Southern Illinois University vs. U of I (probably rockford or peoria)

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ballsbob

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First of all, Southern Illinois University or University of Illinois??
This late in the game, I probably won't be able to attend U of I Chicago, so I will have to choose between the Rockford and Peoria campuses. Everything I have heard about Rockford is that it is more geared towards family practice, internal med, and pediatrics.... I'm sure that compared to Chicago, the clinical years won't be as good at the other 2 campuses, but from what I understand, step scores and match results doesn't vary much from campus to campus. So basically what I am asking is should I choose SIU or U of I peoria?? ( I am assuming that the curriculum is the same at all U of I campuses... but you know what assumptions do!)

Any imput would be greatly appreciated!!!
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ballsbob said:
First of all, Southern Illinois University or University of Illinois??
This late in the game, I probably won't be able to attend U of I Chicago, so I will have to choose between the Rockford and Peoria campuses. Everything I have heard about Rockford is that it is more geared towards family practice, internal med, and pediatrics.... I'm sure that compared to Chicago, the clinical years won't be as good at the other 2 campuses, but from what I understand, step scores and match results doesn't vary much from campus to campus. So basically what I am asking is should I choose SIU or U of I peoria?? ( I am assuming that the curriculum is the same at all U of I campuses... but you know what assumptions do!)

Any imput would be greatly appreciated!!!
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Hello,

I attend UIC-Chicago, and was accepted by a few other schools in IL, including SIU. If you are looking to match well, you should most certainly go to UIC. The students at Peoria and Rockford match to a wide variety of residency programs, and I have a few friends at the Rockford campus and they are doing very well. SIU is oriented towards primary care geared at serving rural communities. If that is your focus, then choose SIU. However, if you are potentially interested in other fields, a larger number of students from UIC match into those programs.

Forcefield
 
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I really appreciate your help!
 
Hello ballsbob,

I will be going to SIU in the fall. I picked SIU over chicago schools mostly because of the area (i'm from springfield), the small class size, pbl curriculum, price (tuition comparable but cost of living will be much cheaper), and its strong match list.

out of 71 students:

5 General Surgery
4 Ortho
3 Plastics
2 Anesthesia
2 Urology
2 Optho
1 Derm
1 Radiology

Not to bad for a tiny class 😳

True they encourage primary care, but you have great exposure to the specialties here. You will get a solid education at either institution. Just thought i'd throw in a vote for SIU 👍 . Good luck!
 
idandps said:
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I would tend to agree, but such a bold claim requires substantiation.
 
aus1ander said:
I just graduated from UI-Rockford. I can safely say that almost everybody in my class enjoyed Rockford and the clinical experience here. While it is not Chicago, and you won't get all of the variety you might see in a big city, there are still ~250,000 people in Winnebago County and 3 large hospitals in Rockford where we rotate. We also have a FP continuity clinic, which is rare in medical school. With the exception of OB, there are no residents so you work directly with attendings. This also means that you are treated like an intern on most rotations, are first-assist on many surgeries, and get decent autonomy in FP clinic. We have a small class size, so you get to know everyone really well. You also get to spend a year down at UIUC for M1, which is a lot of fun.

I matched at Mayo for IM. Everyone doing IM from Rockford is planning to go into a subspeciality and is going to a bigname program--BID, WashU, UWash, UChicago... Yes we are primary care oriented (a lot of people do go into FP and rural medicine), but over the years, we have had people match in whatever they wanted--Derm, Urology, Anesthesia, Ortho, Neurosurg, Psych, Med/Peds, Rads, etc. Two of my classmates are going to MGH for residencies. The bottomline is that it doesn't really matter what campus of the U-I system you end up at, its what you do during those 4 years that determines where you can go for residency.
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sounds a lot like what i've said in the past... glad to see someone else defending the awesomeness of the rock. d=) people who think the clinicals are bad compared to chicago really need to realize the benefit of m3 = sub-i's.

good luck in rochester! errol gave a good speech, laryngitis and all; but lipsky gave the same speech last year. hehe.

