PLEASE Help Me Decide! Rush vs. SLU

[veryconfused2020]

Hello all! I know this is cutting it very close to the April 30 deadline, but I am really stuck on this and could use some different perspectives if any of y'all have the time! Please help me choose between these schools if you can! The COA for both is pretty close to each other so at this point, I am not really factoring it in. I'm just really looking to figure out which one would be a better choice and a better fit.

RUSH

Pros

• I am from the Chicago area so I have some friends and my family here that are nearby
• Not that I am hell-bent on being in the city, but I do definitely like the location of Chicago better than St. Louis
• I would really love to do clinical rotations here (through Rush and Stroger) and feel like it would be a really exciting experience for me (I also love their EXPLORE program that pairs you with a doctor in any specialty of your choosing to shadow- there are mandatory 20 shadowing hours you must fill each semester starting M1)
  • you are also taught by Clinician Educators so students have a constant source of potential physicians to shadow by just asking after class
• I appreciate their focus on serving the local community and volunteering is something I enjoy doing (haven't ever really been keen on research but I believe their research is also very good and would be open to doing some)
• I feel like the city would allow for possibly better connections and a greater variety of experiences, I would also ultimately enjoy completing a residency in Chicago if possible

Cons

• Although classes are P/F as M1 and M2, the class is ranked by quartile (25% pre-clinical and 75% clinical)
• The curriculum is entirely a flipped classroom and purely case-based learning which is something I am still not sure how I feel about- all preclinical classes are mandatory and include small group sessions, case sessions are 4 hours long about twice a week- I think it could potentially end up being a waste of time for me on some days but again I am not sure as this is not a learning style I have had many experiences with (anywhere from 8-16 hours a week of mandatory class time I believe)
• Weather: although I grew up around here, the cold Chicago winters are no joke

SLU

Pros

• I went to Saint Louis University for my undergrad (the med school is literally right down the street) so I am very familiar with the area, places to study, service orgs, people, etc. and even know a good number of med students at the school, side note I do not know anyone personally at Rush
• my SO is matriculating here in the fall and my brother is in STL as well
• Their curriculum makes me a little less nervous than Rush's does, it is a traditional lecture style and they are all recorded, they are starting to incorporate more TBL and so there may be a little bit more mandatory stuff but not as much compared to Rush by any means
• True P/F M1 and M2, class is ranked only by the clinical years
• They have a pretty solid match-list every year (I think and been told so anyway), only a handful do not match and most are pretty happy with their placement
• While SLU itself doesn't do too much research, there are research opportunities via WashU which is very close by
• Weather is really not bad at all, usually around 10 degrees warmer than Chicago surprisingly
• They recently built a much-needed brand new hospital that seems pretty cool

Cons

• While St. Louis is a neat place, I've exhausted a lot in my time at undergrad and it would be nice to have a little change in scenery (I would even be studying in the exact same library)
• Other facilities (aside from the new hospital) are more outdated
• Students don't seem as passionate or excited about being SLU med students, everything is pretty neutral and gives off a "gets the job done" vibe as opposed to some the excitement I hear from Rush students
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  Ultimately, I think I would be happy at either school and both have a nearby support system for me. I am not too sure how both are considered based on name/reputation but I believe they rank similar enough? I am also not super confident in what specialty I am looking to do, and it might be worthy to note the step 1 change would affect my class. Thank you again so much in advance and I really appreciate any opinions/advice that come to mind!

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[Office Visit]

Also interviewed at Rush and really liked the school. However, I think in the end you have to go wherever you think you will be more comfortable during medical school. I am a firm believer that you perform better when you are happy and supported. Whether you believe that will be in Chicago with your friends and family or in St. Louis with your SO and brother is probably the question you need to ask.

 

[TheDataKing]

I'd want to go where my SO is and where my brother is... and you prefer how they do the preclinical years at SLU. For those reasons, I'd choose SLU. Just my $0.02

 

[HopefulMD1996]

I also would vote for SLU based on how long your Pros list and short your Cons list is. I was also accepted to Rush and a couple other programs and have been surprised at how frequently when I talk with colleagues about my options they dissuade me from going to Rush. This may just be due to my other options but I feel like it is worth mentioning if you also have another other great offer.

 

[Zen Arcade]

If your SO is going to SLU for sure go there unless you are looking for a reason to break up...

 

[Emmet2301]

I feel like being with your SO and brother would be a big plus. How serious are you and your SO? (Also, would they be ok if you chose Rush?)

 

[bananafish94]

To be very blunt, how serious is your relationship? And is your SO going to SLU medical school or undergrad? If this is a long-term, serious relationship and your partner is going to SLU medical school then I would probably go to SLU and never look back. Unless you're looking for something in which Rush has an undisputed major advantage (eg, you're dead-set on going into orthopedics) there is very little that any given medical school can offer that will trump having your SO and support system in the area.

In probably 95%+ of cases, SLU and Rush will equally get you where you need to be. So it's a question of whether or not Rush would offer anything that justifies spending four years apart from your SO and family. I am a Rush soon-to-be-graduate and I absolutely loved my experience here. So if you have any specific questions I would be happy to help! I will say right off the bat from your post that the relationship with the community is 100% real and something that's extremely important to the institution. Pretty much every student in the class has many, many more hours of volunteering than are required because we really enjoy volunteering. The relationship with Stroger is also a huge plus and an awesome opportunity for your clinical experiences. If you're at all interested in emergency medicine, Stroger has one of the country's premier EM departments and doing an EM rotation there can be an amazing experience. That said, you only spend at most ~4 months at Stroger if you do multiple rotations there - realistically, many students will only do 4 weeks of IM plus maybe one other M3 core clerkship and maybe their EM rotation or an elective so it's not necessarily a make-or-break. There's definitely no shortage of research opportunities if you want to do research here, and you should have no issue staying in Chicago for residency if that's what you want. My class did not have the flipped classroom curriculum so unfortunately I can't really comment on that. And I'm not sure when you lived in Chicago but for the past four years the winters have been considerably warmer than they were when I was growing up. Overall, I absolutely loved my experience and wouldn't trade it for anything. But you should definitely weigh all of the options and consider what's most important to you both personally and professionally. Good luck and congratulations!