Indiana vs. University of Illinois, Chicago.

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[sunset57]

Congrats on your acceptances!

I'm not familiar with UI, but I think your pro's and con's re IU are very accurate.

I'd add two more cons:

1)Indianapolis students appeared significantly more stressed than regional campus students during the interview day student panel. Curious if others noted the same during their visits

2)Required 4th year clerkships in EM, Radiology and IM sub-I.

Re curve, I read on one of the posts that grades are curved. Not sure if this is regional or entire system.

Good luck on your decision.

 

[piii]

I'd just like to commend you on the detail pro and con list, which while overly verbose, is much better than all the goobers that say "I got into X and Y tell me which one is better."

Anyway, I wouldn't worry about the average scores at Chicago. What other people score has no bearing on how well you'll do. Most people don't retain a lot of the pre clinical info enough that classes actually determine step 1 scores, everyone self studies for it anyway.
I'd go with Chicago for cost.

 

[Goldslugs]

Congrats on your acceptances!

I'm not familiar with UI, but I think your pro's and con's re IU are very accurate.

I'd add two more cons:

1)Indianapolis students appeared significantly more stressed than regional campus students during the interview day student panel. Curious if others noted the same during their visits

2)Required 4th year clerkships in EM, Radiology and IM sub-I.

Re curve, I read on one of the posts that grades are curved. Not sure if this is regional or entire system.

Good luck on your decision.

Thanks for the insight. I definitely noticed that Indianapolis students were more stressed than those from other campuses like in the panel those in south bend and purdue just seemed way more chill. I also wish we were given way more information on how campus placement works, what life is like on other campuses, and I don't think I was even told about having to stream half my classes if I'm paired to one of the non-indianapolis campus. Were you even told that? I feel like a lot of information was left out during my interview day.

Question: Do you know what the chances of getting Indianapolis or our top campus choice? Indiana also gives us our assignment at the last possible moment, and I can't even log on to make a campus selection even though I'm accepted right now bc the portal is bugged.

I'd just like to commend you on the detail pro and con list, which while overly verbose, is much better than all the goobers that say "I got into X and Y tell me which one is better."

Anyway, I wouldn't worry about the average scores at Chicago. What other people score has no bearing on how well you'll do. Most people don't retain a lot of the pre clinical info enough that classes actually determine step 1 scores, everyone self studies for it anyway.
I'd go with Chicago for cost.

Thanks. I did a lot of research during this cycle, and really worked to know each school I interviewed at. It's verbose because I'm feverish (nasty cold) and basically free-wrote yesterday without checking. It also irritates the hell out of me when people know nothing about the school they were accepted at.

I'm glad to hear about the step 1 business from you. I'm shooting for around a ~230 on the step 1, so 223 as an avg seemed a bit low. Still, some schools do a really good job making the curriculum cater to the step 1 e.g., Baylor, so that's why I was concerned about the average. If a curriculum can get me really thinking in terms of the step 1 then that's a lot of ground covered from the get go.

Money is definitely a big deal, so it has significant influence on my decision. Still I want to make sure I go to the best possible choice. As a side note - I'm talking to Indiana about scholarships, and I should know by around march if I get one. If I get a $20,000 scholarship the costs aare very similar.

 

[sunset57]

Re streaming, yes, they told us some lectures at the regional campuses were streamed.

Re site selection, we were told that Indiana residents received preference for the Indianapolis campus.

I think she said 75% of the students at Indianapolis were IS.

I agree that we could have/should have received a lot more information about the regional campuses.

 

[Goldslugs]

Re streaming, yes, they told us some lectures at the regional campuses were streamed.

Re site selection, we were told that Indiana residents received preference for the Indianapolis campus.

I think she said 75% of the students at Indianapolis were IS.

I agree that we could have/should have received a lot more information about the regional campuses.

That's so weird and nonsensical about Indianapolis. You figure they would want more OOS at Indy since chances are OOS people would adjust better and probably know it a hell of a lot better than random places across the state.

 

[iukid]

Re streaming, yes, they told us some lectures at the regional campuses were streamed.

Re site selection, we were told that Indiana residents received preference for the Indianapolis campus.

I think she said 75% of the students at Indianapolis were IS.

I agree that we could have/should have received a lot more information about the regional campuses.

75% of IU students are IS so it would make sense that Indy has 75% IS students http://medicine.iu.edu/files/9514/1522/2357/Fact_Sheet_2014-15.pdf. I don't think Indiana residents get preference for Indy. In fact, Indy probably has a higher percentage of OOS than the other campuses since recruitment scholarship recipients can choose their campus (and in my experience, most of these people are OOS). As far as streaming at regional campuses, my guess is that it only happens when an expert in that area isn't available to give a lecture. I highly doubt this happens 50% of the time. Also, I wouldn't be too upset about streaming a lecture because you can watch it at 2x and save yourself some time instead of going to class.

