Hello and Welcome to the University of Illinois!

Congratulations on your acceptance to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and your invitation to the Merit Program!  This website is intended to provide you with all the information you might need to decide if/how to participate in the program this fall.  We encourage you to look carefully at all the material here several days prior to your online New Student Registration date and take the following steps in order to be part of the Merit program.

Step 1:  Watch the Merit Informational video below.

This video explains more about the Merit Program and how it fits in with the classes incoming students generally take their first semesters on campus.  It also allows you to “meet” each of the Merit Directors and hear from some students who have participated in the program recently. (Note that this footage was recorded prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, so your Merit sections may look a bit different this fall.)

Step 2:  After watching the video, if you are interested in participating or would like more information, fill out the Merit Interest Form.  This is especially important if you would like to attend one of our Live Q&A sessions – after you fill out the interest form, you will receive an email with the link and password required to attend those sessions.

Step 3: Look through the Live Q&A Session Schedule and chose one that works for you if you’d like to talk to representatives of the Merit Programs live to ask questions and/or get clarification about anything related to the program.  It would be best to attend one of these sessions prior to your New Student Registration date.

Step 4: Look through the Fall 2021 Merit Course Offerings to see what options you might have for participation (depending on your major and/or interests).  Again – it would be very helpful to do this prior to your individual conversation with an advisor on your New Student Registration date.

Step 5: If you have a question that cannot wait for one of the Q&A sessions or cannot attend any of those sessions, contact us.

Step 6: Talk to your advisor about signing up for Merit during your New Student Registration advising appointment.

NOTE: Merit is also offered for students enrolled in the introductory ECE courses (ECE 110, ECE 120). Students invited to ECE Merit will be contacted by an advisor close to your New Student Registration day with more information and instructions about how to register for the class. If you are interested in ECE Merit, but did not receive an email please contact Joan Brown at jbrown76@illinois.edu