UIC/OHSU -- transfer

[MedStudent2004]

I am currently a second year student in medical school at Missouri and have completed USMLE part one. The tuition is rather high for out-of-state students and am therefore thinking of transferring to either OHSU (Oregon) or Univ. of Illinois - Chicago (cost would end up being same). First, after looking on the US News website I saw that UIC is not ranked in the top 50 for research or primary care, but OHSU is #35 and #2 respectively -- is OHSU generally considered a much better school than Chicago and Missouri? Secondly, how important is the reputation of a school when matching -- I have good board scores/GPA, etc. and could possibly match at a great program from Missouri. Does it reflct negatively to transfer? I'm originally from the midwest and don't have as much experience with west coast schools so any insight would be helpful about OHSU specifically as I'm probably going to go there. Thanks again!

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[Acinetobacter]

UIC is a crappy school.

It's only the third best school in Chicago behind U of C and Northwestern. I've heard that the students there are miserable and really hate it. Unless you're an in-state resident, you'll also be paying three times the in-state tution. In addition, UIC just doesn't have a reputation outside of Chicago. I don't think anyone has ever heard of it outside of Illinois. Within the city, UIC has a pretty bad reputation as a second rate med school behind the two mentioned previously.

 

[rad]

uic may have some problems during the pre-clinical years, but that is not a big deal. You will do most of your studying for step I on your own.

The clinical years are as strong as anywhere. There students rotate through places like cook county, christ hospital, the university hospital, the va, small community hospitals etc. The clinical experience you will get at uic is top-notch. The students consistently place into the most competitive residencies out there (go to there site and look at the match list).

UIC is known by all academicians as it is a major research university with a lot of external research funding. They have a large academic medical center with several highly ranked departments in US NEWS.

Chicago is a really nice place to live also.

 

[Acinetobacter]

UIC M4s did relatively well in the match today. UIC has students going to UCSF for ObGyne, Barnes/WashU for several specialties, Baylor for neuro, Hopkins for Ortho, Duke for several specialties, Northwestern for lots of specialties, Michigan for several specialties, UCLA for several, U Washington for several, Harvard for something, etc. In addition, everyone who applied to a competitive early match specialty (i.e. ENT, Ophto, and Urology) matched at one of their top 3 choices.

So, it can be done from UIC. You just have to be more pro-active about your education than if you went to another program.