After You Apply

You’ve applied and submitted your application. Now what?

What's next?

You can check your status online at any time. This will show you a checklist of all your items and let you know if they’re correct and complete.

Personal interview

Personal interviews are a requirement for admission to our program. We’ll contact you by email if you’ve been selected for an interview. Interviews are scheduled in mid-February.

If selected, you’ll have the option to choose between a virtual interview session and an in-person session on UIC’s campus. Both sessions will begin with a complete program overview with Dr. Leah Lebowicz, program director, to discuss our curriculum alongside 2-3 additional interviewees. Following this session, each interviewee will meet independently with the BVIS faculty to present selected work from their portfolio.

After completing your portfolio review, you’ll have time to meet and talk with current BVIS students, as well as some of our BVIS faculty one-on-one. Applicants that elect for an in-person interview session will be able to tour the department and facilities, including our lab, library, and galleries of medical artwork.

International applicants: Since we know it can be hard to arrange travel for this, the faculty will conduct your interview via Skype.

Departmental review

The length of time that it takes for an application to go through the review process varies. After we complete our review of your application, we communicate acceptances and denials to the BHIS Academic Affairs Committee, and the department recommendation is forwarded to the Graduate College.

Graduate college review

In some rare cases, applications we recommend for admission may need to be reviewed by the Graduate College. The Graduate College may decide to uphold our recommendation or deny the application.

After a decision has been made

Once the Graduate College approves our recommendations for admissions, the application portal updates and an official decision letter is mailed. Graduate College decisions are made twice monthly so there may be a delay of several weeks between your interview and your decision letter.

If you've been admitted...

Congratulations! Access our Admitted Student page for your next steps. You’ll also receive information from the BVIS program shorty after you’ve been accepted.

International students: If you’ll need a student visa, you should submit OIS financial documents through the application checklist for the Office of International Services. Contact the OIS concerning document requests and visa processing.

If you've been waitlisted...

You will be notified by the program.

If you've been denied...

You may contact us directly to inquire about our decision. In some cases, we’re able to advise you on how to strengthen your portfolio or improve your application in order to apply in the future.

Questions?

Alyssa Nelson headshot

Contact our administrative aide, Alyssa Nelson, with any post-application questions.

You can contact Alyssa at: