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80k over four years? That’s really cheap in the grand scheme of things… no?
2021-2022 Illinois
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JohnJacobJingleheimer
Full Member
80k / year, not including summer tuition and COL.
D
deleted1108356
Nope, just like @JohnJacobJingleheimer said, it's unfortunately $80k per year, making it $320k + interest for four years. I loved the school, but that price tag is not worth it.
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Wow! Well I hope you receive a boatload of scholarship money!
wannabedr012
Full Member
is second look business professional?
There is another acceptance day on the third Friday of April. You’re still in the running!
I know about at least a few folks who couldn't attend the second look event today, due to work obligations so I kept a relatively short summary of the most important things shared during the event.0
Updated applicants statistics to date
Campus assignment
Currently all campuses are at capacity but shifts are expected. Some people were assigned to incorrect campuses with respect to their scholary concentration (e.g. IMED is only available in Chicago). Students will be shifted between campuses as spots became available. It wasn't directly stated but presumably they're waiting on people withdrawing and/or asking for being moved so that they can do swaps. However, what was ensured is that if you're accepted to a program only available at one campus you will be reassigned later on to that campus.
Cocurricular programs review
TLDR: they're behind.
A lot of programs started their reviews very late (e.g. GMED in March) and things are still changing because of that. They didn't share any dates, as this is up to individual deans to manage. However, historically (and how they suggested they want it to stay this way), final decisions were made end of March/early April at the latest.
Accounts
There are apparently A LOT of people who should've gotten MyUIC account activation token (to create the account) but didn't. They're aware of the issue. During the event they tried to one-by-one help students with activations but were overwhelmed quickly upon realization of a large number of students having the issue. Apparently there's only a single person handling the problems with activation on the helpdesk side but UICOM is handled outside of the normal IT helpdesk queue. In any case if anyone doesn't have the activation code and was assigned to a campus they should contact the main medadmit email. This will be fasttracked with respect to contacting the helpdesk.
Financial Aid
The financial aid process is (which was new to me) working on a rolling timeline basis, similarly to the admission. They're releasing decisions in batches and so far only a single batch of awards was released. In short there are no firm guarantees but things are expected to change, so if people didn't get their scholarship yet it does not mean they were rejected from getting one. In addition, it was reaffirmed that application to pre-matriculation scholarships is automatic and everyone is enrolled. At this point we need to just sit and wait 😉
"Block 0" material
UIC offers additional materials for self-paced learning before matriculation, named "block 0". These materials are to cover basic sciences and are aimed as a refresher before start of the semester (with block 1). This small course isn't mandatory in any way nor part of any official scores beyond being used for statistics. Results aren't shared with faculty either. However, it's highly encouraged to complete as it coorelates with better academic success later on. They hope it will be especially useful for people who graduated longer time ago.
The materials aren't available yet and will most likely be available some time in the first week of July.
Curriculum & grading details
There was some time dedicated to discussing P/F. UICOM will use true P/F during preclinical time, with no honors or any (even internal) ranking tackled into it. Every 6-8 weeks there's a P/F block exam. Failing a block exam results in being matched to a tutor and a plan to remediate is made. What's crucial no external record of that is made, i.e. failure here is not shared with residencies. Exams cover bundled science knowledge of all "classes" and not separate subjects.
In addition to exams there are weekly quizzes (IIRC every Friday?). These are scored but not graded. They count as completion, but scores are saved for internal use (and never shared externally). The example how scores are used is if a student consistently scores lower there will be attempts made to contact the person and help them ahead of a failed exam. In my opinion this is a great system, as reaching for help is sometimes difficult 🙂
Tutoring
All students have an access to so-called PEP (Peer Education Program). The program offers pairing with a tutor from later years. What was pointed out anybody can sign up, not just people who have some adversary record already. Sessions have different format (1:1, small random groups, small groups with friends of your choosing, big review sessions, etc). Students from M2 onward (correct me here if I got this wrong!) can join to be PEP tutors and are paid for the session time and prep time.
Mental health
The session had an extensive discussion about student's well being and mental health. It's impossible to convey the whole discussion in a short summary accurately imho. However, there are a lot of resources and many things showing that the school really cares (or at least that's the vibe I've got) and tries to make the whole experience as far from cutthroat as possible. There are small things like an ability to confidentially take a mental health day which is excused, with bigger things like a lot of counseling services (including things like couple's counseling). The school acvitely conducts research on students well being as well.
