Hey. I am currently a neurology resident at UIC. I usually just browse these forums and don't get involved with the debates and discussion. Now, I really would feel disloyal to my program if I did not at least attempt to defend it since I strongly feel it is a great program.
First of all, again, I feel that UIC has a strong neurology residency program with a lot to offer. I will try to clarify why I feel this way with complete honesty.
1). Our Chairman, is a world respected expert in stroke. He is very involved in writing much of the stroke guidelines and he frequently rounds on the stroke service and is a great teacher and fun to round with.
2). UIC is a large referral center for the Chicago area and Indiana so we frequently get to see interesting cases that other hospitals cannot figure out.
3). We have a neuro ICU which residents rotate through during residency with some of the brightest neurointensivist you can ask for. These attendings are crazy, crazy smart and there really isn't much that these guys cannot figure out in our patients. We have a big stroke center here and see some really nice stroke cases.
4). Most of our attendings are really down-to-Earth and pleasant to round with, especially our program director who constantly works to improve the program and only improves the educational experience for the residents as time goes on.
5). There is a noon conference every day and morning reports twice per week and a neuro-radiology conference one per week which is conducted by neuro-radiologists including the chairman and program director of radiology at UIC.
6). Our EEG rotation is conducted by one of the smartest and intellectually intense professors I know and he is an outstanding teacher and is very, very interactive with the residents and fellows. This man literally wrote the book on EEG and seizures. He has over 500 publications and is always working on more!
7). Our RITE exam scores were above the national average last year and with the amount of bright residents we have in the program, I am expecting the same this year.
8). Yes, we do have DOs in our program but DOs are physicians as well!! Our DO residents are some of the best and the brightest residents. One of the chief's this year is a DO and the one from last year is also a DO and their knowledge base and teaching abilities are phenomenal.
Our foreign medical grads are very sharp! I really think that UIC just like to pick good residents no matter if they are foreign or not. We have diverse residents which is a reflection of the Chicago population.
9). The residents round at Christ hospital! All of our residents do a voluntary elective at Christ before we graduate which seem to be a tradition. Yes, it is about a 35 minute drive from UIC but the educational experience you get at Christ is unmatched. The Chairman of neurology at Christ absolutely loves to teach and is extremely fun to round with. He often has even physical therapist, speech therapists, and nurses even rounding with him voluntarily! Everyone wants to round with him! He is a teaching machine and many believe he is probably the smartest neurologist that they know.
At Christ, you will see all sort of neurological cases that you can imagine. Here, you will often see the illnesses that most will only read about.
There is a motto at Christ hospital: if you see an illness at any other hospital once, you will see it 10 times at Christ. Christ is probably the strongest point of our residency program. You just have to experience it to believe it. You see and learn so much that I feel we have a significant advantage over other programs just by rotating there.
10). Our residents are generally happy. We get along well and are very helpful towards each other.
11). We see a lot of good bread and butter neurology at UIC.
12). We have electronic charts. You can write notes in the comfort of your own home! No mlore chasing down paper charts to review old notes or trying to decipher illegible handwriting.
Now, we work hard but not any harder than what you would expect for a neurology residency program. If you are not working hard in your residency program, you should be worried. You want to feel comfortable with handling neurological cases when you graduate and if you are looking for a program where you won't be working much, then I hope you plan on practicing in a small town or somewhere where you won't see a lot of patients.
Chicago is a beautiful, well-kept, and active city with a lot to offer. There is always something to do in Chicago. You won't meet many people who will say "I hate Chicago." The parks are beautiful. We have a lake, many bike trails, an excellent transportation system; the night life is outstanding, etc,
Chicago is very fun and has a very diverse population which is good for neurology training. Who wants to train where you only see one or two races/ ethnic groups all of the time and then must go out in practice in a place that have patients from all backgrounds? Sarcoid is seen mostly commonly in? MS is seen most commonly in? Get the idea?
Cons of the program:
Christ is a great learning institution but it is very busy so hours are longer than UIC but, again, it is well-worth the sacrifice for the knowledge you gain. After you finish at Christ, you will feel comfortable handling most neurological consults.
Driving out to Christ during snowfall can suck but you may not be the one who has to do this.
Chicago is an expensive city.
ER consults can often be suspect at UIC but has markedly improved.
Research is not strongly pushed but the PD is working on this but if you are not a big research person, do you really care?
Our pediatric neurology is not the strongest since it is mostly outpatient cases at Christ. This can be good or bad depending just how interested you are in pediatric neurology.
You are often bugged about completing certain online training modules at UIC. Most are simple annoyances and can be completed in about 10 minutes but they seem to always be lurking in the shadows.
The bottom line is that I strongly recommend UIC for neurology training. You have programs that have bigger names in Chicago but I am not convinced that that this necessarily means that they offer better training. Many times, bigger names come from research dollars. I am not saying that UIC is better than any other program but I just want to express that I am very satisfied with my training here. It is definitely in no way, shape or form, a malignant program.