I'm very grateful to have acceptances to both UIUC and Tufts. I'm now considering the pros and cons of each school, and would greatly appreciate any insights from current students/alumni!
A bit about me:
- 21F, OOS for both, from California
- interested in small animal, and possibly pursuing residency in the future (not sure which one i'm interested in yet)
- interested in possibly doing stuff abroad such as an internship during the summer
- I unfortunately can't visit either school before April 15th, so it's hard to tell what the school is like based on just the website/pictures
I want to learn more about what you like about the curriculum, what opportunities students have to gain hands on experience, how the classes have been, how the teaching hospital is like, student life, living in the area, etc. Thanks in advance!
As you probably know, IL has a unique curriculum with 1st and 2nd year rotations. The general opinion on these is a mixed bag, but for me personally I find them to be 50 helpful/50 waste of my time. It's really nice having somewhat of a brain break for a quarter and no exams to worry about (except for milestone and OSCE second year) but I can't wait to get back to didactic learning (I'm on week 6/7 of rotations right now). I think the break is helpful first year, but you really don't know anything yet and so I felt like a lot of my experiences were a waste of time, but this year a lot of them have been adjusted and improved. Second year rotations are way better because you know more and are trusted more with hands-on stuff in the VTH. There's been things I've learned on rotations that I wouldn't have learned in didactic at this point/at all which I have found to be valuable.
The thing I like the most about the curriculum is the exam schedule. We are broken up into quarters, so for each quarter you have a midterm exam week 4 and a final exam week 8. It sounds intimidating, but I like it better than having multiple exams per week like at other schools. I feel like I have a lot of flexibility in my schedule that way so I have time for hobbies and taking care of myself (doctors appointments, haircuts, oil change, etc). We get a day or two off before the exams to study and relax.
The environment is generally supportive. Most of the faculty really care and want us to succeed which is really nice. The classes are ran by a single course coordinator assigned for each year, which means you don't have to deal with weird and/or unreasonable expectations from individual professors-- everything is standardized. Lecture attendance is never required unless stated otherwise, lab attendance is always required. You contact the course coordinator for any curriculum or attendance concerns/issues. I really like this because it eliminates a lot of variability and frustration by standardizing everything.
You have a lot more opportunities to get hands on in the curriculum during 2nd year than 1st, but clubs hold plenty of wet labs and other opportunities which have been fun. There's also many on-campus job opportunities to get experience (e.g. surgery tech) and off-campus places to work and do externships at.
I don't really know what to say about the teaching hospital because I don't know what other places are like and I assume they're all similar. I will say we are one of three (?) vet schools with a wildlife medical clinic (can start triaging your own patients during 1st year!) and we are also one of few schools to have our diagnostic lab attached so we can get experience on the necropsy floor, in virology/micro/parasitology, and cytology on campus. Our new oncology wing will be finished this summer, so there's lots of exciting stuff coming soon.
Champaign-Urbana is nice. They're cute, quaint cities as someone from Chicago lol so just take that with a grain of salt. For people from small towns, CU is like a big deal to them. To me, being from the 3rd largest city in the country, it's a teeny tiny place but I still like it. There's lots of stuff to do and we are only 2.5 hours drive from Chicago which makes a great weekend trip. We are in the middle of a corn desert tho so large bodies of water don't exist unless you drive the 2.5 hours up to Lake Michigan, and you have to go out of your way for some decent nature. We have a couple small spots in town but any state parks or larger preserves are 20-30 min drive out of town. I like it here and I'm never bored.
This is a lot of stuff to cover so I'm not sure what else you want to know about or what I can elaborate on so just let me know!
