University of Illinois c/o 2021 Applicants

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I just don't think anyone can agree on anything. One person thinks a farrier is the most important thing since he wants our equine program to improve, another wants to better support wildlife/zoo med since it's probably the biggest program we have here now.

Frankly, I think the best thing they could do is offer a third track for the wildlife/zoo/exotics students. We're stuck using the large animal track solely because it has more off blocks for externships, and that makes the clinicians and admins mad because we're not 'interested' in large animal.

I went to that Dean's lunch thing a month or two ago and was stunned that was a priority. I was also stunned they want to move WMC to that other building. What about radiology and referrals and such?

It would be fantastic to have a radiologist as well...
 
Ahh that sounds so stressful @pinkpuppy9 @batsenecal . Hoping it gets resolved soon!

A question about clinics though. I know they're typically 1 week rotations, is that true for 4th year too? Do/can they ever get lengthened?
Fourth year rotations are done in two week blocks. You can potentially have two vacation blocks back to back, or two off-blocks back to back, etc. so you can do a 4 week long externship. One of my friends did 8 weeks at a zoo, so there's some flexibility there as long as you tell the scheduling people when you're booked off campus.
 
They have no schedule yet, and the Dean and Associate Dean are telling everyone conflicting info regarding the changing tracks, new 4th year rotations, what that means for rotation scheduling etc. I feel bad for the third years, because many of them are worried about having to scramble when it comes to rescheduling assigned rotations since they've already got externships booked.

My class is currently waiting on our rotation schedules for this upcoming quarter, which I think is going to take precedence over the 3rd years due to timing.

I don't know what to tell you about transcripts, but none of you guys should start jumping to conclusions about what not getting an email means 🙂 Just hang tight. These past two years have been very different from what Illinois has done historically, so it's tough to give you an idea of where you stand now.


Thanks, I am hoping to hear back soon..
 
I got my interview invite on January 14th, for what it's worth.


Did you receive the initial email of you advancing to phase II? If so, when did you receive that email? Or did you just receive the interview invitation email?
 
Did you receive the initial email of you advancing to phase II? If so, when did you receive that email? Or did you just receive the interview invitation email?

I got both emails. I got the phase 2 email on December 15th.

Looking through the thread, I got the impression that some have not yet heard whether they made the academic cutoff or not yet

Yes, that would be the situation.
 
Does anyone know if there is a date that fall transcripts need to be in by?

I called last week and had a bit of a strange conversation. The person I talked to said it was in the email. I thought it was possible I missed it, but all I see is "send electronically after Jan. 3rd"..

There was a mistake with my transcript so my professor needs to send in a change of grade form and he is not sure how long it will actually take for the office of registrar at my school to actually change it.. :smack:
 
Does anyone know if there is a date that fall transcripts need to be in by?

I called last week and had a bit of a strange conversation. The person I talked to said it was in the email. I thought it was possible I missed it, but all I see is "send electronically after Jan. 3rd"..

There was a mistake with my transcript so my professor needs to send in a change of grade form and he is not sure how long it will actually take for the office of registrar at my school to actually change it.. :smack:
I think it said they need them by mid-January but didn't give a specific date as far as I know.

They just don't want electronic ones until after they get back because if they were sent out while they're on break, the link to download the transcript would expire and you'd have to resend electronic ones.

I hope you're able to get your grade change processed quickly!
 
I think it said they need them by mid-January but didn't give a specific date as far as I know.

They just don't want electronic ones until after they get back because if they were sent out while they're on break, the link to download the transcript would expire and you'd have to resend electronic ones.

I hope you're able to get your grade change processed quickly!

Thank you!!
 
On their website it says February 1st http://vetmed.illinois.edu/education/doctor-veterinary-medicine-degree/admissions/apply/ (the orange box in the upper right corner of the page)
But the phase II email says "mid-January".

So I would probably go for January 15th just for safe!
Good catch! Thank you! Apparently my school doesn't send electronic transcripts so hopefully it gets changed and sent off quickly. The stresss

I would even go to the office of registrar, explain the situation to them and people may be happy to help! Good luck and hope you will get your transcript updated and delivered pretty soon!
 
Does anyone know if Illinois is still sending out the phase II emails? I still have not received one.
 
Does anyone know if Illinois is still sending out the phase II emails? I still have not received one.

ASA closed last Thursday and won't reopen until next Wednesday. So if they send out any more, it won't be until middle to late next week.
 
Does anyone know if Illinois is still sending out the phase II emails? I still have not received one.

When I called them last week, they said to expect emails the first week of January. Now whether that means more phase II emails or rejections, I'm not sure.
 
