Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) vs RUSH

[lilwoozy]

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Hi everyone, I’ve been blessed with two amazing options, that I think would offer me incredibly different experiences. As you all know, I have to make a decision by April 30th.

To give some background on me:

• Based in Oregon, but did undergrad OOS
• Personal interests & background in biomedical engineering, a BIG priority for me is the opportunity to stay involved in medical device/innovation/regenerative materials type of research during med school (if that’s even possible, I know most med students only have time for clinical research).
• No specific specialty interests at the moment, but likely not primary care. Also, I would like to ultimately end up at an academic medical institution, where I can teach, research, etc
• Would like to match into an urban/city academic medical hospital. No strong preference for region but would probably like East coast or West Coast

RUSH (27K tuition)

Pros

• Half-tuition scholarship
• Chicago is the kind of big city I’ve never lived in before but always wanted to experience at some point in my life
• Significantly more diverse patient population
• Several well-established student run community healthcare clinics for many specialties from ENT to primary care
• Great vibes from adcoms and faculty in general: transparency from the adcoms throughout the process, and met several faculty members during secondary look who took an hour to just sit and answer any questions we had in small groups
• Stronger ties than OHSU to east coast residencies if I decide I want to match out there?
• P/F pre-clinical, no internal rank

Cons

• Less prestige? Lower PD rank, many west coasters I’ve talked to have never heard of rush
• Potentially fewer research opportunities: NIH funding at RUSH is $64,666,318 vs OHSU $235,673,428
• No biomedical engineering department, medical innovation research may be harder to find
• Away from family support system, no ties to Chicago/Midwest (however my partner plans to relocate with me)
• About 1-2 required lectures a day
• H/P/F clinicals
• Starts very early… June 25th (not much time off before med school starts)

OHSU (50K tuition)
Pros

• Higher PD rank (if that even counts for anything, I believe OHSU isn’t very well known outside of the west coast)
• Significantly larger research institution, with a BME department that I have been a research assistant for during my gap year
• OHSU is Oregon’s ONLY academic medical institution, all of the states most complex cases will come here
• ALL lectures are recorded and way fewer mandatory lectures compared to rush
• 1.5 hr drive away from family/hometown
• True P/F clinicals
• Starts August 11th (lots more time off)
• Offers better nature: skiing, hiking, rock climbing, etc are all readily nearby

Cons

• Higher cost, I don’t think the COL difference between Portland and Chicago outweighs RUSH’s scholarship
• While I love Portland, I would like to explore other larger cities (Seattle, SF, Chicago, Boston, NYC, etc) Could possibly see myself settling back in Oregon way down the road but only after I had lived in other places and realized they weren’t for me
• In general student cohort seems to be less connected? OHSU is known for its preference for older students, and many have their own personal families, lives, etc outside of the med school community
• Only one community health clinic, that seems to run on a much smaller scale than rush’s student clinics
• Faculty seems to be less involved? I didn’t see or meet a single faculty/adcom member at Second Look Day
• For the past few years, OHSU has gone through major financial challenges on both the large scale hospital and academic/research side of things

Both:

• P/F preclinicals, no internal rank
• Opportunities to do shadowing rotations in specialties of your choice during M1 and M2 years
• Have residency/fellowship programs in basically every specialty and sub specialty
• Both have a strong primary care/community service mission, but both their match lists still have several competitive specialties across all geographic regions

Overall: OHSU feels like the safer option because I’m most familiar with it, and know what opportunities/connections are waiting there for me, while RUSH feels like a leap of faith given how unfamiliar I am with its reputation, potential research opportunites, and just the midwest in general. I appreciate everyone's input!!!

 

[hydroflaskhomie]

Hmmmmm........ this is tough.

I'm going to go through your pro cons and strike out what I think is not important/bold what I think is important.

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RUSH (27K tuition)

Pros

• Half-tuition scholarship
• Chicago is the kind of big city I’ve never lived in before but always wanted to experience at some point in my life
• Significantly more diverse patient population
• Several well-established student run community healthcare clinics for many specialties from ENT to primary care - doesn't matter as much unless you really want to be volunteering constantly, there's limited time for this anywhere
• Great vibes from adcoms and faculty in general: transparency from the adcoms throughout the process, and met several faculty members during secondary look who took an hour to just sit and answer any questions we had in small groups
• Stronger ties than OHSU to east coast residencies if I decide I want to match out there? Doubt this is substantially different
• P/F pre-clinical, no internal rank

Cons

• Less prestige? Lower PD rank, many west coasters I’ve talked to have never heard of rush Plenty of east coasters have never heard of OHSU.
• Potentially fewer research opportunities: NIH funding at RUSH is $64,666,318 vs OHSU $235,673,428 Funding # differences doesn't matter for med school research. As long as there is research in your field (aka a department) you'll be fine.
• No biomedical engineering department, medical innovation research may be harder to find I bet you can find med innovation research at another one of the many Chicago institutions.
• Away from family support system, no ties to Chicago/Midwest (however my partner plans to relocate with me) Chicago is awesome, but it is a big change. Weather is brutal.
• About 1-2 required lectures a day This sucks, but it depends on your personality how much this sucks.
• H/P/F clinicals This REALLY sucks.
• Starts very early… June 25th (not much time off before med school starts) This minorly sucks, but it would really annoy me so also bolding it.

