Away in Chicago

[ssm82]

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Hi all,

I'm trying to decide which school in chicago to do an away elective at. Anyone do an away at Loyola or UChicago? Are they student friendly and do you get to interact with faculty while youre there? Are there opportunities at either to school to get an additional letter?

Anyone have a success story there they matches into their Chicago away school?
You can PM me as well if you don't feel like airing dirty laundry!

Thanks!

 

[martyshka82]

I did an elective at univ of chicago. they are definitely student friendly, but you have to kind of state what you want and make yourself present to separate yourself from the 5 optometry students that are there (ask to scrub in and not just observe, etc). I rotated there when it was too late for letters so I can't tell you much about that, but I am doing research with them and it was certainly implied that they like to match at least one person that rotates there every year. They do quite a bit of teaching and it was definitely my best away experience. If you want more details about the program itself, feel free to pm me. Don't know anything at all about loyola.

 

[k*star79]

i rotated at both u of c and loyola. both have their pros and cons. overall, though, i would vote u of c over loyola.

if you decide on the u of c, i would highly recommend rotating in july - that way you will get to go through the orientation that the PGY-2's get when they start. honestly, the didactics at u of c are amazing - you will learn how to use the indirect lenses, optics, etc. that will make you look great on any subsequent rotations. you can work up as many patients as you want if you are proactive, and the optometry students are a great group and will help you out with refractions if you want.

on the flip-side, loyola's rotation through the VA will teach you quite a bit. didactics are mediocre - they have a bunch of videos that they make you watch. also, there is an exam to take at the end of the rotation.

 

[ssm82]

Thanks for all the info - it really helped! I'm going to apply to both just in case, but since I can only do 1 away in chitown it helps to know ahead of time what to expect...