2009-2010 University of Illinois (UIC) Application Thread

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Does anyone know if UIC offers medical student health insurance? How does one set this up?
 
Does anyone know if UIC offers medical student health insurance? How does one set this up?

They do...I'm not sure how to start it, but hopefully that will be in whatever orientation and new student info that is supposed to come on blackboard today 😎

I know that all UIC medical center is included in the plan, but does anyone know if we would be able to see anyone outside of that system?

I'm hoping my parents let me stay on their plan as long as possible lol, but we'll see. :xf:
 
Hi,

I just received a phone call from Linda Singleton with a Chicago placement offer. I'm already set on Rush, but I'm really interested in the dual degrees UIC offers. Also, rush gave me some need-based grants. How likely is UIC to give me such grants, especially with their financial troubles? Without any grants, UIC and Rush are less than 10 thousand dollars apart for all costs. Any advice on what I should do?
 
Hi,

I just received a phone call from Linda Singleton with a Chicago placement offer. I'm already set on Rush, but I'm really interested in the dual degrees UIC offers. Also, rush gave me some need-based grants. How likely is UIC to give me such grants, especially with their financial troubles? Without any grants, UIC and Rush are less than 10 thousand dollars apart for all costs. Any advice on what I should do?

Don't look at cost. Go with what fits better. Cost-wise, UIC will be ultimately mor expensive or close to negligible. Tuition for M2 and M3 is much much higher at UIC. Check to see if Rush's also increases. Not to say it isn't possible, but UIC is pretty strapped for grant cash.

Go with fit and you will not regret it! 🙂
 
Where exactly did you see it? Im looking and not seeing anything!?! 😕 also isi when did you receive an email? I didnt get one but I also haven't officially been placed in the chicago track...think that makes a difference?

I received my first e-mail yesterday (6/7) around 4 p.m. and received a follow-up e-mail this morning at 10 a.m. I suppose if you aren't officially in the Chicago track yet, that might make a difference. They do include a list of people who are in the Chicago track, so if you sent me your real name I could check to see whether you are on it.
 
Where exactly did you see it? Im looking and not seeing anything!?! 😕 also isi when did you receive an email? I didnt get one but I also haven't officially been placed in the chicago track...think that makes a difference?

Once you log in via that website, you will be redirected, and right under "My Courses" and "My Announcements" you should see something. But I think this info might only be for the Chicago track. 😕
 
Does anyone know the Office of Student Affairs address? (I know the admissions address was posted 1 page earlier, but I imagine the OSA address is different.)
I have completed the VA WOC paperwork needed by July 9, but can't for the life of me find the OSA address to which we have to send our paperwork.

Thanks!
 
Does anyone know the Office of Student Affairs address? (I know the admissions address was posted 1 page earlier, but I imagine the OSA address is different.)
I have completed the VA WOC paperwork needed by July 9, but can't for the life of me find the OSA address to which we have to send our paperwork.

Thanks!

Wow! Way to be on top of things! (I am super jealous).

The address can be found on the blackboard site under the VA WOC instructions ... somewhere ... but here it is:

University of Illinois at Chicago
College of Medicine (mc 785)
Office of Student Affairs
1853 W. Polk St., room 112 CMW
Chicago, IL 60612


🙂
 
Does anyone know the Office of Student Affairs address? (I know the admissions address was posted 1 page earlier, but I imagine the OSA address is different.)
I have completed the VA WOC paperwork needed by July 9, but can't for the life of me find the OSA address to which we have to send our paperwork.

Thanks!

And here I am waiting for my physical on Friday so I can fax my immunization records the day before they're due...
 
And here I am waiting for my physical on Friday so I can fax my immunization records the day before they're due...

Ha I'm right there with you! I have my physical tomorrow...(just got the bloodwork today). Oops 😎
 
I received my first e-mail yesterday (6/7) around 4 p.m. and received a follow-up e-mail this morning at 10 a.m. I suppose if you aren't officially in the Chicago track yet, that might make a difference. They do include a list of people who are in the Chicago track, so if you sent me your real name I could check to see whether you are on it.

Thanks. I actually got an email today giving me access to blackboard so I have it now. Thanks tho. See ya in a few weeks 🙂
 
Don't look at cost. Go with what fits better. Cost-wise, UIC will be ultimately mor expensive or close to negligible. Tuition for M2 and M3 is much much higher at UIC. Check to see if Rush's also increases. Not to say it isn't possible, but UIC is pretty strapped for grant cash.

Go with fit and you will not regret it! 🙂


ok so the in state tuition for UIC seems to be $14,697 for the last year. is that the tuition for M1?

I couldnt find a higher rate for M2 and M3 listed any where for in state candidates for UIC. Could you clarify please?