OHSU (50K tuition)
Pros

• Higher PD rank (if that even counts for anything, I believe OHSU isn’t very well known outside of the west coast)
• Significantly larger research institution, with a BME department that I have been a research assistant for during my gap year - in house BME is a small advantage. It's a shame OSU doesn't have a stronger presence in Portland so you could collab with them - but maybe you could do distance work with them and drive down to Corvallis occasionally? Random idea. Continuing research that you've already been doing is an awesome opportunity.
• OHSU is Oregon’s ONLY academic medical institution, all of the states most complex cases will come here
• ALL lectures are recorded and way fewer mandatory lectures compared to rush
• 1.5 hr drive away from family/hometown
• True P/F clinicals
• Starts August 11th (lots more time off)
• Offers better nature: skiing, hiking, rock climbing, etc are all readily nearby

Cons

• Higher cost, I don’t think the COL difference between Portland and Chicago outweighs RUSH’s scholarship
• While I love Portland, I would like to explore other larger cities (Seattle, SF, Chicago, Boston, NYC, etc) Could possibly see myself settling back in Oregon way down the road but only after I had lived in other places and realized they weren’t for me. I think this is valid but I am not getting a sense for if you'd rather leave or not.
• In general student cohort seems to be less connected? OHSU is known for its preference for older students, and many have their own personal families, lives, etc outside of the med school community You will also have your personal family life closer so this isn't a huge con in my book for you.
• Only one community health clinic, that seems to run on a much smaller scale than rush’s student clinics
• Faculty seems to be less involved? I didn’t see or meet a single faculty/adcom member at Second Look Day I wouldn't read into this too much.
• For the past few years, OHSU has gone through major financial challenges on both the large scale hospital and academic/research side of things How would this affect you?

~80k over 4 years is not a huge sum. I think based on my edited list OHSU seems like the better option in my opinion. Biggest reasons: support network, established connections, interest in BME/med devices and that research being in-house, and the incredible gift of PF. I might change my mind if you've been looking for a way out of Oregon.

 

[lilwoozy]

Hmmmmm........ this is tough.

I'm going to go through your pro cons and strike out what I think is not important/bold what I think is important.

------------

RUSH (27K tuition)

Pros

• Half-tuition scholarship
• Chicago is the kind of big city I’ve never lived in before but always wanted to experience at some point in my life
• Significantly more diverse patient population
• Several well-established student run community healthcare clinics for many specialties from ENT to primary care - doesn't matter as much unless you really want to be volunteering constantly, there's limited time for this anywhere
• Great vibes from adcoms and faculty in general: transparency from the adcoms throughout the process, and met several faculty members during secondary look who took an hour to just sit and answer any questions we had in small groups
• Stronger ties than OHSU to east coast residencies if I decide I want to match out there? Doubt this is substantially different
• P/F pre-clinical, no internal rank

Cons

• Less prestige? Lower PD rank, many west coasters I’ve talked to have never heard of rush Plenty of east coasters have never heard of OHSU.
• Potentially fewer research opportunities: NIH funding at RUSH is $64,666,318 vs OHSU $235,673,428 Funding # differences doesn't matter for med school research. As long as there is research in your field (aka a department) you'll be fine.
• No biomedical engineering department, medical innovation research may be harder to find I bet you can find med innovation research at another one of the many Chicago institutions.
• Away from family support system, no ties to Chicago/Midwest (however my partner plans to relocate with me) Chicago is awesome, but it is a big change. Weather is brutal.
• About 1-2 required lectures a day This sucks, but it depends on your personality how much this sucks.
• H/P/F clinicals This REALLY sucks.
• Starts very early… June 25th (not much time off before med school starts) This minorly sucks, but it would really annoy me so also bolding it.

