Well, I'm a current U of Minn. MS4 who's looking to leave his much beloved home program. I interviewed at some very well known places that I'll rank lower than the U of Minn. I think we've got many changes in the works that if all goes well will help our program become one of the premier midwest programs in the next few years. I haven't interviewed at any of those other places, but I've got friends who have and know people from those programs who have interviewed here. My possibly biased, feeling is:
Case ~=U of Minn. > MCW > OSU/UIC
Allow me to explain, since my attempted use at mathematical operators may leave something to be desired. I think my classmates and I think that Case is solid and about on par with us at the U of Minn. I think we would consider U Wisconsin-Madison to be the more prestigious WI program and think of MCW as slightly less prestigious than the U of Minn. We don't hear much about OSU, and I would need to make sure the person asking isn't wondering about Oregon Health Sciences University, which I've heard lots of good things about and should have applied to. Ohio State University isn't well known around here so I'd have to place it lower, but I'm sure folks in Ohio may think the same thing about us. And ignorance is a really bad reason for ranking a place high or low. NCAA championships, of course, is a different matter, but I'll avoid discussion of OSU football and how that influences the Match. We also don't hear a lot about UIC, but from talking with friends who have interviewed down there and facutly who were there and/or have strong connections, we certainly think we've got a better program. But again, faculty who prefer Minnesota are probably not at UIC. Rush, since somebody asked, is a place I'm not that familiar with but I know somebody who interviewed there and likely won't even rank it.