I am on the waitlist at MCW and the tuition there is $44000.
 
ok so the in state tuition for UIC seems to be $14,697 for the last year. is that the tuition for M1?

I couldnt find a higher rate for M2 and M3 listed any where for in state candidates for UIC. Could you clarify please?

I am on the waitlist at MCW and the tuition there is $44000.

From my financial aid award letter. These numbers are for in-state tuition.

Tuition $32,040.00
Mandatory Fees $3,730.00
Disability Insurance $64.00
Books and Supplies $1,380.00
Housing and Food Expenses $14,463.00
Transportation $1,656.00
Stafford Loan Fees $178.00
Personal Expenses $2,483.00
Total: $55,994.00
 
ok so the in state tuition for UIC seems to be $14,697 for the last year. is that the tuition for M1?

I couldnt find a higher rate for M2 and M3 listed any where for in state candidates for UIC. Could you clarify please?

I am on the waitlist at MCW and the tuition there is $44000.

http://www.medicine.uic.edu/finaid/cost/COA/

Last year they charged 10,680 in tuition for M2 and M3 summers...(21,360 more total) not including all of the other fees and living expenses. From my understanding, most schools do not charge an additional tuition for the summer. Generally M2 and M3 cost more due to living expenses. Overall that brings the COA for M2 to about 74k and M3 to 76k according to this chart. 🙁
 
http://www.medicine.uic.edu/finaid/cost/COA/

Last year they charged 10,680 in tuition for M2 and M3 summers...(21,360 more total) not including all of the other fees and living expenses. From my understanding, most schools do not charge an additional tuition for the summer. Generally M2 and M3 cost more due to living expenses. Overall that brings the COA for M2 to about 74k and M3 to 76k according to this chart. 🙁

This is what I discovered when I was comparing the costs of loyola vs. UIC
 
Three things:

1. Has anyone gotten the HIPAA site to work? It says "You donot have access to this resource" when I type in my log-in info.

2. On the VA paperwork, what is the appointee signature for in part 17b of the "Declaration for Federal Employment"?

3. In boxes 9A-9D of section I of the "Application for Health Professions Trainees", what info do we put down regarding the VA training facility/dates?
 
Three things:

1. Has anyone gotten the HIPAA site to work? It says "You donot have access to this resource" when I type in my log-in info.

2. On the VA paperwork, what is the appointee signature for in part 17b of the "Declaration for Federal Employment"?

3. In boxes 9A-9D of section I of the "Application for Health Professions Trainees", what info do we put down regarding the VA training facility/dates?

One thing:

Where is all these paperwork??? 😱 Is it specific to those with Chicago site placement?
 
Hi,

I just received a phone call from Linda Singleton with a Chicago placement offer. I'm already set on Rush, but I'm really interested in the dual degrees UIC offers. Also, rush gave me some need-based grants. How likely is UIC to give me such grants, especially with their financial troubles? Without any grants, UIC and Rush are less than 10 thousand dollars apart for all costs. Any advice on what I should do?

exact same situation. got a call from linda this morning. i called uic's financial aid and was told there are no scholarships or grants or federal perkin loan from uic this year. everything is sub/unsub stafford and grad plus. with that being said, i compared my financial aid package from rush and turns out rush is cheaper. rush gave me a grant, fed perkin loan, and subsidized institutional loan. i don't have to take out the grad plus loan at all. just the interest on the grad plus loan makes rush cheaper.
 
exact same situation. got a call from linda this morning. i called uic's financial aid and was told there are no scholarships or grants or federal perkin loan from uic this year. everything is sub/unsub stafford and grad plus. with that being said, i compared my financial aid package from rush and turns out rush is cheaper. rush gave me a grant, fed perkin loan, and subsidized institutional loan. i don't have to take out the grad plus loan at all. just the interest on the grad plus loan makes rush cheaper.

Oh State of Illinois... 🙁
 
exact same situation. got a call from linda this morning. i called uic's financial aid and was told there are no scholarships or grants or federal perkin loan from uic this year. everything is sub/unsub stafford and grad plus. with that being said, i compared my financial aid package from rush and turns out rush is cheaper. rush gave me a grant, fed perkin loan, and subsidized institutional loan. i don't have to take out the grad plus loan at all. just the interest on the grad plus loan makes rush cheaper.

I actually decided to take a pass on uic and go with Rush. Rush will be less costly as well.
 
It's taking a long time! Good luck -- hopefully we'll both hear something good soon.

I know it's taking a long time but we just gotta wait it out. As apparent right here on this page, there is still movement. So just tightly hold on to your phones.. Linda Singleton might be dialing your number right now!! 🙄

On a separate note, does anyone here know how long the winter break is for M1 and the exact dates and whether it's the same for both chicago and urbana campuses?
 
