2009-2010 University of Illinois (UIC) Application Thread

Discover Your Odds of Getting into Medical School
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so zip, would it be a bad thing if all 3 of my essays have similar themes? I mean the time i was most stressed, greatest disadvantages, and one keen interest outside of medicine all deal with a similar thing. I didnt write the same essay 3 times or anything, but they all deal around one central subject, its something thats important to me but im worried maybe having something like that is bad? I mean should i just change up on the essays so that all 3 prompts dont focus on a similar theme/topic? I was thinking if had to, i could change my keen interest outside of med essay into something else, just for the sake of change...
 
Caesar I saw you on the other IL school threads. I think we applied to all the same schools. Everywhere in IL?
 
Caesar said:
Zip, Does a letter packet from my UG count as individual letters or a committee letter for UIC? I only ask because it has 5 letters and they don't ask for that many.
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Does your committee write a letter that goes with the packet? If so, it's a committee letter. If it's just an unaccompanied packet of five letters, then it's five letters.

Elijah05 said:
so zip, would it be a bad thing if all 3 of my essays have similar themes? I mean the time i was most stressed, greatest disadvantages, and one keen interest outside of medicine all deal with a similar thing. I didnt write the same essay 3 times or anything, but they all deal around one central subject, its something thats important to me but im worried maybe having something like that is bad? I mean should i just change up on the essays so that all 3 prompts dont focus on a similar theme/topic? I was thinking if had to, i could change my keen interest outside of med essay into something else, just for the sake of change...
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I'd change one of them. Someone may read the secondary and think, "Jeez, in the entire span of this person's life, they can only write about THIS over and over?" Do you want that to be the impression you make on a reviewer?
 
Im looking at my status page and I see no link regarding the secondary. Am I missing something? Under status is says, "Contact College admissions office phone #21312312341221whatever"
 
Caesar said:
I didn't get the email but entered my AMCAS ID, said I forgot my password, and they emailed me a password and told me they wanted me to fill out a secondary. Sounds like they had issues with the emails since some people got blank ones.
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HAHA i just did the same thing and it worked! i hadnt heard anything from them i dont think at this point and i got logged in and now im working on my secondary...
 
Are you guys just re-writing everything from your AMCAS for the extracurriculars? why cant they just look at amcas it has more info than this does
 
cbrons said:
Im looking at my status page and I see no link regarding the secondary. Am I missing something? Under status is says, "Contact College admissions office phone #21312312341221whatever"
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Contact Admissions.

Sleight said:
Are you guys just re-writing everything from your AMCAS for the extracurriculars? why cant they just look at amcas it has more info than this does
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Then don't fill it out and see what happens. Why would you copy verbatim from your AMCAS?
 
zipmedic said:
Then don't fill it out and see what happens. Why would you copy verbatim from your AMCAS?
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whoa. take it down a notch i was just asking what everyone else is doing. i just feel like i am writing the same thing over again so i was wondering if that is what everyone else is doing.
 
Sleight said:
whoa. take it down a notch i was just asking what everyone else is doing. i just feel like i am writing the same thing over again so i was wondering if that is what everyone else is doing.
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They shouldn't be. Not word for word, at least. In general, try hard to avoid repeating yourself and focus on a different aspect of the EC, or go into more detail about what you learned.
 
zipmedic said:
They shouldn't be. Not word for word, at least. In general, try hard to avoid repeating yourself and focus on a different aspect of the EC, or go into more detail about what you learned.
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there is no explanation for the EC's on this secondary. i meant are people using the same list of EC's
 
i still haven't gotten this secondary! do i just need to go to their website?
 
To check on your secondary (for those who haven't received it...)

From Abarabas: "Could have been a bug... just go in there and try to log in w/ your AAMC ID.

https://applications.comd.uic.edu/suppapp "

I was able to access my secondary the round-about (no-email) way by following the link abarabas provided... I clicked the "what's my password" after entering my AAMC ID and it auto-sent my password. Just bookmark the login page on your browser to make it easier. ^_^
 
megafoofie said:
To check on your secondary (for those who haven't received it...)

From Abarabas: "Could have been a bug... just go in there and try to log in w/ your AAMC ID.

https://applications.comd.uic.edu/suppapp "

I was able to access my secondary the round-about (no-email) way by following the link abarabas provided... I clicked the "what's my password" after entering my AAMC ID and it auto-sent my password. Just bookmark the login page on your browser to make it easier. ^_^
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thanks, this worked!! 👍
 
Zippy, it is a packet of letters with a cover letter.

For whoever asked, yes I used the same ECs from AMCAS. Nothing has changed for me in a month. They DO ask for hours now /week instead of month.

For the essays, I am not done with them, but the one about a non medical EC I wrote about the same thing that I wrote about on my AMCAS and PS, but from a different perspective. Instead of talking about the time I spent in a band like I did on AMCAS I talked about music in general since it has been several "EC's" for me since I was like 10.
 
So i was thinking about writing about how much i love food in the hobby essay...does this sound horrible? I mean its not like "i like to sit at home and eat" its more talking about how i like to explore cultures via their food...

my other option is writing about how much i love spanish and studied abroad yada yada but i figure the food one is more unique...but the spanish one is more something i could use with medicine...

any suggestions?
 
