LOYOLA VS. RUSH (Driving me insane)

[Car-e-monda]

Whats up peeps, Any non-Ivy leaguers in here???

This is driving me insane...Trying to stay in Chicago. I am still unable to decide Between Loyola or Rush for my 1st choice.

LOYOLA PROS- Crazy good clinical training, program seems to have bettered since going on probation, lots of transplants and trauma, baller gym/hospital, pretty decent fellowship placement, excellent comradery, all around nice people, intern year is apparently pretty brutal (not sure if this is for the anesthesia Clinical base year for anesthesia or just prelim medicine)???
LOYOLA CONS- Residents seemed like they worked very hard, recent probation, location is not as good as Rush , call is like q6-8 (something like that), probably aint ever gona have much time to dunk on sweet sweet court.

RUSH PROS- less call than Loyola (Q3-5???), call seemed less busy, didactics seemed pretty solid, great location, residents seemed more perky and happy when talking about rush, more diverse fellowship placement than loyola, strong in pain (not really my cup of tea)
RUSH CONS- staff seemed a little cynical (not as nice as loyolas staff) , no trauma, not as much transplants/huge cases as loyola, paper charting in OR (this is supposed to change soon)

In summary: My general feel is that Loyola has better clinical training, better case diversity and nicer staff but it comes with at heavy price in terms of hours/brutal first year and maybe a less diverse fellowship placement when compares to Rush. Rush on the other hand seems like it has less stressed out residents who get to spend more time enjoying life outside of the OR and a less terrible first year at the cost of less clinical diversity.

I know most of you are talking about the "top 10 schools" but I was truly impressed by these two programs and I would love to hear any opinions on these programs!

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[Izzyman]

Have you interviewed at UIC?

If so, what are your thoughts for uic vs rush.

UIC seemed friendlier vs Rush
- The staff, the residents, and overall.
- They definitely seem like they were less worked than Rush
- Rush, the PD wasn't there for IV, the Chair seemed very stiff, and the CRNA thing plus old reputation just left a sour taste....though I was pleasantly surprised on IV day.
- Though, I'd feel as if you get better clinical training overall at Rush.

 

[Car-e-monda]

No, I didn't interview there. Don't know much about it but heard it was pretty good though.

PD was also busy during my interview day so I never got to meet her unfortunately. I did interview at U of Iowa however and thought it was an amazing program but my husband has to stay in Chicago for work so I will be ranking Chicago programs higher. Do you know anything about loyola or rush intern year?

 

[googlemister]

Went to med school at rush and interviewed at both. Hands down would go with Rush over Loyola for several reasons. Rush has a much diverse clinical experience and has some of the best residents in terms of personality that I meet on the interview trail. The program always has a great match list for fellowship and living in Chicago is much better then living the surrounding suburbs of Maywood. For some reason the inclination is that residents at Rush are overworked, but t0 be honest at most at most programs you will work the same amount of hours.

 

[Northern Lights]

Based on interview impressions and having rotated at Rush...

Loyola: strong clinical training (strengths in trauma, CVICU, transplants, diverse patient population); heavy hours for intern and CA yrs, probation last yr as a result of pushing residents without proper emphasis on didactics (although changes in program have recently lifted probation for this yr)

Rush: strong clinical training (strength in pain med, diverse patient population), more relaxed residents, no recent probationary status or residents being overworked (at least in the past 3-4 years after changes to the programs being more workhorse in the past), the PD might come across as maybe a bit stiff but she seems to be a strong supporter of resident education (based on my own interview experience and what other residents have told me), reasonable intern yr schedule; small gym (only weights/cardio machines, have to go to nearby UIC gym to dunk on any courts), no CVICU (although chair said it might come in the future), not a level I trauma center, attendings come from a private practice group, paper charting (supposedly this will be based on EMR "soon", but when is that?), CRNA runs the board

More/less the same: strong clinical training (slight edge towards Loyola), location since residents at Loyola often commute 20-30 min from downtown via I-290 (slight edge towards Rush for being more downtown), fellowship placements (equal, although Rush chair gave a random talk about how he felt every resident should be pursuing a fellowship)

Overall: Both programs have their pros/cons as your assessment of Loyola vs Rush seems pretty spot on to how I felt, go w/ whichever programs seems better suited for your needs

 

[Car-e-monda]

Thank you all for the honest replies, I am going to go with my gut feeling on this one!

 

[Ezekiel2517]

Thank you all for the honest replies, I am going to go with my gut feeling on this one!

"Like, you gotta follow your gut, right? Here`s the thing about guts though, they're wrong like 85 percent of the time…You just have to hope they're not catastrophically wrong." -Neal Brennan
lol