Choosing a campus at University of Illinois.

[deleted413795]

I was recently accepted to U of Illinois College of Medicine and was curious about the campuses. I have spent extensive time at both UIC and UIUC (Urbana Champaign), for undergrad and grad work respectively. I personally prefer Urbana Champaign in terms of living, and chose that on my site preference for all four years since the card had to be returned right away (at least relative to when I received it) and I did not have time to really visit and ask a lot of questions. I figured since Urbana has the least amount of people that stay all four years, it made the most sense to pick that first and change to Chicago later if I want to (if that is even possible).

As I said, living wise, I much prefer to be in Champaign. However, I am concerned about M3-M4 years and if I will get the same caliber of overall clinical experience there as I would at the Chicago campus? Am I putting myself at a considerable disadvantage in terms of future residency recommendations, and other pertinent factors by not going with the Chicago campus.

I lived in Chicago for more than two years, and could certainly live with it, but it would just not be my preference. However, for a better education I can deal. I am just wondering if it is possible to change this, should I strongly consider doing so? Granted what I want to specialize in very well may change, but after 2+ years of working full time in the hospital and shadowing, I can concretely say surgery and primary care are not all that appealing. Basically, I want to go where I will be keeping the most options open for any specialty.

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[aSagacious]

Moving to the 'school specific discussions' forum.

 

[deleted413795]

Moving to the 'school specific discussions' forum.

And here I thought I got a response that fast! I apologize for incorrectly posting it. Thank you!

 

[Catalystik]

I was recently accepted to U of Illinois College of Medicine and was curious about the campuses.

I personally prefer Urbana Champaign in terms of living, and chose that on my site preference for all four years since the card had to be returned right away (at least relative to when I received it). . .

. . .it made the most sense to pick that first and change to Chicago later if I want to (if that is even possible).

Am I putting myself at a considerable disadvantage in terms of future residency recommendations, and other pertinent factors by not going with the Chicago campus.

Once you are assigned to a campus, if you decide you don't like it, you can write a letter of appeal to get it changed. Sometimes you get what you want, and mostly (from what I've read here on SDN) you don't, even with a very compelling reason, like owning a home in Chicago (you can read through last season's School Specific thread and see what I mean). While later in the season it seems rare to get a site changed, as you have been accepted when none of the sites are usually filled yet, maybe they would be more likely to regard a petition.

Your residency options tend to be related to your clinical evaluations, Letters of Recommendation you acquire, research you've done (for some specialties), and how competitive your Step I and Step II scores are. If you look through old UIC Match lists from all four campuses, you will see super star residency acceptances from all of them.

So, no, I don't think you are limiting your options by choosing Urbana Champaign campus, as cream rises to the top whatever bottle it's poured into. However it's my understanding that there are only a few each year who are not MD/other grad-degree candidates that get assigned there. What was your second choice?

 

[deleted413795]

So, no, I don't think you are limiting your options by choosing Urbana Champaign campus, as cream rises to the top whatever bottle it's poured into. However it's my understanding that there are only a few each year who are not MD/other grad-degree candidates that get assigned there. What was your second choice?

My site preference was:

1. Urbana-Champaign
2. Rockford
3. Peoria
4. Chicago

I actually like the fact that most of my fello students will be MD/PhD, even though I will not be. I would imagine I will be able to get involved with some exciting research. I also am pretty happy about the class size being rather small.

The match lists look quite similar for all campuses, as you pointed out. It seems like a lot of folks tend to think the Chicago track is the best way to go, but it seems like every campus has its perks.

 

[Catalystik]

On the Rockford campus (if you end up there), you work directly with attendings during third year clerkship rotations rather than under interns and residents.

On any campus, you have access to 4th year electives offered on any of the other campuses, as well to those you might set up on your own with unaffiliated med schools elsewhere.

 

[deleted413795]

On the Rockford campus (if you end up there), you work directly with attendings during third year clerkship rotations rather than under interns and residents.

On any campus, you have access to 4th year electives offered on any of the other campuses, as well to those you might set up on your own with unaffiliated med schools elsewhere.

Perhaps I was unintentionally ambiguous. I have already been accepted and assigned to all 4 years in Urbana. So, I am pretty sure I will be there regardless. In general I was very thrilled with getting that assignment since I am not MD/PhD. I just was getting worried because different people were telling me that I should go the Chicago route, but I really do not want to be in Chicago. I was getting worried that my previous research was inaccurate about all the campuses matching well.

Peoria would have been choice #2 for me, but Rockford is within driving distance of my hometown, so there was potential of not having to worry about housing, which was a nice perk. However, I feel I will be happiest in Urbana. 🙂

 

[Catalystik]

I did misunderstand you, thinking you had not yet gotten confirmation of your assignment. Congrats on getting your first choice, then.

 

[Snoopy2006]

Go to Urbana, feel it out for a few months, and if you don't like it, you should be able to switch into Peoria or Rockford. I had a couple friends last year that did this.

Switching into Chicago is the impossible part (once you start in Urbana as an M1). But you shouldn't have problems switching into Peoria or Rockford, as long as there's not a lot of students in your class who are also pushing to switch (and even then, just about everyone in our year that wanted to switch were successful).

The question you ask is an interesting one, and if you talk to 10 different people you'll get 10 different answers. I tried to do a lot of research on this myself when I was in your position. Get as many opinions as you can. Generally speaking, being in Urbana shouldn't hurt your residency application. Cat gave a great breakdown, but there's 1000 more factors that matter for residency application than your campus site.

There's no denying, however, that your M3/M4 clinical experience depends hugely on the site you are at. It's simple fact that you'll see less trauma in Urbana than you would in Cook County. No one can definitively say whether one site is better than others (although Rockford tries to emphasize primary care); each has its own advantages and disadvantages.

But the main point is this - if your 2nd choice is Peoria or Rockford (and not Chicago), then you don't have to be in a hurry to make a decision. In spring of your M1 year, you'll be given the opportunity to switch sites within the UPR track if you want. The deans from Peoria/Rockford will visit at some point during your M1 year and you'll be given more information in general.

Hope that helps. Good luck and congrats on the acceptance. 👍