OP, average Step score really isn't that important. Your score will depend on how well YOU prepare for the test on your own, not on what the school includes in lectures. Does UIC have a dedicated period of time for Step studying? Right now, IU doesn't (although I think that'll change in the new curriculum, idk). That's something you should be asking. Similarly, you shouldn't look at match lists because you can't get much info out of them-too many factors go into the match.

Grading: H is top 10-20%, HP is next 30-40%, P is bottom 50%. I dont know whether they're moving to P/F in the new curriculum, but you shouldn't worry about grades too much anyway. Plus, many schools that have P/F rank you anyway so it's kinda nice to know where you stand.

I don't really have a lot of info on the different campuses. My advice would be to wait and see where you are placed and then visit that campus/city to see if you like it. Keep in mind that the cost of living in Indiana, even in Indy, is significantly lower than in Chicago. If you can get a scholarship, see what the price difference is with COL added in. Ultimately, go to whichever school will keep you happy and in the least amount of debt.

 

[Goldslugs]

75% of IU students are IS so it would make sense that Indy has 75% IS students http://medicine.iu.edu/files/9514/1522/2357/Fact_Sheet_2014-15.pdf. I don't think Indiana residents get preference for Indy. In fact, Indy probably has a higher percentage of OOS than the other campuses since recruitment scholarship recipients can choose their campus (and in my experience, most of these people are OOS). As far as streaming at regional campuses, my guess is that it only happens when an expert in that area isn't available to give a lecture. I highly doubt this happens 50% of the time. Also, I wouldn't be too upset about streaming a lecture because you can watch it at 2x and save yourself some time instead of going to class.

OP, average Step score really isn't that important. Your score will depend on how well YOU prepare for the test on your own, not on what the school includes in lectures. Does UIC have a dedicated period of time for Step studying? Right now, IU doesn't (although I think that'll change in the new curriculum, idk). That's something you should be asking. Similarly, you shouldn't look at match lists because you can't get much info out of them-too many factors go into the match.

Grading: H is top 10-20%, HP is next 30-40%, P is bottom 50%. I dont know whether they're moving to P/F in the new curriculum, but you shouldn't worry about grades too much anyway. Plus, many schools that have P/F rank you anyway so it's kinda nice to know where you stand.

I don't really have a lot of info on the different campuses. My advice would be to wait and see where you are placed and then visit that campus/city to see if you like it. Keep in mind that the cost of living in Indiana, even in Indy, is significantly lower than in Chicago. If you can get a scholarship, see what the price difference is with COL added in. Ultimately, go to whichever school will keep you happy and in the least amount of debt.

Thank you I have some questions since you go to IU:
1) you mentioned streaming won't happen if there are Experts on campus so how often would you say people at these campuses are actually forced to stream instead of having the option to attend?
2) how well did the curriculum prepare you for the step 1? Are step 1 style questions on the exams from year 1?
3) what was the campus preference selection process like for you? Did you get your top choice if so how early did you have your campus preference in? Also in general how many people get their top campus choice? I'm pretty concerned about ending up at a campus I don't want to be at or isn't one of my top choices.

Tyvm

 

[iukid]

Thank you I have some questions since you go to IU:
1) you mentioned streaming won't happen if there are Experts on campus so how often would you say people at these campuses are actually forced to stream instead of having the option to attend?
2) how well did the curriculum prepare you for the step 1? Are step 1 style questions on the exams from year 1?
3) what was the campus preference selection process like for you? Did you get your top choice if so how early did you have your campus preference in? Also in general how many people get their top campus choice? I'm pretty concerned about ending up at a campus I don't want to be at or isn't one of my top choices.

Tyvm

1) I honestly can't say, and my guess is that it varies by campus and changes year to year. I know this might seem like a big deal right now but I'd wait to see where you are placed and try to get specific answers then. Rank your campuses by location and curriculum style!
2) More Step 1 style questions in 2nd year than in 1st. That'll probably change for you as they integrate some of the classes in the new curriculum. We take the NBME shelf exams at the end of each class.
3) I did get my top choice. Campus selection is definitely frustrating since you have to wait months to find out where they're placing you. I got in sometime in November and had my choices in almost immediately. I think the majority of people get one of their top 2 or 3 choices but I don't know that for sure. The good thing is that you have that UIC acceptance and you can always turn down IU if they send you somewhere you don't want to go.

 

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