Northwestern v. Case v. Emory

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blondie007

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Hey everyone,

I'm having a really hard time choosing between Feinberg, Case, and Emory. I loved them all! What do you know about each school? Where would you go and why? What are the pros and cons of each school?
 
I love Chicago and NW, but I'd take Case after talking to some folks on SDN. (Disclosure: I don't go to any of these places.)

Why? I'm told Case uses 3rd year evals to determine AOA candidacy and only rarely needs to break ties with board scores. Low pressure during M1/2...priceless.
 
hmmm. tough one...I am biased towards the location of Chicago...so I would reccomend Northwestern if there is little difference in cost between the schools
 
Somebody give us some info on curriculum style. That might alter my advice somewhat.
 
As someone who is also considering these 3 schools, here is my current take on it (though it changes pretty often). And I would definitely appreciate other perspectives that could help change my mind:


Curriculum: All pretty similar (hybrid lecture/small-group style with minimal class-time hours and more reliance on independent, self-directed learning), assuming that Emory's under-construction curriculum follows suit

Hospital Affliations: I think Grady and Case's multiple affiliations (Univ. Hospitals, CCF, Metro) have a slight advantage over NMH. I've just heard wicked things about the experience one would get at Grady, and Case seems to offer the best of all possible worlds. If you're looking to serve a heavily under-served population, I think Emory and Case inch ahead of NU.

Grading: Case is pure P/F (no rankings), Northwestern is P/F (I think they might be internally ranked), Emory is ABCDF (unless otherwise modified). HUGE advantage to Case and NU, in my naive opinion.

Cost: I think all 3 schools are in the same range (very expensive), but cost of living goes Chicago > Atlanta > Cleveland.

Location: With that being said, I think pure location enjoyment also goes Chicago > Atlanta > Cleveland, though I have friends in all 3 cities that defend their respective homes quite well.

Research: Case and Emory are both implementing shortened pre-clinical years to allow for research endeavors (or other degrees too). Case has a mandatory research "project", Emory maybe doing the same. NU does not require it. If you're into research, these might appeal to you.

Other "perks": Emory has CDC, American Cancer Society, Carter Center, Rollins School of Public Health, and they just built a huge new med school building. Case has a pretty bomb-a$$ affiliation with CCF, which I heard can be a potential boon if you make strong connections there. Northwestern lets you dual-degree with Kellogg, one of the top business schools in the nation (#1 a few years back), and you can see all kinds of star athletes when the Big-10 powerhouses come to Evanston.


I'm sure there are plenty more nuances between the schools, but I am currently viewing the 3 as very similar (academically speaking, minus the grading options), in that location might be my deciding factor. Hence, I'm leaning toward Northwestern. But ask me again tomorrow, and I might be singing a different tune. Bottom line: You can't really go wrong with any of these 3, your education will be great no matter what. At least, that's what I keep telling myself as I try to decide😳
 
I've never been to Atlanta, but if I had to choose between Chicago and Cleveland as cities to live in for four years I'd take Chicago any day of the week! Since the schools are similar in terms of rank, curriculum, ability to get you good research and residency options, I say consider your financial aid packages when they come out and also your personal preferences in terms of location. If you need to, make a pro/con sheet or list all of the attributes that are important for you in a medical school, give each attribute a percentage for importance out of 100, and then give each school a number from 1 to whatever arbitrary limit. Find out the quantitative score and pick based on that.
 
Good thread. I'm shocked how often these schools come up. Lots to think about...

One other criteria which I think is pretty important is class cohesion. At Case the students seemed very close which is probably facilitated by the amount of small group learning and cheap houses near campus. Emory also seemed that way, but everyone lived a little more spread out. Hard to tell though. Also Case students seemed diverse in the true sense of the word, whereas I got the impression Emory is a little more homogeneous in socioeconomic level, etc.
 
any other thoughts out there on this?

thanks
 
only interviewed at case and nw

curriculum: NW (Case's is still new, and could use some tweaking I hear. both are PBL, so they're similar in that regard)

classtime: Case. Class was fun! Maybe I was lucky cause I sat in on the class where they were using candy to demonstrate the hardy-weinberg equation. Even us interviewees got bags of candy and traded them with students and such =) all the students were going bezerk with their ziploc bags of candy. loved it.

students: Case (loved them both, honestly. this one is difficult)

location: NW (great part of Chicago, probably the best surroundings of any med school I visited)

proximate facilities: NW (gosh I love their main hospital and everything looks brand new, but Case is pretty good too)

cost of living: Case (yup)

hospital affiliations: Case (more diversity IMO. NMH is great, but at Case, there's everything from the amazing Cleveland Clinic to county hospitals)

where would I go if I were to choose? NW.
 
All good schools, but I think the Northwestern name carries the most weight, especially if you want to go into academic medicine. Close call though, and if I were you I'd choose based on location. Cities all have their +/-s, but Chicago is da bomb. I'd choose Northwestern.

Also, hasn't Case had some financial issues? I've heard them described as a school "in transition", whatever that means.
 
