WARNING: long but I hope this helps you get a current student's perspective. Of course this is just my opinion and how I feel might not represent my classmates. Other current students like "imclarkent", "docss26", and "DSS65" return into this thread too because they obviously care enough about Midwestern to help you guys out. Hopefully it shows how we're enjoying our experiences?
🙂
1. What do you like/dislike about the school?
What I like is that the professors have a very open door policy. Coming from a big university, it still surprises me how relaxed most of the professors are and how some of them make it a point to memorize the entire class' face/names by the 3rd lecture. I like the free parking at the school, its the first I've ever heard of free parking. I like how there is no need to purchase textbooks. I like how there is no dress code for general classes. I like how the student activities office really tries hard to bring fun activities to the students like theater broadway show trips, Chicago cubs games, in addition to helping student organizations set up their own events. What I most importantly like is the curriculum and grading. Unlike UIC which has a "sink or swim" type of mentality (completely hearsay though), MWU does not grade on a competitive curve but just a straight grading scale. It's straightforward and there's no guessing of where you stand.
What I dislike about the school is the lack of internet stability sometimes and the ridiculous IT glitches sometimes during lectures. During finals week last year, internet crashed 3 times. Sometimes the mic goes on in the wrong room or the clicker system crashed. Although I do hear they are increasing our internet bandwidth soon. What I dislike sometimes is the excessive amount of security in the university. If you lost your ID, you cannot get into any building. Security officers are everywhere, but they are very sweet and really just wander around. I dislike how small our library is so sometimes finding a place to study besides your room is a little difficult
2. Where you accepted elsewhere? Why did you choose MWU?
I was invited to an interview with Notre Dame of Maryland, Shenandoah, University of New England (UNE) in Maine, and MWU. I declined Notre Dame and Shanandoah, I attended UNE and MWU. I was accepted into UNE first with a $5,000 annual scholarship. I was waitlisted MWU. The reason I declined a $5,000 scholarship was because UNE was not yet accredited but I knew it would because of it's reputation as the only medical school in Maine. However, MWU was already established for 20 years. Chicago compared to Portland, Maine was a melting pot of cuisines and city-life. Portland, Maine was more of a small town and housing was off-campus.
3. In your opinion, is MWU a competitive school? I know that all pharmacy schools are competitive but it seems like everyone gets an interview here and a lot of people get accepted too. It almost seems like CCP hands out interviews like flyers and accepts anyone as long as they meet the minimum. Please don't get me wrong...I'm not a studious person myself. I'm just worried because CCP's tuition is so high and I am more about about quality than quantity.
I do believe MWU-CCP is pretty competitive. Every year they accept a class of 200 and more and more students are coming from California. I think a lot of Illinois students apply to both UIC and MWU and because they believe UIC is the better school, they withdrawal their acceptance to MWU. MWU recently got their accreditation re-visited and we were approved for the maximum renewal time which is 8 years. Apparently APCE believes MWU is doing the right thing.
I believe CCP accepts more well-rounded students and not necessarily focused on the high GPA students. I do honestly think they look at the essays, extracurriculars, and experiences. I didn't have the highest GPA but I believe my leadership experiences in undergrad along with work experience, volunteer experience, essays, and letter of recommendations helped a lot.
4. I see that MWU has a 99% retention rate but is this true? Do you know of anyone that has failed/dropped out of the program or had to repeat a year? The reason why I ask is because I noticed that most pharm schools are semester based or block schedule.
I want to say majority of my classmates have moved on together. It takes a lot to fail and repeat a course (thus stay back a year). The school allows an exam specific retest if it'll help you pass the course and move on. The ones that have stayed behind a year from my class
kinda deserved it. Honestly I don't know how they got into pharmacy school in the first place because they never went to class and always relied on the FB group to answer their questions. It was kind of really annoying. I had one student that stayed behind a year because of family issues, and he had to skip Spring Quarter. He's back now and we celebrated his return.
I know this doesn't encompass everything I feel about MWU but you know, to each person's their own needs and wants. I hope this gives you the info you needed though. Kind of important to decide where you want to spend your next 4 years. Thankfully my decision is fairly easy. I wanted a mall, food, and a cool city nearby. UNE was too secluded for my taste. Nearest IKEA was 2 hours away in Massachusetts. Costco was far too. Costco to MWU is like 2 blocks away. IKEA is 10 minutes away.
Different schools, different locations, different people, different needs
Best of luck on your decisions, but no matter where you go, it's what you make of the experience. Make the best of whatever situation you're in and then it doesn't matter where you are.