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I know it's taking a long time but we just gotta wait it out. As apparent right here on this page, there is still movement. So just tightly hold on to your phones.. Linda Singleton might be dialing your number right now!! 🙄

On a separate note, does anyone here know how long the winter break is for M1 and the exact dates and whether it's the same for both chicago and urbana campuses?

Do you or does anyone else know the process that goes on to review petitions? Is it reviewed and granted by a single person/couple people or does it go through the admissions (or some other) committee?
 
Do you or does anyone else know the process that goes on to review petitions? Is it reviewed and granted by a single person/couple people or does it go through the admissions (or some other) committee?

I was told by one of the admissions secretaries on the phone back in April that the petitions go through the admissions committee where they are reviewed for the strength/reason of the petition against all other petitions and then granted once the spot opens up.
 
Hey all,

I'm a little worried...I know about the bloodwork/immunization forms that we're supposed to complete and send in, but I see nothing regarding a basic physical. Does UIC require a physical? If so, do they have a specific form they want completed?

Thanks!
 
nice to hear you guys getting set for med school this year... i wish i got in too at UIC 🙁
 
Hey all,

I'm a little worried...I know about the bloodwork/immunization forms that we're supposed to complete and send in, but I see nothing regarding a basic physical. Does UIC require a physical? If so, do they have a specific form they want completed?

Thanks!

none that I am aware of...i just turned in my immunization forms and they didnt ask me anything else after receiving it...
 
Hey guys

I got the call from Linda and I'm in! 😀 😀

The only thing is though that I was placed on the Urbana Peoria Rockford track. Does anybody know which is the best site for years 2-4? I like Urbana because I know the location a little bit. Rockford and Peoria I am totally confused about. Any help would be appreciated 🙂
 
Hey all,

I'm a little worried...I know about the bloodwork/immunization forms that we're supposed to complete and send in, but I see nothing regarding a basic physical. Does UIC require a physical? If so, do they have a specific form they want completed?

Thanks!

Nope! No physical needed ... yet. 😉
 
Hey guys

I got the call from Linda and I'm in! 😀 😀

The only thing is though that I was placed on the Urbana Peoria Rockford track. Does anybody know which is the best site for years 2-4? I like Urbana because I know the location a little bit. Rockford and Peoria I am totally confused about. Any help would be appreciated 🙂

Congrats!
 
Hey guys

I got the call from Linda and I'm in! 😀 😀

The only thing is though that I was placed on the Urbana Peoria Rockford track. Does anybody know which is the best site for years 2-4? I like Urbana because I know the location a little bit. Rockford and Peoria I am totally confused about. Any help would be appreciated 🙂

I interviewed in Peoria and really liked it there. If I were not placed in Chicago, then that was my first choice...
 
Hey guys

I got the call from Linda and I'm in! 😀 😀

The only thing is though that I was placed on the Urbana Peoria Rockford track. Does anybody know which is the best site for years 2-4? I like Urbana because I know the location a little bit. Rockford and Peoria I am totally confused about. Any help would be appreciated 🙂

Since I've noticed some questions on this, I'll attach an e-mail I wrote to someone who asked me for a comparison of the three non-Chicago sites. Hopefully it will be of use to someone.

"Hey there..

It's good to think about this ahead of time since switching between the Rockford-Urbana-Peoria campuses is easily permitted (you just have to petition in the Spring).

I've been to all 3 campuses above and I can list some pros and cons about each of them.

Rockford PRO: You are put into the clinic on a regular basis as soon as the year starts. Some of my friends go for a half-day every Friday every week throughout the year. It's good because overall you get a long-term exposure, which is nice. Rockford also generally has only 3-4 hours of classroom lecture per day. It's also close to Chicago, and the school built a brand new auditorium. And you're right, Rockford students are permitted to do M4 electives in Chicago.

Rockford CON: They do have the lowest board scores, average, out of all 3 campuses. The town itself is not much to write home about. The lecture hall is essentially in a basement (or so it felt when I visited).

Urbana PRO: Their curriculum is very similar to Rockford.. 3-4 hours per day. Generally you're done by noon. You also have the added benefit of a smaller class size.. roughly 25 people in Urbana, 50 in Peoria, and 50 in Rockford. You do your first year in Urbana anyway, so it allows you to keep your contacts from first year and you don't have to move, which can be a hassle. You can also get involved in TAing opportunities during your M2 year, which gives you some cash. It's on U of I campus, which is an overall fun place to be... lots of things for young people like ourselves to do and get involved in. Urbana-Champaign is really the cultural center of Illinois outside of Chicago. It just caters to our crowd more. Also, you have access to the Rec Center which is a really fantastic gym with everything you could ask for. If you go to Peoria or Rockford, you have to pay for such a place.