-t,md
 
Ah yes, I had this very same debate not all that long ago. I ended up choosing SIU and couldn't be happier.

Honestly, I don't think you can go wrong with either school. SIU students tend to do VERY well in the match, so don't listen to people who don't know what their talking about. And, SIU is very well known for having the happiest (least stressed) students in the country. I've never heard that said about UIC.

SIU is problem based learning, UIC is hardcore lecture...If you've never done PBL, you might not know what to expect. In the end, I've found that alot of people find it difficult to adjust to PBL at first but end up liking it way more. But, if you can't live without lectures, then maybe you stick with UIC.

Cost wise, SIU is cheaper. UIC is relatively cheap as well. But, if you can get a scholarship to one of them then the cost factor may be negated.

SIU starts the students into clinical training during the first year. Because of this, residencies know SIU students are ahead of most schools clinically. As a matter of fact, I've heard that SIU was the only school to have a 100% pass rate of the Step 2 CS exam last year. SIU board scores are very good overall, not just clinical. This is what the residencies are really looking at.

UIC doesn't do clinical till the 3rd year. They don't tend to have trouble matching either. I've heard that Peoria has the highest Step 1 scores in Illinois (I'm not sure about that though).

SIU uses S,C,U while UIC uses A,B,C... Some people worry that the S,C,U will hurt them when they apply to residencies. Whereas it used to be a problem, the truth of the matter it is not that big a deal anymore. USMLE is a far better comparison of students' abilities and so it has alot more weight. Your scores during your clinical years are probably going to have alot more weight scholastically than your first two because many residencies won't have your step 2 scores during a good portion of the match process. And, this won't be a problem since SIU gives H,S,C,U (which is only one letter short of A,B,C,D,F.) On the other hand, S,C,U is part of what makes SIU such an enjoyable school. The grading system takes away the inter-student competiveness and promotes cooperation and students teaching/helping each other (which is an important skill to learn for practicing medicine). Gunner's aren't tolerated at SIU (and trust me, if you've ever had to deal with one, you'll realize how important this is).

UIC Peoria vs Rockford. I've heard alot of great things about both of them. People who've attended one or the other are going to obviously be impartial. I'd check them both out before making a decision. Going to Rockford by no means limits you to primary care any more than going to Harvard would limit you to Research. It's going to depend more on how well you work within the schools curriculum.

Anyway, good luck in your decision.
 
NEATOMD said:
Ah yes, I had this very same debate not all that long ago. I ended up choosing SIU and couldn't be happier.

Honestly, I don't think you can go wrong with either school. SIU students tend to do VERY well in the match, so don't listen to people who don't know what their talking about. And, SIU is very well known for having the happiest (least stressed) students in the country. I've never heard that said about UIC.

SIU is problem based learning, UIC is hardcore lecture...If you've never done PBL, you might not know what to expect. In the end, I've found that alot of people find it difficult to adjust to PBL at first but end up liking it way more. But, if you can't live without lectures, then maybe you stick with UIC.

Cost wise, SIU is cheaper. UIC is relatively cheap as well. But, if you can get a scholarship to one of them then the cost factor may be negated.

SIU starts the students into clinical training during the first year. Because of this, residencies know SIU students are ahead of most schools clinically. As a matter of fact, I've heard that SIU was the only school to have a 100% pass rate of the Step 2 CS exam last year. SIU board scores are very good overall, not just clinical. This is what the residencies are really looking at.

UIC doesn't do clinical till the 3rd year. They don't tend to have trouble matching either. I've heard that Peoria has the highest Step 1 scores in Illinois (I'm not sure about that though).