Student Curricular Board
One of the presentation was from the SCB itself. In short it's a structure which serves as a bridge between students and faculty. Feedback is implemented on the ongoing basis. It's also a good place to be involved. Other than that the board was presenting more details regarding their operation.
Chicago Parking & rotations
Some students don't have a car and it's perfectly doable, even in M3. There's a paid parking available and students are offered a discount. It's around $300/year or (iirc) $3.5/parking every time.
The parking discussion spun into rotations and how it's possible to have them scheduled within UI Health, which is the main rotation site. M3 rotations are based on a lottery system, but everything seems to be local with a great diversity of populations and sites. With that there were also details regarding M4 away rotations and UIC allowing up to the maximum limit AAMC permits.
Upon matriculation there are also resources available to help students decide where to rotate based on their preferences and residencies they consider. One of such resources mentioned was student-maintained spreadsheet containing honest comments about sites.
FB Page & other forms of communication
A lot of information about housing and other things are shared via FB page. It was linked in one of the e-mails and it's invite-only. Students are verified manually before they're accepted. After matriculation FB doesn't seem to be a preferred choice. Students mostly organize on GroupMe. Private communication is done via Discord, while university also provides Slack (platform of choice on the campus) with multiple channels and doesn't interfere with meme channels either.
On-campus visits
All three campuses are planning in-person visits and currently awaiting final approvals. Chicago shared more details: volunteers are already picked, dates are too, awaiting last approvals before they're announced (via email). Chicago campus plans to do tours every week in April in addition to a few other dates after that.
Opinion piece
Overall a very great session with a ton of resources being mentioned. The atmosphere was really laid back and the officials weren't hiding that this is their event to convince us to join. However, things were kept objective.
Updated applicants statistics to date
- AMCAS: 7558
- Review: 5597
- Interview: 702
- Enrollment: 300
Campus assignment
Currently all campuses are at capacity but shifts are expected. Some people were assigned to incorrect campuses with respect to their scholary concentration (e.g. IMED is only available in Chicago). Students will be shifted between campuses as spots became available. It wasn't directly stated but presumably they're waiting on people withdrawing and/or asking for being moved so that they can do swaps. However, what was ensured is that if you're accepted to a program only available at one campus you will be reassigned later on to that campus.
Cocurricular programs review
TLDR: they're behind.
A lot of programs started their reviews very late (e.g. GMED in March) and things are still changing because of that. They didn't share any dates, as this is up to individual deans to manage. However, historically (and how they suggested they want it to stay this way), final decisions were made end of March/early April at the latest.
Accounts
There are apparently A LOT of people who should've gotten MyUIC account activation token (to create the account) but didn't. They're aware of the issue. During the event they tried to one-by-one help students with activations but were overwhelmed quickly upon realization of a large number of students having the issue. Apparently there's only a single person handling the problems with activation on the helpdesk side but UICOM is handled outside of the normal IT helpdesk queue. In any case if anyone doesn't have the activation code and was assigned to a campus they should contact the main medadmit email. This will be fasttracked with respect to contacting the helpdesk.
Financial Aid
The financial aid process is (which was new to me) working on a rolling timeline basis, similarly to the admission. They're releasing decisions in batches and so far only a single batch of awards was released. In short there are no firm guarantees but things are expected to change, so if people didn't get their scholarship yet it does not mean they were rejected from getting one. In addition, it was reaffirmed that application to pre-matriculation scholarships is automatic and everyone is enrolled. At this point we need to just sit and wait 😉
"Block 0" material
UIC offers additional materials for self-paced learning before matriculation, named "block 0". These materials are to cover basic sciences and are aimed as a refresher before start of the semester (with block 1). This small course isn't mandatory in any way nor part of any official scores beyond being used for statistics. Results aren't shared with faculty either. However, it's highly encouraged to complete as it coorelates with better academic success later on. They hope it will be especially useful for people who graduated longer time ago.
The materials aren't available yet and will most likely be available some time in the first week of July.
Curriculum & grading details
There was some time dedicated to discussing P/F. UICOM will use true P/F during preclinical time, with no honors or any (even internal) ranking tackled into it. Every 6-8 weeks there's a P/F block exam. Failing a block exam results in being matched to a tutor and a plan to remediate is made. What's crucial no external record of that is made, i.e. failure here is not shared with residencies. Exams cover bundled science knowledge of all "classes" and not separate subjects.