I think that Case and NW's prestige is equal. Anyone who says that Northwestern has an absolute edge is _not_ medical cognoscenti and bases their evaluation of schools on undergrad rep.

I was accepted to both and personally think that Case offers better opportunities. Cleveland Clinic is an absolutely phenomenal place-- one of the top 5 hospitals in the country (#3 I think according to US News)! Northwestern's a great school, but I think its major draw is the unbeatable location. I personally think its nicer than even NYU or Mt. Sinai's locations.
 
I agree it's close. I give NW the edge on reputation because of higher USNews rank + more NIH money + not bankrupt a couple years ago + my own experiences working in an academic hospital. Not because of undergraduate rep.
 
My bad - You're right anout Case having more funding. Maybe they're a wash in terms of academic medicine rep.
 
Oh, and even though I've been acting as Case's defender in the past few posts.... I would personally go to NW, since I'm a hardcore urbanite. However, Cleveland Symphony is arguably the best in the country (Though people from Philadelphia, New York, and Chicago might disagree with me). I don't know if that makes any difference...
 
NW all the way. The only drawbacks I can think of are the large emphasis on PBL (which I've heard many students despise), and the fact that you will get VERY little hands on experience during 3rd and 4th year since all of your patients will be rich and insured and will not want to be treated by medical students.

But besides that, I loved every aspect of NW and it was my clear-cut post interview top choice.
 
The last half-dozen posts made no mention of Emory. I was just wondering... why? 😕
 
I've never been there, but no doubt Chicago's the better city on that list from what I hear. One thing that the chicago people in my class say about Case that I haven't seen mentioned is that in chicago, all the hospitals are split amongst the six (?) med schools there. So there's a competition for resources amongst the med students...additionally, if there's a research guy or a famous clinician at one of the hospitals associated with another med school, are you at a disadvantage to working with them? One of the biggest advantages of Case IMO is that we're the only med school in the city with 4-6 large hospitals at our disposal. It's great, you can literally contact pretty much anyone and a) they're probably only working with one or no other students and b) they generally love case and love to work with you. This is true from both the research angle and the clinical angle. I don't know anything else really about UChicago or Emory, so best of luck w/ your decision!
 
Darkshooter326 said:
The last half-dozen posts made no mention of Emory. I was just wondering... why? 😕
Click to expand...

i can't say, really. however, i do think people would give it more praise if they just changed the grading option. for me, that's a huge negative because i feel like it breeds a different degree of stress beyond that which med school inherently creates. i also wish they would come out with more concrete descriptions of their new curriculum. maybe the 6-7 spot drop in the rankings from the previous year is deterring people? not sure. all i know is that the grading option is making me say "no", but my extremely positive gut feeling when i interviewed there is trying to convince me to say "yes".
 
Everyone has different opinions about the grading system here at Emory. Really it is not that bad, most people get good grades during the first two year anyways. It's not like in college where people have curves and only certain people can get A's, B's, C's. There are no curves here so you are not competing against each other and it is possible for everyone to get A's. Looking back now as a third year med student, your first two year grades doesn't matter that much, what really matters for residency is your third year grades and your step I score. Most school give you grades for your third year rotation (abcde or honor/high pass/pass) so you will be graded where it matters. People all talk about how great PBL/independent learning is great and new way to learn, but I think that is dependent on how you learn. When I was applying for med school I thought it would be cool to learn by PBL, but I found out that actually I prefer to learn by lectures because that is what I was used to in college and PBL/independent learning is dependent on your group and the leader. I am not effected by the Emory's new curriculum so I don't know much about it, but supposedly there are increasing PBL/independent teaching style and decreasing the pre-clinical years so that you can have more time to spend time in the hospital/research/get another degree.

I personally love Emory and glad that I came here for med school. Here are the advantages of Emory:
- great clinical training because of the diversity of hospital. Grady (very large and busy county hospital), Emory Hospital (private/tertiary care), Atlanta VA, Crawford long Hospital (private hospital in downtown atlanta), Children Healthcare of Atlanta (#3 children's hospital in the US). I really think it is essential that as med student you get exposed to variety of hospital b/c each hospital provide you different types of pathology and different kind of medical care. As med student working at Grady is terrific because you really get involved in patient care and the team will let you do lot and they really depend on med students.
- Great faculty. The attending (for the most part) are great and they are great teachers.
- Research. They have tons of research here so it is easy to get involved. Between your first and second year summer, Emory will provide stipend to do research here at Emory.
- Other degrees. If you are Emory med student, you are automatically accepted to public health if you want to pursue MPH and they provide financial aid for Emory med students. I think they also provide financial aid for MBA (I think they is dependent on your GMAT score, but not too sure).
 
Can anyone chime in on social qualities? I.e. do you like your classmates, do have a good social life? Do students lead balanced lives or do they tend to be books and research only?

Thanks
 
Critical Mass said:
I love Chicago and NW, but I'd take Case after talking to some folks on SDN. (Disclosure: I don't go to any of these places.)

