Illinois- CHECK YOUR MAIL!

[seaturtlegirl]

I have to agree with you guys. I was expecting much more from the school, and was not impressed. I'm not saying it's a bad school or anything, but for some reason I was expecting more.

I have been to 4 interviews, and feel I should mention that it's not unusual for facilities to feel somewhat dated. I think that many of the gross anatomy labs have much of their original stuff. Still, this isn't the reason I didn't care for IL. I had a crappy tour, where you couldn't hear the guide. Likewise, no one seemed to be able to answer any questions, and we didn't have access to many of the rooms. The curriculum isn't very hands on, and the idea of sitting in the lecture hall where the info session was might just be enough to make me more crazy than this process had made me feel! Also, the lack of organization on the interview day gave me an uneasy feeling about what could come to pass as a student there...

I am not trying to badmouth the school, but I felt the atmosphere to be one which wouldn't be good for me personally. On the other hand, the school has a pretty good reputation, which doesn't arise from thin air...

just some of my own impressions, anyway.

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[alonepear]

^^^ agree wholeheartedly.

When it comes down to it, I feel like other schools truly tried to 'recruit' me, way before I was even accepted, and gave me a great impression of their programs.

Illinois felt like a cattle herding experience. Move 'em in, move 'em out.

The current students I talked to were very friendly, but a lot less passionate about their school than I experienced at other schools.

 

[JIKJen124]

I'm glad we are now finally able to talk about this with the letters out. I am totally feeling the same way as you all are. It's sad, because I too went expecting more and feeling really disappointed in what I found.

 

[anc84]

Also, the lack of organization on the interview day gave me an uneasy feeling about what could come to pass as a student there...

Lack of organization? I'd say they were pretty damn organized to be able to interview 300 students in one day and get letters mailed out 3 days later even with 2 snow days.

I'm not trying to defend the school (even though it's my alma mater and future vet school)...I'm just saying that that's quite a feat and the lack of organization you might have perceived is probably because they trust the students to do most of the more informal stuff during interview day since the staff is all tied up in interviews.

As for facilities, I can't really say in comparison to other schools. This school is what I'm familiar with (although the vet school I toured in Africa was amazing).

 

[texlaevis]

I'm somewhat unbiased, since I haven't heard from any schools yet but have interviewed at a bunch.

I was disappointed with the datedness at Illinois and really disappointed with my tour... so I waited around and hitched onto another tour with a different tourguide and that changed my whole perspective around. The difference was like night and day. I went from thinking that I could never be seriously happy there to thinking it was a really pleasant place where the students cared a lot about each other and their school. My second tour guide also talked about a first year class dedicated to hands-on learning, took us into a bunch of the large animal surgery areas (haven't gotten to do that anywhere else) and took us into the cadaver cooler whereas my first tourguide only showed us offices and hallways.

Takehome message: one bum tourguide (or unenthusiastic second year) does not a crappy school make.

Good luck everyone!!

 

[HiatusAfflatus]

so i still haven't gotten a letter, and i'm not quite sure what to think...has everyone already gotten a reply from them?

 

[anc84]

hmm...that's pretty strange. Where do you live? I guess that probably doesn't have much to do with it unless your area postal service is slow since someone from Texas got theirs on Tuesday. I'm pretty sure they sent them all out last week. Maybe the letter got lost in the mail. If it were me, I'd probably call the admissions office. I'm sure they've had tons of calls and it's not like calling is going to affect your admissions status.

 

[texlaevis]

out-of-state alternate list, notified (finally) yesterday by snail mail.

goshdarnit! alternate on the list that never ends.

 

[nordicat]

out-of-state alternate list, notified (finally) yesterday by snail mail.

goshdarnit! alternate on the list that never ends.

if it makes you feel any better, i'm an in-state alternate and I don't think our list is any better...to top it all off, i HAD to do the "all the eggs in one basket" bit this year since I had all but ONE of the prereqs for the other schools I wanted to apply to.

hopefully you get your chance someplace else!!

 

[Ottolove]

so i still haven't gotten a letter, and i'm not quite sure what to think...has everyone already gotten a reply from them?

I haven't gotten anything yet, either. Waiting for the mail Saturday was just awful. I feel like there would be a much bigger response here on SDN had everyone heard. Additionally, my city's USPS is notoriously bad. I'm convinced that someone a few blocks away has my letter sitting in their recycling bin. Either way, here's to today's mail and good luck!

 

[Ottolove]

So at what point are we allowed to call if we still don't have a letter? ARRRGH!! This is killing me!

 

[cyrille104]

So at what point are we allowed to call if we still don't have a letter? ARRRGH!! This is killing me!

I think pretty much now...they said all letters would be sent out by the 21st. Just say that you didn't receive a decision yet.

 

[anc84]

yeah, I'd definitely call if you haven't heard anything yet. It's not like it will affect your admissions status.

 

[HiatusAfflatus]

yeah, so i got mine and i guess no news was good new. alternate!