Illinois second year! I answered your specific points below
I did like the large and small animal facilities better at Tennessee compared to Illinois when I visited both schools. Idk they just looked nicer to me.
I honestly wouldn't be able to give you a fair comparison because I have never been to Tennessee's school. But I can tell you that Illinois is slowly but surely updating their teaching hospital, it just takes some time. Tbh, class of 2023 is going to probably the first class in a while that won't have to deal with major construction.
We're currently in the process of building a linear accelerator for our oncology department that should finish up late spring/early summer. Then they will be starting on improving small animal surgery. We'll be going from 3 to 5 surgery suits with a revamped anesthesia prep and recovery set up and possibly imaging modalities in surgery itself. The ER/ICU is ~50% through its remodel. They're going to be building a student gym here soon. Our new building on Hazelwood (dubbed the South Clinic) is being revamped from an engineering building to house our wildlife medical clinic to the specifications of our clinicians (done), the shelter medicine program (on going), and eventually house other services, possibly more out patient sort of stuff.
Construction that's happened in the last few years: new classrooms, 2016; new library, 2017; new roof of the teaching hospital, 2016/7; wildlife medical clinic, 2018; MRI, 2016; iFlex classrooms (2), 2017; anatomy lab updates, 2016; new cardiology ward, 2017; new pharmacy, 2018
They have a lot they want to do, it's literally just a waiting game as they get through everything. The state government had a budget issue a few years ago that the school had to grapple with as well, so that didn't help much.
I love to hike and observe nature and Knoxville has lots of outdoor activities for when I need a mental break from school lol.
While there's not a ton of this immediately in Chambana, there's areas around that can definitely help scratch that itch. There are a few university owned parks (Allerton) and state parks within 1-2 hours of the school. The first and second years historically have gone on a skiing trip together during third quarter up in Wisconsin (4ish hours). There's also a lot of smaller park areas that are great little trails in town as well.
I do not like the grading and ranking system of Illinois either, I’ve read current students complain about that on SDN
Lolololol. This is my biggest con for sure. There's not much of a silver lining to this for me, actually. I know I've complained about it.
The only thing I'll say is that our actual class ranking doesn't seem to actually be that different from other schools in the grand scheme of how it works out. Our GPAs don't really mean anything, so they rank us by our percentage rather than GPA. So two people could have 3.0s, but one can be ranked way higher because they have an 88% versus someone with an 82%.
I would like to know how much the COL is in Urbana-Champaign
I take out 1000/month in cost of living loans (no living soul other than plants depend on me) and try to work ~10 hours per week and have had 0 issues making ends meet. My current rent is 565 and would be comfortable up to 650 max. I spend probably 120-150 on groceries/eating out. Gas is probably 40/month max unless I happen to be traveling farther than in town. I probably spend 50 or so a month on "for funsies" stuff.
curriculum first and second year would be helpful.
First year here is what's normal across species (dogs, horses, cows as the main core models), second year is pathobiology, and third year is medicine and surgery. Overall, I like how it's structured in that regard. First year anatomy is the hardest part to me by far. The worst quarter, however, is first quarter of second year (so far lol).