Urbana CON: The vast majority of people in your M2 class will be people that weren't in your M1 class, as almost all of them are MD/PhD students who are required to stay in Urbana. Most of your friends will go to Peoria or Rockford, which sounds dumb now, but you will get CLOSE to people in your class. One of the PROs can also be a CON because you share your campus and its facilities with like 40,000 other people. Board scores not as high as in Peoria. Hospital is kinda small.

Peoria PRO: Peoria curriculum has the most classroom lecture hours and the most overall hours.. this can be a PRO or a CON. I think for those who are independent learners, they may get annoyed by the 5-7 hours per day of classroom, but the M2 material is HARD! You will be happy that you have additional opportunities to learn the material. Sometimes you have to learn things that will NEVER be on boards, and why they choose to test it is unknown to me... but overall, there is some overlap in the material, so you get a Pathologist's take on a disease and then a Clinician's take on the same disease. Peoria is also making renovations to its building. Peoria is technically the biggest city of the three, with an airport that makes direct flights to cities like Minneapolis, Las Vegas, Orlando, Dallas, Detroit, and of course Chicago. I think Peoria's administrators are the nicest that I've dealt with on the three campuses. It also has two HUGE hospitals and another pretty big one. It really is a city built on its hospitals (and Caterpillar). Peoria's hospitals are near a rough neighborhood, but you'll never go into that area. The hospital campuses themselves, as well as the medical school, which is right across the street, are very, very safe. I'd be the first person to bitch about the crime if it was to be seen, believe me.

Peoria CON: There's absolutely no nightlife in Peoria. It blows. You can find things to do with your friends, but its hard to go out on the town. The crime rate is existent... but it's no worse than the other two cities and certainly better than Chicago. You have to do 2 months of your M4 year in Peoria.. which can suck.. but it's really only because the hospitals here are that good. Rockford's and Urbana's hospitals aren't that great.. that's why they can send them to Chicago. The curriculum can be overwhelming and more stress than its worth (but note that I am saying this as someone who doesn't take his USMLE Step 1 for another 7 weeks). 8-5 days begin to wear on you over time, especially when you're in a lecture hall... but you may as well get used to it, you have to have 8-5 days, at least, once you start M3.

Anyway.. I hope that helped. If I had to do it all over again, honestly, I would have stayed in Urbana. But if I had to choose between Peoria and Rockford, I would choose Peoria. Ultimately I liked where I was living in Urbana-Champaign.. the town is more built for young people, it's more modern, there's more things to do, and I am more of an independent learner. I'm already good at standardized tests and I'm going into a field, more than likely, that doesn't demand a very high Step 1 score. It crossed my mind to stay in U-C, but ultimately all my friends were going to Peoria and I didn't want to lose touch with them as I knew basically no one staying in Urbana. In retrospect, though, I feel like Peoria has made my life miserable for the past 8.5 months (of course, it may all be for the best... we'll see when I get my board scores).

Generally people like where they go because they go where their friends go. For most people, that's #1. I love my friends, but I honestly feel I would have been happier if I had stayed in Urbana."
 
I finished the fingerprinting business. It took 5 minutes.. no line where I went, just need an ID and fingers not covered in chocolate 🙄.
 
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Was recently accepted as well! Hope you meet you guys soon 🙂!
 
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Im so excited for school to start. Im getting ready to move down to Chicago at the end of the month. I want more stuff from the school to read!!
 
It's amazing to see how things turn out in the end, looks like I'll be going to UIC-Chicago in August, woohoo!

Now the thing is, housing is kind of a pain to find somewhere decent. I've been surfing craigslist and the UIC student housing posts.....any other ideas, guys? Anyone here in need of a roommate? I'm in the hunt right now....
 
Anyone here with a recently approved site change request?

I'm still waiting to hear too but this is kinda getting late. How long are you planning to hold out for chicago campus? i don't think I can much longer. Come mid-july, if I haven't heard back by then, I'd have to sign lease with someone in Champaign.
 
I'm still waiting to hear too but this is kinda getting late. How long are you planning to hold out for chicago campus? i don't think I can much longer. Come mid-july, if I haven't heard back by then, I'd have to sign lease with someone in Champaign.

I would wait until the day before classes begin if need be, but hope that the process won't drag on until then. I really need to attend the Chicago campus.
 
hey, i was wondering if anyone has heard from the waitlist lately....
 
Nobody visits this thread anymore, it seems but do you guys realize how useful this thread's going to be for this year's applicants since we have encountered and answered every type of question that they will face. I hope they visit this thread. I am more than convinced that it would take care of any questions that they have regarding the application process at this school.
 
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