UIC interview

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bear85

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I finally recieved an interview from UIC!! I've been waiting since october to hear from them. Anyone else get an interview request? Anyone know what to expect in the interview?
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I got the email also :D , and so did my roomate. I really do not know what to expect for the interview .Any current UIC p1 have any advice??
 
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Me too. Anybody that has gotten an interview request care to share their numbers?
 
Hey congrats everyone. My stats arent that great, but
GPA: 3.55
PCAT: 80
 
Just saw mine tonight! I didn't expect to get an email since I had gotten 2 rejection letters in the mail from other schools. I was pretty down until tonight. This is awesome!

PCAT 91
GPA SUB 3.0 (Keep hope alive!)
 
ogpa:3.0
Sgpa:3.7
Prepharm:3.5
Pcat:73
B.S. in Cell and Molecular bio this may
5 years pharm exp, volunteer work, lots of ec and great lors!
 
I received the e-mail this afternoon for an interview during the week of March 26.

SGPA: 3.7
OGPA: 3.5
PCAT: 84
BS in Biology, 1 year of pharmacy technician experience, and I've worked on a private research project
 
I got an interview too!!

Cum GPA 3.80
PCAT 88
BS in bio, no pharm exp. but research assistant in pharmaceutical science, hospital volunteer, tutoring

I wish they assigned us a date already so I can plan to go somewhere during my spring break.
 
got an interview also. I am so happy. I have been rejected by two schools and this is the first interview. My grades

GPA 3.68
UIC GPA ~3.7 (based on the classes i listed on their supplemental.
PCAT 45

People out there, u still have a chance. I did the Jan PCAT and hope to get better. So see u out there and prepare ur best.
 
Once accepted to interview, are we all on a level playing field? Do they go back and consider all previous stats again or is it solely based on the interview now?
 
i bumped a previous topic about admission which a student in their school was able to shed some ight on. hope it helps
 
honeykrown said:
i bumped a previous topic about admission which a student in their school was able to shed some ight on. hope it helps
Click to expand...

Thanks. I'm getting nervous/excited already. I finished my degree last semester at UIC and would love to go there for Pharmacy school. I live in the subs but would gladly move to the city if I got accepted. Good luck to all!
 
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They use a behavioral based interviewing style. So they will ask, name a time when . . .
First, you will have to do a short essay, and than the interview for a faculty member.
The final decision will be based on the entire picture.
 
I got an interview date for the 30th. it would be appreciated it people could state their interview dates and stats
 
I have the interview on 3/27 at 2 pm, i have checkin at 12:45 pm. anyone else?
 
I've got 3/29, 8:15am check in.
 
I give you this sound warning: give yourselves plenty of time to come down here. Many people have misjudged traffic and were late.
Remember, the closest CTA el stop is a Pink line stop (Polk), not Blue line, unless you fancy a 5-10 minute walk from Medical Center stop. The college is right next to the Polk St. stop.
If you are driving, the closest pay lot is at Wood St. between Roosevelt and Taylor. It is the Wood St. structure. There is also the Paulina St. structure on Paulina between Polk and Taylor. That is actually the hospital lot.
 
genesis09 said:
I give you this sound warning: give yourselves plenty of time to come down here. Many people have misjudged traffic and were late.
Remember, the closest CTA el stop is a Pink line stop (Polk), not Blue line, unless you fancy a 5-10 minute walk from Medical Center stop. The college is right next to the Polk St. stop.
If you are driving, the closest pay lot is at Wood St. between Roosevelt and Taylor. It is the Wood St. structure. There is also the Paulina St. structure on Paulina between Polk and Taylor. That is actually the hospital lot.
Click to expand...

Genesis, I plan to come a day early to get a feel for it. DO u think i would be allowed into the school on thurs even thou my interview is really on Friday. . Do u know the closest airport (ohare of midway) and which hotel or inn i could stay thats closer to the campus. i plan on taking a cab do u think this is a good choice or not.

Any advise would be greatly appreciated.
 
I have mine on 3/29 at 10:30.