Sleight said:
So i was thinking about writing about how much i love food in the hobby essay...does this sound horrible? I mean its not like "i like to sit at home and eat" its more talking about how i like to explore cultures via their food...

my other option is writing about how much i love spanish and studied abroad yada yada but i figure the food one is more unique...but the spanish one is more something i could use with medicine...

any suggestions?
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I like the food one. If you love spanish you should speak it i assume and assuming you are not latin/mexican/ w/e, im sure that could easily be another topic that could be brought up at the interview. I like the food idea its interesting if you are talking about cooking and exploring blah blah like you said. Personally i wrote about ecological conservation and the work ive done in that area lol😛.
 
Elijah05 said:
I like the food one. If you love spanish you should speak it i assume and assuming you are not latin/mexican/ w/e, im sure that could easily be another topic that could be brought up at the interview. I like the food idea its interesting if you are talking about cooking and exploring blah blah like you said. Personally i wrote about ecological conservation and the work ive done in that area lol😛.
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yeah i wrote both out actually already...i think the food one is a little more unique because a lot of ppl speak spanish and im not a native speaker...plus my fiance is korean so i have tried some crazy food...lol
 
for the employment thing...what if you worked 3 months then took a couple of then worked again or something along those lines...do you list the whole year?
 
Sleight said:
for the employment thing...what if you worked 3 months then took a couple of then worked again or something along those lines...do you list the whole year?
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I'd say yes even if you were on and off given the company or business has you on record as an employee. 🙂 I've been on and off at my job for over 2 years and had large pockets of time when I didn't work but still recognized as an employee. ^_^
 
For activities that are ongoing, did you guys just leave the end date blank? 😕
 
megafoofie said:
I think they just mean 1 year of general biology like the other schools... so 2 semesters worth 🙂
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i only have 1 year of biology total... do you think they'll count biochem as my "upper level biology"? i already have 2 organic classes so i don't need it to count for chem
 
ziggyd0c said:
i only have 1 year of biology total... do you think they'll count biochem as my "upper level biology"? i already have 2 organic classes so i don't need it to count for chem
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I think it depends on which department your biochem falls under... Biochem at my school is categorized as a Chemistry class subsequently abbreviated with "CHEM"... if your Biochem falls under "BIOL" or "BIO" then it should count. ^_^
 
Word to the wise: if you don't already do so, definitely paste into notepad from word and THEN to the application on this one. Apostrophes, quotes, and dashes from MS Word will NOT work on this secondary.


...figured this one out too late. Hope that doesn't knock me out :/
 
BBender716 said:
Word to the wise: if you don't already do so, definitely paste into notepad from word and THEN to the application on this one. Apostrophes, quotes, and dashes from MS Word will NOT work on this secondary.


...figured this one out too late. Hope that doesn't knock me out :/
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yeah, i noticed that and i meant to post here saying the same thing. good thing i printed out a copy of my summary app and looked at it before submitting...
 
I did the same thing as the other guys (gals?) to get my secondary, so unless you are screened out, the names are in the computer, and you can get access to the secondary now.

Speaking of the secondary, do they actually contact your "contact people" on the list. It's not a problem as far as validity goes, I just don't know if I want to give out everyone's e-mail. But whatever, guess it should be secure there.
 
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ruiner said:
Speaking of the secondary, do they actually contact your "contact people" on the list. It's not a problem as far as validity goes, I just don't know if I want to give out everyone's e-mail. But whatever, guess it should be secure there.
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They won't contact anyone unless they feel they need to (happens maybe once or twice per application cycle). Please be sure to provide the e-mail addresses.
 
zipmedic said:
They won't contact anyone unless they feel they need to (happens maybe once or twice per application cycle). Please be sure to provide the e-mail addresses.
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Cool. Thanks for the answer. Literally as I was asking I was realizing that it was kind of silly to worry about it considering the situation and who I was giving it to, but still feels weird to just give out that info. Whatever, that was last thing I needed to do on the secondary, so once my letters finally get done I'll be complete.

Now the fun of digging up some of these old work emails haha
 
Sleight said:
yeah, i noticed that and i meant to post here saying the same thing. good thing i printed out a copy of my summary app and looked at it before submitting...
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...lol thanks for the heads up.
 
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So is there a 3 LOR max limit? (Since it only lets you add in 3 letters on the secondary)
 
BBender716 said:
...lol thanks for the heads up.
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sorry! 🙁 i was working on two different secondaries in the same day and trying to make sure they got out! i am sure that A LOT of people submit theirs with the errors in that way so hopefully they understand...:xf::xf:
 
Sleight said:
sorry! 🙁 i was working on two different secondaries in the same day and trying to make sure they got out! i am sure that A LOT of people submit theirs with the errors in that way so hopefully they understand...:xf::xf:
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No worries. I'll put it this way, if a school rejects me based on minor formatting errors then maybe it's just not a good fit hahaha Best of luck to you! Where else are you applying? Anywhere in Illinois/Midwest?
 
