I wanted to give an updated perspective on the program after having interviewed there recently.
Most applicants doesn't know much about the program and some of the negative comments from some older SDN comments have deterred applicants. The program may have had some problems in the past but over the last several years really had a change for the better. I was very impressed by it. the program has all the right pieces for a great residency: lots and lots of money, strong and famous faculty, and good clinical volume. the new chair is possibly my favorite chair on the interview trail, with great vision, enthusiasm, good connections, and dedicated to continued improvement of residency. i believe he was the program director for scheie for a while. the program improved a lot during his one year leadership so far, with strong focus on academics/research and a strong dedication to resident teaching. strong faculty in all subspecialties, including krupin, who was past president of american glaucoma society, and big cornea and retina names. new faculty joining including oculoplastics from scheie and retina from dohene. program director is also new and one of the nicest pd's on the interview trail. all the residents seem very happy and satisfied with their training. time is divided between northwestern memorial resident clinic, the VA, childrens, and two different chairty clinics with lots of end stage pathology (Komed and Moody clinic). gradual hand-holding approach with lots of autonomy once comfortable. q5-6 calls. surgical volume is about 120-150 right now but mostly due to a 7 resident senior class. most likely will rise with the senior class leaving and additional numbers from community clinics. also chair would like to increase the residency spot to 5 in 2-3 years which will require resident cataracts to be >150. also fully paid 3 week indian elective where 45-50 modern phacos will be done as primary surgeon in addition to the acgme numbers. those numbers will not count towards acgme requirement. it's true that this is mainly to boost surgical experience, but in a city with 6 ophtho programs, it's very difficult to get numbers as high as utah/oklahoma/texas/lousiana. I think having an international elective makes the overall surgical training closer to programs with 200+ cataracts. Also 24 hr access to wet lab facility and EyeSi (which is actually housed in northwest memorial rather than VA). Good phaco course in pre-senior years. as a resident, will get about 30 cataracts before 3rd year plus another 50 done in India during the second year. the program also emphasizes good fundamental training before actually operating on a patient. matches fellowships well. the lecturers are critically evaluated and only good lecturers will return. also has the option to get lasik and femtosecond lasik certified. also in the process of purchasing femtosecond cataract machine
northwest memorial is in the best part of chicago, right off of magnificent mile. the hospital is described as a 5* hotel and ophtho clinic is on 15th floor overlooking lake michigan.
cons: chicago is expensive to live in, but better compared to nyc and california, 1 bedroom in the nice neighborhood next to the hospital will cost 1200-1500 per month with 2 bedroom closer to 2k. however it's in the best part of downtown with great views and within 2-3 minute walking distance to work so doesn't have to keep a car. it's cheaper further away and the hospital will have discount parking (~90 per month) if you live >2 miles away. most residents live next to the hospital and had no problem living well with their salary. no dedicated county hospital but the charity clinics does address it somewhat, call frequency a little higher than some programs, needs a more informative website, saturday morning lectures (9-11 am, october to march only) with all chicago programs
