SIU is one of the few schools in the nation that actually caters to the local population, rather than just espousing the practice on paper. When you're a medical school that is attempting, as best it can, to provide a rural area with a source of physicians you have to be prepared to accept students that don't have pristine stats. If SIU started accepting students from across the country in order to beef up the stats, it would have a significant draining effect on the supply of physicians to central/southern Illinois.
Personally, I tremendously enjoyed my interview at SIU, and still think the education I would receive there would be much better than what I would receive at UIC. That being said, I'm not considering following through on my acceptance, not because I think SIU is lacking in any way, but because I've come to recognize that I don't want to spend the rest of my life in SoIll. And, honestly, if I did go to SIU I would feel horrible knowing that I am taking the spot of another student that would be willing to stay in the area and practice. SIU is not trying to be Harvard, it's trying to be something more medical schools should be: a source of medical knowledge and education for its surrounding population.
From your posts I get the impression you care a lot about the school. Perhaps you should consider working there someday and trying your hand at turning the ship toward the direction you see fit.
to you!
ehh...I probably won't get in unless someone else withdraws! 😱
