How should I compare admission difficulty between UIUC and the University of Washington?

Neither UIUC nor the University of Washington has one admission difficulty level: the answer changes sharply by major, residency, and whether you need direct admission to a high-demand program. For computer science and many engineering fields, both are highly selective, and UIUC’s Grainger Engineering and CS-related options can be especially difficult for applicants without an exceptional academic record. At UW Seattle, direct admission to Computer Science is also extremely competitive, and entering UW without that direct placement does not make a later move into CS a dependable plan.

UIUC is a particularly demanding target for students applying to a specific, capacity-limited major. Its application review is closely tied to the program or college selected, so an applicant may be competitive for UIUC overall while still facing a very difficult decision in CS, engineering, business, or another popular program.

UW Seattle is often harder to assess from an overall admission perspective because Washington residents receive an important public-university advantage, while nonresidents face a different level of competition. For majors that are capacity constrained, the key question is not simply whether you are admitted to UW, but whether you are admitted directly to the program you want.

Compare your chances program by program: identify your residency status, apply the exact major at each school, and treat direct admission to CS or similarly constrained programs as a separate, more selective outcome.