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2017-2018 Southern Illinois University
Started by Lucca
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Thanks for the information and for all of your assistance! Quick question: I know that after the first batch, a few acceptances went out, but not in an official "batch". Does this typically happen, or will the next acceptances more than likely be made in the beginning of March?
So If I haven't received anything in the mail from the 1/23 meeting, I probably wasn't put on AWPA list?
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They should at least send something in regards to your status after their meeting - if you haven't heard anything at all please feel free to call the admissions office at (217) 545-6013 to ask about your status. If your interview was close to their meeting date, it is possible your file will not be discussed until the February meeting as well.
It's impossible to say exactly as it usually depends on the amount of people that have accepted their acceptance vs declined their acceptance. The March batch is, based on the past few years, a full batch. Acceptances slow down between the final batch and the multiple acceptance deadline, then pick back up a couple weeks after the deadline through the beginning of early summer.
I interviewed middle of December. I guess if I don’t get anything in the mail by Monday. I should probably call Beth?
What’s student life like down in Carbondale during first year? Does the class get to know each other? What do people do for fun? Where do people generally live? Etc.
Do you know if SIU gives a lot of (or any) merit scholarships? I've heard some conflicting things. If so, when does it usually happen? Sorry, my question wasn't specifically about first year. Thanks!
Very rarely. The only ones I have seen during my four years are need-based or only for specific students who qualify. The financial aid office usually sends out e-mails a few weeks before each semester with lists of available scholarships you can apply for.
Having the first year at SIU Carbondale campus is pretty nice since it is more of an undergraduate campus. It makes the transition smooth since the majority of the class will be familiar with the environment. You will be spending the majority of your time at Lindegren hall (aka Lindy) and you will have some resource sessions (lectures) at another building (LS III) which is basically right next to Lindegren. It is a nice location because it is next-door to SIU's Morris library (which is oddly closed on Saturdays now but you will have 24 hour access to Lindy), a close walk to the student center (restaurants, school store, Starbucks, etc.), and a close walk to the parking lot where the majority of the class will park everyday. The only traveling you will have to do for school is to see your physician mentor who could be either close (2-5 min drive) or far (1 hour max) from the campus.
You will DEFINITELY get the opportunity to get to know the majority of the class or even everyone. What is cool about SIU SOM is that the class size is small (72-75 per class). With being the only medical students in Carbondale for the first year gives everyone an opportunity to really get to know one another. My class is very close and I have been able to make a lot of great relationships.
There is a lot of opportunity to take a load off of studying and have fun in Carbondale. A good chunk of my class enjoys taking an evening or whole day off of the weekend and we all try to do something together whether it is going out to the bars (Stix/Pinch are popular) or even staying in to play a board games/chill at someone's place. Also hiking or going to the wineries are pretty cool things to do while it is warm outside. The tradition of going on a wine tour the weekend of white coat day has been passed down and I am sure it will be passed down to the Class of 2022 as well in order to get the year started right.
In terms of housing, the majority of students live at The Reserve at Saluki Pointe (The Reserve at Saluki Pointe Apartments | Carbondale, IL Apartments Near Southern Illinois University). It is about 1-2 miles away (5 min drive max) from campus but there is an available shuttle to get to campus. These apartments are very student friendly and medical students usually all live together rather getting paired with random students. They have 2, 3, and 4 bedroom units which are all furnished and everyone gets their own bathroom! On occasion it can get loud due to SIU's version of a welcome week called Solar Bear. But that should be the only time where it will get a bit rowdy. A lot of students also live at Sun Valley Estates (Carbondale's First Choice in Luxury Living) which is on the west side of Carbondale (around a 5-7 min drive from campus) closer to Murphysboro, IL. These apartments are very spacious 1 or 2 bedroom apartments. They are NOT furnished but are in a very chill and quiet area. Keith Horner is the property manager and is very nice. He likes working with medical students. Other students are dispersed at places like University Village (Off Campus Student Housing by SIU in Carbondale | University Village). Evolve apartments are pretty cool too (www.evolveatsiu.com) but they tend to be on the more expensive side and that building has paper thin walls. You can hear your neighbors and people having a normal conversation outside. But there is no rush at all to get housing. There will still be a lot of openings around late spring or even summer. Usually students will sign leases when they come to Carbondale for pre-orientation in June.
Overall, the first year on the Carbondale campus is pretty sweet and sets you up well for a smooth transition to Springfield for the remainder of your time at SIU SOM. I hope this answers some of your questions. If you have more just let me know!
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Thanks for your answer to my first question! Can you also talk about a typical day regarding lectures/PBL is? When, how often, and how long is PBL/lectures? Lectures are not mandatory, correct?
Most lectures are optional - some are required. The required ones are mainly doctoring curriculum or if there are guest lecturers.
During first year, PBL is 3 hours a day 3 times a week, usually 8am - 11am M, W, F with lectures in the afternoon after a lunch break. Tuesdays and Thursdays are lecture days and usually when doctoring curriculum is held.