SIU uses S,C,U while UIC uses A,B,C... Some people worry that the S,C,U will hurt them when they apply to residencies. Whereas it used to be a problem, the truth of the matter it is not that big a deal anymore. USMLE is a far better comparison of students' abilities and so it has alot more weight. Your scores during your clinical years are probably going to have alot more weight scholastically than your first two because many residencies won't have your step 2 scores during a good portion of the match process. And, this won't be a problem since SIU gives H,S,C,U (which is only one letter short of A,B,C,D,F.) On the other hand, S,C,U is part of what makes SIU such an enjoyable school. The grading system takes away the inter-student competiveness and promotes cooperation and students teaching/helping each other (which is an important skill to learn for practicing medicine). Gunner's aren't tolerated at SIU (and trust me, if you've ever had to deal with one, you'll realize how important this is).

UIC Peoria vs Rockford. I've heard alot of great things about both of them. People who've attended one or the other are going to obviously be impartial. I'd check them both out before making a decision. Going to Rockford by no means limits you to primary care any more than going to Harvard would limit you to Research. It's going to depend more on how well you work within the schools curriculum.

Anyway, good luck in your decision.
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I'm from Springfield and am very well aware of how students as a whole perform at SIU. I also have a lot of friends who attended and are currently attending SIU. I don't know how you're defining their match list, but students from SIU as a whole don't match nearly as well in terms of a wide variety of programs that are "top notch" as students from the other IL schools.

In addition, what is this with the A, B, C, at UIC? I attend UIC-Chicago, so unless you're referring to Peoria or Rockford, whose grades I don't know about, UIC does not use an A, B, C grading system.
 
ForceField said:
I'm from Springfield and am very well aware of how students as a whole perform at SIU. I also have a lot of friends who attended and are currently attending SIU. I don't know how you're defining their match list, but students from SIU as a whole don't match nearly as well in terms of a wide variety of programs that are "top notch" as students from the other IL schools.

In addition, what is this with the A, B, C, at UIC? I attend UIC-Chicago, so unless you're referring to Peoria or Rockford, whose grades I don't know about, UIC does not use an A, B, C grading system.
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Are you just trying to pick a fight? Do you feel like you have to tear down SIU to feel adequate? Are you that insecure about yourself? Grow up.

I'm not sure where you get your match info about SIU, but you might want to check your sources. SIU's stats are very good when you consider that they traditionally have lower entrance statistics and graduate students with higher than average statistics. Something about the program must work.

Maybe UIC doesn't use ABC, it's what I thought they had said when I was in Chambana checking the place out.

And saying, "a larger number of students from UIC match into those (non-primary care) programs" isn't saying alot. There's nearly 4 times as many students at UIC... If they aren't getting a "larger number" of grads into higher tier residencies, that'd be a real problem.
 
I was actually accepted for this upcoming fall class to SIU. Needless to say like any other medical student I am very excited. I actually have had my eye on SIU since before my AMCAS was submitted. The two biggest reasons I chose the school were because A) I feel that the PBL system will cause me the retain what I learn a lot better then the lecture system (I know that the switch will be a difficult one but also believe that the benefits of remembering material that literally as the potential to be life saving, far outways the difficulty of the switch.) In short, I think PBL will make ME a better MD than had I taken a lecture system where I would primarily be concerned with remembering the slides for the test. And B) From what I understand this school is EXTREMELY clinical. I am about 95% sure that I dont want to have a career in research (this isn't a ignorant statment, I've performed two years of undergraduate research successfully). That being said I still plan to take advantage of research opportunities that are available at SIU because again, I think its going to make me that much better at my job. I was told during a lunch/interview that you learn the majority of clinical exams by the end of your first year, and learn to take histories very early on. I know that this is a program that will continue to keep my interest.

To be honest, I was worried about how residency programs viewed the honors/pass/fail system (or whichever variation it is) but I really thank the previous poster for enlightning me on this. I too, was admitted to both programs. I even received a small scholorship from UIC because my father works at UIUC so SIU only ended up being slightly cheaper than UIC. In the end I chose SIU. Their really are very few times in my life where I have been this excited to move onto the next step.
 
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NEATOMD said:
Are you just trying to pick a fight? Do you feel like you have to tear down SIU to feel adequate? Are you that insecure about yourself? Grow up.

