Good luck everyone! I'm currently a first year at U of I and this page was a huge resource when I was applying. Thought I would pass on a few notes from my own experience -
1) pinkpuppy and cloverbug rock, they were active on here last year and are great resources, huge thank you to both of them because I know they don't have a ton of free time!
2) Don't freak out about when you'll hear back. I know, easier said than done but one of the greatest uses of this page was checking in to see if anyone else had received letters. Do NOT expect that if you are told you'll hear something by a certain date that you actually will. WHEN that happens just check here, all letters and emails will go out at the same time so if people on here aren't posting about theirs, you didn't miss yours.
3) Use citations on your supplemental essay, it's the right thing to do.
4) Some bad news, Illinois shoots for a class size of 120-130, roughly 80-90 IS and the rest OOS. The class of 2016 is 162 strong. They usually send out extra OOS offers because the acceptance rate is lower but our class overwhelmed them. This means they will likely be more conservative with offers this year. They literally had to add seats to a classroom to fit us and can't fit another massive class. The silver lining here, there may be more movement on the wait list if they send out fewer offers.
5) I know it was mentioned before but keep getting experience! Not just small animal general practice but all over. Try to work with wildlife, zoo med, large animal. Even if you don't get in this year start working on that experience to improve your application for next year.
Hope to see you next year!
Thanks pinkpuppy and cloverbug!!!!!!!