Interview as phase two emails Have already gone out. I had to call the school and they told me I went on to phase 2 but I never got an email they said they were having problems with their email system .
 
Interview as phase two emails Have already gone out. I had to call the school and they told me I went on to phase 2 but I never got an email they said they were having problems with their email system .
So there's hope for us that didn't hear anything yet haha
 
Interview as phase two emails Have already gone out. I had to call the school and they told me I went on to phase 2 but I never got an email they said they were having problems with their email system .
I made it to phase 2 and got the email, but some people hadn't gotten the email and were told to expect emails the first week of January, but the person on sdn was unsure whether they were going to be rejection or phase 2 emails.

My phase 2 email said we'd find out mid-January so we'd have about a month before the interview to make travel plans. The interview is 2/13, so I'm guessing we'll here some time either late next week or early the following, but that's just a guess on the date, based on the phase 2 email.
 
Possibly try calling them if you haven't heard anything. If you made it, they'd need your transcript soon, especially since they said they'll be notifying of interviews mid-January.
I sent mine in pre-emptively back in December so fingers crossed, maybe I'll call them on my lunch break haha
 
yes i would call if I were you, there very nice
 
Do we need to know our application number or anything? Or does our name give enough info?


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
 
I just called up there and they wouldn't even look up my name in the system. Just said if I didn't get the phase II email in December that I "would be getting the other email shortly".
 
Just got a weird reply from Illinois when I emailed them asking if any more phase 2 emails were going out.

Did anyone get invited to interview ?
 

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Just got a weird reply from Illinois when I emailed them asking if any more phase 2 emails were going out.

Did anyone get invited to interview ?
They haven't sent out interview invites yet. They said that should be mid-January. They requested transcripts to be sent from everyone who got the phase 2 email before Christmas.
 
They haven't sent out interview invites yet. They said that should be mid-January. They requested transcripts to be sent from everyone who got the phase 2 email before Christmas.
That is what I thought and why I was very confused and scared by that e-mail.
 
Just got a weird reply from Illinois when I emailed them asking if any more phase 2 emails were going out.

Did anyone get invited to interview ?
I do not think that anyone was invited to interview yet.. I think phase 2 emails were just sent out.... At least that is what I am aware of
 
I don't think the invites have been sent out. I haven't even talked to my boss about giving tours that day yet.
 
Are they going to send us confirmations once they received the fall transcript?
 
The 4th years have yet to hear a single thing about professional development. Never mind the fact that people would want to schedule something off campus.
Yea they told us after finals they'd send us the info we needed to schedule 4th year. Has still yet to happen. I'm guessing you guys are stuck in that same boat then.
 
I just don't think anyone can agree on anything. One person thinks a farrier is the most important thing since he wants our equine program to improve, another wants to better support wildlife/zoo med since it's probably the biggest program we have here now.

Frankly, I think the best thing they could do is offer a third track for the wildlife/zoo/exotics students. We're stuck using the large animal track solely because it has more off blocks for externships, and that makes the clinicians and admins mad because we're not 'interested' in large animal.
Honestly I wish they would. I know they were talking about track A doing equine primary care instead of dog/cat, which sucks for me because I don't like working with horses that much. They are not my comfort zone and the horses can sense that and like to manipulate the situation, at least some I've worked with have. I can handle FARMS as I don't mind dairy cattle, sheep, and goats, but I don't have the money to travel everywhere to get all the exotic/wildlife experience I want. Would be awesome if more was available through the school. Oh well, some of the faculty really don't like the wildlife/zoo side so I doubt it'll happen. Lots of large animal here I come.
 
Honestly I wish they would. I know they were talking about track A doing equine primary care instead of dog/cat, which sucks for me because I don't like working with horses that much. They are not my comfort zone and the horses can sense that and like to manipulate the situation, at least some I've worked with have. I can handle FARMS as I don't mind dairy cattle, sheep, and goats, but I don't have the money to travel everywhere to get all the exotic/wildlife experience I want. Would be awesome if more was available through the school. Oh well, some of the faculty really don't like the wildlife/zoo side so I doubt it'll happen. Lots of large animal here I come.

And I don't really get why there's so much hate on the exotics/wildlife aspect. I'm supposed to work it up when I'm giving tours! I saw it as a big selling point for the school during interview day.
 
And I don't really get why there's so much hate on the exotics/wildlife aspect. I'm supposed to work it up when I'm giving tours! I saw it as a big selling point for the school during interview day.
It's just things I've heard off-hand from the WEAMS people. I can't say much more than that, but yea WMC especially is not liked that much by some of the staff, which is sad because it gives a lot of experience and practice.
 
It's just things I've heard off-hand from the WEAMS people. I can't say much more than that, but yea WMC especially is not liked that much by some of the staff, which is sad because it gives a lot of experience and practice.