Midway's the closest airport and there's a Marriot on the corner of Harrison and Ashland, which is like 4-5 blocks away from the school.
 
honeykrown said:
Genesis, I plan to come a day early to get a feel for it. DO u think i would be allowed into the school on thurs even thou my interview is really on Friday. . Do u know the closest airport (ohare of midway) and which hotel or inn i could stay thats closer to the campus. i plan on taking a cab do u think this is a good choice or not.

Any advise would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

O'Hare and Midway are about the same distance. For O'Hare take the Blue line, and for Midway, take the Orange line. The campus is always open. It's just that it's Spring Break, and not many will be around. There are not interviews in the later afternoon. No one is going to throw you out of the college, as long as you are not being disruptive and that sort of thing. People use the college of pharmacy as a short-cut into the hospital, in the basement.
The closest hotel is the Marriott and Ashland and Harrison. There is a Crowne Plaza at Halsted and Monroe. The University itself also rents rooms in SSR, contact UIC housing, if interested.
It's cheaper to take the CTA than a cab. On west campus, it's very hard to find a cab. From the Marriott, you can walk to the college. From the Crowne Plaza, you can walk to Harrison St. and take the number 7 Harrison bus, it will drop you off at Polk and Wood. There is a campus shuttle, which is free. Depending on the driver, he may or may not check for ids.
 
Genesis,

any tips for a successful interview? how long does the actual interview take?

my interview date: 3/27
check-in: 8:15am
 
Hey! My inteview is 3/30 at 9am... YAY!!! What have you all heard about the school? Good? Bad??
 
iwannabpharmer said:
Genesis,

any tips for a successful interview? how long does the actual interview take?

my interview date: 3/27
check-in: 8:15am
Click to expand...

I also had to first interview at 8:30am. I believe I was out by noon. It has been a while, and I don't remember the length.
The key is to relax and be yourself. This is a behavioral base interview. In the past, they send you information about it. If you've made it to this point, you'll have a 50/50 shot of getting in.
 
Yeah they did send us a link in the email stating about the interview and other stuff, i tot it was pretty nice of them. Some of the hotels u listed seemed expensive, $100-300 for just a night wow I'm on a budget and it seems way... for me). What about the school rental how do we get that, it might be expensive but if its in the school i believe it would be closer. More information would be nice thank u.

Ruth 1:16 see u on the 30th.
 
The school rental is $75 per day. It's just one of the SSR apartments.
There is a Holiday Inn at Harrison and Canal. There are not many hotels near UIC.
 
Sorry, mistakened uic for another school.
 
guardians said:
Me too.I have to sign up for a date though and can't until 5:00 pm today. I am not sure if that is good or bad since some already have dates selected. Does anyone know if it's better to go early or all of us will be selectd at the same time.

I'm already nervous :)

Friday, March 2, Friday, March 23, and Friday, March 30, 2007.
Click to expand...


i think you got the wrong school.. uic only interviews the week of march 26th
 
i concur with rx22. uic actually assigns the dates to you, rather than us choosing the dates.

i have a question for any current or alumni students from uic. how strongly/favorably do they consider students who are "older"? and what would be a more appropriate way of explaining an advanced degree that may not be obviously related to pharmacy?
 
sorry, really "obvious" question, but... so getting to the interview point at uic would be a very good thing? that means they're considering you, but want to see us for an interview, right?

i interviewed at SIU-Edwardsville and did my MCV at Midwestern last year - but got wait listed in both schools. should i mention that? this is my third year of applying to schools. i hope to get in before i am 30. =)
 
iwannabpharmer said:
i have a question for any current or alumni students from uic. how strongly/favorably do they consider students who are "older"? and what would be a more appropriate way of explaining an advanced degree that may not be obviously related to pharmacy?
Click to expand...

