- Joined
- Mar 19, 2003
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As this next cycle of applications starts again, there will, no doubt, be questions regarding UIC - Rockford. As an alum, and someone who REALLY didn't want to end up in Rockford, I thought I'd share some observations.
1. There is no question that the match lists generated by Rockford are great. In my class 5 ended up at Mayo (4 in Rochester, 1 in Rad at Jacksonville), last year 4 ended up in Rochester. Not bad for graduating classes of roughly 50! Some of my classmates ended up at Wash U. (OB), Stanford (IM), UCLA (OB), Rainbow Children's (Peds - Duh!), Johns Hopkins (psych), UCSF (Gen. Surg.) and a total of 11 into radiology (that's 11/48, not too shabby). Last year grads went to Harvard (anes), Cleveland Clinic (anes and IM), and UC-Irvine (Gen. Surg.) in addition to Mayo. Bottom line, come match day Rockford graduates do VERY well.
2. (To quote Daiphon, because he is 100% correct) "There are virtually no residents in Rockford. The only residency game in town is an FP residency at a hospital where medical students rarely rotate. What's the significance? Well, this turns your M3 core clerkships into de facto sub-i's.
In other words, 3 days into my 3rd year, I was running a hospital medicine service for a physician who was in his clinic, seeing patients - and running it by myself! Phone orders are great, the doc signs off by phone on the medical student's plan. Similarly when I was on surgery, I was first assist on several cases - first freaking assist! (FF note - I had more than 50 documented first assist procedures by graduation) I didn't have to bypass the fellow, the senior resident, the junior resident, the intern, the off-service rotator, and the M4 rotator... I could actually see everything, and scrubbed on almost every case my attending did. Peds, OB, and Psych were the same thing... boatloads of experience.
(FF Note - As for the "volunteer community faculty", remember that almost all of your time is spent 1 on 1 with attendings. Given the variable teaching that residents provide, these "volunteer" faculty are actually more consistent instructors than those found at most (if not all) "name brand" academic schools.)
Yeah, so you maybe need to read a little more; but the clinical didactics are fantastic... and most of us do very well on the shelf exams and step 2 (so our teaching can't be THAT bad, can it?)"
3. (Again, from Daiphon, but I heartily agree) "You start seeing your own patients in the fall of your 2nd year... this is a whole extra year of getting comfortable talking about histories, doing physicals, and developing diagnostic frameworks. (As part of the University Primary Care Clinics medical students act as physician extenders beginning in M2). Plus, it will help with the USMLE Step 2 CS (Colonic Satyr-ism) immensely."
4. Some other benefits (according to Daiphon) "are that Rockford is the "Most Affordable City in America" (Chicago Tribune, 2003 or 2004), and is 1 hour from 3 great cities - Chicago, Madison, and Milwaukee. Your car doesn't have to pass emissions anymore (so if you have a beater, don't need to replace it)... and it never takes any more than 15 minutes to get anywhere you need to be. Try that in Chicago at 8am on the Kennedy near the junction.
Ultimately, then, if you aren't self-directed and need things spoon fed for you, then Rockford probably won't do you well. But, if you like actually SEEING and TREATING patients (the reason, I hope, you're going into medical school), and want the responsibility and experience... then Rockford'll do you right. Plus, if you're worried about rockford being 100% "primary care" - take a look at the 2004 match list: 9 radiologists, 4 emergency physicians, 4 surgeons, 1 neurosurgeon, 1 ophtho, 1 derm... and most of the IM/Peds group plan to do fellowships."
(FF note: I couldn't have said it better!)
- H
1. There is no question that the match lists generated by Rockford are great. In my class 5 ended up at Mayo (4 in Rochester, 1 in Rad at Jacksonville), last year 4 ended up in Rochester. Not bad for graduating classes of roughly 50! Some of my classmates ended up at Wash U. (OB), Stanford (IM), UCLA (OB), Rainbow Children's (Peds - Duh!), Johns Hopkins (psych), UCSF (Gen. Surg.) and a total of 11 into radiology (that's 11/48, not too shabby). Last year grads went to Harvard (anes), Cleveland Clinic (anes and IM), and UC-Irvine (Gen. Surg.) in addition to Mayo. Bottom line, come match day Rockford graduates do VERY well.
2. (To quote Daiphon, because he is 100% correct) "There are virtually no residents in Rockford. The only residency game in town is an FP residency at a hospital where medical students rarely rotate. What's the significance? Well, this turns your M3 core clerkships into de facto sub-i's.
In other words, 3 days into my 3rd year, I was running a hospital medicine service for a physician who was in his clinic, seeing patients - and running it by myself! Phone orders are great, the doc signs off by phone on the medical student's plan. Similarly when I was on surgery, I was first assist on several cases - first freaking assist! (FF note - I had more than 50 documented first assist procedures by graduation) I didn't have to bypass the fellow, the senior resident, the junior resident, the intern, the off-service rotator, and the M4 rotator... I could actually see everything, and scrubbed on almost every case my attending did. Peds, OB, and Psych were the same thing... boatloads of experience.
(FF Note - As for the "volunteer community faculty", remember that almost all of your time is spent 1 on 1 with attendings. Given the variable teaching that residents provide, these "volunteer" faculty are actually more consistent instructors than those found at most (if not all) "name brand" academic schools.)
Yeah, so you maybe need to read a little more; but the clinical didactics are fantastic... and most of us do very well on the shelf exams and step 2 (so our teaching can't be THAT bad, can it?)"
3. (Again, from Daiphon, but I heartily agree) "You start seeing your own patients in the fall of your 2nd year... this is a whole extra year of getting comfortable talking about histories, doing physicals, and developing diagnostic frameworks. (As part of the University Primary Care Clinics medical students act as physician extenders beginning in M2). Plus, it will help with the USMLE Step 2 CS (Colonic Satyr-ism) immensely."
4. Some other benefits (according to Daiphon) "are that Rockford is the "Most Affordable City in America" (Chicago Tribune, 2003 or 2004), and is 1 hour from 3 great cities - Chicago, Madison, and Milwaukee. Your car doesn't have to pass emissions anymore (so if you have a beater, don't need to replace it)... and it never takes any more than 15 minutes to get anywhere you need to be. Try that in Chicago at 8am on the Kennedy near the junction.
Ultimately, then, if you aren't self-directed and need things spoon fed for you, then Rockford probably won't do you well. But, if you like actually SEEING and TREATING patients (the reason, I hope, you're going into medical school), and want the responsibility and experience... then Rockford'll do you right. Plus, if you're worried about rockford being 100% "primary care" - take a look at the 2004 match list: 9 radiologists, 4 emergency physicians, 4 surgeons, 1 neurosurgeon, 1 ophtho, 1 derm... and most of the IM/Peds group plan to do fellowships."
(FF note: I couldn't have said it better!)
- H
