Illinois-MCAT testing centers

[tastyfood]

Can anyone tell me their experience(s) with testing centers in Illinois? I want to know which ones are good, which ones are bad, and which ones might be okay to possibly test in. Any descriptions would be greatly appreciated...

Does anyone have any information on Northern Illinois University, Wheaton College, and/or Northwestern University? I would reall like to know how cramped or open rooms are and if there are big or small desks...Thanks

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[edj80]

I took the MCAT at the University of Illinois Urabana-Champaign campus. If you get your forms in early enough, you will be assigned to the auditorium in the medical college building which has the reputation for being the best room at U of I as far as testing purposes go. I was assigned there and had no complaints... there was plenty of space between test-takers, there were no windows which meant no outside distractions, the hallways outside the room were also quiet, which was nice. The clock was clearly visible, and perhaps the best part was that every seat was attached to an actual desk with plenty of room to spread your stuff out. I know some friends were in testing centers where they had those flip-tray style writing surfaces, which can be a pain because they can wobble and there is never enough room. Hope this helps.

 

[edj80]

One more thing... the draw back of signing up to test at the UIUC campus is that they have several testing rooms throughout campus going on for a single administration of the MCAT. You do not get to specifically choose which room you are in; rather, rooms are assigned in the order the paperwork is received. The risk is that if the opening date for signing up for the MCAT was a while back, you may not get assigned to a "choice" room.

 

[Neuronix]

This belongs in the MCAT forum. It will probably get a better response there also.

 

[kiahs]

Hi, I took the April 2004 at Loyola U. It was great lots of desk room and the proctors were really nice. I heard that at Northwestern there is no place to eat and it's in an auditorium and you hardly get any desk space, same with Depaul. If your taking Kaplan or you go on their website they have a poll of all the places around the country and you can see what other people wrote about each place, that's what I used and it worked well for me.

 

[skiz knot]

DO NOT take the test at the "city colleges of chicago" test center on Jackson (downtown, next to Sears Tower).

I had a horrible experience with a street performer playing the saxophone during the whole test. He refused to stop when asked, and there was nothing that could be done about it because he had a permit.

Be wary of the August MCAT at UIC. Often times the date coincides with the Chicago Air and Water show. UIC's campus is right near the turn around point for the jets, and they make a Lot of noise.

Depaul's campus in Naperville is an excellent place to take the test. There is plenty of table space for you to take your test. the room is well lit and comfortable. Best of all, there is nothing around the building (except a parking lot) for hundreds of yards. Nice and quiet.

 

[brats800]

I took the April MCAT at Wheaton College. Its a great school and location. Only drawback was that the students (more specifically, the Freshman...i know it was them because i go to wheaton) were really loud on the test day. they were across campus, but campus is small so every once and a while you'd hear a loud yell or whatever during the test. not so bad. i'd take it there again....

 

[Freakingzooming]

Yo,

good advice shiznot. I can throw in my two cents about our testing centers to cover i think most of the rest of the testing centers in chicago-

I took the august MCAT at U of C twice- it was okay. the big drawback is they have more than one testing room so they separate people into different rooms which sucks cuz obviously hte proctor goes at a different pace. so we had one group that kept ending earlier then we did so they would leave, talk, outside our door, shout and scream while we were doing verbal or bio... and that kinda sucked. the proctor was also on some power trip. the short, bulky white guy... i had a girl across from me have her cell phone go off and she wouldn't get up (to claim it was hers) and take the blame... so it went off for like five minutes cuz the person kept calling her over and over. finally she got up and turned it off. we did our tests on tables which was nice cuz there was plenty of space.

IIT- not a good testing center. i took it in june both times and it was tooo hot. they don't have AC or they don't use it for the test takers cuz we had to sit in absolute, dead air, even the doors were open which was bad cuz then every so often you could people walking by talking. the proctors were alright, just some old ladies. there was a cockroach that freaked out some girls.... the place was a litle run down.. and the lighting was awful I couldnt see the test sheet, had to have my face like two feet away from it. and the spacing was too cramped, the seats had those swivel place things so you had little to no space towrite the test on.

it looks like every test center has its flaws. i think tho for whats it worth, you should just choose a place nearest to you and make sure to register early.

 

[tastyfood]

Hey brats800,

How big were the desks at wheaton college? Does anyone have any info on Northern Illinois. THANKS FOR ALL THE INFO EVERYONE!!!!