In addition to exams there are weekly quizzes (IIRC every Friday?). These are scored but not graded. They count as completion, but scores are saved for internal use (and never shared externally). The example how scores are used is if a student consistently scores lower there will be attempts made to contact the person and help them ahead of a failed exam. In my opinion this is a great system, as reaching for help is sometimes difficult 🙂
Tutoring
All students have an access to so-called PEP (Peer Education Program). The program offers pairing with a tutor from later years. What was pointed out anybody can sign up, not just people who have some adversary record already. Sessions have different format (1:1, small random groups, small groups with friends of your choosing, big review sessions, etc). Students from M2 onward (correct me here if I got this wrong!) can join to be PEP tutors and are paid for the session time and prep time.
Mental health
The session had an extensive discussion about student's well being and mental health. It's impossible to convey the whole discussion in a short summary accurately imho. However, there are a lot of resources and many things showing that the school really cares (or at least that's the vibe I've got) and tries to make the whole experience as far from cutthroat as possible. There are small things like an ability to confidentially take a mental health day which is excused, with bigger things like a lot of counseling services (including things like couple's counseling). The school acvitely conducts research on students well being as well.
Student Curricular Board
One of the presentation was from the SCB itself. In short it's a structure which serves as a bridge between students and faculty. Feedback is implemented on the ongoing basis. It's also a good place to be involved. Other than that the board was presenting more details regarding their operation.
Chicago Parking & rotations
Some students don't have a car and it's perfectly doable, even in M3. There's a paid parking available and students are offered a discount. It's around $300/year or (iirc) $3.5/parking every time.
The parking discussion spun into rotations and how it's possible to have them scheduled within UI Health, which is the main rotation site. M3 rotations are based on a lottery system, but everything seems to be local with a great diversity of populations and sites. With that there were also details regarding M4 away rotations and UIC allowing up to the maximum limit AAMC permits.
Upon matriculation there are also resources available to help students decide where to rotate based on their preferences and residencies they consider. One of such resources mentioned was student-maintained spreadsheet containing honest comments about sites.
FB Page & other forms of communication
A lot of information about housing and other things are shared via FB page. It was linked in one of the e-mails and it's invite-only. Students are verified manually before they're accepted. After matriculation FB doesn't seem to be a preferred choice. Students mostly organize on GroupMe. Private communication is done via Discord, while university also provides Slack (platform of choice on the campus) with multiple channels and doesn't interfere with meme channels either.
On-campus visits
All three campuses are planning in-person visits and currently awaiting final approvals. Chicago shared more details: volunteers are already picked, dates are too, awaiting last approvals before they're announced (via email). Chicago campus plans to do tours every week in April in addition to a few other dates after that.
Opinion piece
Overall a very great session with a ton of resources being mentioned. The atmosphere was really laid back and the officials weren't hiding that this is their event to convince us to join. However, things were kept objective.
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Is it safe to assume that since everyone wants to be assigned to Chicago and people that are assigned to Rockford and Peoria are more likely to withdraw their application then people that are still waiting for acceptances will be more likely to be assigned to Rockford or Peoria?
IMHO it's not that simple - a lot of people will probably withdraw due to high COL in Chicago and lack of scholarships. Also, statistically speaking, more people will probably withdraw from Chicago overall (as it's the biggest of all three) and pick other schools for various reasons. There are also EquIMED and RMED folks which will be (re)assigned from Chicago. Will it balance preferences for Chicago? That's impossible to guess without the data only adcom has 😉
D
deleted895369
Hey all, I just wanted to share my experience as a Peoria student as I remember being in your shoes not too long ago. I was devastated when I found out that I didn't get Chicago, and almost went to an OOS school because it would guarantee that I would be in a big city. I am being completely honest when I say that if I would go back in time, I would rank Peoria #1. I figured I would share some of the reasons I like Peoria and make you guys feel a lil better about your campus placements 🙂
I love the ELITE program, and it is seriously the highlight of my week. Even as a preclinical student, I am able to see and examine patients on my own, present to my attending, go back in to the room with the attending, and write the notes after the visit. The early opportunities to work in clinical settings and gain independence has done worlds for my patient care skills and confidence.
For our class of only 60 students, we have access to OSF (a 600 bed hospital with a children's hospital) and Unity Point (a 300 bed hospital) right across the street. There is no shortage of patients, not to mention OSF is the only level 1 trauma center between the Chicago and St Louis areas. You will not be limited in what you can see.