I'm not sure where you get your match info about SIU, but you might want to check your sources. SIU's stats are very good when you consider that they traditionally have lower entrance statistics and graduate students with higher than average statistics. Something about the program must work.

Maybe UIC doesn't use ABC, it's what I thought they had said when I was in Chambana checking the place out.

And saying, "a larger number of students from UIC match into those (non-primary care) programs" isn't saying alot. There's nearly 4 times as many students at UIC... If they aren't getting a "larger number" of grads into higher tier residencies, that'd be a real problem.
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No not insecure at all. Check SIU's match list for yourself and compare, but good luck finding their matchlist, as they don't publish it. They just say "2% of our students matched in Anesthesia, 15% in Family Practice, etc." They never reveal anything about the programs their students matched in.

In addition, I said "other IL schools," not UIC... compare SIU with any other IL medical school, except for Midwestern. I'm not poking fun, I'm stating facts. If you don't want to accept them, that's your insecurity and you can accept your little theories of rationalization to make yourself feel better.
 
ForceField said:
No not insecure at all. Check SIU's match list for yourself and compare, but good luck finding their matchlist, as they don't publish it. They just say "2% of our students matched in Anesthesia, 15% in Family Practice, etc." They never reveal anything about the programs their students matched in.

In addition, I said "other IL schools," not UIC... compare SIU with any other IL medical school, except for Midwestern. I'm not poking fun, I'm stating facts. If you don't want to accept them, that's your insecurity and you can accept your little theories of rationalization to make yourself feel better.
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If you would have been paying more attention, you would have noticed that I was quoting your first post.

While you're "stating the facts", I noticed you've yet to post a link containing such facts. Where are UIC's match statistics (or any other schools for that matter) to back up your claims? You might want to post some data before claiming you're stating facts. Otherwise, it appears as though you're the one with something to hide. Oh, and make sure your stats include the EVERYTHING about the programs the students matched into. You woudn't want to waste people's time... and you wouldn't want me to be able to claim that, UIC "never reveal anything about the programs their students matched in." would you? The info is out there for both schools if you really want it. It just may not be published online though.

Your "facts" are lacking in stats so just admit they're your opinions and lets move on.

Let me reiterate, they are both good schools, SIU was the better choice for me. Choose whichever one you feel will fit you the best.
 
NEATOMD said:
If you would have been paying more attention, you would have noticed that I was quoting your first post.

While you're "stating the facts", I noticed you've yet to post a link containing such facts. Where are UIC's match statistics (or any other schools for that matter) to back up your claims? You might want to post some data before claiming you're stating facts. Otherwise, it appears as though you're the one with something to hide. Oh, and make sure your stats include the EVERYTHING about the programs the students matched into. You woudn't want to waste people's time... and you wouldn't want me to be able to claim that, UIC "never reveal anything about the programs their students matched in." would you? The info is out there for both schools if you really want it. It just may not be published online though.

Your "facts" are lacking in stats so just admit they're your opinions and lets move on.

Let me reiterate, they are both good schools, SIU was the better choice for me. Choose whichever one you feel will fit you the best.
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The match list is right here.

http://www.uic.edu/depts/mcam/osa/careers/MatchData/UIC_match_history.htm

Clearly, you're not currently in medical school and lack the maturity to understand any of the points I made earlier.

Now quit wasting my time.
 
ForceField said:
The match list is right here.

http://www.uic.edu/depts/mcam/osa/careers/MatchData/UIC_match_history.htm

Clearly, you're not currently in medical school and lack the maturity to understand any of the points I made earlier.

Now quit wasting my time.
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🙄 Classic...
Funny you should mention maturity. The "you're not really a med student or else you'd agree with me" is about as immature as it gets on this forum...

Do you even pay attention to the threads you post on? That list isn't an accurate gauge of how UIC does as a whole as it only appears to include UIC-chicago which wasn't in question for this thread in the first place. So, the stats aren't too relevant to this thread. They also appear to have attempted to inflate their results by listing students multiple times with certain programs.

