Rush vs Keck USC

[SilentCavalier]

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Hello all! I am lucky enough to hold acceptances from two great schools. No wrong decisions here, but I want to know your thoughts, as perhaps there's a perspective among you all that I may be missing. Thank you in advance for reading. If it helps, I have a background in emergency medicine and would really enjoy being an EM doc after working in a busy Los Angeles trauma/STEMI/stroke center, but I am keeping an open mind.

Rush Medical College

Pros:

• In Chicago, my hometown and where I eventually want to return to practice, ideally as soon as residency
• Great community service opportunities
• Really great facilities with a brand-new inpatient hospital
• P/F clerkships (might suck for residency programs trying to discern competitiveness though?)
• Connected with Cook County Hospital, which has a great EM residency that I would hope to interview at regardless of where I went to med school, assuming I still want to do EM (big if, I know)
• Similarly, just generally a better chance of interviewing and matching in Chicagoland after networking, though there are always away rotations that I could do if I stay in Los Angeles
• Just barely a little cheaper than Keck

Cons:

• I dread having to move myself, my belongings, and my car all the way across the country to start classes in the first week of July
• There is nobody left from my childhood in Chicago, so I would effectively know nobody
• In-house exams (i.e. not NBME CAS)
• Weird flipped classroom curriculum with many hours of mandatory group problem-based learning in place of lecture
• Not remotely as many research opportunities available in the event that I take interest in a specialty that requires me to join that godforsaken arms race
• Cold as all get-out, which I could probably tolerate as a resident but maybe not while in med school
• No music connections so I would have to start from scratch to get a gig and keep up hobby playing (read on for more context)

Keck School of Medicine of USC

Pros:

• I already live in Los Angeles so the move would be quite easy
• My alma mater from undergrad so I have a lot of friendships I would like to continue to nurture, as well as my girlfriend who will be in Los Angeles completing a masters until the end of M2
• Rotating at LA General would be extremely valuable
• NBME CAS for exams
• Traditional lecture-based curriculum, with some required lectures but not many
• Bountiful research opportunities
• Weather, duh
• I have a very easy and fun side gig as a musician that I would certainly be able to continue while in med school, not a very heavy commitment and would be a huge source of wellness for me

Cons:

• Slightly more expensive
• Lower chance (relative to Rush) of matching back home in Chicago, which I absolutely want to do, but then again, away rotations exist and Keck's training would certainly not keep me from matching in Chicago
• I am unsure how effectively I could network in a theoretical M4 away rotation in Chicago, in a way that levels the playing field for me to match there

TLDR, I don't want to cut my balls off by going somewhere with fewer research opportunities in the event I become interested in a specialty that necessitates research, but I also really want to do residency in Chicago. My gut tells me that Keck will still be a good choice and if I play my cards right and network well on aways, I should have no issue matching back home. Any thoughts?

 

[chilly_md]

Keck will not keep you from going back to Chicago. Particularly if you are pretty confident on EM. If you decide on a more competitive speciality, I don’t think Rush will necessarily help you stay at that point.