What about Northwestern?

[DrRads101]

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Over 20% of all medical school applicants apply to Northwestern, so there has got to be some people in this forum going here or wanting to discuss it!

So who's all going to make downtown Chicago their playground?

For more Chicago pics check out: http://www.philipmalenfant.com/

 

[DrWuStar]

i'll be starting at northwestern this fall! 😀

i'm psyched

 

[StrngoutAS]

There's been a ton of NU threads in the past... do a search and you'll be treated to like 30 million "which school should I go to... NU or xxx?" threads.

I myself will be going in the fall and just finalized my apartment deal so I myself am psyched much like Dr. WuStar here.

 

[DrWuStar]

wow. how on earth did you get an apartment this far in advance? when are you moving? it strikes me as strange that a landlord would even know if a place is going to be available in the fall already. my fiance and i are heading to chi-town for a weekend in the beginning of july to find a place to start renting in august. but i guess we are looking for a place out in world of "normal people", where apartments aren't usually on the market until the month before they are available. if you are renting from a very student-dominated building, i guess they know more in advance who is staying and going. did i just answer my own question?

 

[Jalby]

Where is UCLAMan?????

 

[UCLAMAN]

Where is UCLAMan?????

UCLAMAN is studying his butt off for our last exam on Friday. 😀

 

[DrWuStar]

i think we (me + my fiance + our dog) are going to try and find a place in wrigleyville, but we are also still pretty open to different ideas. i hear wrigleyville is easy access to the red line, which i hear goes right near school. i am hoping for a 20 min commute via el or bus. i think it will be good for my sanity to live a little ways from school and have a little distance between my personal life and school life. but i don't want to live too far, cause right now i have a 40 minute commute to and from work, and it is driving me insane. we were thinking about buying a house or condo, but then we looked into it and realized there is no way in hell we could afford the kind of place we would want, so back to renting. i am kind of hoping we will get lucky and find a little 2 bedroom house with a yard to rent. so the dog would have a place to kick it. and if that works out, then i am looking forward to hosting some barbeques and parties early on and getting to know people and generally having some fun.

ctwickman, NU has pretty much been my top choice all along too. the program just seems so pro-student and pro-sanity. the students i met all seemed happy and laid back. i was *supposed* to be hoping i would get into an NYC or LA school, cause those locations would have been better for my sweetheart's career, but really i am just thrilled with the way things worked out!

i saw tons of those "northwestern or _____" threads a while back too, but things have been really quiet since then. i wonder if they all decided on school b.

 

[CalBeE]

...if only I get a call...I called today and tried to talk to Dean Brown, but the secretary told me that it wouldn't be possible b/c my app is still active 🙁

 

[Jalby]

That's pretty cool. Makes me wish I was in Chicago right now.

 

[Jalby]

UCLAMAN is studying his butt off for our last exam on Friday. 😀

That's no excuse. I have my board exam in 41 days and you don't see me not posting on USC threads.

 

[Auricae]

Those pictures made me excited even though I am already HERE! This summer in Chicago is going to be awesome. Too bad classes start so early 😡

 

[GBFKicks]

Summers in Chicago are amazing. North Avenue Beach all the way......

 

[gotassay]

Three days to go...and I'm still undecided. I had a blast at Northwestern on interview day - but I'm still not sure...I have the option of going to Mount Sinai and staying closer to home, or going to Northwestern. Any opinions? (getting desperate here)

 

[BerkeleyPremed]

Three days to go...and I'm still undecided. I had a blast at Northwestern on interview day - but I'm still not sure...I have the option of going to Mount Sinai and staying closer to home, or going to Northwestern. Any opinions? (getting desperate here)

I'd choose Northwestern. Then again, my opinion doesn't really count worth **** here because I don't know what kind of residency you're interested in, where you want to practice, your financial situation with regards to both schools, etc etc. If I was in your situation, I'd choose Northwestern simply because I love the city of Chicago. I think Chicago is hands down the best city in the midwest and the northern suburbs of Chicago are just beautiful. In addition, Northwestern gives you the option of open enrollment into the Kellogg School of Business (one of the top 5 business schools in the country)..and I think there's an open enrollment into Northwestern Law School as well..but I'm not sure about that. The only downside is that the NU medical school campus is not anywhere near the undergrad campus in Evanston. Regardless, I still love NU and the the Chicago area. 😍 😍

 

[DrRads101]

gotossay,

Go to wherever you feel the most comfortable and can breathe. I know nothing about Mount Sinai, but if you have been around that area your whole life, I would recommend Chicago for a few years since it will broaden your horizons IMO and it's great to have connections in cities outside of your immediate bubble, and personally I think Northwestern is an ideal medical school where you can actually find a healthy balance between academia and social life. Other schools may preach that, but you can't argue with the facts of the NU curriculum, and personally I would never choose New York over Chicago (I have lived in both) because I find Chicago much more laid back and a friendlier, less stressful place to live with all the amenities one could ever want anyways. I personally didn't like living in NYC after awhile. Chicago will never run you down like you might feel sometimes in NYC, but that's just my personal experience.

