UIC College of Medicine Class of 2009

[Salsero]

Something odd does come to mind though aragonh. I called admissions two days ago and when I asked what site they have me assigned to, their computers say Chicago. They also said that "most" students that are on the non-Chicago track have been put in the system as such by now. Maybe they overlooked me. In any case, I won't believe admissions until I actually hear them confidently telling me that I'm at Chicago. They said that they've had over 100 letters requesting a site exchange!! Well, may it be God's will

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[aragonh]

If u got switched, u should be getting a letter in the mail saying that your status has been changed.

However, do keep in touch (read: harass) the admissions people daily to find out about your true status.

¡Buena Suerte!

 

[Salsero]

If u got switched, u should be getting a letter in the mail saying that your status has been changed.

However, do keep in touch (read: harass) the admissions people daily to find out about your true status.

¡Buena Suerte!

I would harass them everyday. However, they have allotted Thursdays as the official "Check your site change request" day. They won't deal with it any other day. I bugged them this past Monday and so far I know my letter and the two supplemental letters along with it are on file and should be reviewed when spots open up. I'm pretty sure there will be more spots opening up (knock on wood). The other problem I've encountered is housing. Since I don't know where I could end up, I basically had to apply for housing at both Chicago and Champaign-Urbana. Waiting sucks!!!!

 

[aragonh]

theres a poster that has a UIC spot but got off the waitlist from Loyola.

encourage this person to go to loyola so that you can get that spot!!!!

 

[Salsero]

theres a poster that has a UIC spot but got off the waitlist from Loyola.

encourage this person to go to loyola so that you can get that spot!!!!

Who!!! Man I called admissions today again (I bet they hate me) but I don't know if there is a shot for me at all. There has been no movement for Chicago spots and I guess all I have to do is wait. Let me know if you can tell me this Loyola persons username. Anything will help at this point. Thanks for looking out arangonh

 

[sga814]

Just a thought:

You probably won't get transferred if you have a "BS" reason such as... "me likey urban medicine, me wanna live in big city, me have professors at UIC who wite long ledders about how special I am." I use this rhetoric because whining about not being in Chicago is starting to get childish. So unless you have a DAMN good reason- need to take care of sick family member, spouse can't relocate, etc, you are less likely to be transferred.

Also, here are some advantages of the UPR track:

1) Current students mostly praise their profs as compared to Chicago people who mostly complain.

2) You are higher up on the pecking order during rotations, simply because you are the only medical students in the area and there are much fewer of you. This also means that you get more respect from the community.

3) Cost of living is less; you can get a MUCH better apartment for the same money.

4) The air is much, much cleaner.

5) Crime rate is way lower (non-existent maybe?).

6) Parking is significantly easier to find.

And of course, I shall list the ONE disadvantage:

Urbana/Peoria/Rockford have latitudes and longitudes that don't match up with Chicago.

 

[Salsero]

Just a thought:

You probably won't get transferred if you have a "BS" reason such as... "me likey urban medicine, me wanna live in big city, me have professors at UIC who wite long ledders about how special I am." I use this rhetoric because whining about not being in Chicago is starting to get childish. So unless you have a DAMN good reason- need to take care of sick family member, spouse can't relocate, etc, you are less likely to be transferred.

Also, here are some advantages of the UPR track:

1) Current students mostly praise their profs as compared to Chicago people who mostly complain.

2) You are higher up on the pecking order during rotations, simply because you are the only medical students in the area and there are much fewer of you. This also means that you get more respect from the community.

3) Cost of living is less; you can get a MUCH better apartment for the same money.

4) The air is much, much cleaner.

5) Crime rate is way lower (non-existent maybe?).

6) Parking is significantly easier to find.

And of course, I shall list the ONE disadvantage:

Urbana/Peoria/Rockford have latitudes and longitudes that don't match up with Chicago.

You're right sga814. But "good" reasons for wanting a transfer are all relative....for example I don't think that a married couple, one permanently living in Chicago (not even in medicine) and the other assigned to Urbana should be granted an exchange. However, someone sincerely interested in pursuing research on a specific topic in Chicago can actually make a difference for the school, himself/herself, and the community.