OHSU (50K tuition)
Pros

• Higher PD rank (if that even counts for anything, I believe OHSU isn’t very well known outside of the west coast)
• Significantly larger research institution, with a BME department that I have been a research assistant for during my gap year - in house BME is a small advantage. It's a shame OSU doesn't have a stronger presence in Portland so you could collab with them - but maybe you could do distance work with them and drive down to Corvallis occasionally? Random idea. Continuing research that you've already been doing is an awesome opportunity.
• OHSU is Oregon’s ONLY academic medical institution, all of the states most complex cases will come here
• ALL lectures are recorded and way fewer mandatory lectures compared to rush
• 1.5 hr drive away from family/hometown
• True P/F clinicals
• Starts August 11th (lots more time off)
• Offers better nature: skiing, hiking, rock climbing, etc are all readily nearby

Cons

• Higher cost, I don’t think the COL difference between Portland and Chicago outweighs RUSH’s scholarship
• While I love Portland, I would like to explore other larger cities (Seattle, SF, Chicago, Boston, NYC, etc) Could possibly see myself settling back in Oregon way down the road but only after I had lived in other places and realized they weren’t for me. I think this is valid but I am not getting a sense for if you'd rather leave or not.
• In general student cohort seems to be less connected? OHSU is known for its preference for older students, and many have their own personal families, lives, etc outside of the med school community You will also have your personal family life closer so this isn't a huge con in my book for you.
• Only one community health clinic, that seems to run on a much smaller scale than rush’s student clinics
• Faculty seems to be less involved? I didn’t see or meet a single faculty/adcom member at Second Look Day I wouldn't read into this too much.
• For the past few years, OHSU has gone through major financial challenges on both the large scale hospital and academic/research side of things How would this affect you?

~80k over 4 years is not a huge sum. I think based on my edited list OHSU seems like the better option in my opinion. Biggest reasons: support network, established connections, interest in BME/med devices and that research being in-house, and the incredible gift of PF. I might change my mind if you've been looking for a way out of Oregon.

Thank you so much for the insight! I did take a deeper dive into the full COL between the two, and I think realistically it would be closer to a 10k difference instead of 20k per year since Chicago has that slight higher COL. I firmly feel like OHSU has the bigger academic medical institution vibe that suits me, but I’m now worried about my prospects matching over to the East Coast… for example, OHSU had about 6 matches to NY and 3 to MA in one year, versus RUSH had 11 to NY and and 5 to MA. In general it seems like the connections the mentors at OHSU have are going to be primarily west coast.

Of course my opinions can change, but I’m almost certain after medical school in Oregon I will be looking to get out of the state. Like I said before, I want to experience living in places that are different from where I grew up. However, for me, that doesn’t have to happen during medical school. I only get to attend one medical school in my life, while I know have many many years in my lifetime to live in other parts of the country.

Thanks for weighing in! I’d also love to hear from those of you who are voting on the poll

 

[hydroflaskhomie]

Can you look back at match lists going further back? Sadly I think a lot of people get trapped in using match lists as the only indicator of a school's successfulness (I did this too!) but as an M3 I realize that they are so skewed by student preference. I think my institution has arguably a comparatively less impressive match list this year because a lot of people stayed at our school, but I know a decent amount of those M4s and they all wanted to stay in our state for family reasons/wanted to stay at my school's programs because of continuing research/liking the area/having a non-med partner in the area etc.

I am pretty confident after your update that OHSU is the right choice - definitely go to the stronger school unless location is a dealbreaker - and I think you will be able to do what it takes to get a great residency out of state. Washington or California will be easier because they are close and more students probably have gone to those programs; however, with a couple targeted aways and geo-signals I am extremely confident you would be able to match to most cities of your choice depending on specialty (e.g. plastic surgery a lot more is up to chance because there is usually only one program in each city etc etc).

 

[lilwoozy]

Update: I decided to commit to OHSU yesterday! It felt like the right decision in my gut and I ultimately felt more certain it was the place that could set me up to succeed best.

I’d be lying if I said I was without any doubts or nervousness about our clinicals being P/F (meaning the only quantitative thing on my MSPE is my step 2 score! Could any students on here with P/F clinicals at a mid-tier school like OHSU weigh in?) but I’ll just trust the process. Fingers crossed and still holding out hope for that scholarship match from OHSU… thank you to everyone who voted and posted!

 

[hydroflaskhomie]

I really think you made the right choice!

I think if I can ease your worries a little I've had PDs consistently tell me that no matter the school, they only really use clinical grades to tell apart within-school applicants (aka OHSU applicant A vs applicant B, or historically OHSU applicant A against prior applicant C from last year). So with that being gone, it's just that they are striating you against your peers and non-peer other applicants alike by other measures - Step 2/research/connections/to some small extent your personal statement etc.

This is in a surgical subspecialty ^ but from what I've read online it seems it mostly holds true for most specialties 🙂