Rush (no scholarship) vs Loyola (scholarship)

[kirbydoughball]

decision made! rush

Rush Medical College
Pros

• Rotations at Rush Hospital (#2 hospital in Chicago) and guaranteed Stroger Cook County rotations (one of the largest safety-net hospitals in US)
• P/F M1 and M2, Honors/HP/P/F M3 and M4
• No internal rankings
• More name recognition in Chicago (I want to practice in Chi likely)
• Closer to downtown Chicago = more fun!
• Systems based curriculum
• More research funding
• Exam at end of every block (every 3-5 weeks)
• Ranks 58 on residency director scores

Cons

• More expensive → $87,559 per year
• Downtown Chicago living= more expensive, more of a hassle to have a car and drive to visit family, not very safe, and I will likely live more in medical district than the actual city which is just apt buildings and hospitals

Stritch School of Medicine
Pros

• Cheaper: 15k/yr scholarship (60k total) → $79,000 per year
• P/F M1 and M2
• Very familiar with the school. Went to Loyola for undergrad. Have a few friends going to Stritch. Have spoken to more professors here. Feels like I may just have an easier time making connections.
• Would live in suburban Oak Park, which is an environment I will feel more comfortable in (less traffic, less hassle, but still close enough to the city for fun things on weekends, easier for family to get to me/visit family)

Cons

• Internal rankings (30% preclinical and 70% clinical, placed into quartiles)
• Traditional curriculum (makes less sense to me to learn normal state and then abnormal state 1 year later)
• Less research funding
• Exams more often (every 2-3 weeks)
• Ranks 69 on residency director scores
• #6 hospital in Chicago
• Less name recognition in the area

Both

• H/HP/P/F clinical
• Non-NBME exams (professor-written)
• Around 1 hour drive from home
• Very close proximity to their hospitals
• Flipped classroom (recorded lectures and then small group sessions)

Summary: Ultimately, I feel Rush is a better educational opportunity (with no internal rankings, better rotation sites) but Loyola is cheaper and in an environment I like better. Is Rush significantly better than Stritch enough for me to choose a school that’s more expensive and in an environment I don’t prefer? Last thing I want is to pass up a great educational opportunity, the rest I can manage.

Thank you so much in advance

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[m1redsox]

The rank and the cost look like very negligible differences. I would go with your gut. If you would personally prefer Loyola, go for it. I don't think Rush is a big enough name to make any sort of substantial difference over Loyola. I'm honestly not even convinced that a hospital association makes that much of a difference during medical school in terms of quality of education. You're really only in the hospital for 3rd year. The rest of the time it's you at home with anki cards and UWorld. Of course, your hospital matters a bit for residency since you'll spend 80 hrs/week there for 3-7 years, but not med school. Strong connections to strong residency programs in your field of choice as a medical student can help (LORs, research, matching at home), but I'm not that convinced that you will learn substantially more at Rush Medical Center than Loyola.

 

[kirbydoughball]

just gonna chime in and say that rank 55 vs 65 based on PD rankings is a pretty negligible difference. I feel like the major categories are T5/10, T25-30, and anything under that until maybe below 100 is not really that different in terms of prestige or quality of education overall. I would choose Loyola if the ranking is the only thing holding you back.

The rank and the cost look like very negligible differences. I would go with your gut. If you would personally prefer Loyola, go for it. I don't think Rush is a big enough name to make any sort of substantial difference over Loyola. I'm honestly not even convinced that a hospital association makes that much of a difference during medical school in terms of quality of education. You're really only in the hospital for 3rd year. The rest of the time it's you at home with anki cards and UWorld. Of course, your hospital matters a bit for residency since you'll spend 80 hrs/week there for 3-7 years, but not med school. Strong connections to strong residency programs in your field of choice as a medical student can help (LORs, research, matching at home), but I'm not that convinced that you will learn substantially more at Rush Medical Center than Loyola.

thank you so much to both of you for the replies. i agree that in terms of ranking and general opportunities there is not a huge difference between the two. i ended up getting a slightly larger scholarship at Rush so combined with the other pros I feel pretty confident to move forward with Rush. thank you

 

[Max2022]

thank you so much to both of you for the replies. i agree that in terms of ranking and general opportunities there is not a huge difference between the two. i ended up getting a slightly larger scholarship at Rush so combined with the other pros I feel pretty confident to move forward with Rush. thank you

Did you have to ask to match the scholarship
Or they just gave you.

 

[PikminOC]

Rush

 

[kirbydoughball]

Did you have to ask to match the scholarship
Or they just gave you.

i applied for a group of merit scholarships (7-10 available per class) and got one of them. they told me they do not match scholarships.