I am not an expert, but I did visit SIU like the previous poster mentioned doing. One thing I have heard is that they are trying to limit out of staters. Something a faculty member in restorative told me about the process is if you havent heard by now, they like to make decisions in March. I dont know why this is nor did he say why/why not...he said its just the way it is. I think it has to do with the fact that unlike most schools which have to send out somewhere between 1.5 and 2 times as many acceptances out to fill a class, schools like UIC and SIU do not have to do that and in fact only have to send out MAYBE 10-20 more acceptances (ex: UIC sent out 79 acceptances and the class has 69 spots) than spots that they have to fill a class and realize they can do things more slowly as many accepted will not turn down their spot (unlike say NYU). In any case, I thought it was nice, yeah a little different than most schools that have 1 building containing the entire dental school as it has many, but nonetheless solid overall. One thing that concerns me is being in Alton, IL (yes I do know St. Louis is 15-20 mins away and SIU is only dental school close to that area) is clinic experience and dealing with patients (one student mentioned it was a problem). Other than that, I really was left with a rather neutral experience...its hard to put my finger on what the school is really like. What I do know is within 5-6 weeks or so things should start happening.