Is UIUC or Vanderbilt harder to get into overall?

Vanderbilt is harder to get into overall for the typical applicant. Its admission process is highly selective across its undergraduate schools, with a large national applicant pool and relatively limited class size. UIUC is also very selective, but its overall admission landscape is less uniformly difficult because selectivity varies sharply by major, residency, and college within the university.

At UIUC, applicants apply to a specific major or program, and the most in-demand options, especially computer science and several engineering fields, can be exceptionally difficult to enter. Many other UIUC majors have a meaningfully more accessible path than those programs.

Vanderbilt does not have the same degree of major-by-major separation at entry for most applicants. Strong grades, rigorous courses, recommendations, activities, and essays all matter substantially there, and being interested in a less crowded academic field does not create the kind of admissions advantage it can at UIUC.

So, for an overall comparison, treat Vanderbilt as the more difficult admission target. For a UIUC applicant, the more useful comparison depends on the exact first-choice major and whether the student is applying from Illinois or out of state.