Read my post again - I didn't say anything about Peoria lacking in terms of hospital work. I guess what I meant by diverse patient population is in terms of ethnic and socioeconomic diversity in the patient population, not diversity in the treatments seen. Peoria really lacks in the Latino/Asian demographics.
Where did you get this 50% statistic from? People (like me) applied very early with the hopes of interviewing early (like me) with the intention of getting accepted post-interview (not me). Doing all of this fairly early gives you essentially a 100% chance of getting Chicago. If you read earlier in this thread, no one who requested Chicago was denied it (or at least posted about it) before Januaryish. I applied with the hopes of Chicago, and since at this point, I won't be getting Chicago, I don't plan on attending here even if I am ultimately accepted.
I would agree with you that people should not bother applying here if they don't want to do UPR if they aren't submitting their applications early. But many people who are interested in being placed in Chicago do apply early for this reason.
Also, man... you can't be comparing life in Peoria to Chicago with its 300,000 residents... Life in the 2 places is so different. And not to mention that Chicago has almost 10x the number of people living in it. And it's more of a cultural center in the Midwest than Peoria. And it's close to a large body of water. And it's got way better food. And on and on...
