Rosalind Franklin

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thedelicatessen

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  1. Medical Student
What's the history behind Rosalind Franklin? I know they don't have the best reputation among all the US med schools and was wondering why. It sounds like they are retooling their image for the better though.
 
What's the history behind Rosalind Franklin? I know they don't have the best reputation among all the US med schools and was wondering why. It sounds like they are retooling their image for the better though.

it's a mystery. but take a look at their match list, it's off the hook.
 
I've been hoping to get an interview there because my husband has a job offer in Chicago. I know they've been giving out interivews to people who were complete before me and after me and it seems that they are not necessarily reviewing applications in order of complete date.

My stats are above there averages, and I do have another interview (and a hold at Pritzker). I also included a letter with my application stating my preference to go to school in the Chicago area. Why aren't they giving me an interview? Any thoughts?
 
Chicago Med School is one of the oldest medical schools. They used to be called Finch, but changed their name a few years ago because, according to them, they had no strong affiliations to the name Finch and wanted to portray a stronger image.

This name change occurred "coincidentally" at the same time as they were put on probation by AAMC (I think it was AAMC, it might have been another organization) because their program, endowment, and facilities were not up to par. They were required to send letters out to all students who applied that basically said, we have been put on probation, we have until this date to fix the problems or we will be shut down, however, we have made our plan and do not foresee this happening and therefore still encourage you to apply.

Justifiably, this scared away a lot of prospectives and their reputation took a real ding. They are definitely on their way back up though.
 
it is still early
 
im not sure if rfu is still like this

but, in the past, they accepted any applicant that was actually willing to go there

didnt do much for their rep

What is your basis for this statement??
 
They have a new facility which is really cool. The only downfall to RF might be that they don't have a hospital on campus. Instead they affiliate with lots of hospitals in Chicago. I guess that could be seen as beneficiary too though.
 
it's a mystery. but take a look at their match list, it's off the hook.
I have a question that is prob stupid and I should know. When you apply for residencies, is there only a certain list you can apply to from each school? Or can you apply anywhere you want?
 
They have a new facility which is really cool. The only downfall to RF might be that they don't have a hospital on campus. Instead they affiliate with lots of hospitals in Chicago. I guess that could be seen as beneficiary too though.


Not true! I did my second year intro to medicine course at the veteran's hospital (VA) which is literally 20 seconds from campus, right behind... some would consider it 'on campus'. I didn't have a car so I chose this location. Its VERY convinient.

RFUMS is a great school, I had other offers but chose this school with NO regrets. The faculty is for the most part great and there is a huge support system. The dean of our school Dr. Ross is fantastic with the students and addresses concerns and questions. You can have lunch with him once per week 'lunch with the dean'. We are now affiliated with the advocate system and have a host of diff hospitals you can rotate with ie: private, VA, county hospitals so you get a large variety of experiences.

The only complaint that is valid about the school is the cost of tuition BUT the school did freeze tuition for a few years AND as a Canadian student the school is CHEAPER than other US med schools! so I am glad I got in AMEN!

Ocean11
 
What is the cutoff GPA and MCAT scores for RFU? And what is their acceptance rate after interview?
 
What is your basis for this statement??

Actually, to reply to the person who called troll on the post that said this school has a reputation for accepting anyone -- i have actually heard the same thing. They might not do this anymore, but for a while, I believe they had a system where they accepted pretty much anyone who was willing to pay the money, and they eliminated the bottom third of the class after the first year. So basically, once you got in, you were motivated to work really hard or you wouldn't get your degree.
 
Actually, to reply to the person who called troll on the post that said this school has a reputation for accepting anyone -- i have actually heard the same thing. They might not do this anymore, but for a while, I believe they had a system where they accepted pretty much anyone who was willing to pay the money, and they eliminated the bottom third of the class after the first year. So basically, once you got in, you were motivated to work really hard or you wouldn't get your degree.

Where did you hear this? I will be shocked if this tactic is still in practice.

EDIT: And that guy was a troll. He got banned within the hour, that's why his posts have been removed from this thread.
 
Where did you hear this? I will be shocked if this tactic is still in practice.

EDIT: And that guy was a troll. He got banned within the hour, that's why his posts have been removed from this thread.

I heard it from my pre-med advisor. He framed it exactly the way that troll did (I believe you when you say he was a troll, but this time the troll actually had some legit info). Basically my pre-med advisor said that they used to take anyone who could pay and then did the actual "selection" after the first year. This is back when it was called Chicago Medical School, so yes, I wouldn't be surprised if it's no longer their policy. I actually think other med schools might have done this as well, but I honestly don't know.
 
http://66.99.255.20/admissions/cms/MatchResults.cfm

i've heard that rfu teaches for the usmle, rather than to become a good physician. that might explain why it is looked down on yet they have such good residency matches. not sure how true this is, i'd still be happy to go there.

Actually, to reply to the person who called troll on the post that said this school has a reputation for accepting anyone -- i have actually heard the same thing. They might not do this anymore, but for a while, I believe they had a system where they accepted pretty much anyone who was willing to pay the money, and they eliminated the bottom third of the class after the first year. So basically, once you got in, you were motivated to work really hard or you wouldn't get your degree.

