Hi everyone!
I think I may have read somewhere else in this forum that the assignments to the Chicago campus are divided into thirds - one-third for those from northern Illinois, one-third for those from southern Illinois, and one-third for the out-of-staters. Does this sound correct, or am I making this up?
Also - my interview is on the 19th of December. Does anyone think that I'll make the December adcom meeting? I'd love to know my status before Christmas!!
Good luck everyone!!
The Chicago campus thing sounds incorrect. The Chicago campus is filled up as people are accepted. Darn near everybody, I would think, puts Chicago as their first choice. So placement has nothing to do with where you live in the state, but on how early you were accepted. From what I've heard, Chicago campus normally fills up around February. People will withdraw their spots from UIC as the year progresses, opening places at Chicago. According to UIC, these are filled on the basis of those who were first accepted and put Chicago as their first choice but who weren't originally assigned that campus (e.g. Accepted in February, assigned to Peoria in March, they contact you in April about an open spot at the Chicago campus).
I bet, however, that periodically being vocal about your desire to change once you've been assigned a non-chicago campus helps your chances of being reassigned to Chicago, though I also interviewed in Rockford last year and a girl said that she tried to change furiously after her assignment and still ended up in Rockford (but that she's very, very happy there).
Your question about making the December meeting is a good one, which I would imagine will be answered on your interview date--please post when they tell you the answer. Because they normally meet the 3rd Thursday/Friday of every month (4th when Thursday is one of the first days of that month), and that 3rd Thursday is the 20th in December, my guess would be no. However, things were adjusted this month because of Thanksgiving (they're meeting this week it seems) so I bet things might be adjusted due Christmas and New Years. Also, I don't know if UIC has a holiday/winter break of some sort, which would suggest they don't meet in December at all. I interview on 1/18 so I have equal interest to know when they'd review my file if their meeting is the 24th/25th that month.