Ready to Withdraw; Need YOUR Help

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[AlanAlanine]

Pick the highest ranked one if you're equally happy everywhere and have no other personal reasons for any of those schools.

 

[Ativanigans]

Dont know much about any of those schools but I thought Illinois has the best reputation.

 

[JJMrK]

I would definitely wait until financial aid comes out before making this decision.

 

[brooklynblunder]

I would definitely wait until financial aid comes out before making this decision.

yup. So the OP had enough information to eliminate 5 schools. He/She must really deem these equally then. I think you can go two ways here:

1. look at tuition

UIC - 33k
Indy - 46k
Rush - 46k
Loyola - 44k

and guess that Indiana might not give a scholarship that would offset the cost at UIC or whatever

2. just wait for the finaid. I would just do this

 

[shiftingmirage]

As a current Rush student, I can tell you my biggest complaint is the lack of diversity at the institution. My class has 2 AAs, curreny M1 class has 1, M3 class has 1. Class size is ~130 or so. Rush also seems 5 years behind in terms of technology, but it's usually more of an annoyance than an actual problem. We tend to have class probably 30 hours a week. Rumor is that we are in class more than most, but I don't know what the average hours/week is, and most classes do not require attendance.

I can also tell you that the UIC students use the Rush library because there's is old and I think someone said it was creepy maybe? I've never been there, so can't comment. The Rush library isn't 'new' by any means. I would actually argue it's probably smaller than it should be, but there are so many other places to study around the city, I mean we must have 400 starbucks/DD. I also think UIC's class is 300 studnets, I don't know if they break them up, or if all 300 are in one lecture.

Rush is building a new hospital, which will open in 2012.

Loyola facilities in general are newer than Rush's or UIC.

 

[Omar Gooding]

I'm also from Illinois and have an idea about the schools. IMO Loyola would be the best pick of those. I'm not sure if you know where you're going to end up in 2 years if you go to UIC, but I don't think you'll get a very good experience unless you're in Chicago (no bias, I'm from downstate). Loyola has great facilities and the students seem very happy there. I'd go to Loyola over Rush and UIC. I can't really comment on IU though.

 

[ChiDO]

Another thing to consider is what UIC campus you'll be at. Maybe you don't want to be in the city and rather go to one of the other campuses.

In all honesty, I don't think you can go wrong by going to any of the 3 Illinois schools. If $$ is no objective, I'd go

Loyola > Rush > UIC

If you want to consider $$:

UIC > Loyola > Rush

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

loyola is probably the number 1 of those..
because while it is 11k more then uic its probably in terms of prestige the best
and a medium on that list in terms of money..
so if you can work with 44k more in debt at the end
you'll be fine

 

[mybubbles14]

UIC has 300 students but only about half are on the Chicago campus. If money isn't a HUGE factor than what about location??? Did you get into the Chicago campus? Basically you've got Chicago schools and Indianapolis...would you prefer to be in a larger city or smaller metropolitan? Was there a particular curriculum at either of the schools that you liked the best?

 

[Shellzie2010]

Of those, Loyola is my personal favorite because the facilities are awesome and the students seem happy. Everyone I met there was really nice and they seemed to have social lives, which is a plus.

I was not very impressed with Indiana because the students seemed kind of bummed out and while Indianapolis would be all right, there is the uncertainty of what campus you would be placed at- you could end up in Gary or South Bend...

I haven't visited UIC or Rush, but I think they'd fall somewhere in between the two.

 

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[ksmi117]

I'm moving this to the School Specific Discussions forum.

 

[JJMrK]

WOW you guys are insanely insightful and helpful! Thank you so much!

I was hoping people wouldn't be jerks to me and I guess when you do something nice for others (like free up spots so others can be offered acceptances) the community tends to help you back.

After much consideration I've taken IU out of the picture because at the end of the day I want to stay near my family.

I got into the Chicago campus at UIC. I'm an average, regular white guy so I know for a fact I will not be receiving finaid anywhere. Rush and Loyola are the same $ while UIC is cheaper.

So I guess it's now UIC, Rush, and Loyola. Does anyone know anything about which school has a higher average Step 1 score? Does that even mean anything?

Just sit on those for now. If your goal was to free up spots for others, you've done that. At some point you gotta look out for yourself, and don't forget you're going to free up 2 spots at some point regardless.

 

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[BBender716]

PM me sometime as I'm in a similar situation and know the schools fairly well. Congrats!

 

[KeyzerSoze]

yup. So the OP had enough information to eliminate 5 schools. He/She must really deem these equally then. I think you can go two ways here:

1. look at tuition

UIC - 33k
Indy - 46k
Rush - 46k
Loyola - 44k

and guess that Indiana might not give a scholarship that would offset the cost at UIC or whatever

2. just wait for the finaid. I would just do this

Wow, when did Loyola get to be 44K? A few years ago, it wasn't all that much more than UIC's instate tuition.

 

[shiftingmirage]

Yea, Chicago campus. I'd probably like the UIC/Rush area more so than Loyola's.

I don't know enough about the curriculums at either of the schools. All I know is in terms of rotations, I don't think you can beat UIC and Rush.