 

[DrRads101]

The only downside is that the NU medical school campus is not anywhere near the undergrad campus in Evanston.

No way! You do know where the medical campus is located, right? It's in arguably the best area of Chicago. I would pick Gold Coast over Evanston any day of the week.

 

[Auricae]

No way! You do know where the medical campus is located, right? It's in arguably the best area of Chicago. I would pick Gold Coast over Evanston any day of the week.

I think he meant that it would be nice if the undergrad were near the med school, not that evanston is better than the gold coast. That way, when people want to escape from seeing the same old med students everyday, they can interact with people from the main campus.

 

[Auricae]

northwestern was my favorite above all after interviews were done. they're offering me 2x less in subsidized loans though. and in terms of residency, it'd be great to do a residency in california (pipe dream). if not, i think eventually, i'd like to go back to the nyc area - to be closer to my parents.

the schools are both pass/fail. nw has pbl, and mt sinai doesn't. both in cities. i thought that the people seemed happier at nw though...just my opinion. the way everyone was so psyched to come into the admissions office and talk to people from their undergrad schools.

help. (stressed). please.

If it's really important to you to be near your family, then go to Mt. Sinai. Otherwise, go NU. You sound like you like it better anyway.

 

[DrRads101]

I think he meant that it would be nice if the undergrad were near the med school, not that evanston is better than the gold coast. That way, when people want to escape from seeing the same old med students everyday, they can interact with people from the main campus.

I guess, but if I want to interact with other students, its usually those around my age. Since the NU med campus is also with the law school, there can be interaction there, and of course IMO all of Chicago is campus for interaction. Personally if I want to meet some hot babe, I would very much like it if she didn't go to the same school as me, or graduated already and is at more of my maturity level. I could see feeling closed off if it was a small town, but I think either way any med student isn't going to interact much with undergrads. I just don't see it--undergrads and med students IMO are at such different levels in their lives. I remember working for med students at UW-Madison and they never invited us to anything and would always go off on their own cliques anyways--I think this is just natural because I was at a totally different maturity level than them, with different desires, etc.

 

[DrRads101]

Don't stress. Just go to Northwestern. There is no way you'll regret it, and a Chicago-NYC plane ride is what, like one hour? I think the excitement of being in a totally new environment like Chicago, where you can actually sit down and talk to people that grew up differently than you and realize that there is life outside of the bubble you grew up, is invaluable, especially when you can consider in jet terms you will be pretty close to your family. In Chicago you can probably spur the moment decide to visit your family and be there in just a couple hours any day of the week.

Just my 2 cents. Personally I just think you'll like the more laid back pace of Chitown versus NYC. But quite frankly I think you know deep down where you will go. Are you ready in your life to go on a new adventure? Or maybe you are like me and done with adventures and want to settle down next to your family.

 

[Auricae]

I guess, but if I want to interact with other students, its usually those around my age. Since the NU med campus is also with the law school, there can be interaction there, and of course IMO all of Chicago is campus for interaction. Personally if I want to meet some hot babe, I would very much like it if she didn't go to the same school as me, or graduated already and is at more of my maturity level. I could see feeling closed off if it was a small town, but I think either way any med student isn't going to interact much with undergrads. I just don't see it--undergrads and med students IMO are at such different levels in their lives. I remember working for med students at UW-Madison and they never invited us to anything and would always go off on their own cliques anyways--I think this is just natural because I was at a totally different maturity level than them, with different desires, etc.

Unfortunately, I think you will find many of your future classmates have the maturity level of a chimp. Fact is, many of your future colleagues have spent their entire lives in the library obsessing over grades and have failed to develop any balance in their personalities or lives. This is not to say that there aren't mature people in med school. I just think you may find less than you expect. Okay.. I really need to stop procrastinating and get to work on this paper 🙂 Good luck with your decision. Either way, you can't lose!

 

[CalBeE]

Not necessarily talking about my classmates... just people "my age" in general. I just highly doubt any of us med students will be hanging around with undergrads all too often. During my entire undergrad stint I never once ran into a med student hanging out with undergrads, or was introduced to one through an undergrad.... Now I did run into a med student at a bar once, but he was with other graduate students... 🙂

Not that if you hang out with undergrads you are somehow a "loser" or something, I just have a feeling we are at a different level of age and maturity. Personally if I hang out with anyone in med school, it's going to be either grad/med students or college graduates who are working, but who knows anything can happen....

