Indiana vs. Cincinnati

[deleted923293]

Hey guys. I've been accepted to IU and UCCOM and am trying to get some outside perspective on the schools.

Some background.

1. I did my undergraduate degree at IU Bloomington and the SMP through IUPUI in Indianapolis, so I'm familiar with both of the campuses. I currently live in Indianapolis.
2. Choosing IU relies heavily on the campus lottery as I was not EDP and I don't get to outright choose where I go. Research is pretty high on my totem pole of things I want to do during medical school, so If I don't get assigned to either Indianapolis or Bloomington, I'll most likely go to UC.
3. I am interested in anesthesia and have no particular interest in peds.
4. Cost is essentially the same for both schools as I will receive in-state tuition at both programs, although I have yet to receive any financial aid packets and haven't inquired specifically about any scholarship opportunities.

Indiana

Pros

1. State school. Familiar with both campuses that I have an interest in attending.
2. I made a lot of good friends with faculty during my SMP at IUPUI and a lot of these professors teach the med students. I know I would be able to succeed here based on the SMP curriculum.
3. Grew up in a small city ~an hour from both of the campuses I'm interested in and have several friends still in my home town. (This home town has a satellite campus that I am not interested in attending.)
4. True P/F.
5. A friend of mine graduated and didn't attend a single lecture during his didactic years. They record ALL lectures from ALL campuses and give all medical students access to ALL of these recordings. If you don't like the lecturer at your campus, you have eight others that have recorded theirs to choose from. I imagine it would be pretty difficult to not find a lecturer that teaches to my strengths in this size pool.
6. Name recognition (?). This is one of the things I am looking to hear more about from you guys when comparing the two.

Cons

1. I have, for lack of a better way to describe it, "worn out" the good study spots at this campus, particularly in Indianapolis. I found it a huge drag towards the end of my SMP studying in the medical library and found myself wandering a lot to random buildings to find new study spots. Four more years of this could be a struggle.
2. Potential unfavorable campus placement via the lottery, although if I get an undesirable result the UC choice is made for me.

Cincinnati

Pros

1. I really enjoyed the campus when I visited, although it could have been skewed by the euphoria from my first med school interview. I intend to revisit with a level head during second look.
2. State of the art facilties. Their health-professional-only gym and med student areas (wellness areas, nap room, locker rooms, etc.) looked really nice in comparison to Indiana.
3. Name recognition (?). Again looking for information about this when comparing the two. I had mentioned peds above but again that's not something I'm particulary interested in.
4. From the information session during the interview, they seem to really care about furthering the careers of their students. They made it a point to say that they actively tried to recruit their graduates once they had completed residency. They also boasted about their high average step (something like >240), although I understand you get out of step what you put in. This still to me says that they have to be doing something right (i.e. teaching to the exams/NBME type questions for lecture exams, maybe?)
5. Lots of outdoor stuff to do. Zoo, breweries (Urban Artifact is one of my favorite breweries). Cool river city.

Cons

1. P/F with quartiles. I think I read somewhere that it can be considered ABCF, although I don't know how much weight that carries. This is probably the thing that's making me hesitate most. I have a pretty competitive personality and stress out a lot about things like this and I'm wondering how much a burden the quartile system will be on my time here.
2. My impression is that Cincinnati requires a bit more "outside" work, including a mandatory volunteer (what?) project during first year. Not sure if it carries over into any other years, though. Basically UC might pull me away to jump through some hoops that takes away from time that could be spent studying. It would be great to hear from a current or former student about this.

Any input you guys have, whether related to what I wrote or not, would be very much appreciated.

Thanks guys!

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[bengalsix]

Full disclosure: I've lived in Cincinnati for 2 years and have multiple M1/M2 friends in the program. And while I don't have any experience with IU, I am a student at Illinois which, like IU, has multiple campuses, P/F, and minimal mandatory stuff.

The quartile system is everyone's biggest pet peeve about Cincinnati. One friend described it more like "A-B-C-D" and "adds unneeded stress and makes everyone less collaborative and more cliquey". They've also brought up the annoyance of that mandatory volunteering/shadowing project. Fwiw, Cincinnati also records virtually all of the lectures, though having one campus means you're stuck with whoever's teaching.

In terms of stuff to do, Cincinnati is a decent city, but Indianapolis (similar-sized) and Bloomington (college-town) are comparable. I also wouldn't worry about name recognition for residency: both schools are respected across the Midwest and nationwide.

Bottom line: It sounds like you'd be a lot happier at Indiana and more successful given the SMP tie. Definitely check out second-look and financial aid, but I would lean Indiana.