Rosalind/Finch/Chicago Med....

[Ames980]

hey all! i just have a question for anyone who is currently attending Rosalind Franklin.... i'm applying right now, and just wanted to get your vibe on the whole accredidation issue. does it seem like something which will be taken care of within the 2 year time frame? have you noticed any differences on campus? is it more of a formality that people arent really concerned with and are just waiting the time out until the school's no longer under probation?
thanks!

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[ColoMD]

Stay away from this one. While it may be likely they will get off probation, there is certainly no guarantee about it. In which case, if you attend and they lose their accredidation, you will have to transfer to another school.

But keep in mind that transferring is not as easy for medical school as it is for undergrad schools. You can usually not transfer into any year except MS2 (and sometimes only into MS2 if you have already completed your first two years already...repeating your second year.) Plus, transfer spots are both limited and competitive and trying to get into another school coming from a school who just had their accredidation yanked would be a little harder.

Spend your $95 elsewhere.

 

[Ames980]

thank you for the insight!

 

[hypersting]

Stay away from this one. While it may be likely they will get off probation, there is certainly no guarantee about it. In which case, if you attend and they lose their accredidation, you will have to transfer to another school.

But keep in mind that transferring is not as easy for medical school as it is for undergrad schools. You can usually not transfer into any year except MS2 (and sometimes only into MS2 if you have already completed your first two years already...repeating your second year.) Plus, transfer spots are both limited and competitive and trying to get into another school coming from a school who just had their accredidation yanked would be a little harder.

Spend your $95 elsewhere.

This isn't entirely accurate. In the worst case scenario that the school did lose its accredidation (it won't happen), you would be placed in a school, the LCME wouldn't just let you fend for yourselves. The entrance into medical school is the gate to the medical community, once you cross into it, there is plenty of support for all scenarios.

As per the OPs question. Probation is a good thing. Tuition has been frozen for five years and the school has made many improvements. They have a vested interest now to make sure everything is perfect for the revisit of the LCME. I would argue that it will prove for a better experience for the current and future students. On campus, no one really cares, the issues that the LCME raised have already been addressed and people are more concerned about their upcoming exams then something that has been fully rectified by the current administration. If you want some more insight as to why they went on probation to begin with, you can PM me.

For perspective, Cornell and Temple have both been on probation in the last ten years and I think Stanford almost did.

 

[Nezmar]

hypersting is right. I'm at Rosalind now and no one worries about it. The deans spoke to us frankly about the issue and I they are all very committed to the school. I think it is a great opportunity to move through a school's red tape quickly in order to make things better. Also, residencies go on probation all the time. It's just part of the process. I'd suggest that you apply and attend an interview. I had heard bad things about the school from people who had never been there and good things from those who had. I found that it was a great school with lots to offer. In addition, many physicians I've talked to have told me about how competent the Chicago Med students are during rotations and residency. You should check their match list also. People are going to Yale, Harvard, Mayo, Derm and Uro residencies. Plenty of opportunity here.

 

[EctopicFetus]

Im currently an M3 at CMS and believe me we arent worried. Mostly because the school has undergone a lot of changes and there were a lot of issues relating to why they lost this thing. Any way as per the other poster put the LCME would place students YOU WILL NOT BE LEFT OUT ON THE STREET! People like to bad mouth CMS but we do well on Step I and we kick butt on the wards. The school isnt Harvard or (Insert name here) top 10 school. But the people you will meet are generally nice, hard working people who really want to become doctors. I sent an email to an interested student detailing many of the problems. I will put it into another post.

 

[EctopicFetus]

More Qs.... PM me.. Im the expert Du jour

CMS Probation

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This is from another PM I sent someone....

hi thanx for the response in the general forum. I have actually 2 quick questions:

1) the most pressing issue: do you think the school will become discredited? and to your knowledge has the school ever been on probation in the past? or discredited in the past?

There is no way in hell that the school will get its accreditation taken away. Realize that over 1% of all physicians anually are CMS grads. The system cant afford not to have us. Additionally, Dr. Hansen (Dean of Educational affairs) told us after our transition ceremony that he promised us we would graduate from an accredited school. There has been much change at CMS and in my opinion it is all for the better. From the little things (like a new food provider) to big things (new computers, photocopiers, ID cards etc, new dept heads, new med school dean, new profs). I would honestly say that you should not worry about it. The problems were almost all administrative and they were due to not having a permanent med school dean, not having a neuroscience dept head for 8 years etc. Dont worry!


