Illinois vs Purdue (waitlist)

[gmiranda164]

i was accepted into university of illinois in february & waitlisted for Purdue. Both are OOS and almost the same price with Purdue being SLIGHTLY cheaper.

i’ve heard great things about illinois. the community, professors, the curriculum, & the clubs. i personally haven’t visited the campus yet but looking at the virtual tour and videos it looks nice. i know there isn’t too much to do around the area but there’s enough. i heard they only have one midterm and one final their quarter rather than exam every week which doesn’t really bother me (unless any of you guys want to comment on it)

for purdue, i went to the actual campus for the interview and really loved their teaching hospital & the atmosphere. maybe that’s why i have a slight sway towards them??? they do have exams every week like most vet schools. i’ve read somewhere about clinical year in the teaching hospital being kind of being tough & toxic because they didn’t have that support from the team they were working with, with a lot of people agreeing.

i know im still on the waitlist for purdue and im not guaranteed i’ll get off it, but i just want to make sure that im making a good choice

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[battie]

Illinois alumna here.

In regards to the exam schedule, it's a double edged sword. On the one hand, you only have two tests per quarter and the chronic stress isn't bad. On the other hand, you have more points packed within two exams, so fewer chances to make up those points. Second year, first quarter, the tests were 90% of the grade for my year. If you do poorly, that's a deep hole riding on the other test.

I felt supported. I know there are folks that occasionally come there here and certainly on Reddit who don't think administration cares about students due to how clinical year is structured (more about that in a second) and how blunt some professors are. I personally had to repeat first year and was set up with a tutor automatically and met regularly with the counselor. Then my second year, my sister died two weeks into the school year and I was gone for 2.5 weeks. Admin was completely accommodating of that situation. Furthermore, the associate dean of academic student affairs and other admin folks (willing to name names if asked) regularly checked on me when physically present at the school or via email for the rest of the year. I also got the academic support to be able to stay academically viable and go onto third year with my class.

Tbh, clinical year sucks for everyone at every school. You're free labor for stupid things no matter what. Some schools are better than others for sure. But I would be willing to wager that everyone is within a standard deviation of each other in amount of hours spent in the hospital, on call shifts, expectations, etc. I can't speak on Purdue specifically since I didn't go there. But I would be willing to bet there are Illinois students who disliked clinical year as much as the people you know who attended Purdue.

You're welcome to message me. Keep in mind there are likely changes that have happened since I graduated almost 3 years ago.