UIC loves older candidates with advanced degrees. The average age of my class as P1s was about 25/26. We have several students with Masters degrees already.
Be honest, and just say you changed your mind. Something drew you to pharmacy.
Only 300 students make it to interview at UIC. The vast majority have already been declined.
There are about 162 in a class. About 15 of those seats are taken up by GPPA students. Those students are in a special program which guarantees them seats out of high school. They also know that not everyone is going to accept. They accept directly, probably about 150. There will be a wait list.
 
does anybody know if uic places more of an importance on a certain factor in a candidates application? i've heard that their selection processes is hard to get a good read on but it seems that they favor high pcat scores rather than high gpas (89 was the avg last year from what i've heard, while 3.3 was the avg gpa)
 
rxrxrx said:
does anybody know if uic places more of an importance on a certain factor in a candidates application? i've heard that their selection processes is hard to get a good read on but it seems that they favor high pcat scores rather than high gpas (89 was the avg last year from what i've heard, while 3.3 was the avg gpa)
Click to expand...
What i have heard from a current uic student that the whole process is on a point system. They assign points for GPA (OGPA,SGPA,Prepharm), PCAT subscores, amount of prepharmacy coursework completed ,the existence of a cultural diversity course, lors,and ec. So after the interview and writing section they add up all the points and take the top 150. Im not sure if this is correct, but this is what i have heard. So my question is.... if they are on a point system and u were number 300 , even if u do awesome on the interview, will the points add up enough to give u an acceptance?!? Has anyone else heard this?
 
genesis09 said:
UIC loves older candidates with advanced degrees. The average age of my class as P1s was about 25/26. W
Click to expand...

Is late 20's considered an older candidate? I know I am older than those students who come into the program after two years of prerequisite work. But I have heard there are those students who are in their late 30's and older.

Does each interviewer pretty much ask the same questions? And who are the interviewers usually? Faculty members? Advisors? Are they part of the Admissions Committee? Does any one person's input weigh more heavily than another? (I have heard that this happens at some schools, according to another thread).

Sorry for all these questions. Genesis, thanks so much for all your help! :)
 
iwannabpharmer said:
Is late 20's considered an older candidate? I know I am older than those students who come into the program after two years of prerequisite work. But I have heard there are those students who are in their late 30's and older.

Does each interviewer pretty much ask the same questions? And who are the interviewers usually? Faculty members? Advisors? Are they part of the Admissions Committee? Does any one person's input weigh more heavily than another? (I have heard that this happens at some schools, according to another thread).
Click to expand...

First, Trailbro, I don't know the spread of the points. Your description of how UIC does its admission is accurate.

Each interviewer asks the same questions. They give them a sheet of questions. The opinion of the interviewer is very important. Certain interviewers tend to be more forceful with their opinions. The interviewers are all faculty members who are not current members of the admissions committee.
In the end, the decision resides with the committee.
 
Thanks Genesis for all ur help. Though i didnt get the school apartments i was able to get a good deal from Bestwestern. And since the airline had a deal with the hotel also it was way cheaper than i would have spent seperately. Hopes all these expenses arent in vain tho.

Any other infromation would be greatly appreciated. yeah one more thing, any direction on how to gegt from S. Michigan to the school please. Mapquest says 9min drive and i gave it +or-15minutes, but i;m not renting a car and after my interview i want to do osme site seeing. All info would be appreciate once more.
 
I'm assuming your talking about the Best Western at 1100 S Michigan. Walk south to Roosevelt, and catch the number 12 or the number 127 westward bus. Get off at Wood St, and walk a block and a half north on Wood. The college is on the east side of Wood next to the hospital.
Give yourself at least 30-45 minutes. The CTA website has a trip planner, which you can use.
 
genesis09 said:
I'm assuming your talking about the Best Western at 1100 S Michigan. Walk south to Roosevelt, and catch the number 12 or the number 127 westward bus. Get off at Wood St, and walk a block and a half north on Wood. The college is on the east side of Wood next to the hospital.
Give yourself at least 30-45 minutes. The CTA website has a trip planner, which you can use.
Click to expand...
I don;t think you should be taking the CTA if you're not familiar with the area..it will just add to your nerves before the interview trying to take the bus and find your way around. Plus the Roosevelt bus is one of those buses you have to be cautious on considering the neighborhoods it goes through...just my 2 cents. A cab ride will be best.
 
