supershorty
Don't look so vexed, toots.
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Illinois 2025-2026 (c/o 2030 hopefuls)
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not sure about Illinois but i tried to pull this with a different school and they said no… it had to be from an instructor/advisor that knew/could attest to my academic performance. your best bet would be to call/email admissions and ask
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I don't believe so because the point of this letter of rec is what @breezywonton said, but you can always email ASA and ask if you want to be extra sure
stinkydog
Full Member
Welp. I get it, but I dislike this requirement. I was hoping that strong GPAs could attest for my academic performance. 🙁 The only professor that knows me well is on maternity leave. I am going to email, but it sounds like I won't be able to apply here... Best of luck to everyone!! Thanks for the help
Never hurts to ask!! If one of my techs or assistants had asked for a letter during either of my mat leave, I would have definitely done it if I thought they would be a great doc.
stinkydog
Full Member
She is superrrr fresh into her maternity leave unfortunately. Perhaps a couple of weeks. I would feel quite bad asking her to write a strong letter for me during a chaotic time due to my own mistake. If I had foreseen this issue, I would have asked her much earlier in the year! I will be sure to update the thread when I get my response. Fingers crossed (with low confidence lol).
bradpaisley
New Member
Hello! Is there a GPA cutoff for in-state applicants? If so, any estimation where it may be based on previous years?
I believe the minimum GPA is a 3.0 but I couldn't find an exact number on their website. The cut off depends on the applicant pool each year, but I know my class's average GPA was a 3.81 and I'm the class of 2028.
Vytis
Full Member
I'm in a very similar situation to you as I have letters of recommendation from two professors I did research under for my BIOS 294 course. One of which retired recently. Did you ever get a response?
stinkydog
Full Member
Yes! Thank you for reminding me! Lol. Here was the response I got from them:
“I’m reaching out to respond to your question about our recommendation requirements. The academic advisor or instructor recommendation should come from someone who taught you in the classroom or a course laboratory. If this individual did not teach you during one of your academic courses, they would not meet this requirement. You could use their recommendation as your third recommendation.”
So yeah. Not ideal!
Hi everyone, congrats on submitting your applications!! I'm currently a first-year at Illinois and would be happy to answer any questions related to life as a student here 🙂
In case you were wondering, here's the timeline for decisions for last application cycle:
Phase 1 decision: Nov. 1
Interview offer: Jan. 16
Interview: Feb. 17 and 18 (I interviewed at a specific time on one of these days)
Waitlist notification: Feb. 27
Pulled from waitlist: July 22 (long wait but well worth it!!)
In case you were wondering, here's the timeline for decisions for last application cycle:
Phase 1 decision: Nov. 1
Interview offer: Jan. 16
Interview: Feb. 17 and 18 (I interviewed at a specific time on one of these days)
Waitlist notification: Feb. 27
Pulled from waitlist: July 22 (long wait but well worth it!!)
Vytis
Full Member
How's housing like on or around campus and how has the course load been in your opinion as a first-year? Any tips you'd give an incoming student?
There's a ton of housing around campus! Most people live 5-10 minutes from vetmed. Some people rent apartments, some rent houses, and some people buy. There's also campus apartments that you can find by googling "UIUC graduate apartments" or something like that.
Course load is heavy like at any vet school, especially first year with anatomy. But everyone in your class is in the same boat and the faculty are really passionate about helping their students succeed, so you have a lot of people in your corner! Having a robust support system like that really helps and also makes the experience a lot more enjoyable. First year is about learning how to study and how to manage the course load, and by the end (or sooner) you'll have it down.
My biggest tips are to be patient with and kind to yourself, utilize your resources (classmates, vetmed counselor, course coordinator, faculty, etc), and dedicate time every single day to a hobby you enjoy. Bonus points if it gets you outside and/or your body moving! People make vet school sound like the worst, most horrible thing you'll ever go through, but in reality it is manageable with some organization and effort, and it can be a really good time 😊
Going from a traditional semester to a quarter system with mega-courses is an adjustment, FYI. Illinois's testing schedule/course design offers a little more life flexibility than more traditional curriculums though. There's pros and cons. You have a big test during week 4 (midterm) and week 8 (final) of each academic quarter, and a year-end cumulative exam IIRC. There is smaller stuff sprinkled in between, but you are not having multiple exams/week like other schools might have (pros and cons to that as well). With that said, you also absolutely have to keep up on the material or you will struggle. It's very easy to fall behind with the mega courses.
I'm a pretty average (at best) student and I managed the courseload. Not well, but I managed. The vast majority of vet students will manage their courseload, regardless of school.
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At least last year, they got rid of the end of year cumulative exam. Also for second year, our final day 2 is no longer cumulative.
And a note: personally I love the exam schedule. It's a lot less scary than it sounds. You can pace your studying and when you're done with the exam, you don't have to worry about another for a month!
And yes to this. They told us that most of the time when people have to drop out it's due to unforeseen circumstances outside of the student's control, not academics. A death in the family, for example.
