HELP, Please: UVM vs SLU vs Creighton

AHHHHHHHH!!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!! <img border="0" alt="[Clappy]" title="" src="graemlins/clappy.gif" /> <img border="0" alt="[Clappy]" title="" src="graemlins/clappy.gif" /> <img border="0" alt="[Clappy]" title="" src="graemlins/clappy.gif" />

 

I want to just repeat a post that I put in response to a different thread to tell you about why I like Creighton.

I am a 2nd year at Creighton and can tell you that I absolutely love it here. I went to U of Washington for Undergrad and worked with the med students there alot. I can tell you that there is a night and day difference about the teaching philosophies between those two school. My Preference was 10:1 Creighton:UW.

Creighton is very low competition; the professors are always available for extra help after hours and will even come in on the weekends. Students don?t spend every waking hour studying and try to live a decent and mentally healthy life. We go out to the bar, hang out a sports game, take in a movie, go out to a state park, drive down to Kansas City for a Weekend of fun, go to Colorado for a weekend of skiing, etc., etc., etc.

The professors are very good, and the courses are very well organized. We get a copy of the power point presentations before lectures start so that we can follow along and take notes, plus on top of that each class has their own Noteservice committee that is charge of running the transcription service (each student, down an alphabetical order list, takes a turn transcribing a tape recorded copy of the lecture).

Tests are multiple-choice and are very fair. Many of the profs are either directly or indirectly involved with writing questions for the Boards, so they do a great job of preparing us (we have only about 1 or 2 students who dont pass their first attempt).

Grades are on a Honors (top 10% of class)/Pass (&gt;70% raw score)/Fail (&lt;70% raw score). This system also adds to the low competitiveness - you are really only competing against yourself to get honors, and just remember P=MD.

As far as residency matches, Creighton does awesome. We match into all specialties, into all schools, all across the country.

Here is the 2001match list:
<a href="http://medicine.creighton.edu/medschool/sa/match/01Match.htm" target="_blank">2001 Match List</a>

Here is the 2002 match list:
<a href="http://medicine.creighton.edu/medschool/sa/match/02Match.htm" target="_blank">2002 Match List by Name</a>
<a href="http://medicine.creighton.edu/medschool/sa/match/ResList02.htm" target="_blank">2002 Match List by Specialty</a>

As far as living in Omaha: The winters are cold and get ~10" of snow at a time, and the summer are hot. The Spring is Wonderful. I absolutley love it. The Fall is quite the same, but the leaves are falling then, so that kinda sucks. I moved to Omaha from Seattle, so it was a bit of a shock - no more mountains, water, trees, or rain, but I am coping just fine - especially right now during Spring. The housing is very reasonable in terms of pricing, and there are some very nice neighborhoods within about 10 minutes of the school. My fiancee and I bought a house for the 4 years that I will be there and are making house payments that are less that rent would have been.

I am the student housing rep this year and have setup a website designed to help Creighton med students find housing easily, especially when they are new to Omaha. If you want the address to our new CUSOM Student Housing Website, send me a PRIVATE MESSAGE, and I can provide that info to you.

If you have any more questions, let me know. I think if you are look for a school that you will be very comfortable at, Creighton is a great choice.

 

I don't know anything about Creighton, but i got into both uvm and slu, and have decided in favour of uvm. When i interviewed i got a better impression of uvm, and i think it is a better match for me...good luck with your decision...maybe we will be classmates

 

Hi Singing doc
I was accepted to both SLU and Creighton. Personally, I like Creighton better; the warmth, comraderie, and family atmostphere among students, faculty and staff at Creighton are genuine, and a tad more than SLU. It's not to say that SLU doesnt have all those qualities, but personally I feel Creighton has it better. However, SLU does have a slightly more impressive 02 match list (tons of matches to Barnes-Jewish Hosp. which is understandable given the proximity, a few Hopkins matches, etc), but it's more of a reflection of the individual students' works (ie you) than the schools. I'm sure Creighton wont hold you back. The surrounding area around Creighton is safer than SLU, and I'm sure UVM's would be the safest <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="wink.gif" /> In the end, if you are looking to go into super-competitive fields like ENT, Derm., etc, then go with SLU because it has more research happenings than Creighton, which could conceivably enhance your chances. I dont know about UVM. Good luck with your decision!

 

Congrats singing doc! I am entering the application phase right now. My top 10 schools are all UVM. Matter of fact, I strum my fingers on the table thinking of other schools to apply too...

 

Singing doc,

Even though I'm currently attending Pitt, I have nothing but love for Creighton! For all the reasons everyone mentions (such as warmth, family atmosphere, caring faculty/staff, etc.), I was completely set on attending Creighton for the longest time. In fact, I even chose Creighton over Tufts. Actually, let me give you an example of why I like Creighton so much. After getting accepted, I went back to revisit Creighton. During my second trip to Omaha, Dr. Henry Nipper (Assistant Dean for Medical School Admissions) was so kind as to give me an hour tour of Omaha in his own car and on his personal time after 5 PM! Believe me, that definitely wasn't the only thing which impressed me about Creighton!

Well, I'm obviously not at Creighton now. But I must say in choosing to accept Pitt's offer in mid-July and withdrawing from Creighton was definitely one of the hardest decisions I had to make. Even though I'm very happy with Pitt, I must reiterate that I have nothing but good things to say about Creighton!