Admissions Requirements

GPA

It is expected that applicants to this program will have a minimum GPA of 3.0 (A = 4.0).

Transferable Credit Hours

The Division of Exploratory Studies is only open to students who haven’t yet completed the equivalent of three full-time semesters (45 transferable hours) of college study. Admission priority will be given to transfer applicants who have completed fewer than 30 transferable hours and two semesters or fewer of college study by term of entry.

Admissions Recommendations

Coursework

Although it isn’t required that you do so in order to be admitted, we highly recommend that you complete transfer coursework equivalent to the following University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign courses by the term you’re submitting your application:

RHET 105, Writing & Research (requires a two-course English composition sequence at most schools)

Important Information

Available Majors at UIUC

Students who transfer into Exploratory Studies at UIUC can ultimately transition into nearly all of our majors, but certain criteria must be met to do so.
Please see a short list of majors below that are unavailable for students who transfer into Exploratory Studies.

Unavailable Majors at UIUC

The following majors are unavailable to students who transfer into the Division of Exploratory Studies.

You may not declare a Grainger College of Engineering major. If you’re interested in an engineering major, you must apply directly to The Grainger College of Engineering.
You may not declare a Gies College of Business major. If you’re interested in a business major, you must apply directly to the Gies College of Business.

Majors that may require more time to degree

Additional semesters may be required for degree completion if you plan to pursue Art and Design, Music, Special Education, or Theatre. Interested students should consider applying directly to these majors rather than Exploratory Studies, since some courses specific to these majors are heavily restricted to students already in the major.

Nursing

UIUC doesn’t offer a degree program in Nursing. If you have an interest in nursing, you may want to pursue admission to the nursing program through the University of Illinois Chicago, which has a satellite campus in Urbana-Champaign. Transfer admission to this program is competitive and not guaranteed.

Graduation Requirements

To graduate, all students are required to complete at least 45 semester hours of credit at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. At least 21 of these credit hours must be at the 300 or 400 level.

General Education Courses

Included in our graduation requirements are general education (gen ed) courses. These classes allow you to gain and use broad knowledge beyond the specialized learning you’ll do through your major. Learn more about our general education requirements. You may be able to use Transferology to find gen ed courses that will transfer over from your institution to UIUC.

Language Other than English

Although this program doesn’t require you to complete our language graduation requirement for admission, we strongly encourage you do so before transferring.

Learn More About This Major

To learn more about this program, including similar majors, we encourage you to check out Division of Exploratory Studies website.