I am going to apply for internal medicine residency in Chicago area. Would someone give me pros & cons of the internal medicine university programs in the area like UIC, Rush, Rosalind Franklin(Chicago Medical School) & Loyola ? Thanks.
It looks like stupid timing now an over asked question, but I wanted to bump this thread for c/o 2019 because it was my hardest rank decision. I won’t go into NW/UC I only received 1-2 interviews in that tier but was otherwise a midtier candidate. Regardless,I think word on the street is NW slightly edges UC and most sources already mention that.
Other Chicago Programs:
Rosalind Franklin: Not midtier. Solidly lower tier. Actually applied and withdrew. Even their invitation invite was disorganized as the secretary asked me to pick dates, never replied when I emailed her my preferences, and then sent me an email 2 weeks later giving me different dates. That’s my only experience with RFU, it’s not in a great area, literally none of it’s students go here, and it’s not really in this mix.
Loyola: It’s probably the least competitive of the mid tier Chicago programs because of its combined ranking and location (it’s really located in a suburb which is a good 30-45 minute drive from downtown Chicago). That said, I think it’s a superb place. The program is very resident-centered and you will he worked hard. It’s a very blue-collar type program. If you’ve made rounds on these forums, you’ll hear that it has a great Cardiology program and its match list for Cards was solid with top tier places like UMich, Beaumont, and Loyola itself. I think the biggest pro was the attitude and camaraderie of the residents. They really seemed to like and rely on each with the hours they worked (its 6-6, drip system) which is one the harsher side nationally. Residents also came across as very confident and mentioned that they get a TON of procedures and fill their log book within the first month, make a lot of decisions after the first month, and you’re going to be extremely competent. I’m sure all places stress that to some extent but I felt pretty convinced of this at Loyola. In addition, I felt the leadership was strong with the 4+1 in place and Dr. Simpson spoke very intelligently and gave great highlights about the program. Things that stuck out on interview day were the sheer volume of applicants and they need to fix the high applicant:resident ratio at the interview day. A potential downside to the program was that it is the heaviest schedule of the three which may leave less time for research (idk not having gone through it). I do think the chiefs are superb though and really try to get everyone involved if you’re interested. The conference was alright, some others reported really liking theirs so it could vary by day.
UIC: It was a very hard decision where to put this vs. Rush on my rank list. Doximity ranks Rush significantly higher, but I liked the interview day at UIC a lot more. Everything from the PD, chief residents, residents, etc. seemed like a perfect fit. It seemed like a good balance of resident autonomy and appropriate work load. The culture was seemed pretty academic and non-judgmental and I’m a nerd at heart so I actually felt the best fit here. It seemed like interns were the primary managers only a few months in, but at the same time they didn’t seem overworked and seemed happy to talk about stuff they did outside the hospital Their fellowship match was solid and as expected for mid tier. I asked around and a trend I noticed were most people applying on SDN, fellow classmates (and yes the spreadsheet) seemed to think Rush was more desirable, but the reasoning wasn’t substantial. A lot of experienced physicians seemed to say UIC was stronger and maybe 10-15 years ago that was the prevailing opinion but the two have seemed to be more or less equal now. UIC is the state university/medical school of Illinois while Rush is medical center that made a medical school so I could see certain research areas (especially public health) being stronger at UIC than Rush. The program logistics are 12+2 starting your 2nd year so you do have the clinic/hospital overlap intern year, but no one really seemed to be super upset about it. I remember them giving a reason for it being better the way it was and even putting it to a vote, but at the end of the day it’s not 4+1. Of note, UIC has a VA if that’s a thing for you I really liked the conference too. Dr. Zaar did a great job of thinking aloud to explain his clinical reasoning. Another big thing is that UIC is the safety net hospital of the area. Therefore the support staff at the facility are likely more short-staffed and resources aren’t as shiny. Rush is literally a block down the street and within viewing/walking distance of UIC (both in downtown Chicago and both recommended same hotel for interview day).
Rush: If you followed this year’s spreadsheet there was a lot of talk about Rush. I don’t think it deserves the hate it got, but I don’t think all the criticism was made up. Overall, it seems like the “sexier” place. It’s the highest rated Chicago mid tier on Doximity, the facilities are nice (magnet hospital = competitive, strong nursing). If you compare the match lists of Rush vs UIC from 3-4 years ago, you see that Rush’s fellowship match list is a bit (not substantially) more diverse implying that they may have an edge in fellowship placement. That trend, however, has kind of diminished over even flipped in the last two years but there’s always the chance that that this is just a blip in the data. The presentations by the PD were pretty nice and former PDs are active in leadership. The people overall were nice, but the residents did seem kind of stand-off-ish and seemed to engage more in superficial topics of conversation than program logistics. It also felt very high-school/ cliquey where popular/charismatic kids all grouped together and ignored everyone else. One resident was an exception, but overall residents were not super interested in discussing program logistics simply saying all programs have the same things. Speaking of which... the program is not 4+1, but from what residents said, the schedule is fairly lighter than UIC or Loyola with more active supervision. One major thing at Rush I think is the QI/Safety stuff is taken pretty seriously and multiple students had projects to talk about in this area. Also, I’m not sure if there’s any bias against safety net hospitals but Rush scores an A while UIC scored a C on Leapfrog Safety Ratings. In terms of culture, it seemed to be a bit less academic and Rush seems to embrace this saying “they take their work seriously, but don’t take themselves seriously”. One unfair criticism of Rush is the affluent population. While it probably has more private patients than the other two, they really seem to want to get you out into the community to work in underserved clinics if that’s your thing (they have a partnership with Stroger for some HIV thing). In addition, Rush is still an academic center and you’ll run into more private patients but it’s nothing close to community programs. Overall, it’s a great place to be and if you loved interview day here, you probably would fit well and should rank this place high because they really seem to care about the type of person they recruit. At interview day, we were told the interview was the most important factor and it was emphasized that “the people” were the most important thing at Rush. I believe it because everyone there seemed to have outside hobbies/outgoing personalities. I don’t think I met a single shy/introverted/awkward person out of all the residents. The conference itself was pretty well done and they explained some concepts I was yet to learn. It did seem like residents were kind of checked out and some left after getting snacks.
Quick Summary
Autonomy: Loyola>UIC>Rush
Facility Glamour: Rush>Loyola>UIC
Fellowship Match: Rush=UIC>Loyola
Academic $/rank: UIC > Loyola=Rush
Research: UIC=Rush>Loyola. For basic science/public health/non-clinical research UIC>>> rest given that it’s a strong public university.
Location: UIC=Rush>Loyola
Time off: Rush>UIC>Loyola
PD/Leadership: I think they’re all great.
