be admitted as undergraduates before their Honors materials are reviewed.

5. U.S. applicants

• In-state and out-of-state tuition: residency plays no role in admission but sets your tuition; students who meet Illinois residency requirements pay the in-state rate and all others pay out-of-state tuition. The full tuition tables, including any engineering charges, are in external files on the Registrar’s page that were not read; check the Registrar for the amounts. UIC’s scholarship page gives a figure of $16,102 a year for 2025-26 as the amount that “matches in-state tuition”.
• Testing: optional (see section 4).
• Aid: the engineering admissions page says about three-quarters of UIC students receive some form of aid; need-based aid requires the FAFSA. Admissions describes UIC Aspire, which lets new Illinois undergraduates from households with incomes under $75,000 pay $0 in tuition and fees (stated for fall 2026).
• Scholarships: completing the UIC application brings automatic consideration for most university and college scholarships, with a priority date of November 2. For Illinois residents: the Chancellor’s Fellows Award ($7,500, based on academic performance and financial need) and the President’s Award Program ($5,000 for Scholars; full tuition and housing for Honors). For out-of-state U.S. citizens and permanent residents: the Merit Tuition Award ($9,128 a year in 2025-26). The Honors College has its own scholarships.
• Priority or guaranteed admission for residents: not stated on the first-year page; the transfer section says Illinois residents get preference when space is limited (see below).

6. International applicants

• Deadlines: the same as for first-year and transfer applicants.
• Fees: international first-year applicants pay $170 in total, the $70 application fee plus a $100 international evaluation fee, non-refundable and paid together when you submit the Common App. UIC does not offer fee waivers for international students.
• English minimums: TOEFL 80 (4.5 on the new scale), IELTS 6.5, PTE Academic 54 and Duolingo 120 (accepted for fall 2027 and later only), with section minimums (for example IELTS 6 in each section and Duolingo 115). Only these tests are accepted, and the UIC Tutorium in Intensive English (TIE) assessment is also accepted. Applications below the minimums are not automatically denied and are still reviewed by the college; colleges may set higher minimums for some programs, and the engineering college’s requirements are not published. UIC’s TOEFL code is 1851 and scores are valid for two years.
• Exemptions: two consecutive years of full-time high school or university study in the U.S. or another country where English is the only official language (by official transcript); a year of full-time employment in such a country; SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing 570 or higher, ACT English 24 or higher, AP English Language and Composition 4 or higher, IB English Language and Literature 5 or higher; or IGCSE/O-level English (at least five subjects at A, B or C). UIC states that the requirement is not waived based on the medium of instruction at a previous institution, including branch campuses of U.S. or UK institutions in countries or territories where a test is required.
• Transcripts: official transcripts of all secondary and postsecondary study in sealed documents, with ATA-certified translations if not in English; transfer applicants also send course syllabi.
• Funds: international applicants must show financial certification, but the amount is not stated in the pages read; this is not published. The Office of International Services handles visa documents after admission.
• Tuition status and scholarships: F-1 students are not eligible for in-state tuition. The Merit Tuition Award is for out-of-state U.S. citizens and permanent residents only. Scholarships open to international students are not described in the pages read; ask Admissions or the scholarships office.

7. Applicants from China

• Credentials and the gaokao: the international requirements page shows credentials by country, but that content loads dynamically and was not read here. How the gaokao is used and whether proficiency-exam (huikao) records are needed is not published; select China on that page or ask Admissions.
• Transcripts: prepare official high school transcripts with certified translation as in section 6.
• English: UIC states that the medium of instruction does not waive the requirement; confirm whether scores are needed for China on the country page.
• Country-specific guidance: interviews and credential agencies are not described in the pages read.

8. Engineering costs and internships

• The Registrar’s undergraduate tuition page only links to per-term tuition tables in external files that were not read, so whether engineering carries a differential charge is not published here.
• The Catalog says corporate partnerships support co-op and internship experiences tailored to individual students; the pages read do not say whether co-op is required.
• The college’s internship page says that in Chicago students can intern in the fall and spring as well as the summer, and that nearly 100% of engineering and computer science internships are paid. Visa rules for international students’ internships are not described in the pages read; ask the Office of International Services.

9. Transfer students

• Deadlines: fall 2027 transfer April 1, 2027 (Nursing has a separate January 15 date); spring 2027 transfer October 15, 2026.
• Credit thresholds, several versions: the engineering admissions page asks for at least 24 transferable credit hours at the time of enrollment; the Catalog says generally 60 semester hours of transfer work including the English, math and science courses below, with exceptional students who have most of those courses admitted with fewer; Admissions says applicants with fewer than 36 graded transferable hours must send high school transcripts (the heading on that page says “fewer than 25 hours”).
• GPA: Illinois residents need at least 2.50 in math/science/technical courses and cumulatively; out-of-state residents 2.50; international students 2.75. Meeting the minimum does not guarantee admission, and Illinois residents get preference when space is limited.
• Prerequisite coursework (by entry): two academic writing courses; chemistry equivalent to UIC CHEM 122/123; physics for engineers covering mechanics, electricity and magnetism (with calculus as a prerequisite); and mathematics through differential equations. The college’s admissions page suggests completing as many as possible of calculus I–III, differential equations, English composition I and II, physics I (mechanics) and II (electricity and magnetism) and general chemistry I.
• Credit: only grades of C or better transfer; of the 120–128 hours needed, at least 60 must be taken at UIC or another accredited four-year institution; upper-division (300- and 400-level) courses transfer only from ABET-accredited engineering or computer science programs, which limits credit from junior colleges and overseas programs to lower-division courses.
• Pathways: the Transfer Admission Guarantee with participating Illinois community colleges; Illinois Articulation Initiative general education core credit; and Transferology to check how courses transfer.
• Overseas coursework: applicants with coursework taken outside the U.S. pay a $100 international evaluation fee (on top of the $70 application fee) and submit syllabi.

Checklist

U.S. applicants:

• Four years of high school math and three of lab science
• Apply by November 2 (Early Action, the scholarship priority date) or February 1 (regular) with the Common App and a $70 fee; file the FAFSA if you need need-based aid

International applicants:

• Prepare TOEFL 80 or IELTS 6.5 (or qualify for an exemption), sealed transcripts with certified translations, and the $170 in fees

Applicants from China:

• Select China on the international requirements page for credential and gaokao details

Transfer students:

• Apply by April 1 for fall with writing, chemistry, physics and math through differential equations done, and a GPA of at least 2.50 (2.75 for international students)

Sources: University of Illinois Chicago, Engineering undergraduate; Engineering undergraduate admissions; Majors and minors; Early Access to Paid Internships Program; 2026-27 Catalog: College of Engineering; Requirements and deadlines; First-year requirements; International requirements; Transfer requirements; Tuition and financial aid; Priority scholarship date; Residency; Registrar undergraduate tuition. The country lookup on the international page loads dynamically and was not read, and the tuition tables sit in external files that were not read. Check UIC for the latest details.