It is very easy to do 4th year electives on the Chicago campus if you want. (WARNING: this next part is very biased towards Peoria) I was talking to some Peoria M4s who matched into surgical specialties and did rotations at Chicago. They both said that this made them realize how great their Peoria rotations were because there were fewer students and thus more opportunities to be hands on in the OR. I've actually been shadowing in the OR and the most students I saw in any one case was like 2 med students and 1 resident max. Basically, you aren't going to get shoved in the corner of the OR in a Peoria rotation.
Another huge myth is that you can only do urban health in Chicago. Peoria contains some of the poorest zip codes in the US, and many of the problems facing Chicago are also facing Peoria - food deserts, very high rates of HIV and STDs, significant maternal mortality, lack of educational opportunities, etc. There is SO much need in Peoria, and I think even from a societal and legislative standpoint Chicago gets all the focus and funding. There are so many community organizations to get involved with and make an impact in the Peoria area, so don't think that you can't do urban health if you aren't in Chicago!
I do know some people at Peoria that are doing research at Chicago. Provided you aren't doing wet lab research, it appears that it is possible to do research completely remote. I personally have a mentor that I am doing research with on the Peoria campus, and I feel like the fact that there aren't as many students at Peoria has really given me amazing access to one-on-one mentorship and clinical opportunities through my mentor.
Overall, I know it can be disappointing to not be placed in Chicago, and I know that Peoria may truly not be for everyone. But fear not, Peoria is not the rural wasteland devoid of opportunity that people make it out to be! There are going to be pros and cons for all campuses, but I feel like being on the Peoria campus has already given me so many opportunities for a great education both in and out of the classroom. *
*not sponsored by the UICOM Admissions 🙂
I love the ELITE program, and it is seriously the highlight of my week. Even as a preclinical student, I am able to see and examine patients on my own, present to my attending, go back in to the room with the attending, and write the notes after the visit. The early opportunities to work in clinical settings and gain independence has done worlds for my patient care skills and confidence.
For our class of only 60 students, we have access to OSF (a 600 bed hospital with a children's hospital) and Unity Point (a 300 bed hospital) right across the street. There is no shortage of patients, not to mention OSF is the only level 1 trauma center between the Chicago and St Louis areas. You will not be limited in what you can see.
It is very easy to do 4th year electives on the Chicago campus if you want. (WARNING: this next part is very biased towards Peoria) I was talking to some Peoria M4s who matched into surgical specialties and did rotations at Chicago. They both said that this made them realize how great their Peoria rotations were because there were fewer students and thus more opportunities to be hands on in the OR. I've actually been shadowing in the OR and the most students I saw in any one case was like 2 med students and 1 resident max. Basically, you aren't going to get shoved in the corner of the OR in a Peoria rotation.
Another huge myth is that you can only do urban health in Chicago. Peoria contains some of the poorest zip codes in the US, and many of the problems facing Chicago are also facing Peoria - food deserts, very high rates of HIV and STDs, significant maternal mortality, lack of educational opportunities, etc. There is SO much need in Peoria, and I think even from a societal and legislative standpoint Chicago gets all the focus and funding. There are so many community organizations to get involved with and make an impact in the Peoria area, so don't think that you can't do urban health if you aren't in Chicago!
I do know some people at Peoria that are doing research at Chicago. Provided you aren't doing wet lab research, it appears that it is possible to do research completely remote. I personally have a mentor that I am doing research with on the Peoria campus, and I feel like the fact that there aren't as many students at Peoria has really given me amazing access to one-on-one mentorship and clinical opportunities through my mentor.
Overall, I know it can be disappointing to not be placed in Chicago, and I know that Peoria may truly not be for everyone. But fear not, Peoria is not the rural wasteland devoid of opportunity that people make it out to be! There are going to be pros and cons for all campuses, but I feel like being on the Peoria campus has already given me so many opportunities for a great education both in and out of the classroom. *
*not sponsored by the UICOM Admissions 🙂
Anyone wanna write a detailed experience for Rockford now? 😂
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literally, none here or in the FB page
That said, the students at the second look seemed pretty happy with their experience.
Is there anything that needs to be completed besides FAFSA for financial aid?
AFAIK no - based on FAFSA everyone is enrolled in all scholarships offered prematriculation and based on FAFSA loan offers are made.
