2022-2023 Illinois

Applying to Med School? Get In Or Your Money Back
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Got in last cycle after interviewing in March with zero interest in scholarly concentration. Don't worry if you're not interested at all in any of them, or if you mentioned initial interest and decided not to. I mentioned interest, never turned in a scholarly concentration essay, and still got in. Wasn't ever mentioned.

There are other things that deserve your stress in the cycle like interview prep.
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SnowyMoon said:
Got in last cycle after interviewing in March with zero interest in scholarly concentration. Don't worry if you're not interested at all in any of them, or if you mentioned initial interest and decided not to. I mentioned interest, never turned in a scholarly concentration essay, and still got in. Wasn't ever mentioned.

There are other things that deserve your stress in the cycle like interview prep.
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Thank you for this! Had my first interview today and thought I could finally calm down and then read all this
 
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charactercomic2 said:
Thank you for this! Had my first interview today and thought I could finally calm down and then read all this
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Don't worry - calm down and reward yourself :) Scholarly concentrations are just, as the name say concentrations. You can still apply if you're interested, but also you can not do it if you're not sold on these available ones. There's an overwhelming amount of opportunities once you're in. Trust me - you, and everybody else, will have more things to try and participate in than it's possible to fit in 24h.

In Chicago there is a ton of very active interest groups for practically anything you may be interested in. You will have an opportunity to do both long-term programs like PCM, become a mentor for premeds through gUIde, as well as participate in one-time interesting workshops at least weekly. For example this week we had fiber optic intubation one, biopsy with ultrasound, and probably a few other events which I couldn't spend time on ;)



I know how it sounds, but it's 100% true they want to see the real you and what you care about, while also gauging how you fit into the cohort.
 
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Hey all, for the first secondary question (stressful situation and how we handled it), what are your guys' thoughts on dealing with a relative passing away? I'm wondering if this prompt is trying to get at more "typical" stressful situations in extracurricular activities or something.
 
hopefulmdinprogress said:
Hey all, for the first secondary question (stressful situation and how we handled it), what are your guys' thoughts on dealing with a relative passing away? I'm wondering if this prompt is trying to get at more "typical" stressful situations in extracurricular activities or something.
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Hi friend! My thought on this question is that the stressful situation you choose matters less than how you dealt with it, reflected on it, and grew from it. If you can eloquently capture the maturity and "competencies" you used/developed, it will be an effective essay. If the situation motivated you to help others in some way, you should try to work that in too.
 
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_zoetrope said:
Hi friend! My thought on this question is that the stressful situation you choose matters less than how you dealt with it, reflected on it, and grew from it. If you can eloquently capture the maturity and "competencies" you used/developed, it will be an effective essay. If the situation motivated you to help others in some way, you should try to work that in too.
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Thanks so much, that's super helpful!
 
When does UIC typically start sending out interviews????
 
Guys (and gals ;)), don't freak out. I know it's September but it's truly early for the interviews for schools in general. I cannot say anything specific, but based on dates of some events I can tell you some things related to the process didn't even start yet. So really, don't panic!

Keep in mind some UIC specific (I think?) things:
1. Dr. Amiri, who used to be an Assistant Dean of Admissions for years, left the school after the last interview season. She used to be very active in the process, answering a ton of questions and participating in various tasks during sessions. This is the first year without her.
2. UICOM often sends interviews with a very short notice, which you can see in the last year's thread. Some of the people I spoke with had them scheduled like 3-5 days before the interview date :D
3. It's a big school overall, things take time.
 
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First II!! Received 9/12. Submitted 8/5. LM 65. So freaking happy and ecstatic right now! Wishing the best for everyone!
 
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GOC Doc said:
First II!! Received 9/12. Submitted 8/5. LM 65. So freaking happy and ecstatic right now! Wishing the best for everyone!
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Congrats! Giving me hope as a low-stat student :)
 
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I wasn't aware of the "advanced level biology and biochemistry requirements must be completed at a four-year science degree granting institution." requirement before applying here but I received a secondary anyways.

I'm a non-trad student so my pre-reqs were completed at a CC. I'm surprised they didn't screen my app because of that, should I still submit a secondary anyways or is it not even worth it? Does anybody know if they make exceptions?

Thanks!
 
Many schools have such a language in their bylaws unfortunately. The reason why they don't prescreen for prerequisites is a lot of people complete them in Fall and Spring. When I was applying I didn't have any physics on my transcript.

Shoot an email to the main admission address with your specific scenario. Only they really know which rules are bendable and which are rooted in some hard written policies.
 
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greg129 said:
You are better off filling this in before you get an interview invitation since for scholarly concentrations the interviews are different. I'm not saying you cannot do it afterwards as some people do and succeed. However, it's beneficial to do it while you're filling in your secondary as you're looked at by multiple teams at once. Some of these teams to my knowledge also have their own rolling admission internally, so the later you apply the less chance you have.
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Sorry to jump on this late - do you mean less chance of getting into UICOM or just the Scholarly Concentrations?
 
coramDeo said:
Sorry to jump on this late - do you mean less chance of getting into UICOM or just the Scholarly Concentrations?
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That isn't a question which anyone outside of the adcom itself can answer truly.

