I'm American, honey. Our names don't mean shit.

CHAMPAIGN -- It's harder than ever to get into top colleges at the state's flagship university.

The University of Illinois in Champaign received a record number of applications this year at 22,300. That's 12 percent more than last year.

As a result, U. of I. rejected more students this year than last, including some who in other years would have gotten in.

And officials put a record number of students—1,100—on the school's wait list.

The school attributes the increase to a jump in the number of high school students and to recruiting trips to high schools around the state.

For the first time, U. of I. recruiters visited schools in Peoria, East St. Louis and Rockford.