 

[Salsero]

I guess since I'm out of state, I don't have the buddy-buddy relationship UIC alumns would have with faculty at the school. The professor at UIC that wants me to work with him actually teaches a course for the medical school and wants me there because he sees me qualified and not because I knew him personally
Since I'm not really interested in family medicine (as emphasized at Rockford), do you think it's worth me trying to switch to the Peoria campus if Chicago isn't an option?

 

[DrThom]

I don't think that a married couple, one permanently living in Chicago (not even in medicine) and the other assigned to Urbana should be granted an exchange

If they have kids, I think its a damn good reason to be granted an exchange.

 

[paradiselost]

I gave up my space at Chicago today. I would have loved going to UIC, except that out-of-state tuition, even after some generous money offers, was pretty steep. Maybe after med school, though...

Cheers!

 

[sga814]

You're right sga814. But "good" reasons for wanting a transfer are all relative....for example I don't think that a married couple, one permanently living in Chicago (not even in medicine) and the other assigned to Urbana should be granted an exchange. However, someone sincerely interested in pursuing research on a specific topic in Chicago can actually make a difference for the school, himself/herself, and the community.

You can do research on UPR. In fact, the basic science program at Urbana is much better than that in Chicago. You can also do research in Rockford and Peoria.

Furthermore, Rockford may emphasize family medicine... but if you look at the goal/curriculum description of UIC as a whole, you will notice that education of "generalists" is used over and over again. So, in essence, all the campuses emphasize becoming a family-oriented physician.

Also, go ahead and check the Rockford match list... 2 or 3 people (out of 50) placed in the Rockford FP residency, and less than half of the graduates went into primary care.

By the way, will someone please tell me what's wrong with family practice?? If there weren't good family docs out there, the health care system would fail miserably... so stop dissing them!!!

 

[imtiaz]

there's a lot of misconception about the UPR track. as ive said before you can go anywhere you want, and chicago isnt necessarily the best option. ive said this to numerous people whove PMed me and in many posts, if i was given a chicago spot right now, or even M2 or M3 year i would refuse it.

you get so much clinical responsibility/exposure in rockford that its not even funny. my friends that are at the chicago campus havent ever managed a patient, they merely tag along with residents and write notes that nobody cares about. at rockford its just you and the attending, so your work actually matters.

i will give the only disadvantage that i can see being in rockford and that is the longitudinal family practice experience which lasts from M2-M4. you take out one day per week on every rotation to go to FP clinic, which sucks sometimes but its a nice break since FP clinic is so non-cerebral especially in your advanced years.

our match list speaks for itself.

 

[redruby]

I just wanted to throw in that I picked Rockford over Peoria (mainly because it's closest to Chicago) and I don't plan on pursuing FP. Also, I like that classes only last until noon.

 

[Salsero]

there's a lot of misconception about the UPR track. as ive said before you can go anywhere you want, and chicago isnt necessarily the best option. ive said this to numerous people whove PMed me and in many posts, if i was given a chicago spot right now, or even M2 or M3 year i would refuse it.

you get so much clinical responsibility/exposure in rockford that its not even funny. my friends that are at the chicago campus havent ever managed a patient, they merely tag along with residents and write notes that nobody cares about. at rockford its just you and the attending, so your work actually matters.

i will give the only disadvantage that i can see being in rockford and that is the longitudinal family practice experience which lasts from M2-M4. you take out one day per week on every rotation to go to FP clinic, which sucks sometimes but its a nice break since FP clinic is so non-cerebral especially in your advanced years.

our match list speaks for itself.

You're right. There are definite advantages to being at rockford instead of Chicago. But it's Chicago man!! Haha. No, I know that the location doesn't make a good student and so I am confident that I will do well wherever I am. I realize how lucky I am to be in at least somewhere.
I know that if I go to rockford I will have tons of direct patient interaction which is awesome. Smaller classes are a good thing too. Classes until noon are a very nice thing too!! Housing/parking is cheap. The match list was pretty good too.
One question for you though, imtiaz. Why did you decide to go to Rockford as opposed to Peoria? Do you know if the Peoria kids have the same patient exposure as the Rockford students or do Peoria students have residents to learn from? I thought I read somewhere about surgical residents teaching students during the student surgical rotations....