There's a lot of housing options around campus! I know a lot of vet students live at The Village at Colbert Park around 10 minutes away from the vet school. I personally live by main campus in Champaign, and I love where I live! My apartment is in a walkable area, so I love just being able to walk to different shops and cafés and explore.
I definitely agree with soupshark that the courseload is heavy (anatomy has been my biggest struggle so far), but there are so many people who are willing to help you. I would definitely recommend finding a group of people to study with, since sometimes it helps to talk through the material with a classmate. Definitely don't struggle by yourself and get help early if there is something that you do not understand, since the course material tends to build upon things that you learned earlier in the course.
Omg bless, that cumulative exam was killer! I personally liked the exam schedule too. Admittedly I fell behind each quarter but that's my own fault. It was nice to be able to go home every night and study for 1-2 hours, and not be like 'Oh crap I have another exam in 2 days.'
Also the weekend after each exam was glorious. A true weekend where you have absolutely nothing to worry about.
Tech_Penguin
Full Member
Phase 2 oos
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flsheltermed
Full Member
OOS did not pass Phase 1. Feeling super discouraged!! This is my first cycle applying OOS 🙁 I should have prepared myself for the hits
JuiceBirb_1999
Full Member
OOS didn't pass phase 1
My class's average was a 3.81 but they can accept anything above the 3.0 minimum. Best of luck with your other apps!
ETA: there's an internal cut off each year depending on the applicant pool. I don't think that's ever released though, just the average.
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Zoe Bonafe
Full Member
OOS rejection. Good Luck everyone!
I was an applicant last year and remember messaging someone on here who was rejected with a high 3.6 GPA. Our theory was that the internal cutoff was around a 3.7 GPA
cassiebobassie
Illinois c/o 2030
I got an IS rejection email saying I was "missing a prerequisite" (organic chem). I do have the orgo credits, but the course name was not simply 'organic chemistry' on my transcripts, so it was overlooked. I spoke with an admissions counselor OTP, and she said to email admissions a photo of the course descriptions for proof that the classes I took were indeed orgo lecture + lab. Has anyone else dealt with this, and if so, what are the odds I will be moving on to phase 2 if this was the only reason stated in the email that I did not pass phase 1? #freakingout
my roommate in undergrad had something similar happen, she was moved to phase 2 and it was resolved
cassiebobassie
Illinois c/o 2030
phew. thank you!
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This form is completely anonymous, and will allow me to make a graph! Illinois Phase 1 —> 2
If you filled it out already, please try again now! There should be a fourth question now.
Sincerely and not to be condescending, but what's the point? The unknown phase 1 cut off changes every year and won't change any admissions professional's mind this year.
The Google Sheets Wizard is cooking
I love myself a good Google sheet. My budget and work sheet is **gorgeous**. But they also have specific purposes
Same I can appreciate a good spreadsheet.
Yea idk what a graph can really be used for besides looking at trend data over the last few years? Or for personal enjoyment. But I think the info on the website is enough to go off of when applying
All fair points. I can delete the data if it’s not appropriate, or modify the form for better use. I was just curious, and enjoy visualizing data.
Just coming from the perspective that I've seen over ten years worth of applicants obsess over this sort of data looking for a concrete reason why they werent admitted. For some of them, it was on an unhealthy level for their mental and emotional health. So now I always ask applicants why they're making data sheets.
The amount of people on FB that do not understand that minimum GPA =/= guaranteed passage onto phase 2…
Totally understand. But, no, I am not looking for that at all. I just think data is elegant lol.
DogDangIt
Full Member
Thankfully I got into phase 2 and my heart goes out to everyone who didn’t. This might be an odd question but does anyone know how many OOS people pass into phase 2? I know how they take 250 OOS interviews so just trying to see how much the pool will be cut again for phase three. Thanks!
Vytis
Full Member
This is my second attempt applying as an in state . My GPA is around 3.7 and I got rejected. Really sucks. Email didn't specify why my application was rejected besides stating there was over 2,500 applicants and it not being selected for phase II.
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Not sure if you are looking to discuss or not, so feel free to ignore....what's your science GPA? Have you taken the GRE?
I have a friend who is a big data nerd. Any time I have a question about something measurable he instantly has a map or a spreadsheet ready for me lol. It's really useful and neat having a friend like that
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I don't think they ever release a number, but I always assumed something like double who is given an interview. That's 100% just a guess though. Either way the odds of acceptance after phase I are considerably higher since you go from 2,500+ applicants to a mysterious number in the hundreds. Same for interviews, smaller pool so statistically higher chances. A nice thing about IL is half the seats are OOS which is considerably more than many other schools. Hang in there!
The number is likely fluid each year too since it's based on a more objective cut off.
stinkyfreddy
Full Member
did not pass to P2 OOS; still waiting on 11 more schools 
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SungusCashMungus
Full Member
OOS rejection, good luck everyone!
stinkyfreddy
Full Member
a redirection!!! good luck hearing back from your other schools!!
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