BBender716 said:
No worries. I'll put it this way, if a school rejects me based on minor formatting errors then maybe it's just not a good fit hahaha Best of luck to you! Where else are you applying? Anywhere in Illinois/Midwest?
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this is where i am applying! in alphabetical order not in order of preference.

1. Albany
2. Creighton U
3. Eastern Virginia
4. George Washington
5. Loyola U
6. Medical College of Wisconsin
7. Michigan State
8. Morehouse
9. Oregon Health Sciences University
10. Rosalind Franklin
11. SUNY Buffalo
12. Medical College of Georgia
13. U of AZ
14. U of AR
15. U of CO
16. U of HI
17. U of IL
18. U of IA
19. U of KS
20. U of MN
21. U of NE
22. U of NV
23. UW
24. Virginia Commonwealth

you?
 
Do history classes count for the BESS requirement? I took History of the Caribbean which is kind of an anthropology class... this requirement is confusing!
 
Hi all you fellow UIC applicants. I am still waiting to be verified so no secondary for me yet.

I am an IL resident so of course I am applying here. The one thing that makes me nervous is the huge class size. Is it pretty well split up among the campuses? (I apologize if this has been answered, a quick forum search and skim through UIC's website didn't tell me what I was looking for.) Zip, were your classes huge? Did you feel lke you didn't know half the people in your class? Or is there social stuff to help you integrate?

I guess I'm just nervous about going to a school where I feel lost in the shuffle. But as an IL resident, it's my best chance as far as admissions go- and if I get in here, it'll also be the cheapest option. So I really want to know what life at UIC-COM is like . . . 🙂
 
delicatefew24 said:
Do history classes count for the BESS requirement? I took History of the Caribbean which is kind of an anthropology class... this requirement is confusing!
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I doubt it, but you should call the office to be sure.

MaryLennox said:
I am an IL resident so of course I am applying here. The one thing that makes me nervous is the huge class size. Is it pretty well split up among the campuses? (I apologize if this has been answered, a quick forum search and skim through UIC's website didn't tell me what I was looking for.) Zip, were your classes huge? Did you feel lke you didn't know half the people in your class? Or is there social stuff to help you integrate?
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My class was around 185 people at the Chicago campus. The other campuses enjoy smaller class sizes. Everyone takes every class together (think big Biology 101 lecture hall). For the lab sections of classes, like Histology, Anatomy, and Neuroanatomy, you're broken up into smaller lab groups. I've never felt "lost", but I've always enjoyed larger schools.

I don't know half of my class, but as anyone will tell you, I'm rarely on campus and if I am, it's seldom for class. There is indeed a bunch of social "stuff" that each class' Social Chairs plan - everyone's very friendly and you shouldn't have any problem getting to know your peers. 🙂
 
Zippy, couple questions.

#1 one of my activities is an artistic endeavor. Who should I list to contact? Myself? a band mate? I know it shouldn't really matter, but still.

#2 Emails for all? I have a previous employer who MIGHT not have email (not kidding). Is just a number okay in that case?

#3 Did you answer my letter question? It is 5 letters with a cover letter from my adviser. I think it should count as a committee thing, but I am biased.
 
Caesar said:
Zippy, couple questions.

#1 one of my activities is an artistic endeavor. Who should I list to contact? Myself? a band mate? I know it shouldn't really matter, but still.

#2 Emails for all? I have a previous employer who MIGHT not have email (not kidding). Is just a number okay in that case?

#3 Did you answer my letter question? It is 5 letters with a cover letter from my adviser. I think it should count as a committee thing, but I am biased.
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#1 I used a sport for one of them, I just used my mom as the contact, I could have used a coach or something, but my coaches only had me for 1 or 2 years.

#2 You don't need both for each, I think if you try and continue without putting either in it will put up a prompt saying you need at least one.

#3 Can't answer for sure, but I'm just sending them my schools packet which has 5 letters and a cover letter. I think that is fine.

I feel your pain on the timing out while working on EC. Happened to me too haha.
 
Caesar said:
Zippy, couple questions.

#1 one of my activities is an artistic endeavor. Who should I list to contact? Myself? a band mate? I know it shouldn't really matter, but still.

#2 Emails for all? I have a previous employer who MIGHT not have email (not kidding). Is just a number okay in that case?

#3 Did you answer my letter question? It is 5 letters with a cover letter from my adviser. I think it should count as a committee thing, but I am biased.
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1. Band mate is fine.
2. Yep, a phone number works.
3. I did. It's fine if it's a packet with a committee letter on top.

Caesar said:
Hmph, how strict are they on the 250 word limit? I am at 260 on one of them.
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You can get rid of 10 words. You know you can.
 
So I was never emailed by UIC at all-- I logged in by prompting the system to email me my "forgotten" password.

But...I have submitted & paid and still have received nothing...no payment receipt, nothing.

Anyone else? Has anyone received emails confirming that certain items have been received?

Thanks!
 
As soon as I submitted with my payment I got a confirmation email saying "your application is complete with all necessary credentials for review". I hope that helps.
 
Is the "forgot password" method not working for anyone else? It hasn't worked for me, despite that I'm a IL resident and a 31/3.9.
 
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