 

[imtiaz]

i didnt like peoria for several reasons:
1-its more high powered (ie. 8am-5pm classes and extra labs and crap like that) and they dont score that much higher than us on boards. we had several 230s, one 250+ and a handful of 240s. so its not impossible to score high on step1 from rockford.
2-its in peoria. peoria is a central illinois city and i dont know much about it but from what i know its consistent with what youd expect. lots of farmland and livestock, etc. this is not my scene. rockford is more suburban, its just like being in a chicago suburb.
3-peoria has residents. this is not always a bad thing and didnt influence my decision at the time cause i had no idea, but in retrospect i made a good choice not going there from what i heard from my friends there. its pretty much similar to what youd experience at chicago.

 

[atasin]

Hi, this is mainly for anyone going to Urbana.

I'm looking for an apartment online and I found some that seem ok, they're called "University Commons, Urbana". It's located at 1321 North Lincoln Ave. I live in Los Angeles, so I really don't want to pay ~$600 just to fly to Urbana for a day to sign a lease, so I'm going to fax all the info in. I just want to make sure that this place is legit.

Can anyone confirm this place or point me to an office that can?

 

[redruby]

Hi, this is mainly for anyone going to Urbana.

I'm looking for an apartment online and I found some that seem ok, they're called "University Commons, Urbana". It's located at 1321 North Lincoln Ave. I live in Los Angeles, so I really don't want to pay ~$600 just to fly to Urbana for a day to sign a lease, so I'm going to fax all the info in. I just want to make sure that this place is legit.

Can anyone confirm this place or point me to an office that can?

I highly recommend you check the place out with UIUC's tenant union. They keep records of complaints from the last five years.

 

[nimer1456]

Hi, this is mainly for anyone going to Urbana.

I'm looking for an apartment online and I found some that seem ok, they're called "University Commons, Urbana". It's located at 1321 North Lincoln Ave. I live in Los Angeles, so I really don't want to pay ~$600 just to fly to Urbana for a day to sign a lease, so I'm going to fax all the info in. I just want to make sure that this place is legit.

Can anyone confirm this place or point me to an office that can?

I grew up in urbana. I would stay away from University commons. It is somewhat far from campus and you are going to be around a lot of undergrads. Just my 2 cents... I can give you some suggestions on places to live if you want, just PM me.

And yeah, check out the Tenants union... good stuff
http://www.tenantunion.uiuc.edu/

 

[UIChopeful]

I'm starting in Urbana as well and I have a question for those of you who are dealing with the on-campus housing situation.

I applied for Graduate Residence Hall housing (specifically Daniels Hall) a while ago so that I could have a definite place to live in Urbana, in case I couldn't find an apartment. Well, now I found an apartment and I was really happy until I went to the housing website today to see about canceling my application. They said something about a $2000 penalty if you cancel your contract after May 1st and I am a little worried.

Does anybody know if the application on-line and the contract are the same thing? Or anything about this situation?

Please please please, $2000 could be at stake here and I can't wait until Tuesday to find out.

 

[Sofee]

Section 4 of the Housing contract:

RELEASE PROVISIONS: Beginning May 2 for fall semester and December 1 for a Residence Hall Contract beginning spring semester, the Student will be
released from this Contract only for one of the following reasons: (See Section 5 concerning advance payment forfeiture.)
a. Not attending the University.
b. Marriage, if living with spouse in the community.
c. Significant unforeseen health reason occurring after the Contract cancellation deadline. A request for release for this reason must be documented by the Student,
reviewed and approved.
d. Participation in Study Abroad, Co-Op, Internship Program, or Student Teaching out of the Champaign-Urbana area.
e. If a, b, c, or d, above is not applicable and the Student with a room-only Contract desires release from the Contract, such release will be granted upon payment of $1,000 prorated for the weeks remaining in the academic year, plus full charges through the week of cancellation, with credit for the remaining weeks as explained in section 6b.

If you want to take a closer look, here's the URL:
http://www.housing.uiuc.edu/online/fineprint/grad_packet.pdf

From what I've found, it looks like its *up to* $2000, meaning everything after the $100 deposit seems discretionary. Good luck!

 

[sga814]

My guess is that until you've signed a housing contract, you're under no obligation to pay fines.

 

[casanova70]

Hi all!
It's been a while since I've been here, but now I'm under the gun and need some help.
I'm trying to make preparations for my Apartment-finding trip to Chicago, but I'm not familiar with the area around campus. Basically, I'm looking for a 1/1 that's an OK walking distance to campus.
Can someone tell me of campus area names where I should look, or of any known realtors that deal with students like us that are recommended? Any help is appreciated!
Thanks!