With respect to the first question...it is true that rfu teaches for usmle...but what do u need to learn for the usmle: BASIC SCIENCES...what do other schools teach you during first two years: BASIC SCIENCES and what do you need to have a strong foundation in to become a good physician: BASIC SCIENCES...so the way I see it...the better you are taught in USMLE content...the better diagnosticians(not physicians necessarily) u're going to be..now is that all you need...NO...there are other things like compassion, farsightedness, and most importantly common sense...i don't think any school has mastered the art of educating students about those values..they are more intrinsic and vary from person to person...so I think if you look at your first two years atleast...any school that preps u well for usmle should be on the top of your list since thats what is required of you and of the process during the first two years....once u are past that ur school per say will not have so much input in the overall making of your medicine career..rather it will be the attendings/residents you work w/ and the amount of work you put in yourself.

The second comment: I think your counsellor may have been talking about the "Applied Physiology, AP" program at rfums that basically accepts about 60-70 +/- 15 students who take the same courses as medical students except for anatomy and histology during the first year. At the end of first year if you maintain a certain grade point average and get nothing lower than a B then you are guaranteed a spot in the next year's first year class and here is the best part: you don't have to repeat the classes u already took so u have this really cush year w/ just anatomy and histology for the first two quarters and then ethics for the last quarter!...downside you pay the extra one year tuition...so if there is any truth to rfums accepting anyone willing to apply...it would be for the AP program..and that too i'm not sure about...however, for M.D. its quite the opposite..if you look at their statistics for number of applications to number of interviews to number of acceptances you'd be surprised!! So all in all I agree there are a lot of myths about rfums but in my opinion its an excellent school..and now they are working to get even better...
ps: My class's avg on usmle step 1 was in the 220's which is really high average for an entire class (class of 2008)....our match list has already been mentioned and also the fact that we don't have our own hospital works b/c we have all these contracts w/ the advocate system..and cook county that we get a very diverse set of exposure and for fourth year we have the freedom to go anywhere in the country for our electives...it couldn't get any better than that..especially for those out of state applicants...!
 
With respect to the first question...it is true that rfu teaches for usmle...but what do u need to learn for the usmle: BASIC SCIENCES...what do other schools teach you during first two years: BASIC SCIENCES and what do you need to have a strong foundation in to become a good physician: BASIC SCIENCES...so the way I see it...the better you are taught in USMLE content...the better diagnosticians(not physicians necessarily) u're going to be..now is that all you need...NO...there are other things like compassion, farsightedness, and most importantly common sense...i don't think any school has mastered the art of educating students about those values..they are more intrinsic and vary from person to person...so I think if you look at your first two years atleast...any school that preps u well for usmle should be on the top of your list since thats what is required of you and of the process during the first two years....once u are past that ur school per say will not have so much input in the overall making of your medicine career..rather it will be the attendings/residents you work w/ and the amount of work you put in yourself.

The second comment: I think your counsellor may have been talking about the "Applied Physiology, AP" program at rfums that basically accepts about 60-70 +/- 15 students who take the same courses as medical students except for anatomy and histology during the first year. At the end of first year if you maintain a certain grade point average and get nothing lower than a B then you are guaranteed a spot in the next year's first year class and here is the best part: you don't have to repeat the classes u already took so u have this really cush year w/ just anatomy and histology for the first two quarters and then ethics for the last quarter!...downside you pay the extra one year tuition...so if there is any truth to rfums accepting anyone willing to apply...it would be for the AP program..and that too i'm not sure about...however, for M.D. its quite the opposite..if you look at their statistics for number of applications to number of interviews to number of acceptances you'd be surprised!! So all in all I agree there are a lot of myths about rfums but in my opinion its an excellent school..and now they are working to get even better...
ps: My class's avg on usmle step 1 was in the 220's which is really high average for an entire class (class of 2008)....our match list has already been mentioned and also the fact that we don't have our own hospital works b/c we have all these contracts w/ the advocate system..and cook county that we get a very diverse set of exposure and for fourth year we have the freedom to go anywhere in the country for our electives...it couldn't get any better than that..especially for those out of state applicants...!


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I could not have said that better myself, 'ralhtar'. In addition, let me add that the AP program has officially been abolished from CMS. It has been replaced by the new BMS program, which, unlike the AP program, will give you the degree regardless of whether or not you are accepted. However, there is no guaranteed acceptance given a minimum GPA as there was for the AP program, so the number accepted from that pool could be expected to drop. Then again, this is the first year of the program, so nobody is really sure exactly how it is going to work. I guess only time will tell.
 
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I could not have said that better myself, 'ralhtar'. In addition, let me add that the AP program has officially been abolished from CMS. It has been replaced by the new BMS program, which, unlike the AP program, will give you the degree regardless of whether or not you are accepted. However, there is no guaranteed acceptance given a minimum GPA as there was for the AP program, so the number accepted from that pool could be expected to drop. Then again, this is the first year of the program, so nobody is really sure exactly how it is going to work. I guess only time will tell.


Hey Praz, didn't know you were a fellow SDN'er....if you haven't recognized 'ralhtar' already then think back to good ol' IIT emails!! Congrats on finishing midterms I hope second year is going well🙂
 
Hey Praz, didn't know you were a fellow SDN'er....if you haven't recognized 'ralhtar' already then think back to good ol' IIT emails!! Congrats on finishing midterms I hope second year is going well🙂

Hehe, of course I recognize you! 😀 Second year is brutal, Im waiting to be where you are right now... Hope youre having fun downtown while not buried in a million texts!


For all those non-RFUers, M2s have no more midterms after first quarter so that we have extra time to study for exams. Our third quarter finals are cumulative over the whole year to help us study for boards. I guess it forces us to relearn all the important stuff. After those finals get done, we have about 5 weeks to take Step 1 before we have to come back for Clinical Skills preparation. This means that the first half of the year isnt so bad, but starting January until June, its 6 months of all out studying.
 
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