Where are the rest of the Illinois school statistics?

And, you're wasting your own time, I'm not forcing you to post or read anything.

-Keep it up, you're making UIC look great!
 
ORBITAL BEBOP: Oh I just can't WAIT for you to be my doctor! I just love bitterly sarcastic, insecure, socially inept physicians. Good luck in your residency interviews when you're competing with the 'FP Barn' docs from SIU. BTW, according to the AAMC Cirriculum Directory 87 schools utilize a 2-3 interval grading system during pre-clinical years. Included in those schools are Harvard, UCLA, and Wash U. So what's your point about 'smiley faces'? Grades are grades, whether they are pass/fail, or ABC. Get over yourself.
 
Oh Hannibal Lector, I'm sure that PSYCH residency was soooo competitive to land. You may have even beat out, god forbid, a DO for your slot. Settle down or I'll sick Tom Cruise on your a$$. All joking aside I couldn't give two ****s about what you think of my medical school.

If you went to a state school (that wasnt in cali) and want to talk about competition, blow me. If you went to a private school, you paid way too much for the SAME education I am getting.

Point is if you graduate from any LCME-accredited school, and do well, you can go into anything you want. Enough of the pissing contests. Can't we all just get along? :laugh:
 
ORBITAL BEBOP said:
I beat out everyone from your school that's for sure and I know that for a fact. And you should not bash psych. If I had said I was in IM, you still would have made the same comment (sans Cruise). If you dont give a crap what I thing about your school, why are you bashing my residency? And now you are making it a cost issue? Anyone pick their school based on cost solely?

And sure you can get anything you want. You keep telling yourself that! Seen a match list recently where the majority of the subspecialty grads didnt stay at SIU or within a 100 mile radius??
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Okay, maybe you did. Lets see, out of SIU's 71 students in the last class 1 went into psych hmm, I'm guessing he was the only one interested in it --and he matched. And yes i would have said the same thing if you claimed to be in IM. We are discussing COMPETITIVE residencies. Last time I looked IM and psych spots were a dime a dozen and are easily accessible to most overseas grads.

I just gave cost as an example, it wasnt my sole reason. But really, whats wrong with factoring cost into the decision? I think its a pretty legit factor. Any way to reduce debt, especially if you have undergrad debt too, is beneficial.

I'll find a match list by program and get back to you on the specifics, but i know we have matched at some pretty decent spots for the subspecialties. Those lists do exist, I saw one from last year. I seem to remember ortho somewhere in chicago, derm at mizzou, gen surg at NYMC, optho at slu..that isnt all inclusive, can't remember them all but it wasnt too shabby. Remember that we have a class of 70-75 students...so OBVIOUSLY there will be less of the super competitive matches relative to a school with an enrollment of 300 (u of I).

By "staying within 100 mile radius" I'm guessing youre being ignorant and are saying "staying the midwest" because there are few other residencies outside of FP within 100 miles of Springfield. If thats the case then you may be right, as some go to chicago and other major cities in the midwest. SLU and WashU are slightly less than 100 miles, but i'm sure you think those are worthless places too.

Since you seem to be one high and mighty individual, where did you go to school and where is this ubercompetitive psych residency of yours?

P.s. I dont care what dr. resch thinks. I will pass his rotation, maybe even honor it. Are you trying to scare me or something?
 
Orbital: Your a self absorbed dick. Get over yourself
 
Musashi450 said:
Orbital: Your a self absorbed dick. Get over yourself
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Orbital is a girl, so unless girls have d$@*s, then perhaps you should study some anatomy. And maybe you should go back to junior high, English class, and learn your contractions, specifically the difference between your and you're.

Anyways, I have never posted in SDN, but this thread is simply ridiculous.

NeatoMosquito seems to have misinterpreted what another person said about the differences between UIC and SIU.

Yes, in general students from UIC will match into better programs than students from SIU. There are exceptions, there are always a handful of students from every school that do exceedingly well, and yes, there are probably a few students every year from SIU who probably do very well, but the general trends will stay the same.

