surgery in detroit or chicago?

[autechre]

how competitive are the surgery programs in detroit and chicago? i know northwestern is up there. i didn't even bother applying there. same with univ. of michigan. what about henry ford, or providence? anyone have any ideas? i failed step one once, so i know my chances of getting top level programs are pretty much done. but my second score turned out ok. any advice?

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[samsoccer7]

I'm actually interested in the same question, except for Neurosurgery rather than Gen. Surg. Anybody know? I'm from the midwest, went to U of Mich undergrad, lots of family and friends in Chicago, yada yada yada... Any ideas?

Henry Ford
U of Mich
Wayne State
U of Chicago (malignant?)
Northwestern
U of Illinois-Chicago
Loyola

Also adding U of Wisconsin and Med Coll. of Wisc.

 

[ddmo]

Have you considered Royal Oak Beaumont, they are ranked very highly as a hopital.

 

[samsoccer7]

^bump

Anybody have any input here?

 

[Minimalist M]

For general surgery, none of this applies, I'm commenting on ly on neurosurgery programs.

University of Michigan is Julian Hoff's program, top ten, very competitive, easily one of the best programs in the country. Like UCSF, Brigham, Hopkins, Barrows.

University of Chicago is R Loch MacDonald's program, also top notch, very competitive to get into, definitely a first tier program, along the line of Columbia, Yale, U Florida, Seattle.

Loyola, another excellent program, high second tier. Must be top of your class and lots of research! Thomas Origitano really revamped their research effort, creating a spinal injury lab from scratch. Along the lines of Stanford, UCLA, NYU, Mass General.

Northwestern, also high second tier, much like Loyola. An excellent regional referral center. HH Batjer is the chair of AANS/CNS section of cerebrovascular surgery and thus attracts many well qualified applicants from around the country.

UI Chicago, Wayne State, Henry Ford, all three are good third tier programs. Local referal centers. Wayne State is very research oriented if memory serves me correctly.

Med College of Wisconsin and U of Wisconsin...don't know much about them.

 

[samsoccer7]

Where does Rush U. in Chi-town fit in? I think I left that off the list.

 

[Minimalist M]

Squeeze Rush into the Loyola/Northwestern crowd.

 

[Carbon Klein]

Rush is definitely not in the same league as Northwestern or Loyola. Third tier at best.

 

[hammertime]

I beg to differ. Rush may not have the brand name that Northwestern packs along with it, but the surgical experience is second to none. There is no comparing the VA surgical experience to the Cook County experience the Rush resident's receive. Each program (Rush, Loyola, and NU) has their strengths and weaknesses but I would not put Rush third tier or NU in the 1st. And one of it's biggest selling points is that I've never met an unhappy Rush resident and I can't say that about other places...

 

[Carbon Klein]

You realize that we are discussing neurosurgery programs and not general surgery programs, right? Rush Neurosurgery is nowhere near the level of Loyola or Northwestern. Rush is Loyola's baby brother at Cook County and UIC's smaller neighbor by geography. Don't get me wrong, it's a good program, but it's not the best in the area by any means.

 

[veeer]

Watch out for U Chicago...purported to be EXTREMELY MALIGNANT, loosing ground in the neurosurg world and might be going belly up.

 

[jashanley]

Originally posted by hammertime
And one of it's biggest selling points is that I've never met an unhappy Rush resident and I can't say that about other places...

I have, he switched out of surgery and into EM.
He said Rush was punishing at times. I will not say more because I am not a resident there. You will find miserable residents everywhere it is just a part of the medical field.

 

[charles12]

Two residents in the G Surg program at the U of Chicago told me the other day they are planning on transferring out. I don't think they've told many people.... The program is breaking down.

 

[athena21]

UI-Chicago Neurosurgery is actually ranked in the top 20...

 

[samsoccer7]

Does it really matter where it's ranked if it's malignant? Also, where does that ranking come from? US News best Neurology/Neurosurgery departments?

I think it's funny with medical schools too how they "rank" the schools, but it's all about research money anyway, and that, as we can all attest to, has very little to do with ability to teach.