Anyone from Chicago that can give their review or opinion of some of the Chicago programs a bit more? UChicago, UIC, northwestern?
UChicago - solid small program with high number of stims (on par with Rush, if not more - if you want to do implants, this was recommended to me as #1 in the city). Super inbred - taken only their own grads for years and years. Expanded to 3 slots from 2 last year, immediately filled with... another UC grad. Heavier workload. Nice campus. Highly regarded, but even if you get through the impossible barrier you're likely to be a black sheep.
Rush - workhorse program, the surgical residency of chronic pain in Chicago. Excellent numbers, lots of procedures, a ton of stims/fellow, and good faculty with great post-fellowship job prospects, but teach by virtue of volume/suffering.
Northwestern - mid-tier. Their strength is the name and the peds pain experience, the education you get is good, but overall it's not regarded super highly. Much like 3.6 Roentgen, not great, not terrible. It's a nice name to add to your resume, and not one that anybody will hold against you. Beautiful facilities.
Loyola - word on the street was that Loyola had a lot of issues with leadership turnover and program instability, both in Pain and other departments. My PD was candid in telling me that I should not rank them highly for that reason during my application cycle. Worth looking into since I heard they've made some good changes in the last little while, but not one of the top names by any means.
UIC - Good, laid-back program. Don't know too much about their numbers, but good lifestyle with nice people. Solid faculty. You won't be unhappy here.
Cook - Good bread and butter, lower end of middle of the road for procedures, too much clinic, and very low number of stims, no pumps/kyphos (because County). Very nice faculty and most cush lifestyle out of all programs in the city. Great option if you just want to chill for a year, get boarded, and do bread and butter pain.