The same argument could be applied for students from UIC vs. Northwestern. Students from NUMS in general will match into a wider/better/more competitive set of programs around the nation than students from UIC will.

If the students from SIU don't believe this, then you're in for a rude awakening. SIU was created to serve rural communities in Illinois for primary care. Maybe that's why SIU receives a ranking in the U.S. News and World Report under the Primary Care Rankings. UIC is ranked under the research rankings, while SIU isn't even top 80, from what I remember.

And last but certainly not least, the average GPAs and MCATs of students entering SIU is the lowest of all 7 M.D. schools in Illinois, so if you want to pretend that somehow students magically transform into geniuses and that every student at SIU somehow aces boards and outdoes students from more competitive med schools, that's your fantasy.

This is my first and last post on this thread. Good bye.
 
I apologize for the last comment. In all honesty I won't argue the fact that UIC has better students coming in (according to the numbers at least) that’s a fact. However who is to say the program is better or worse then? Could it be because the individuals entering such schools have naturally performed better? Whatever the case, the condescending tone that orbital took in his last couple posts was truly uncalled for (which I attempted to echo with my comment, again uncalled for). Need I remind everyone the purpose of this thread, to help assist a kid with his choice of medical school. If someone wants to open a new thread discussing residency placement then they should do so. I do not follow the typical SIU numbers and was accepted to 5 medical schools. I still chose SIU for my own reasons and that makes it better than UIC FOR ME. Part of it being the learning style, part of it being the clinical emphasis, and part of it being the cost. Again I also think people are forgetting that all of this is only what you put into it. I really truly believe that I can be THE BEST doctor coming from SIU if I study and prepare like someone trying to be the best doctor should. In the end WE are the ones primarily responsible for our medical education, not a program.

ballsbob: Choose a program that makes you happy and that you feel you'll fit into. If we work hard to get into a good residency, we'll get into a good residency, end of story.
 
SIU SOM 2006 Match List that I found online:

Pediatrics:
Advocate Lutheran General Hospital, Park Ridge, IL
Virginia Commonwealth University Health Systems, Richmond, VA
Stanford University Programs, Stanford, CA
Advocate Christ Medical Center, Oak Lawn, IL
University of Arkansas, Little Rock, AR
SIU School of Medicine and Aff. Hospitals, Springfield, IL
Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, MD
Medical College of Georgia Augusta, GA
University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City, IA


Family Practice:
University of Illinois, Methodist Medical Center, Peoria, IL
University of Illinois, Methodist Medical Center, Peoria, IL
University of California at San Diego, CA
SIU School of Medicine, Decatur, IL
University of Illinois, St. Francis Medical Center, Peoria, IL
Advocate Lutheran General Hosp. Park Ridge, IL
SIU School of Medicine and Aff. Hosp., Springfield, IL
Spripps Mercy Hospital, Chula Vista, CA
Greenville Hospital System, Greenville, SC
University of Illinois Methodist Medical Center, Peoria, IL
Advocate Lutheran General Hospital, Park Ridge, IL
Quad Cities Genesis, Davenport, IA
Eisenhower Army Medical Center, Ft. Gordon, GA
SIU School of Medicine, Carbondale, IL
St. Louis University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO
SIU School of Medicine and Aff. Hospitals, Springfield, IL

General Surgery:
Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, VA
Brookdale Hospital, Brooklyn, NY
University of Iowa Hospitals, Iowa City, IA
Staten Island University Hospital, Staten Island, NY

Internal Medicine:
University of Michigan Hospital, Ann Arbor, MI
Aurora health Care/ASMC, Milwaukee, WI
SIU School of Medicine and Aff. Hosp., Springfield, IL
SIU School of Medicine and Aff. Hosp., Springfield, IL
SIU School of Medicine and Aff. Hosp., Springfield, IL
St. Louis University School of Med., St. Louis, MO
St. Vincent Hospital Center, Indianapolis, IN
Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN
University of Arkansas, Little Rock, AR
University of Illinois College of Medicine, Chicago, IL

