I was recently admitted to both Case and Northwestern. Between the two, I am leaning towards Northwestern, but I wanted to hear what others might say out of curiosity's sake. How do the two compare in terms of quality of clinical training, research, and reputation? Any idea which one has better success with landing people into the more competitive residencies?
My knowledge on this matter will be decidedly one-sided...
Case is an excellent school, and I would say its greatest strength is in clinical training due to being the only medical school in a large city with several large medical centers (UHCMC, Metro, and CCF). Concerns about the preclinical curriculum are certainly valid, but remember that how much you learn duing those years (and your performance on Step 1) depend more on
your motivation and ability than your professors or small groups.
The pace of life in Cleveland is a
lot slower than in the large East Coast cities, or, I'd imagine, Chicago. This is because Cleveland is an undesirable place to live due to the weather. The flipside of this is that there is no traffic, the cost of living is very low, and renting a house for $1200 a month or buying a condo or house is not unusual.
My impression of NW vs. Case for research, residency placement, and reputation is that they are very similar. Case is known for training primary-care physicians, with an emphasis on pediatrics due to the prestige of Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital. If you are interested in cardiology, cardiothoracic surgery, ortho, urology, anesthesia, psychiatry, or neurology, the Cleveland Clinic is where you'd want to do rotations. UH-Case Medical Center and MetroHealth are less famous, but are excellent sites for ortho, emergency, trauma surgery, and primary care/preventative health.
I would say that the two biggest factors in choosing a school should be 1) perceived happiness living in that location, and 2) perceived preparation for your intended specialty (if you have one). Good luck.