If you have other specific questions I can answer. I can also tell you to check the internet site for some info. I am a M3 at CMS.

I hope this helps and I would be happy to answer any other Qs for you or your cousin.

Another part of a PM
In conclusion, the school might not have the greatest reputation but the fellow students are pretty cool (some more than others) and you will likely find others like you whether you are a gunner or a chill person. Good luck and even thought living in North chicago might suck the school is doing its best to improve things for everyone! If you have more Qs feel free to PM me again! Best of luck.. First year is by far the most boring, 2nd is the hardest!

 

[EctopicFetus]

http://www.finchcms.edu/cms/accreditation/index.cfm

From the school!

 

[mediocre]

I'm a PGY-1 in Internal Medicine at Mayo (Rochester) and a recent graduate of CMS/Finch/Rosalind. I think CMS is A LOT better now than when I first started years ago, back when we were "officially accredited" and not on probation.

CMS is not the best school, but it should not be quickly discounted either. Our class scored about 10 points higher than average on step 1, about the national average on step 2, and we generally hold our own on the wards. Our match this past year wasn't too shabby either.

Tuition is still ridiculously expensive, and you're in Siberia during your first 2 years, but overall, it's still a decent place to be for med school. It probably won't be anyone's top choice, but it's a very respectable back-up.

 

[Pudgyp]

hey there, I agree with all the others. I'm an M-1 and my major concern before I matriculated was that the school was losing accreditation and that the curriculum wasn't up to par. HOWEVER. when i got here, I realized that the school has made GREAT strides in the right direction. The curriculum is very challenging, the faculty and staff are constantly reminding us of their open door policy, and everyone is really down to earth. None of that pretentious med school banter amongst students or faculty in the lunch room.

I highly recommend this school. I can see great things for it in the future. OH yeah, HARVARD MED SCHOOL has been on probation. and I believe Temple is still on probation, and Drexel...well Drexel is just going down the tubes unfortunately.

Rosalind Franklin has tremendous assets and I'm really proud to be a part of this "family" as corny as it sounds.

And if you are a feminist (like me) you'll WANT TO GO HERE! IT'S AMAZING THAT THIS IS THE ONLY LCME ACCREDITED SCHOOL NAMED AFTER A WOMAN SCIENTIST WHO NEVER GOT THE CREDIT SHE DESERVED FOR HER WORK ON THE MODELING OF DNA!!!!!!

 

[Lindyhopper]

Gee, I was always taught that Roslind Franklin was one of the giants of science and assumed that she was celebrated as such.

 

[ColoMD]

Gee, I was always taught that Roslind Franklin was one of the giants of science and assumed that she was celebrated as such.

No, she pretty much got shafted on the whole DNA thing. She did most of the background data for Watson and Crick's "discovery." She didn't end up with a Nobel prize though simply because she was dead and the rules of the Nobel are that they are never awarded posthumously.

 

[EctopicFetus]

Also, my attending for Medicine showed me an interesting article in the Journal of Critical Care (or something like that) and it talked about how one of the reasons she got shafted is because she couldnt dumb it down enough for regular people. Her articles were all very math and physics based and she was unable to eloquently state her case like Watson and Crick did. That being said they stole her work and gave her no credit.

 

[emeraldpool]

The school is on probation for a lot of reasons. one issue was that the school had more than half of its revenue coming from tuition-they were dependent on tuition money to survive. To some, this meant that the tuition was too high. Their tuition is not higher than that at a lot of other private schools; It was a stand-alone school- meaning that they were not affiliated with a hospital, which would change the accounting somewhat. There is a new president that has made a number of changes: new system-based medical education, revamped podiatry, pt, pa, and graduate schools in addition to the medical school. He was only president for 8 months before the LCME came in and made their recommendations/inspections. There are plans to become affiliated with a medical group in the near future. There is also a tuition freeze for the next few years. I am not worried.