Considering SIU MEDPREP for the low $ - but worried about racism in Southern IL

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DoctorDrewOutsidetheLines

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Really good buddy of mine is an MS3 at SIU and did the medprep beforehand. I've visited him a few times in Carbondale. He's never described having true racial issues. In fact, Carbondale has a good number of black people there. The greatest negative that he has experienced is that one of his classmates told him that he was smarter than his classmate intially thought he was. Essentially, you're smart for a black guy. Apparently, this classmate was from smalltown, midwest, USA and had little exposure with black people and the experiences that he did have, were not as positive. Luckily, my buddy has never described overt racism but no matter where you go, besides the HBCU's, you'll run into people who think you're "smart for a black person."..this is all assuming that you're black lol.

Edit: If you have the option to do other low cost programs elsewhere, I would go with those if location is important to you. Carbondale is boring as f*ck in my opinion but at the end of the day, you have to handle your business...
 
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LOL...IMHO there are more schools in ignorant, closed-minded places, than not. That goes for undergrad, graduate, medschool, etc. And that's just because very progressive places tend to be centered around one or two big cities and everywhere outside of those cities tend to be backwards-thinking. Think about upstate New York or Parts of California outside of the bay area and LA...full of rednecks. In other words, unless you go to an HBMS or a select few schools, I think you'll probably run into some of these issues.
 
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I'm from Chicago, and I have many friends who went on to attend SIUC. Minorities will experience racism in every US state/Western hemisphere, but I completely understand why "Southern Illinois" would raise this question. My friends in Carbondale haven't experienced any blatant forms of racism, though microaggressions obviously occur daily. I will say that there's a significant amount of URM's in Carbondale so finding a close-knit community and support shouldn't be a problem.
 
Hey! MEDPREP first year here. MEDPREP is an AMAING program from URMs and those who are educationally disadvantaged and economically disadvantaged. This post-bacc is one of a kind that offers the best MCAT prep...you hear a lot of post-baccs that just throw their students into Kaplan or Princeton Review, however, this program teaches you content, strategy in-depth, and changes you into a whole different student all together (course focused on managing time, managing stress, how to study, how to organize information, etc.) Coming from the University of Michigan, I think SIUC is very diverse and yea there are as many close-minded people here as there is everywhere else. I have not experienced any sort of racial tension at all but if there is then its not really extreme. Also you wont care about anyone else once you are in one of the best post-baccs that is nationally known by ranked medical schools.
 
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I will say this I agree with everyone that you will find some form of racism/ignorance where ever you go. I went to the University of Connecticut. I was one out of maybe 5 black students in my science courses. My friends and I would come across some form of racism pretty regular. Sometimes the incidents were extreme but were usually handled before it got to out of hand. I wouldn't worry about it to much. Don't let no one stop you and or hinder you from pursuing your dreams and goals.
 
I will say this I agree with everyone that you will find some form of racism/ignorance where ever you go. I went to the University of Connecticut. I was one out of maybe 5 black students in my science courses. My friends and I would come across some form of racism pretty regular. Sometimes the incidents were extreme but were usually handled before it got to out of hand. I wouldn't worry about it to much. Don't let no one stop you and or hinder you from pursuing your dreams and goals.

Lol, this discussion was almost two years ago
 
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