I know about at least a few folks who couldn't attend the second look event today, due to work obligations so I kept a
relatively short summary of the most important things shared during the event.0
Updated applicants statistics to date
- AMCAS: 7558
- Review: 5597
- Interview: 702
- Enrollment: 300
The current cohort, as of now has BCPM of 3.67 and MCAT of 512. Number of admission offers extended to date was not shared.
Campus assignment
Currently all campuses are at capacity but shifts are expected. Some people were assigned to incorrect campuses with respect to their scholary concentration (e.g. IMED is only available in Chicago). Students will be shifted between campuses as spots became available. It wasn't directly stated but presumably they're waiting on people withdrawing and/or asking for being moved so that they can do swaps. However, what was ensured is that if you're accepted to a program only available at one campus you will be reassigned later on to that campus.
Cocurricular programs review
TLDR: they're behind.
A lot of programs started their reviews very late (e.g. GMED in March) and things are still changing because of that. They didn't share any dates, as this is up to individual deans to manage. However, historically (and how they suggested they want it to stay this way), final decisions were made end of March/early April at the latest.
Accounts
There are apparently A LOT of people who should've gotten MyUIC account activation token (to create the account) but didn't. They're aware of the issue. During the event they tried to one-by-one help students with activations but were overwhelmed quickly upon realization of a large number of students having the issue. Apparently there's only a single person handling the problems with activation on the helpdesk side but UICOM is handled outside of the normal IT helpdesk queue. In any case if anyone doesn't have the activation code and was assigned to a campus they should contact the main medadmit email. This will be fasttracked with respect to contacting the helpdesk.
Financial Aid
The financial aid process is (which was new to me) working on a rolling timeline basis, similarly to the admission. They're releasing decisions in batches and so far only a single batch of awards was released. In short there are no firm guarantees but things are expected to change, so if people didn't get their scholarship yet it does not mean they were rejected from getting one. In addition, it was reaffirmed that application to pre-matriculation scholarships is automatic and everyone is enrolled. At this point we need to just sit and wait
"Block 0" material
UIC offers additional materials for self-paced learning before matriculation, named "block 0". These materials are to cover basic sciences and are aimed as a refresher before start of the semester (with block 1). This small course isn't mandatory in any way nor part of any official scores beyond being used for statistics. Results aren't shared with faculty either. However, it's highly encouraged to complete as it coorelates with better academic success later on. They hope it will be especially useful for people who graduated longer time ago.
The materials aren't available yet and will most likely be available some time in the first week of July.
Curriculum & grading details
There was some time dedicated to discussing P/F. UICOM will use true P/F during preclinical time, with no honors or any (even internal) ranking tackled into it. Every 6-8 weeks there's a P/F block exam. Failing a block exam results in being matched to a tutor and a plan to remediate is made. What's crucial no external record of that is made, i.e. failure here is not shared with residencies. Exams cover bundled science knowledge of all "classes" and not separate subjects.
In addition to exams there are weekly quizzes (IIRC every Friday?). These are scored but not graded. They count as completion, but scores are saved for internal use (and never shared externally). The example how scores are used is if a student consistently scores lower there will be attempts made to contact the person and help them ahead of a failed exam. In my opinion this is a great system, as reaching for help is sometimes difficult
Tutoring
All students have an access to so-called PEP (Peer Education Program). The program offers pairing with a tutor from later years. What was pointed out anybody can sign up, not just people who have some adversary record already. Sessions have different format (1:1, small random groups, small groups with friends of your choosing, big review sessions, etc). Students from M2 onward (correct me here if I got this wrong!) can join to be PEP tutors and are paid for the session time and prep time.
Mental health
The session had an extensive discussion about student's well being and mental health. It's impossible to convey the whole discussion in a short summary accurately imho. However, there are a lot of resources and many things showing that the school really cares (or at least that's the vibe I've got) and tries to make the whole experience as far from cutthroat as possible. There are small things like an ability to confidentially take a mental health day which is excused, with bigger things like a lot of counseling services (including things like couple's counseling). The school acvitely conducts research on students well being as well.
Student Curricular Board
One of the presentation was from the SCB itself. In short it's a structure which serves as a bridge between students and faculty. Feedback is implemented on the ongoing basis. It's also a good place to be involved. Other than that the board was presenting more details regarding their operation.
Chicago Parking & rotations
Some students don't have a car and it's perfectly doable, even in M3. There's a paid parking available and students are offered a discount. It's around $300/year or (iirc) $3.5/parking every time.
The parking discussion spun into rotations and how it's possible to have them scheduled within UI Health, which is the main rotation site. M3 rotations are based on a lottery system, but everything seems to be local with a great diversity of populations and sites. With that there were also details regarding M4 away rotations and UIC allowing up to the maximum limit AAMC permits.
Upon matriculation there are also resources available to help students decide where to rotate based on their preferences and residencies they consider. One of such resources mentioned was student-maintained spreadsheet containing honest comments about sites.
FB Page & other forms of communication
A lot of information about housing and other things are shared via FB page. It was linked in one of the e-mails and it's invite-only. Students are verified manually before they're accepted. After matriculation FB doesn't seem to be a preferred choice. Students mostly organize on GroupMe. Private communication is done via Discord, while university also provides Slack (platform of choice on the campus) with multiple channels and doesn't interfere with meme channels either.
On-campus visits
All three campuses are planning in-person visits and currently awaiting final approvals. Chicago shared more details: volunteers are already picked, dates are too, awaiting last approvals before they're announced (via email). Chicago campus plans to do tours every week in April in addition to a few other dates after that.
Opinion piece
Overall a very great session with a ton of resources being mentioned. The atmosphere was really laid back and the officials weren't hiding that this is their event to convince us to join. However, things were kept objective.