During second year, PBL is 2 hours a day 2 times a week, with times that are scheduled individually per group. Lectures are generally a few every day.
Almost everyone goes to the first few lectures, especially if it is a new instructor to see if they like the style. Otherwise, slides / PDF are posted online after the lecture and almost all are audio recorded that you can listen to online at your convenience.
In addition to @ncklkrt I want to emphasize that Tuesdays and Thursdays are gold in this curriculum...well to me at least lol. The majority of the time Tuesdays are reserved for clinical skills whether it is a lecture, practicing with a standardized patient/each other, or both. On average there are only 1-2 hours of a required sessions on Tuesdays unless there might be some sort of resource session (lecture) as well. For example, today all that was required was a 1 hour session reviewing the neuro physical exam and then we had the rest of the day "free". Every now and then there might not be anything required on Tuesdays depending on how your clinical skill sessions are scheduled (sometimes the class is divided and might be split between different Tuesdays). Therefore it is almost like we have 3 free days of the week including the weekend. Sometimes it can even feel like there are 4 free days of the week if there are only optional resource sessions scheduled on Thursday which tends to happen the majority of the time. On the other hand, it is crucial to utilize these days to visit your physician mentor which there are 12 required mentor hours per block (3 separate visits minimum) or catch up on learning issues/review lecture material. But of course every now and then students tend to use these days to catch up on chores, go to the rec center, add some Netflix time, etc. The schedule is definitely one of the best aspects about this school since it allows for a decent amount of free time and more of a chill environment.
In terms of anatomy and histology labs, those can be scattered on either Monday, Wednesday, or Friday. Histology lab is optional and anatomy lab is required. How often you have lab depends on the unit you are in (The Neuro/muscular/behavioral would definitely have a higher volume of anatomy compared to the Cardio/Respiratory/Renal or Endocrine/Repro/GI unit). The length of each anatomy lab will depend on how much content you need to cover during that specific lab section.
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Is there a detailed Match list for the last year or two?
Last year: SIU Med Students Meet Their Match | SIU School of Medicine (at bottom)
The website is still undergoing some changes / fixes and the 2016 year link is currently broken for detailed results, but the link posted has an accurate representation of matches from all recent years.
This year's results should be posted shortly after March 16, 2018 as well.
The website is still undergoing some changes / fixes and the 2016 year link is currently broken for detailed results, but the link posted has an accurate representation of matches from all recent years.
This year's results should be posted shortly after March 16, 2018 as well.
Has anyone recently received an AWPA letter?
I feel this so much
March 6th. How could eleven days feel so long?!
Match day is in 21 days...us fourth years are in the same boat 😛
There is nothing official, but you can contact the admissions office and get something set up 🙂
Thanks! Good luck on your match!
March 6th is almost here! Hoping for good news!
The day is finally here. Good luck to all of you.
After 12pm / 1pm. They usually meet in the morning, break for lunch, and then send e-mails. I received mine about 2pm.
Will they be sending them today?
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I thought so. I haven’t received anything yet.
Cool! I just didn’t know if the acceptances were typically sent out on the same day as the meeting. Good luck everyone
They should be, but I sent a message to Beth asking for specifics for you guys / gals . I will let y'all know once I hear back .
Thanks! That is very much appreciated 🙂
Thank you! We are anxiously waiting to hear back haha
Any A's today boys?
Nothing here :/
Still nothing from admissions - will post here as soon as I get a response. Wish I had more information! Waiting is the hardest part.
Edit 3/6 18:30 - Still silence; Not sure what's up. My clinic this week is not near the school so I can't stop by, but I will make a new post as soon as I get an e-mail response from admissions.
Edit 3/6 18:30 - Still silence; Not sure what's up. My clinic this week is not near the school so I can't stop by, but I will make a new post as soon as I get an e-mail response from admissions.
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I called and spoke with Terra in admissions earlier today. She was super friendly and helpful. She said they will try to get the next batch out later this week or early next week.
I only asked about acceptance emails.
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Hello! I got in touch with Beth from admissions this morning and she said both Acceptances and AWPA e-mails will be sent by the end of this week, so you can expect e-mails Thursday / Friday in regards to all acceptances with the last batch and all AWPAs through their meeting yesterday.
Keep in mind although this is the final batch of acceptances, more acceptances are sent out on a rolling basis as others who are holding their spots decline if they decide to attend a different school. Movement down the acceptance list can be slow starting out, but picks up as it gets closer to the multi-accept deadline.
They usually aim for ~75 students for the entering class, and in past years has been about ~150 total acceptances to fill the class.
Best of luck to everyone!
Thanks! Do you know approximately how many people have been accepted thus far?
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It's usually ~25 students per batch, so ~75 after this batch. Unfortunately they do not share the exact numbers, but that's been the averages over the past years.
Are interviews over with then? Do you know approximately how many people interviewed?
Interviews generally go through the multiple accept deadline or a couple weeks before .They don't give out the total # either but from anecdotes and past years it seems to be 300-400 total interviews
Just got the acceptance email. 🙂