The area which you are traveling through is yuppie land. He/she will start in south loop, continue to University Village, than onto Little Italy, and finally, Illinois Medical District. Things don't start to get hairy until west of Western. I've taken that bus many times with no problems. The bus does have speaker system which states what stop is next.
If you are so worried, you can take the el, but it'll be out of the way. You'll get on at Roosevelt, and take the Green line. The Roosevelt station is just a little west of Roosevelt and Michigan. Transfer from the Green line to Pink line at Clinton. You can actually take any of the lines and transfer to Pink. For Orange, transfer at Library, and for Red, get off at Jackson, and walk to Library. Then take Pink line to Polk St.
The cab ride will be rather expensive. From there, it'll be close to $15-$20.
 
Hi everyone. I am from Chicago, and I will be interviewing at UIC at the end of March too. My advice is to just take a cab if you are from out of town and not familiar with the area. I'm not saying it's too scary or too difficult. I just would not want to be navigating public transportation in a city I am not familiar with on the morning of a big interview. That's just me. The other thing - depending on the time of day and the bus line, you can sometimes wait quite a while for a bus in Chicago (I've waited 20 - 30 minutes sometimes). The CTA is not that reliable.

My favorite: waiting 20 minutes for a bus and then three come all at the same time!

Don't get me wrong - I love Chicago. But, the CTA has left me frustrated over the past 14 years that I've lived here.
 
Another question. Is it a good thing for people who have applied multiple times, and have not gotten into UIC for one reason or another? Also, any other good interview tips for UIC would be great. I was reading the Interview Feedback - and I'm confused. Some of the feedback indicated it was a Closed File interview, while some said Open File. Which is it? And is it possible to have a great interview, but still get rejected?

The interviews are a month away! Eek!
 
The interviewers will know what undergrad school you went to. Each application to UIC is separate will not impact the other. Just be confident and honest during the interview and you'll be fine.
 
genesis09 said:
The interviewers will know what undergrad school you went to. Each application to UIC is separate will not impact the other. Just be confident and honest during the interview and you'll be fine.
Click to expand...

Will they only know what undergrad school we went too? The rest is closed file? thanks for all your info.
 
MPBenJ said:
Will they only know what undergrad school we went too? The rest is closed file? thanks for all your info.
Click to expand...
On the sign in sheet, it will have your name and the name of your undergrad school on it.
So it will say
Joe Schmo Western Illinois University

I believe there is going to be a interview workshop at UIC COP through the prepharm club on march 15 at 4:30pm.
On a side note, your class is going to have a completely different early experential curriculum than us.
 
What about the curriculum will be different?
 
My interview check in time is 9:45 am on Mar. 29th. I am staying at the Hampton Inn right off Monroe st above Lasalle bank theater. Yahoo maps say it is about 3 miles from UIC. Anyone have any suggestions as far as driving to UIC from Monroe? Cab?
 
Genesis, Do u know if the interview is done in groups or one-on-one, and if it's in a room setting like sitting acoss, or maybe its done while you are taking a tour or what. This is my first interview and i'm pretty nervous, but i still plan on aceing it. Thanks.

genesis hope we get to meet u during the interview tho i dont know how it would be possible, putting a face with the name would be nice since u've been so much help
 
I know the question was directed towards Genesis, but I hope it's okay if I answer this one. The interview is done one-on-one, and it's a BBI (Behavior-Based Interview). I think they sent a URL about it in our email when they notified what time our interviews are at. So, we start with the essay writing, then the interview. If you go the Interview Feedback forum, and search for UIC, there is some info there with past interviewees and their evaluations of the day. I have heard there are also campus tours, etc. from our student ambassadors.

I just went down to UIC to visit a friend who is a P1. It was really exciting to walk around campus, and envision myself being there this fall. My friend also ran into some P2 students who were discussing Zoloft and whether its generic Sertraline (sp?) is as therapeutic, etc. That was exciting to hear! Perhaps we will be having those conversations as students soon! :) I know nothing has been decided yet, but to come to the doorway of the PharmD program is so exciting (nervewracking, too).
=)

May I ask everyone else - how many times you've been applying? This is my third year. =) (three times a charm, right? :clap:)
 
I thought UIC was done with me, I don't even think I sent in the supplemental on time, but I recently got the email about being chosen for an interview there, I had to read it twice I was so surprised. Anyway my interview is at 11:15am march 27, right around the time some other posts have said they have theirs. Its funny, we might cross paths in real life but not even know it... good luck everybody.
 
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