Obstetrics-Gynecology:
Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA
Barnes-Jewish Hospital, St. Louis, MO

Emergency Medicine:
Pitt County Mem. Hosp./Brody SOM, Greenville, NC
Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN
University of Illinois, College of Medicine, Chicago, IL
University of Illinois St. Francis Med. Center, Peoria, IL
Resurrection Medical Center, Chicago, IL
Barnes-Jewish Hospital, St. Louis MO
Ohio State University Medical Center, Columbus, OH
University of Florida HSC, Jacksonville, FL

Ophthalmology:
Ohio State Univ. Med. Center, Col. OH
St. Louis Univ. St. Louis, MO.

Dermatology:
Baylor Colloge of Med. Houston, TX

Pediatric Medicine:
Indiana Univ. School of Med. Indianapolis, IN

Orthopaedic Surgery:
SIU School of Medicine and Aff. Hosp. Springfield, IL
Grand Rapids Medical Ed, Grand Rapids, MI

Anesthesiology:
Barnes-Jewish Hospital, St. Louis, MO
Barnes-Jewish Hospital, St. Louis, MO

Psychiatry:
Hartford Hospital, Hartford, CT

Urology/Prelim. Surgery:
University of Illinois College of Med., Chicago, IL
SIU School of Med. and Aff. Hospitals, Springfield, IL

Plastic Surgery:
Ohio State University Medical Center, Columbus, OH
St. Louis University, School of Med. St. Louis MO
SIU School of Medicine and Aff. Hospitals, Springfield, IL

Pathology:
University of Tennessee, College of Medicine, Memphis TN

Radiology:
Ohio State University, Medical Center, Columbus, OH

Prelim. Medicine:
St. Louis University, School of Med. St. Louis, MO

Prelim. Surgery:
Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL

-Looks like the students who wanted to get away from family medicine and Springfield didn't have any trouble. Statistically, only a bit more than 15% will complete their residencies in Springfield. Only 20% will be going into family practice.

ORBITAL BEBOP said:
Students are extremely happy in the kicking towns of Carbondale and Springfield, especially since they know they can't even match in a specialty field unless it is at SIU. Ignorance is bliss and explains part of the students' happiness.
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-Also note that, as usual, most of the residencies for specialty fields will NOT be completed in Springfield (and that none will be completed in Carbondale). The rest of her commentary is equally as accurate.
 
Diamond420 said:
Orbital is a girl, so unless girls have d$@*s, then perhaps you should study some anatomy. And maybe you should go back to junior high, English class, and learn your contractions, specifically the difference between your and you're.

Anyways, I have never posted in SDN, but this thread is simply ridiculous.

NeatoMosquito seems to have misinterpreted what another person said about the differences between UIC and SIU.

Yes, in general students from UIC will match into better programs than students from SIU. There are exceptions, there are always a handful of students from every school that do exceedingly well, and yes, there are probably a few students every year from SIU who probably do very well, but the general trends will stay the same.

The same argument could be applied for students from UIC vs. Northwestern. Students from NUMS in general will match into a wider/better/more competitive set of programs around the nation than students from UIC will.

If the students from SIU don't believe this, then you're in for a rude awakening. SIU was created to serve rural communities in Illinois for primary care. Maybe that's why SIU receives a ranking in the U.S. News and World Report under the Primary Care Rankings. UIC is ranked under the research rankings, while SIU isn't even top 80, from what I remember.

And last but certainly not least, the average GPAs and MCATs of students entering SIU is the lowest of all 7 M.D. schools in Illinois, so if you want to pretend that somehow students magically transform into geniuses and that every student at SIU somehow aces boards and outdoes students from more competitive med schools, that's your fantasy.

This is my first and last post on this thread. Good bye.
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So, did Orbital talk you into coming on this thread to give an English lesson? Because, if so, I'd like to take this opportunity to point out that your grammar is less than optimal as well (as is Orbital's (and mine), but who really cares?).

