<p>yeah, i know. </p>
<p>they're going to be doing 2nd interviews through the end of march.</p>
<p>The guy that interviewed me for the 2nd interview said that 400 apply, aboyt 70-75 get interviews, and then 30-35 people get accepted because they want to aim for a total size of 25 students.</p>
<p>does anyone know if they are still calling people for 2nd interviews? or have they already called everyone for it?</p>
<p>they are going to be calling through the first few weeks of march.</p>
<p>Well, I just want to say that I have no idea what all the fuss was about on not "revealing" the "format" of the first interview. </p>
<p>Everyone had a different person who asked different questions. There was no format. The whole point was to be yourself (and to avoid the word "passion"). I mean, I was so scared, and my interview was so random, starting with why I chose my major, going on to museums, movies, books and eventually Johnny Depp. </p>
<p>So anyone in the future, don't be so psyched. I saw how many people there were and I freaked, I couldn't eat anything (and it was free! that's big...), and I was shaking and on the verge of tears. But it was fine, totally fine.</p>
<p>After that rant, I have a question....has anyone who had the 1st interview on Feb. 16 been called for the second one?? Approx. when will the calls come?</p>
<p>I got my call for my second interview about 4 weeks after my first interview, some others got theirs 2 weeks after.</p>
<p>i got a call 9 days later</p>
<p>i got a first interview request today.
the next interview date is march 8th</p>
<p>Ok, have you guys applied for housing yet? I'm not sure which housing options are popular. Apparently, there's a place where many honors students reside and there's a different place where lots of pre-med/pre-nursing people reside. Which of these two would be appropriate for gppa?</p>
<p>@sparrowess:</p>
<p>I got my call about 2 weeks after. I remember being really surprised when I got it so soon.</p>
<p>@mahavir:</p>
<p>I'm not living in the housing, I'm getting my own apartment if I go to UIC, but I heard JST is where all of the Honors kids live.</p>
<p>My three choices were stukel, commons west and courtyard. I think the honors kids get a floor in stukel, so ur second and third choices probably dont even matter.</p>
<p>Commons South is all freshman. I believe they still have Honors housing in Commons West. It is rather late to be applying for housing. Normally, they close out about March. Most of the people applying for housing now will end up in PSR or SRH.</p>
<p>so is JST filled? And do they group people in certain groups together (like all the honors kids together or all the gppa med people together?)</p>
<p>i'd think that honors students would have some kind of priority for JST, because they kept emphasizing that honors students live together</p>
<p>Honors students get priority for the Honors floor. The average non-Honors student will not have a chance of getting JST or even east campus this late. If there are openings on the Honors floor, than you can live there. If there are openings on a non-Honors floor, than priority works by the date you submitted your application, and the same holds true for Honors students on the Honors floor. When Housing receives your application, they date it and file it. When they start to place people in the buildings in about April after the current students pick their rooms, they use the date to choose the building. If JST has 500 openings, the first 500 applications to pick JST as first choice will probably get it. If you pick a roommate, the person who submitted their application last is the priority date they use.</p>
<p>i have an important message for all those gppa hopefuls that are out there. i am currently in gppa medicine and i've talked to joey volpe (the coordinator) and basically a lot of people feel that many of the applicants are so eager to the point that it chokes their personality as applicants. NO ONE wants to listen to an airhead go on about how much they love medicine. although that is the aim of the interview, BE A FLIPPING PERSON. show your OTHER interests. don't just act like little robots eager to get into medschool and using undergrad as just some requirement that you have to do. you don't know how irritating you seem and that dr chambers will see through youre. ********. </p>
<p>with that being said, LOOK HARD AT YOUR CHOICES. do NOT choose gppa if you are considering another ivy league or upper league institution. the reason i say this is because many of you do excel, and do look for intellectualism in the student population, and UIC is absolutely NOT the place to find it. especially living with honors college kids, you will be surrounded by a batch of eagers who are just looking to get into med school but not looking to use undergrad as an opportunity to pursue learning. </p>
<p>i looked forward to doing a whole bunch of artsy type stuff during undergrad and i found myself at a loss because the student population is 90% unmotivated people and 10% very smart people just looking to launch their career in pharm/dent/med. it isn't very diverse and you won't find people willing to actually take the extra mile to study something WAY outside their major, or choose a non-science major. </p>
<p>i'm in gppa right now and i hate it because i'm struggling to find these opportunities to express my creative side. if you don't give a damn about learning during undergrad (and that's ok, it's you're choice) then come here. you'll fit right into the criteria. just remember - medicine is NOT your life. you don't know what's out there till you try. and be open to things. UIC's humanities course selection is severely lacking (it sucks, basically) and it's really impossible to be a non-science gppa student. if you are, you will get strange looks. </p>
<p>just some things to consider. good luck to everyone. sorry if i seem harsh, but thats the striking reality. so stop worrying and asking people what their stats were and how they got in, etc etc. it doesn't matter. if you don't get into GPPA it's NOT THE END OF THE WORLD. you will go to undergrad, DO WELL, and APPLY OUT to an amazing medical school. if you don't get in the first time, try it AGAIN. don't have a breakdown. </p>
<p>that's my spiel. hope it helps.</p>
<p>thanks dirty chicago. </p>
<p>i think thats what some people really needed to hear. :)</p>
<p>"it's really impossible to be a non-science gppa student."</p>
<p>Not true, not at all. Maybe it only seems that way because (yes, true) the great majority of GPPA students choose majors such as Bio, Biochem, or Neuroscience.</p>
<p>I know a GPPA student who is a History major with minors in French and Sociology; he's studied abroad and is interested in public policy, and has done some great work in the humanities. I know of another who's studying English and Psychology and is a Writing tutor. Yet another is majoring in Spanish. And even another is an Economics major. And, the majority of my friends in the program choose to at least minor, if not fully concentrate, in a humanities/non-science curriculum - History, Sociology, Anthropology, English, Psychology, Philosophy, etc. </p>
<p>Now, I'm not saying that everything that dirtychicago said is wrong, because it's not completely untrue. The part about being an actual person during your interview? Definitely true. The thing about medicine not being your life? Also, true. Let medicine be your life once you've graduated medical school, because you know that you'll have little time for much else. Undergrad's the time to do things that you'll never have the opportunity to do otherwise.</p>
<p>But as for the humanities courses lacking at UIC, I would tend to disagree. Already I've taken some really great courses in the History, Anthro, and Philosophy departments.</p>
<p>The only other thing that should be said is that UIC is a place that absolutely requires you to be proactive. If you expect to come here and be given all sorts of opportunities, it's not going to happen. The <em>only</em> way that you'll be able to truly make the most of an undergrad at UIC is if you go out and seek the opportunities for involvement, research, etc. In my experience, they're there for you, but no one is going to tell you about them, you have to find them yourself. If you're willing to just keep looking, you'll find something of interest.</p>
<p>nice dirty chicago.....</p>
<p>now to apply it to my life.....it will take some time.....unfortunately......though i totally agree.....</p>
<p>and yet, here i am, yanking out my hair waiting for the second interview.....</p>
<p>But M17, I think dirtychicago was saying that you shouldn't choose the GPPA over an Ivy League or comparable institution unless you really, really want to go to UIC. And I see his point, you could probably get a much better liberal arts education at many other institutions, do pre-med as well and get into medical school through the traditional route. I think the point is that the GPPA is nothing super, super special except the guaranteed admission part. And even though it's great, think twice about what you're sacrificing to go to the GPPA, you know?</p>