Information Sciencesat University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Graduates earn $113,503/yr in their first year — about 81.0% above the national Information Sciences average. Base-case 10-year earnings $1,090K; scenarios range from $805K to $1,142K depending on AI disruption.
What this degree looks like at UIUC
While Urbana-Champaign isn't a major tech hub, that's irrelevant here. The University of Illinois is an elite, top-tier engineering school with a global reputation that attracts aggressive national recruiting. You won't be limited to the local job market; companies like Google, Meta, and Microsoft, along with high-frequency trading firms in nearby Chicago, build their hiring pipelines directly through this program. The curriculum is famously rigorous and theoretical, preparing you not just to code, but to design the complex systems of the future. While some software jobs face AI risk, graduates from this program are the ones building the AI, not being replaced by it. Your key action item: from day one, get involved in the research opportunities at Siebel Center or the National Center for Supercomputing Applications to stand out even among this exceptional peer group.
Three scenarios, ten years out
Each scenario is a different assumption about how AI reshapes the career paths this major feeds into. Earnings projections stack the full 10-year cumulative trajectory; scores use the same 0–100 metric as the hero, recomputed under that scenario's assumptions.
10 year projection
Year-by-year earnings under each scenario. Base case reflects BLS growth patterns applied to UIUC's starting earnings; optimistic and pessimistic adjust for AI's effect on each career path this major feeds into.
Common career destinations for this program's graduates, weighted by the school's specific occupation mix. Salary is BLS national median; AI risk is per-role task-exposure research.
Peer schools offering Information Sciences
How UIUC stacks up against other schools offering this major.
Other top programs at UIUC
Other highest-scoring programs offered at UIUC, ranked by DegreeOutlook Score.
Consider the trade route
Not sure a 4-year degree is the right path? Trade programs in Information Sciences offer shorter timelines, lower debt, and strong AI resilience for hands-on careers.
Compare Information Sciences trade programs on TradeSchoolOutlook →Frequently asked about Information Sciences at UIUC
How does University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign's Information Sciences program score?
A score of 76/100 reflects decent absolute metrics, but University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign trails the majority of Information Sciences programs on relative rankings. Context matters more than the raw number.
How vulnerable is Information Sciences to AI automation?
AI won't 'replace' Information Sciences careers outright, but it is likely to reduce the number of job openings. We model 69% task exposure, which compresses field employment probability in our scenarios.