I'm not quite sure I understand what's going on here. Is it really true that the best thing you have to do with your time is to randomly sign up for an account on some web site you've never been to just to mock people you've never met, hand out grammar and anatomy lessons, and bash some random medical school? If so, I legitimately feel sorry for you.

SIU students (such as myself) do know and understand that a higher percentage of NUMS will place into non-primary care specialties. They also realize that a greater percentage of students who intend to become primary care physicians are more likely to attend SIU in the first place (Because this is who SIU recruits most often). One can also reason that, this fact does not necessarily mean that the SIU students who plan to work in other fields have any more difficult a time getting a good residency than those who attend NUMS. The true information you would need to make such an evaluation would be comparative board scores, % of students who were matched in their top 3, etc.

It is also faulty logic (that's sort of an understatement!) to believe that any student at SIU is there simply because he or she was not accepted at any other school. Personally, in my undergrad days, I preferred UIC-COM to SIU (That's right! I even preferred UIC to other "higher rank" med schools (and still do)). It turned out that I was actually accepted to both (and other programs as well), but ended up deciding that SIU was the best fit for myself after visiting each school. It was a hard decision, but I know I made the right choice for myself after having been in the program. At this point, I am not planning to be a primary care physician. Further, I am not even slightly worried about my chances of getting a good residency in a non-primary care field. As a side note, because I know UIC-COM students and faculty, graduated from UIUC, and was even planning on attending it for so long, I have a pretty descent understanding of the differences between SIU and UIC.

Further, I never claimed that SIU students "magically transform into geniuses and that every student at SIU somehow aces boards." I did state that SIU has lower than average entrance statistics and higher than average board scores, which is true. Also, I never said SIU students get any more intelligent or that EVERY SIU student aces his or her boards. I only said that the curriculum works very well as is evidenced by consistently higher than average board scores.

I would also like to point out that because LCME regulates medical schools so strictly, the quality of medical eduction at each institution is going to be at a very similar high standard. If they fail to maintain those standards, they have accreditation problems (and even highly ranked schools occasionally have accreditation issues). Going on, because it is so difficult to get into medical school, many qualified applicants are never accepted. The vast majority of medical students are very well qualified (from every school).
 
Im a grave thread digger alright..

its funny to read your viewpoints so many years later!
 
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Random thread! Really glad I'm at SIU and not UICOMP based on my specialty interests!
 
has anything really changed since then regarding the status of these institutions?

booya-attention to detail: that's what separates us from the phoctors.
 
I for one, think alot has changed..
fighting about DO vs MD, IMG vs AMG, and the rankings of the various schools is moot. As the poster said above, the end result is the same...all of these ppl have to past step 1, 2, 3 of their respective schools etc..
while we have been fighting each other over NOTHING...
the nurses and pas and other midlevels have been working TOGETHER..
that is the fight we need to unite on..
 
Ha ain't that the truth! You don't really care about those things until your done with med school however as a whole, physicians have to be some of the most unorganized people compared to nurses, CRNA's, PAs/NPs etc.

As far as SIU, now that I've finished and I'm well into residency I stand 100% by what I said years ago. Med school is about the opportunities that you seek and how hard you try. No one school will make you smarter. They all have the same curriculum. Every student reads the same books. You have to figure out what type of support system you want. SIU had lots of free time for me to study and had supplemental lectures and mini groups which are actually very detail oriented. UofI in the other hand is a very lecture based system. Both are state, both save you lots of money compared to the harvards. Looking back at it, people should instead simply be happy they got into med school and learn to turn off the competitive nature for a couple months after accepted. Just remember that their are plenty of overqualified people who aren't accepted who would gladly snatch your spot given the chance.

In turns of matching, same applies. We had people go to all over in my class. It is all the effort you put it. I ended up doing surgery at an academic institution. Far from the community family medicine programs people think SIU students are stuck going to.
 
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