After looking at various posts, I haven't seen much about UIC vs. Rush. It seems to me that Rush is more cush but with not as good of teaching whereas UIC has much better teaching and clinical experiences as well as more autonomy. Can someone who is from Chicago comment on the different Chicago IM programs, especially taking these two into account? Thanks

I am from Northwestern (M4), so my perspective is fairly limited, especially in terms of the residency experience. But just from the people I talk to and the experience of meeting Rush and UIC students (and also UIC residents from Westside VA, which Northwestern residents rotate at as well), Rush sounds like a better program academically. I'm sure people more knowledgeable would pipe up though.

If you are allergy bound, have you thought about Northwestern? We are supposed to have a great allergy program, and they do a good job of taking people in house. The IM program itself is also very cush AND a great deal of autonomy (I often joke if you multiply the cushness by the quality of training, Northwestern is probably by far #1 in the country).

Hope this helps.

As a student at UIC (who is not staying for residency), I can say that IM is one of the few programs I would stay at UIC for. I think UIC is stronger academically than Rush, and the teaching on medicine is incredible. I don't think anyone would accuse UIC of being cush... although the call schedule is pretty nice for medicine. The patient population is more low-brow than Rush- even though Rush and UIC are across the street from each other, our patient population is 95% Medicaid, they have a higher percentage of private payor. And we go to the VA (with NW). I believe I read in another forum you're going to UIC- Congrats and welcome! Dr. Zar is an amazing man who you are lucky to be working with. Good luck to all!