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deleted850921
This is gonna be a long post, but thanks to anyone that responds. I’m keeping this detailed to potentially help any future accepted students who may be in his position in the future. I’m really fortunate to be where I am but torn on what I'll do next. I'll try to be as thorough as I can but if anyone else wants to, feel free to add on!
I'm really pretty much between UIC (public state school) and Rush (private). Undecided on specialty. I'm going to be aiming as if I were going for something competitive.
Rush Pros:
Rush Cons
UIC Pros
UIC Cons
Both (neutral points):
I'm really pretty much between UIC (public state school) and Rush (private). Undecided on specialty. I'm going to be aiming as if I were going for something competitive.
Rush Pros:
- Excellent clinical training sites at Stroger of Cook County or Rush hospital (literally within walking distance of the school, it was awesome) and potentially chances at doing aways at other hospitals in Chicago. All clerkship sites are at either of the 2 places with the exception of one block/rotation.
- Pass/fail for pre-clinical (clinical is graded the same as UIC) BUT it’s internally ranked into quartiles and the top quartile is further subdivided every 5%. Pre-clinical only accounts for 25% of total ranking.
- Their match list is also pretty good, with competitive matches like 3 ophtho. https://www.rushu.rush.edu/sites/default/files/2020RMCMatchStatistics_web.pdf
- I feel like it has more regional reputation. Top ranked in certain specialties and a lot of people are telling me to go to Rush bc of its local rep in clinical training, covid response, etc.
- High step 2 average at 249. This may go with the whole thing about better clinical training, and it may be relevant if step 2 becomes the new score that ppl care about.
- No undergrad or anything so that may mean more opportunities for me.
Rush Cons
- Flipped classroom? It’s like 6-12 hours of mandatory stuff a week. I know many people online hate flipped classroom but I think I'm the kind of person who could adapt well to any curriculum tbh. I’m not sure this is an actual con, and multiple current friends have said they honestly like the format. Also since step 1 is PF for us then I'm thinking maybe flipped classroom might be helpful for prepping clinical scenarios (aka the type of stuff that might be on step 2).
- One kind of subpoint is that it seems like I’m going to be learning from mores basic science PhDs (except for clinical cases which will be clinicians)
- About 42 mil for research funding according to MSAR, so a little less than UIC BUT it's all in one campus, not 3. So idk if this is a con
- Pass/fail has internal ranking, but MSPE also just gives quartiles (with the top quartile further sliced every 5%).
- Going to be a little more expensive at around a 15k-20k difference (total over 4 years), but this gap could be more if Rush doesn't give me their need-based aid these next few years (assuming the covid situation also affects their need-based funding).
UIC Pros
- It's literally 5-10 min away from Rush lol so my clinical training sites will still be at quality hospitals in UI Health + Stroger.
- True Pass/fail the first 2 years . MSPE reports quartiles though so I’m guessing there’s still internal ranking of some sort (so is it really “true?” Idk). I know more emphasis is put on clinical years and step 1 for AOA and MSPE.
- Apparently stronger in research with research funding at 78 mil according to MSAR (also classified as R1. My interviewer mentioned that but not 100% sure what that implies lol). I know a lot of funding goes to the chicago campus but there’s also an undergrad and a lot of connected schools here.
- They’re implementing a sort of “house” system for our incoming class. It’ll be a bunch of houses (I think 12 or 15ish), each house led by a clinician and has a mix of M1 and M2. This may make it easier to make connections.
- Their Chicago match list strikes me as a bit more impressive than Rush (this may be because there’s like 50 more students at the campus though). A good bit of competitive specialty matches (like 10 ortho in this last class) and good locations. COM Chicago Match Results
UIC Cons
- 190-ish students at Chicago campus, so maybe a little less personal? This may affect me in terms of research opportunities or in clerkship rotations.
- Lack of money to start initiatives. Obviously as a public school the funds may be limited so I’d have to borrow from already existing resources (just something to keep in mind).
- Lower step 2 average at 240 BUT the thing is, these averages are split up across 3 campuses (Chicago, Peoria, Rockford) and I can’t get the data on which campus has the higher step 1/step 2 averages. I’ve heard rumors that Chicago campus doesn’t have the highest average but I can’t confirm them.
- Has an undergrad and multiple other professional schools all at the Chicago campus. This may mean more competition for research or other opportunities.
- It still has about 6-12 hours of mandatory class every week lol, so basically the same as Rush.
Both (neutral points):
- USNWR Ranks are pretty similar (Rush ranks at #58 and UIC at #55) so not much of a difference there. Although Rush was like ranked 68 last year and UIC was 50 so idk if that's a trend I should be looking at? Maybe I'm overthinking that.
- Both are in Chicago, which is where I want to stay in the future as well
- Both have some type of lottery system for clerkships but all hospitals are nearby, so not really a concern
- Both have early clinical training/patient interactions
- Clerkship years are graded the same at UIC/Rush
- Both have about 8-10 weeks of step 1 studying time.
- Rush is the oldest med school in Chicago and I think 1 in 6 IL physicians are trained at UIC so I think connections at both shouldn't be a huge problem.