Yea, I'm coming back to my undergrad school for med school, and I'm gonna move further away from the undergrads...the immaturity of particularly freshmen and sophomore really annoys me.

 

[UCLAMAN]

Unfortunately, I think you will find many of your future classmates have the maturity level of a chimp. Fact is, many of your future colleagues have spent their entire lives in the library obsessing over grades and have failed to develop any balance in their personalities or lives. This is not to say that there aren't mature people in med school. I just think you may find less than you expect. Okay.. I really need to stop procrastinating and get to work on this paper 🙂 Good luck with your decision. Either way, you can't lose!

hmm...i disagree. i look around at my class and it seems the majority have extraordinary accomplishments and backgrounds. I'd argue that the majority people here at NU are quite the opposite of the "grade obsessing" library bums you have described. I have no clue what your basis is for med students having the "maturity of a chimp."

I think the majority of people in med school(here at least) are quite mature and have pretty good balances in their lives. I'd say their balance is what got them into medical school, especially a place like NU. Even the HPME kids(who are usually ripped on for being "young.") are quite mature and accomplished IMO.

I sincerely hope you don't come to NU with that frame of mind and that you give all med students a fair shake. Your colleagues shouldnt have to earn your respect. Respect should be theirs to lose.

I'll get off my soapbox now. 😀

 

[CalBeE]

CalBeE, I'll trade you NW for UCLA...

That's like the 100th time I get that response...*sigh*

No biggie, another 4 years in Cali I guess...then I'm gonna apply for residency out of state...

 

[tripod]

if any of you are looking for an apartment, I think my condo might be up for rent. I'm moving out in June. It's a studio 550 sq feet on Chicago ave and Michigan ave (above the walgreens, across the st from banana republic). I am not sure if my landlord found a renter yet (i haven't heard anything). it's $963 a month (parking space is $120/month...a lot cheaper than most places)

 

[StrngoutAS]

wow. how on earth did you get an apartment this far in advance? when are you moving? it strikes me as strange that a landlord would even know if a place is going to be available in the fall already. my fiance and i are heading to chi-town for a weekend in the beginning of july to find a place to start renting in august. but i guess we are looking for a place out in world of "normal people", where apartments aren't usually on the market until the month before they are available. if you are renting from a very student-dominated building, i guess they know more in advance who is staying and going. did i just answer my own question?

Uhm, I'm not sure what you consider the world of "normal people" but the Onterie building does have a waitlist you can sign up for and they incidentally had some people give advanced notice in terms of availability so I'm all set in terms of knowing where I'm staying. It's a nice high rise right next to school with over 600 units so there's a bit of variety in terms of the tenants. By no means is it just student-dominated... in fact, that was a big concern of mine b/c I wanna be able to step outside of the bubble known as med school.

Looking forward to August =)

 

[Auricae]

hmm...i disagree. i look around at my class and it seems the majority have extraordinary accomplishments and backgrounds. I'd argue that the majority people here at NU are quite the opposite of the "grade obsessing" library bums you have described. I have no clue what your basis is for med students having the "maturity of a chimp."

I think the majority of people in med school(here at least) are quite mature and have pretty good balances in their lives. I'd say their balance is what got them into medical school, especially a place like NU. Even the HPME kids(who are usually ripped on for being "young.") are quite mature and accomplished IMO.

I sincerely hope you don't come to NU with that frame of mind and that you give all med students a fair shake. Your colleagues shouldnt have to earn your respect. Respect should be theirs to lose.

I'll get off my soapbox now. 😀

Good points. Certainly, some schools are better at weeding out these types of people than others. I really hope you are right about NU though. One of my biggest fears about med school next year (and one of the reasons I am considering deferring) is that I'm not sure that I'm up to dealing with the obsessive, immature pre-meds that populated many of my undergrad classes. I love being with people of diverse interests, who maintain well-balanced lives. I really hope that your experiences will be true of my class as well.

 

[04DukeBio]

Seriously, those are some great pics. I want to move to Chicago, like, right now. But I have to finish up in Durham 🙂 And I still don't have a place 😛

As for grade-grubbing, immature 'premed'-types, I think we'll see less of that at Northwestern than at other schools. From my experiences during interviews, the people NU chose to talk to again seemed much less diehard, yet still very passionate and driven, than other students at other schools.

Even if there are a few of these 'obsessive, immature' medical students in our upcoming class, there'll be a whole bunch of us who aren't as totally focused on grades and numbers. People change, too, and I think Chicago is one of the best cities where highstrung young people can loosen up. There's just too much to see and do... I'll definitely be shirking studying to go out on the town, walk and run along the coast... It'll be cool. I can't wait.

04DukeBio

I definitely want to enroll in pottery classes at this Lill Street Gallery place I found on the web 🙂 Handmade pottery... woo!