I received my token this morning.
mediocrestudent97
Full Member
I got an email and in my financial aid portal it shows it there
All scholarships are merit based. You can see what’s available on the COM financial aid website. They will notify you via email if you receive one. Sending good vibes for good news!
Thanks so much! So if I haven't received my financial aid yet I wouldn't be able to see any scholarships?All scholarships are merit based. You can see what’s available on the COM financial aid website. They will notify you via email if you receive one. Sending good vibes for good news!
mediocrestudent97
Full Member
I dont have my cost of attendance finalized or my financial aid showing yet and still shows my scholarship amount. If you go to your myUIC page and look under "financial aid summary" it should show there. As of now only thing for me showing is my scholarship
What made you decide to withdraw?
med2b3
Full Member
received my FA package, have full ride elsewhere
Good luck at Hofstra.
Thank you so much for that write up!
If they still make junior and senior AOA nominations so I assume there has to be an internal ranking? Otherwise it would just be random?
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There is internal ranking.
MSPE Quartile in Class Calculation (2021 Graduates and forward)
MSPE Quartile in Class Calculation Algorithm for Determination of MSPE Quartiles in the Class of 2022 Algorithm for Determination of MSPE Quartiles in the Class of 2023 Algorithm for Determination of MSPE Quartiles in the Class of 2024
medicine.uic.edu
Wait. So, it's not a true P/F system, right? Sorry, it's just very confusing. Will they report your pre-clinical quartile to the residency program?There is internal ranking.
MSPE Quartile in Class Calculation (2021 Graduates and forward)
MSPE Quartile in Class Calculation Algorithm for Determination of MSPE Quartiles in the Class of 2022 Algorithm for Determination of MSPE Quartiles in the Class of 2023 Algorithm for Determination of MSPE Quartiles in the Class of 2024
I could be wrong, but what I seem to gather is this:
1. Your pre-clinical years are true p/f. You are awarded all 42 points if you don't fail any exams.
2. Your step 1 score and clinical years will be the other 58 points, these are graded to begin with so no surprise here that not everyone will get the same amount of points.
3. The top 25% in points will be invited to apply to AOA. I don't believe UIC directly reports your quartile to residencies, but if you are AOA they at least know you are top 25%.
The AOA rules seem reasonable: New AOA Membership Selection (2021 Graduates and forward)
I think it is a true P/F for preclinical and nothing besides P/F is reported to residencies wrt to academics. IIRC someone even asked about that and they mentioned heavier weight being placed on involvement during preclinical due to P/F (both curriculum and STEP1). @wontons provided a nice summary above which is how I see this as well - they even say on the MSPE "In keeping with P/F approach, students passing all components without failing a major exam receive 42 points". In addition, they specifically said that a single failure and retake will be only internal.... so I guess only a second failure after remediation with PEP will cause points deduction? Maybe some MS form UIC can chime in here 😉
Out of curiosity, would be possible to conduct research at Northwestern or UChicago if a student attends UIC?
Ofc it is possible. Go for it if you know a PI in those universities or a project you are very interested to participate in. But if you are doing it just for the name tag, don't. It will sound pathetic.
I should have specified, not those particular schools but their affiliated hospitals. For example, Northwestern medical center has a top-notch cancer program. I have aspirations of going into oncology and conducting research here would be immeasurable. Additionally, Rush has a fantastic orthopedics program. Doing research here can help people who want to pursue orthopedic surgery
mdphd32940
New Member
Just putting my two cents out there: As someone has worked in research at multiple Chicago hospitals/schools (can be hard to disentangle them depending on the institution and their structure, eg. many of the medical center divisions at UChicago are operated under the Universities Biological Sciences Division), I would just echo Med Love's sentiment about do it only if there's specific projects and mentors you would want to work with. For every institution outside of your medical school, you'd have to do all of the necessary bureaucracy (if working with clinical data, background checks and drug tests and such). There's also the question of convenience. I'd say a UIC and Rush collaboration would make sense because geographically they are next to each other in the medical district. If you're working at UChicago and need to head down to Hyde Park for a meeting or to do research, that's a big hassle. Northwestern not as big of a hassle, but still a hassle. But as a student, no one is going to knock you for doing research at your home institution. I think the biggest thing is to remember that even the orthopedic surgeons at UIC got through the competitiveness of the specialty. Enjoy med school, and cultivate meaningful connections with mentors!