 

[aragonh]

Hi all!
It's been a while since I've been here, but now I'm under the gun and need some help.
I'm trying to make preparations for my Apartment-finding trip to Chicago, but I'm not familiar with the area around campus. Basically, I'm looking for a 1/1 that's an OK walking distance to campus.
Can someone tell me of campus area names where I should look, or of any known realtors that deal with students like us that are recommended? Any help is appreciated!
Thanks!

Theres some recent posts on apt hunting in the UIC 2009 listserver:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/uiccom2009

 

[jennben4]

I created a thread in Allopathic, but I figured I would post here too in case anybody has some info. Can Rush students use (or will they be able to use) UIC's gym? If not, then what gyms do Rush/UIC students typically use? What's closest, cheapest, best hours, etc... Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks!

 

[ForceField]

I created a thread in Allopathic, but I figured I would post here too in case anybody has some info. Can Rush students use (or will they be able to use) UIC's gym? If not, then what gyms do Rush/UIC students typically use? What's closest, cheapest, best hours, etc... Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Yeah they can, but they have to pay membership fees, which I think are something like $200/semester.

 

[jennben4]

Thanks! I figured there would be a membership fee, not being a UIC student and all. I would just much rather have someplace close by. If I have to hop on the L, I'll be much less inclined to go.

 

[ForceField]

Thanks! I figured there would be a membership fee, not being a UIC student and all. I would just much rather have someplace close by. If I have to hop on the L, I'll be much less inclined to go.

If you guys have any other questions, feel free to PM me, I'm an M3 at UIC-Chicago Campus.

 

[redruby]

Does anybody know when we get our checks from the financial aid department?

Also, it seems that people at the Chicago campus have some required reading, anybody at Urbana get a list? I didn't...

 

[sga814]

I believe that you need to set up a direct deposit authorization online (address was in the packets we received), and they deposit your financial aid somewhere around the beginning of the term (you may have to put in some money ahead of the aid for an apartment).

 

[redruby]

ARGHH! I just got my site request granted for Chicago. I have no idea what to do!! I already signed a lease for an apartment in Champaign, so if I don't get somebody to fill my spot, I'll be $6000 in the hole. Plus, I was completely prepared mentally to be on the UPR track. What do I do??!! I need to let them know by tomorrow!!!

 

[Daiphon]

ruby...

i was in the same boat, signed my lease in cham-bana on monday, had a voicemail from UIC on tuesday... ugh... was tough, but i'd already resigned myself to rockford and so i declined chicago... turned out it was a great choice.

i can guarantee that you won't be disappointed with the training in the UPR track; but if the "city life" is what you need (need more than excellent experience, where your 3rd year clerkships are Sub-I's), then head to chicago... o/w, join the ranks of many UPR's who have been (at least in terms of Rockford), very surprised and satisfied.

pm if you want/need more info.

-t

 

[Sofee]

Woohoo!

Officially switched to Chicago today! See you all next week

 

[chef_NU]

Hey guys I recently got accepted here and will probably end up here. I'm originally from Chicago and I just can't justify going anywhere else for the instate tuition. I do have one question though:

How much time do you spend in class? And what percentage of people actually go to class?

 

[nimer1456]

Hey guys I recently got accepted here and will probably end up here. I'm originally from Chicago and I just can't justify going anywhere else for the instate tuition. I do have one question though:

How much time do you spend in class? And what percentage of people actually go to class?

We are in class MWF for 4 hours usually, more when we have ECM in the afternoon on Friday. TuTh for 8-10 hours due to anatomy lab. I dont go to class all that often but I would say about 30-50% go to any given class. It all depends on how you learn; class isnt necessary to attend if you make sure to study while you are skipping.

 

[sueypooey]

Hi guys! I just got into UIC for 2010 (and I didn't see a class of 2010 thread), so here I am.

I was wondering if you guys were planning on taking your cars to Chicago. UIC seems to be pretty urban, but I'm from California and practically live in my car, so I was thinking of driving her out there.

What do you think? Do I need a car, and how much is it to put one in a garage? Do your classmates at UIC have cars? Thanks!