UIC vs. UTSW

[buphthalmos]

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Having trouble deciding between the two. UTSW is an awesome clinical program with some great faculty. UIC might not be as good of a clinical program also with great faculty. It seems to me that UIC has a little bit better reputation though and might get better fellowships. Rank list is due in 48 hours, any help would be appreciated....

 

[fatman41]

I ranked UTSW highly. It provides great clinical training while not violating any of my exclusion criteria of no sat. lectures and no in house call that some of the big names on my listed violated.

 

[eyerepairman]

while not violating any of my exclusion criteria of no sat. lectures and no in house call that some of the big names on my listed violated.

This is a sign of laziness that gives ophthalmology residents a bad name among other residents.

Laziness is part of the reason why optometrists have made inroads into delivering eye care and convincing the government to let them do so.

Ranking a better program lower than UTSW is possible if one lets laziness cloud their judgement.

 

[indytx]

This is a sign of laziness that gives ophthalmology residents a bad name among other residents.

Laziness is part of the reason why optometrists have made inroads into delivering eye care and convincing the government to let them do so.

Ranking a better program lower than UTSW is possible if one lets laziness cloud their judgement.

I don't think you're being fair at all. There are many reasons for ranking a program high or low. Some people are looking for the busiest program they can find to get as much clinical experience as possible. Others are looking for a place with free weekends and mild call nights so they can spend time with family - or maybe because they simply want more balance in their life. It's not right to blow this out of proportion and blame fatman41 for the supposed "bad name" of ophthalmology residents or the increasing role of optometrists.

 

[griffin]

It is hard to assess how competitive you will be for fellowships before starting residency, but choose a place with well known faculty (letters will be most important) and where 3rd yr residents match where they want. UTSW has 8res/yr (9 beginning July) and 5 matched for fellowships this year( 1 for peds, 1 for asoprs plastics which is hard to get, 2 top retina programs and 1 at a top cornea program). You will work hard, see a ton of pathology, do plenty of surgery and likely go where you want for fellowship from UTSW.

 

[Jokestr]

UTSW is a program with a good name. As stated above, you will get solid training, work pretty hard, and you will do some driving as I know they do some time away from UTSW main campus. There may be some strong personalities at UTSW so you might keep that in mind. Maybe you have a personality that would get along with all of them. If you want to get into a competetive fellowship, it would be a very good program to rank highly. I don't know anything about UIC, so I can't comment on that one.

As for the "laziness" issue raised above. I agree a little bit with eyerepairman. It is fine to have your own set of criteria for ranking programs, but to make statements like this one
"while not violating any of my exclusion criteria of no sat. lectures and no in house call that some of the big names on my listed violated." does make a person sound lazy. I am by no means saying that this person is lazy, and these are important things to consider for each person when making a rank list. But, to come out and make statements like this and list none of his/her other "criteria/exclusion criteria" just sounds lazy.

Good luck with your decision.

 

[fatman41]

It has nothing to do with laziness. Saturday lectures reflects a lack of educational commitment by the department that they will not allow time during the week for didactics. In house call in unnecessary. ER docs should be able handle conjunctivitis or other minor problems without harassing ophtho. Having in house call provides a crutch that they will abuse if provided the opportunity b/c they don't want to deal the eye if they can turf it to ophtho. If I'm seeing someone in 3am, it better be a open globe ready to go to the OR. I apologize for not elaborating further on my initial post.

 

[JR]

Having in house call provides a crutch that they will abuse if provided the opportunity b/c they don't want to deal the eye if they can turf it to ophtho. If I'm seeing someone in 3am, it better be a open globe ready to go to the OR.

This is only partially true. If an ER doc wants to get you in, he/she will get you in, no matter what the patient has. For the most part, ER does not care wether you are home or in house. You are a resident and you will come in when called. Your attitude as a resident should and will be "thank you sir, may I have another". That's the reality.

 

[ckyuen]

at times as a resident I wished we were in house b/c you could be called in many times in a day, and that meant a lot of driving. That being, this past week I took call at three hospitals at once, and had to visit multiple hospitals in the same day. Why three at once, I'm vice chairman at one and chief of ophtho at another (not bad for my second year in practice), and the other hospital just happened to be my turn. It doesn't hurt that the last hospital compensates well for taking call.

 

[ophtho_applicant15]

Bump

 

[pachyworthia]

Did anyone get a good sense of the fellowship match and surgical numbers at UIC this year? They mentioned both on interview day but didn't give a handout...I've since lost track 😀

 

[ophthomed12]

Did anyone get a good sense of the fellowship match and surgical numbers at UIC this year? They mentioned both on interview day but didn't give a handout...I've since lost track 😀

UIC has in the lower 100s for cataracts and I suspect lower across the board. They were formerly ranked in the top 15 for years so, while I don't know their recent fellowship matches, I would suspect they match well and have a great name in ophtho although maybe not quite as good as 5-10 years ago. They are known for their research and academics, not surgical numbers. Easily the most prestigious program in Chicago.

 

[OphResearch]

UIC has great fellowships and the residents match very well http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/2010-fellowship-matches.791049/#post-11840712

 

[LightBox]

Personally, I would much rather go to UTSW than UIC. I prefer busier surgical programs vs. academically-inclined, less-busy-surgically programs. I also prefer the weather of Dallas compared to Chicago, though both are great cities.

 

[Dusn]

I ranked UTSW highly. It provides great clinical training while not violating any of my exclusion criteria of no sat. lectures and no in house call that some of the big names on my listed violated.

Just an FYI - home call at a busy program just means that you will be working all night and will be working the next day as well.

 

[RestoreSight]

UIC and UTSW are both great programs. UTSW has very high surgical numbers. UIC has very well known faculty. You couldn't go wrong with either.

In-house call can be a blessing. You will appreciate your post-call day. Like DUSN said, home call just means you have to show up for clinic the next day after staying up all night.

 

[Pinkertinkle]

I would personally lean towards UIC being the more historied program. 100 vs 200 surgeries doesn't matter much in the long run. Chicago as a city preferable as well.

 

[LightBox]

This somewhat contradicts a previous post I made, but there is a HUGE difference between graduating with 100 cataracts vs. 200 cataracts. At 100 cataracts, you barely know what you are doing and you have not developed much efficiency with cataract surgery. For me, 200 is the bare minimum where you start to develop some real efficiency.

 

[dos palomas]

Deleted.