<p>@illinois1234 -we have heard about the extra seminars that GPPA meds attend…you can find those on the GPPA website. There is an active premed club…you must be in the Honor’s college to be part of that. I too would like to hear from a current GPPA student for any insight. I too have heard that a high percent of students finish their undergrad in 3 or 3 1/2 years because of AP credit. You cannot start UIC’s med school though until after year 4-it’s an ideal time to study abroad or pick up a master’s or develop yourself in someway prior to med school.</p>
<p>@Cytomom thank you for your response. The website <a href=“Guaranteed Professional Program Admissions (GPPA) | University of Illinois Chicago”>Guaranteed Professional Program Admissions (GPPA) | University of Illinois Chicago;
doesn’t seem to say that you cannot start med school until after year 4, where did you hear this?</p>
<p>@illinois1234 They told us at our interview that the program could not be accelerated-you could start UIC med school after year 4 or 5 but not earlier. In fact…they made a point of telling us that. You could apply out to other med schools earlier but that is a different conversation. Hope to hear officially from them soon with some additional info such as what campus assignments are for med school!</p>
<p>one of my friends just got an email for a gppa med interview on 4/10
do you know why they’re still conducting interviews after the deadline?</p>
<p>@kennedyiceit I am in a similar position (deciding between GPPA and another school), and I actually think I was at the same interview day as you! haha
I’ve been having a really tough time deciding, but I received some excellent advice from a friend of mine that you might find helpful. Picture both worse case scenarios at each school.</p>
<p>For me it would be:
- I go to UIC GPPA but decide I no longer want to do medicine. Which stinks because GPPA was essentially the only reason I applied.
- I go to the other school, pursue a pre-med track, and don’t make it into a med school</p>
<p>Both situations are scary, but I have personally come to the decision that the other school would leave me with more options open! I would have happier undergrad years, and even though I might not get into med school, I would still have a degree from an excellent school:) Hopefully that helps. You really can’t go wrong either way, though!</p>
<p>@soccergirl1919 , whoa we were at the same interview? cool!! </p>
<p>Your advice (or your friend’s :D) does help! I do agree with you that I would have a happier time at uchicago then at uic, so that is definitely something I am going to consider! thank you so much for the help 
hope you are happy with the school you’re going to as well :D</p>
<p>there is an honor’s college session this Friday in which you can attend a class and stay overnight…might help decisions. I just spent time with three 4 year med students…one graduated from UIC(not GPPA), one from Northwestern and one from Elmhurst College. It was great to hear their inputs at this stage of their education. All 3 said…go with GPPA! They said they had all spent literally hundreds of hours with the “getting into medical school” process and a lot of $$. Mr. Northwestern graduated with a 3.85 GPA and a 34 MCAT…applied to 14 medical schools and was accepted to 1. UIC person graduated with a 3.65 and 31 MCAT and got accepted to 1 med school. Elmhurst graduated with a 3.9 and 33MCAT and initially was not accepted, took a gap year to up his stats and got accepted to 1 school. All 3 said they would jump at the GPPA chance, UIC med school is a great program and they have great match lists with residency. UIC person (bio major) said she loved all her classes except organic chemistry (prof is now replaced though) and had so many opportunities to get involved in research and service. She also said the GPPA kids fit in well with the honor’s college kids…there was no rivalry between them…very collaborative atmosphere. All 3 were 4th year med students in an DO program.</p>
<p>^OMG are you serious?</p>
<p>@cytomom , really? wow…did not know things were this bad right now</p>
<p>Let me briefly comment on what I know about the GPPA program. if you are a BIOS major you should be able to easily finish your UG degree in three years and start medical school 4rth year. Engineering majors may find it little difficult to finish the undergraduate degree requirements and GPPA requirement in 3 years. While AP credits can be used for the UG degree, additional AP replacement bios courses or chem courses are needed for GPPA.</p>
<p>I heard the GPPA seminars are interesting and worthwhile. Also, the students are assigned and required to shadow a physician at College of Medicine sometime during their UG years.</p>
<p>The GPPA faculty strongly encourages students to apply to other top tier medical schools.</p>
<p>For the research minded folks, please note that the bio engg department at UIC is managed by the Engg school and the college of medicine, hence UGs have a lot of opportunity to work closely with College of medicine researchers or work in their labs. </p>
<p>cheers</p>
<p>It was a real reality check to talk with these folks…as I have posted previously…D is deciding between GPPA and other traditional routes as well as SLU med scholars. The 4th year med students were doing a rotation at the hospital I work and said they were in good shape with their upcoming residencies but it had been a long road. I’m not passing this info on for any reason except some of you are in the same boat as D and I thought it might be of some value to you one way or the other. I hope D will meet all of you at the GPPA seminar on April 24! By the way…does anyone know how many GPPA med students were accepted this year? Also…anyone know if there is any scholarship $$ with GPPA?</p>
<p>Thank you @Cytomom for the information. I am also wondering how many were accepted this year as well.</p>
<p>just a random question, but does anyone know if the gppa acceptance is conditional on how well you maintain your gpa for the rest of senior year?</p>
<p>I have heard of a story from Dartmouth that they rescinded an offer because a student got 2 C’s in 2nd semester of senior year. Obviously D’s and F’s are not going to look good.</p>
<p>For those that were accepted into the UIC GPPA program for med would you mind sharing your stats?</p>
<p>medical school campus assignments just came in…did not get assigned to chicago’s campus…</p>
<p>I am sure they are all good @kennedyiceit don’t worry about it. So you either got Peoria or Rockford and they all have their benefits</p>
<p>@kennedyiceit did you express an interest in a certain field of medicine? D just came back from an overnighter at UIC and one of the current GPPA students said they really try to match your interests with the different campuses. D’s letter is sitting in front of me unopened…she is napping after being up most of the night…I’ll post where she was assigned. </p>
<p>really?..i don’t think i expressed an interest in a certain field…, are the peoria/rockford/urbana campuses good? i feel like i would rather be in the chicago campus.</p>
<p>I thought Urbana was more for those interested in MD/PhD and/or research. Don’t know much about Peoria and Rockford is just boring but I know some people from there I can find out info if you have something specific in mind.</p>