There is 'talk' about Rush going system based next year, but there has been talk of this for years, so who knows.

Rush usually has midterms and finals, but a few classes do have quizzes. Someone at UIC said they had weekly quizzes which was kind of a downer since that meant they couldn't decide, it's friday, I'm going to do nothing and catch up next week, since they had a quiz to study for. They made it sound like the quizzes were weekly, but I can't attest to that.

As for rotations, Rush actually requires you to do some elsewhere. I'm pretty sure everyone is required to do one rotation at Cook County and another hospital that Rush owns. It gives you the opportunity to experience different types of hospitals. Rush hospital is more of a tertiary care center where people are referred by their doc to get surgery or something, versus guy shows up in the ED, and ends up needing surgery. I don't have numbers, but Rush doesn't have a lot of ED patients. If there is a trauma, it goes to UIC or Cook County. So if you're interested in EM or trauma surgery, my not get your fill at Rush (though you can schedule your rotation at Cook County and you will), but if you're interested in something like ortho, then Rush may be right for you.

Rush has been advertising that US News said it was one of America's Best Hospitals. I have no idea what goes into the rankings, or how valid they are.

As for area, I personally think the area immediately around Rush is kinda blah. It's by the meat packing district, so there are lots of little factories around. There aren't a lot of fast food places, not much is open late, and the local Jewel isn't that great.

A couple people I know drive to Loyola, one fron the south west side, another from the north side. Just because you go to Loyola, doesn't mean you have to live in Maywood.

 

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[shiftingmirage]

Thanks, good post. So how would you rank the 3?

All depends on what matters to you.

Like I said, UIC facilities are older, Rush's academic building is older, but they will have a new hospital with all the bells and whistles. Loyola in general has newer buildings. Does it matter? Maybe. I don't think the Rush library is large enough for it's students, but UIC students come over, so I assume ours is betters than theirs. But then there is a public library down Taylor street ~mile from campus, so if you don't mind getting out and about, who cares. If you want to move as little as possible, then maybe a nice library in the same building (same floor at Rush) as your lectures is a selling point.

In terms of diversity, UIC is probably the best, followed by Loyola, then Rush. Maybe that matters to you, maybe it doesn't.

Almost all schools record their lectures to some extent. Some places the school does it, and they are posted immediately. At Rush, it's done by students, and while they do a great job of recording the lectures, they often are not posted until the next day or the day after that. If you plan to 'attend' lec by watching the videos, then you may constantly be 2 days behind at Rush. If you plan to go to lecture, or not go at all, then it's not a factor.

As for the exams versus quizzes that I believe UIC does. Quizzes are nice in the sense that your grade depends on more than 2 exams. They also provide insight to what the key points are before the exam rolls around. But then you have 4 quizzes and 2 exams instead of just 2 exams.

Idk about residency lists. I know Rush will reserve some spots for their grads. So like let's say Rush has 5 spots for IM, Rush reserves 1 of those spots for a Rush grad. But if you look at match lists, 3 of the 5 are Rush grads, so it sounds cool, but it's not like it gives you this huge advantage.

People talk about recognition, but I believe that with only 128(?) allo schools, any residency director has heard of every program, and I would assume individuals on the residency board/selection committee are experienced, and as such, know a little about every school. I think there is some favortism where school X has had 15 past residents from school Y and they've all worked out, but I doubt someone will say, Bob graduated with a great Step I/clinical grades, but he went to XYZ university and I refuse to look at anyone from that school. I think it's such a tight knit group where everyone knows a guy from everywhere, that recognition isn't an issue (in my opinion, I'm sure others disagree).

You have to figure out what is important to you.

 

[mybubbles14]

As far as testing goes at UIC...my student interviewer explained that during the first semester of M1 you have fairly frequent tests (not sure if they are quizzes or tests) and the second semester you go to the more traditional midterm/final scenario. Also, anatomy and physiology are year long courses in which I believe you only get 1 grade as opposed to two separate semester grades. I know they told me that about anatomy but I'm not sure if the same is true for physiology, although I would imagine so.

I don't know much about the other two schools but I think it would be a good idea to learn more about how clinical years differ at each of the schools to help you along with your decision.

 

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[rockymhs]

Does anyone know which is more prestigious: UIC, Rush, or Loyola?

I think RUSH is...

But I was surprised to see that none of these schools were ranked for research...😕

 

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[FSAP]

Does anyone know which is more prestigious: UIC, Rush, or Loyola?

I don't think you have to worry about prestige with these three schools. Neither is top tier. If it was me, I would have saved my money and went to UIC. However, since all the schools are in the same tier, I would go with the gut feeling on which one is a better fit.

 

[DaBears5]

The US News and World Report rankings only rank schools that receive significant NIH funding. I cannot speak for UIC or Loyola, but I do know that Rush, while receiving NIH grants for several departments, is privately funded for most of its research. That does not mean that our research is lacking, it just means that they can't rank us on this list, hence the N/A. There is a masters or PhD in anatomy program here for medical students that is NIH funded. Your better bet finding out the strength of the different research programs is doing a little more search of the departments you are interested in.