However, my educated guess is it may affect both slightly. These to my knowledge are separate teams but they also conduct their own rolling admission. So if they can squeeze you earlier for their program interview you can have a better chance of being admitted to that program as with any rolling admission process. Another catch is that, at least for some programs, the interview happens partially instead of a standard UICOM faculty interview.

So while the teams are separated, can a faculty who thinks you're a fantastic candidate for their cocurricular program be a better advocate for your medical school candidacy after all? Probably yes.


What I'm saying here is simply my personal take on it. Imo you should not apply to a program you're not interested in or have no fit for just because it may "look better". On the flip side, if you're a fit for any of the programs, filling in their specific application asap is in your best interest.
 
plsacceptme16 said:
Does snapshot and duet need to be done for an II
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Last year there were plenty of people who did their Snapshot and Duet before the interview but after II. But honestly just rip the bandaid off: these are easier than CASPer.
 
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cranjismcbasketball said:
Oh really? I thought the first interviews to anyone went out like this Monday
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Yea, learning this showed me that SDN, while valuable to me, is not necessarily perfectly up to date information. Also, not EDP!
 
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yipyipappa said:
I wasn't aware of the "advanced level biology and biochemistry requirements must be completed at a four-year science degree granting institution." requirement before applying here but I received a secondary anyways.

I'm a non-trad student so my pre-reqs were completed at a CC. I'm surprised they didn't screen my app because of that, should I still submit a secondary anyways or is it not even worth it? Does anybody know if they make exceptions?

Thanks!
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There are at least two people in my cohort who I know did their prereqs at a CC. Both are non-trads. Based on that, I would say to complete the secondary anyway and shoot your shot.
 
UICOM says they welcome updates six weeks after admission. Even though I've been complete for six weeks, do you think it's still too early for updates given they just started sending IIs?
 
cranjismcbasketball said:
UICOM says they welcome updates six weeks after admission. Even though I've been complete for six weeks, do you think it's still too early for updates given they just started sending IIs?
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A general rule applies: if you have something to update go ahead and update adcoms. In general UICOM was always saying they welcome as many updates as needed as they actively re-review files. They were only asking to not send updates which don't add anything.
Since you're completed for almost 2 months and presumably have something important to update there's no reason to not send an update ;)
 
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cranjismcbasketball said:
UICOM says they welcome updates six weeks after admission. Even though I've been complete for six weeks, do you think it's still too early for updates given they just started sending IIs?
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Just wanna say I absolutely love your username, and I totally know where it comes from. Love me some impractical jokers 😂
 
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notmycupoftea said:
Just wanna say I absolutely love your username, and I totally know where it comes from. Love me some impractical jokers 😂
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Haha why thank you! I'm a big fan myself!

greg129 said:
A general rule applies: if you have something to update go ahead and update adcoms. In general UICOM was always saying they welcome as many updates as needed as they actively re-review files. They were only asking to not send updates which don't add anything.
Since you're completed for almost 2 months and presumably have something important to update there's no reason to not send an update ;)
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Great advice, thank you!!
 
IS II today right when I was about to sit down to write my update letter! Complete August 4th and (half?) URM. This is my dream school so I'm really excited to interview
 
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I haven't submitted my secondary yet, is it too late to submit? I've finished snapchat/altius suite, so it's just my essays and secondary that need to be submitted.
 
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climballthethings said:
I haven't submitted my secondary yet, is it too late to submit? I've finished snapchat/altius suite, so it's just my essays and secondary that need to be submitted.
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Would also like to know this!! 😰
 
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climballthethings said:
I haven't submitted my secondary yet, is it too late to submit? I've finished snapchat/altius suite, so it's just my essays and secondary that need to be submitted.
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Not too late at all! I submitted last Thursday (9/15) and got an II Wednesday (9/21). Get that secondary in!
 
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ok im confused has uic started sending out bulk of instate interviews yet or no?? and is it usually this timeframe or is it late this year?!
 
plsacceptme16 said:
ok im confused has uic started sending out bulk of instate interviews yet or no?? and is it usually this timeframe or is it late this year?!
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They're trickling them through over the cycle as you can see in the previous year for all groups. UICOM has a very selective pool for interviews, i.e. interview invite has a lot of weight.
 
greg129 said:
They're trickling them through over the cycle as you can see in the previous year for all groups. UICOM has a very selective pool for interviews, i.e. interview invite has a lot of weight.
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Does this mean they have a high post II acceptance rate?
 
FloatingAbyss said:
Does this mean they have a high post II acceptance rate?
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Yup. I don't remember the exact numbers on top of my head. However, last year during one of the zoom info sessions they said that the M1 class at the time had ~750 interviews to ~620 acceptances sent ratio. So yes, interview invite seems to be a big deal at UICOM ;)


edit: also see 2021-2022 Illinois - during the last cycle they had submitted ~700 interviews in March. So seeing as it's September there's most likely pleeentyyyy of them left.
 
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