In 1997, the UIUC Campus Admissions Office forwarded 1274 applications to ACES for evaluation. This compares with a 13.8 percent minority student population campus wide. The ACES 6.3 percent minority student population is higher than most peer colleges at land-grant universities, and it is more than double the 3.0 percent minority population that existed in ACES in 1990. A major factor underlying this growth has been the College's pre-college recruitment initiatives aimed at minority HS students. Established in 1987, this initiative has provided on-campus career awareness and academic enrichment opportunities to almost 300 minority students.
Time is spent in seminars and in laboratories.
Qualifying students must have a B average and must be ranked in the upper third of their sophomore or junior HS class. This is an intensive eight-week summer laboratory and academic enrichment program for minority HS seniors who have been admitted to UIUC and intend to major in an agricultural, consumer or environmental sciences programs. It was established in 1983 through a cooperative effort by the College of ACES, Chicago-based agribusiness and the Chicago Board of Education. The school has an enrollment of 600 students drawn from all parts of Chicago. ACES serves in an advisory capacity to the school.