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dinocoolgirl
New Member
Hi! Does anyone know if there is a roommate search page or have any info on finding roommates/housing? 🙂
Check out the admitted students FB page. They posted a few GoogleSheets earlier today and some current students are posting available apartments.
Are they still distributing scholarships or all scholarships are out?
Still in the process, not even close to the end from what they said during the 2nd look. They mentioned the process will continue even after April 30th.
Oh wow. It's gonna be hard to choose schools before 4/30 then.
MedSchoolHopeful2026
Full Member
Just rescinded my acceptance here hope one of the folks on waitlist hears back soon!
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What made up your mind?
MedSchoolHopeful2026
Full Member
I’m probably going to Rush due to lower out of state tuition and Chicago placement
Alright. Let's take a look:
1) Rush is a private institution. Therefore, it does no discriminate between IS and OOS. So there is no such a thing as "out of state tuition" at Rush.
2) Tuition and fees combined at UICOM are $25,953 cheaper than Rush.
Rush:
M1 (Tuition + Fee): 58,958 + 29,531 = 88,516
M2 (Tuition + Fee): 75,347 + 30,376 = 105,723
M3 (Tuition + Fee): 56,511 + 29,532 = 86,043
M4 (Tuition + Fee): 37,674 + 19,688 = 57,362
Total at Rush: $337,644
UICOM at Chicago (Peoria and Rockford are cheaper than Chicago) => Calculated for OOS:
M1 (Tuition + Fee): 78,537 + 6,298 = 84,835
M2 (Tuition + Fee): 78,537 + 6,298 = 84,835
M3 (Tuition + Fee): 78,537 + 6,298 = 84,835
M4 (Tuition + Fee): 52,358 + 4,828 = 57,186
Total at UICOM: $311,691
Sources:
A) 2020-2021 Tuition Rates | Tuition | Rush University
B) https://medicine.uic.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/2122_11term_Chicago.pdf
3) Not living in Chicago means you will be saving even more money due to cost of living (housing/food/transportation).
4) Rush is ranked #68 according to US News while UICOM is ranked #55.
5) Can't believe someone just compared UICOM with Rush ...
Rush is undoubtedly the better choice for an OOS applicant, especially if placed at Peoria or Rockford.
And your tuition comparison is very wrong. UICOM has Summer tuition as well, which you did not include in your totals. Based on the links you provided:
UICOM OOS Total COA:
M1: 78,236 (Fall/Spring) + 34,061 (Summer) = 112,297
M2: 112,942 (Fall/Spring/Summer)
M3: 114,242 (Fall/Spring/Summer)
M4: 78,236 (Fall/Spring) (No Summer Term)
Total at UICOM: $417,717
Rush Total COA:
M1: 57,241 (Fall/Spring/Summer) + 28,671 (Enrollment Fee) = 85,912
M2: 73,152 (Fall/Spring/Summer) + 38,229 (Enrollment Fee) = 111,381
M3: 54,864 (Fall/Spring/Summer) + 28,671 (Enrollment Fee) = 83,535
M4: 36,567 (Fall/Spring) (No Summer Term) + 19,114 (Enrollment Fee) = 55,681
Total at Rush: $336,509
So about ~81k cheaper to attend Rush.
To address #3, living in Rockford and Peoria sucks compared to Chicago (source: I've lived in many parts of IL). Living in Chicago is a bit more expensive, but the medical district where both UICOM and Rush are is not terribly expensive at all. Can definetely find decent 1 bed/1 bath apartments for $1,000-$1,500. If you want cheaper, can find roommates and pay like $600-$900 a month.
To address #4, US news rankings don't mean anything when schools are 10 ranks apart lol. A more accurate (but still flawed ranking) is the PD ranking. And Rush and UICOM have the exact same PD ranking at #56.
Knowing people who go to both Rush and UICOM (Chicago, Rockford, and Peoria), those at Rush feel more supported by faculty and admin. UICOM, like many state schools, kind of leave students to fend for themselves. Research at the UICOM Chicago campus may be slightly better than Rush I guess? But Rush still has good research opportunities. Also, the schools are right next to each other, and you can do research at either school no matter which you choose.
Rush is the easy choice here for an OOS applicant.
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MedSchoolHopeful2026
Full Member
All the reasons hit perfectly. If I were instate and had the opportunity it may have been a harder decision but out of state tuition and larger class size were the deal breakers for me. Also I did not have Chicago placement so 🤷♀️