Aww that's upsetting. That's one of the biggest draws for me since it seems like you do get a lot of experience!
 
Aww that's upsetting. That's one of the biggest draws for me since it seems like you do get a lot of experience!

You definitely do from what I hear! It's more of a time commitment than you're told, but most people seem to think it's worth it. I was debating on doing it next year. It depends on AWC and grades. Lol
 
It's just things I've heard off-hand from the WEAMS people. I can't say much more than that, but yea WMC especially is not liked that much by some of the staff, which is sad because it gives a lot of experience and practice.
A lot of other specialties don't think zoo med is contributing much to the profession (obviously I disagree, but I'm biased) but pulling a lot of students and even grant money, or low-key hate that it's becoming so wildly popular/competitive when it used to be something that few people (relatively) aspired to. That's generalizing, of course, and anecdotal.
You definitely do from what I hear! It's more of a time commitment than you're told, but most people seem to think it's worth it. I was debating on doing it next year. It depends on AWC and grades. Lol
I actually thought it was less of a time commitment than what we were told, at least if you're just a team member (team leader is a different story...). I'm still going to bug you about joining 😛
 
I actually thought it was less of a time commitment than what we were told, at least if you're just a team member (team leader is a different story...). I'm still going to bug you about joining 😛

Hey, after my ER rotation the last week of last quarter has hooked me hard. lol. I'm hoping to do 10ish hours a week in the ER next quarter (as long as you second years don't hog all the space 😉)
 
A lot of other specialties don't think zoo med is contributing much to the profession (obviously I disagree, but I'm biased) but pulling a lot of students and even grant money, or low-key hate that it's becoming so wildly popular/competitive when it used to be something that few people (relatively) aspired to. That's generalizing, of course, and anecdotal

That's crazy for me to hear. Why would veterinary professionals believe that zoo animals/wildlife are somehow less deserving of medical attention and advancements than domestic animals? Personally, I'm really excited to hear that so many people are becoming interested in zoo med because the profession can only benefit from it.

But yeah, like PinkPuppy, I'm kind of biased. I'm a zookeeper and I only really applied to the schools that have some big emphasis on zoo med. That's what I want to do, and that's where almost all of my experience is. Hopefully the negativity at Illinois doesn't actually impact the effectiveness of their wildlife program because that's the big reason why I applied. Here's to hoping I get an interview!!
 
That's crazy for me to hear. Why would veterinary professionals believe that zoo animals/wildlife are somehow less deserving of medical attention and advancements than domestic animals? Personally, I'm really excited to hear that so many people are becoming interested in zoo med because the profession can only benefit from it.

Others who aren't fans of wildlife have said that they feel it messes with natural selection; that if they weren't brought in they would have died in the wild. Not necessarily my opinion as many animals that come in are hurt as a result of human activity (like HBCs, buckshot, etc) from what I understand.
 
That's crazy for me to hear. Why would veterinary professionals believe that zoo animals/wildlife are somehow less deserving of medical attention and advancements than domestic animals? Personally, I'm really excited to hear that so many people are becoming interested in zoo med because the profession can only benefit from it.

But yeah, like PinkPuppy, I'm kind of biased. I'm a zookeeper and I only really applied to the schools that have some big emphasis on zoo med. That's what I want to do, and that's where almost all of my experience is. Hopefully the negativity at Illinois doesn't actually impact the effectiveness of their wildlife program because that's the big reason why I applied. Here's to hoping I get an interview!!
I didn't mean to imply that it was just Illinois. There are naysayers (sp?) everywhere, and to be clear, about everything. Very few people at the school view the wildlife program in poor light, and it's usually for stupid reasons tbh. Everyone thinks their specialty is the most important.

The thing about zoo med is that *some* feel that spending thousands of dollars/grants on things like researching stingray anesthesia, arthropod med, etc. is "wasteful" because it only affects such a small percentage of the profession in the grand scheme of things. I can't disagree with the bare bones logic behind it, most of zoo med cannot be applied outside of the sector. On the other hand, multiple disciplines can be applied to zoo med. Few vets would be against the idea of conservation, but when it comes to zoo med vs. oncology, for example, most people would suggest oncology has the greater impact, especially research-wise. Our exotic species won't feed the world, most won't spend time in households, and the majority are only visible on TV and in zoos and therefore can pull less weight emotionally for some people (vet or not). Many think we're fighting a losing battle anyways, since more and more people are becoming anti-captivity. Some zoos are seeing major growth, though.
 
Finally joined the forum after months of stalking. Today I received my rejection via e-mail. This school is my in-state, so I'm kinda bummed.
 
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