Why? I'm told Case uses 3rd year evals to determine AOA candidacy and only rarely needs to break ties with board scores. Low pressure during M1/2...priceless.
Click to expand...

actually...its the same for northwestern. AOA is essentially determined by 3rd year grades. 1st and 2nd year are close to useless(towards AOA) really...you just have to pass.
 
Lanced said:
Can anyone chime in on social qualities? I.e. do you like your classmates, do have a good social life? Do students lead balanced lives or do they tend to be books and research only?

Thanks
Click to expand...

as a 1st year at northwestern you get out at 12noon 3 days a week. and...if you so desired, you don't have to go to class those 3 days anways(lectures are recorded on mp3 and powerpoints are posted online).

...you tell me if you will have time for a social life at northwestern. 😉
 
Man, the schools are so similiar. At case you get out at 12pm 4 days a week, and have thursdays off. If you don't go to lecture, you get out at 10am. So you definitely have time for a social life. =) I have no idea what the exam structure's like at NW, but we only have exams every 3 months, which means the first half of each block is even less stressful and if you want to take a week off, you can. Case really tries to recruit normal friendly people for the class, and most people balance their time between all sorts of things.

It probably comes down to curriculum style, demographics of the class/class feel, the city, and clinical & research opps. Feel free to ask any other questions...
 
I feel like Emory has an edge due to the hospital network. However, it probably boils down to what location you like better. The only real flaw I see in Emory is their ABC system. It seems asinine that they haven't changed it already, and I think it probably deters many students. I really like Emory and the ABC system is somewhat turning me off. Other than that the school is great....
new building, new curriculum, atlanta, grady, research = great
I don't know much about the other schools. Its cheaper to live in Cleveland, but there is not as much to do there. Chicago is a nice city, but the weather sucks. Atlanta to me provides more of a balance.
 
Thanks for all of the helpful input you guys.

I am leaning slightly towards Feinberg only because Chicago is so awesome. The cirriculum for the first two years seem the same at all schools and, frankly, the first two years are really mostly you studying by yourself anywhere you go!

My only concern is rotations. Some one mentioned not getting good experience at NMH because of the patient population. Can any Feinberg med students or students who have done rotations there speak to this? Also has anyone worked at Chicago Children's Memorial? I'm really interested in Pediatrics but I don't know a lot about the Children's Hospital.
 
blondie007 said:
Thanks for all of the helpful input you guys.

I am leaning slightly towards Feinberg only because Chicago is so awesome. The cirriculum for the first two years seem the same at all schools and, frankly, the first two years are really mostly you studying by yourself anywhere you go!

My only concern is rotations. Some one mentioned not getting good experience at NMH because of the patient population. Can any Feinberg med students or students who have done rotations there speak to this? Also has anyone worked at Chicago Children's Memorial? I'm really interested in Pediatrics but I don't know a lot about the Children's Hospital.
Click to expand...

If you're interested in pediatrics... then u should consider Case.. Rainbow babies has one of the best peds program in the country.
 
blondie007 said:
Thanks for all of the helpful input you guys.

I am leaning slightly towards Feinberg only because Chicago is so awesome. The cirriculum for the first two years seem the same at all schools and, frankly, the first two years are really mostly you studying by yourself anywhere you go!

My only concern is rotations. Some one mentioned not getting good experience at NMH because of the patient population. Can any Feinberg med students or students who have done rotations there speak to this? Also has anyone worked at Chicago Children's Memorial? I'm really interested in Pediatrics but I don't know a lot about the Children's Hospital.
Click to expand...

What would you like to know about Children's Memorial? That is where we rotate for our 3rd year peds rotation. What didja want to know?
 
ahhh123 said:
If you're interested in pediatrics... then u should consider Case.. Rainbow babies has one of the best peds program in the country.
Click to expand...

NMH is just one hospital in Northwesterns McGaw Medical Center which also consists of Evanston Northwestern, Childrens Memorial (top 10), Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago(best in the country), Jesse Brown VA. No, these hospitals including NMH serve all kinds of patients from the homeless to the wealthy.
 
blondie007 said:
My only concern is rotations. Some one mentioned not getting good experience at NMH because of the patient population. Can any Feinberg med students or students who have done rotations there speak to this?
Click to expand...

please...check the link that was posted a few posts up...it talks about each of the northwestern affiliated hospitals. i am too lazy to type up another comprehensive review.
 
Just a quick note about grades. Every school (except for a few) internally ranks their class the first two years. So, even if a school is pass/fail it is most likely ranking the students based on test performance. How do you think schools determine AOA anyway? And as someone already mentioned I don’t know of any school that doesn’t have grades 3rd year. All this to say that it's really not much different attending a school with grades than one without. In the former you have a good gauge of how well you're doing and in the latter the gauge may be more vague. Once you get to med school you'll quickly learn that grades or no grades, med school is competitive (not necessarily cutthroat though) and everyone strives for their best. My friends at "grades" schools are no more or less stressed than friends at "no grades" schools.
 
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