 

[UCLAMAN]

I definitely want to enroll in pottery classes at this Lill Street Gallery place I found on the web 🙂 Handmade pottery... woo!

if i remember correctly, there was a pottery course during the winter when we got to choose our seminars. i chose the seminar group that went to the art institute every week. the pottery class was fairly popular but only had limited spaces.

 

[DrWuStar]

UCLAman (and anyone else with experience), what do you think of the finacial aid budget NU gives students? they budgeted about $61K, and broke it down into different categories like room/board, computer, transportation, personal, etc. to me, it seemed pretty reasonable, although the balance of which categories i spend the money on might be a little different than what they suggest... but my fiance is VERY concerned that it won't be enough to live comfortably on. we are used to living in a city that is even more expensive than chicago, so i am hoping he is just looking on the bad side. how does it work out for you (whether or not you are on fin aid, my basic quesiton is whether their budget is reasonable)? are their budgeted amounts for "books and supplies" about on par?

 

[04DukeBio]

Original Post by UCLAMAN-

if i remember correctly, there was a pottery course during the winter when we got to choose our seminars. i chose the seminar group that went to the art institute every week. the pottery class was fairly popular but only had limited spaces.

And yet another reason to be excited about coming up to NU. 😀

(on an unrelated note, how do you automatically include the OP'er in a quote?)

 

[DrWuStar]

(on an unrelated note, how do you automatically include the OP'er in a quote?)

if you hit the quote icon, it automatically inserts it. in the code, instead of just saying QUOTE, it says QUOTE=DukeBio (or whoever the OP is) 😀

 

[PublicEnemy]

congrats to all of you guys. you're gonna love chicago, can't beat it. undergrad at NU was a lot of fun, research at the med school, good old ward building. the facilities are top notch, the opportunities in the city countless. the location of NU Med is perfect, so beautiful. gold coast. i love chicago, miss it, have to get back there. from wrigleyville, to rush and division, to lincoln park, to michigan ave, so lively, so much to see and do. enjoy it guys, and good luck in school, and don't pick on all my hpme friends too much.

 

[04DukeBio]

Anyone have any idea what the average cost of a health club/gym is in the Chicago downtown area? I'd like to see how much I'll be paying (out the nose) for the ability to work out. The dorm had a pretty good place, but I forgot to ask how much it cost, and how one pays (annually vs. monthly).

~2.5 months to go...

(off topic!)
DrWuStar, thanks! - figures I should miss something as blatant as a QUOTE button present on every. single. post. 😛 I guess I jumped the gun, eh, and went right to the quote button on the post editor.

 

[PookieGirl]

Has me even more piqued about Chicago and going to med school there. I hear nothing but good things about Northwestern. With my 30 MCAT score and 3.5 GPA, do I even have a chance?

 

[UCLAMAN]

Anyone have any idea what the average cost of a health club/gym is in the Chicago downtown area? I'd like to see how much I'll be paying (out the nose) for the ability to work out. The dorm had a pretty good place, but I forgot to ask how much it cost, and how one pays (annually vs. monthly).

if u live at lsc...free...but i remember u were looking for a place elsewhere so the lsc gym will run you $60 for the year(i hear 100 from others but they only charged me 60 and then handed me the key to the building.)

the next closest gym is the lake shore athletic club on ohio. it is $60 a month there(thats assuming u can swing a deal. usually it is much higher and then the startup fee is a rip) The facilities are definitely much better than LSC but i dont think is worth the price difference. there are a few people in the class who were willing to join though. but the majority of the people in the class dont have that kind of money to throw around.

 

[UCLAMAN]

UCLAman (and anyone else with experience), what do you think of the finacial aid budget NU gives students?

i borrowed like 54k and i will have an extra 1k or so once the year ends in two weeks and our budget was similar to yours(60k i think). some people dont even buy books. for the most part one could really get away with just the syllabi and some really good note taking. one definitely doesnt need all the money they allotted for books.

 

[DrRads101]

.....bump!

 

[medstylee]

nice pictures! you guys are gonna have a blast in chicago

 

[StrngoutAS]

Anyone else have an idea where they're living or what they're looking for? I'm heading out there around mid august... if anyone has any suggestions on how to get Cubs tickets, I"m game for that too.

 

[StrngoutAS]

Today's the day... withdrew my other acceptances today so it's NU all the way baby!

... oh yeah, and bump.

 

[DrRads101]

I wonder what "gotassay" decided? It was either "stay home around Mt. Sinai" or "go on a new adventure to Northwestern."

 

[Auricae]

I wonder what "gotassay" decided? It was either "stay home around Mt. Sinai" or "go on a new adventure to Northwestern."

I have one more school to withdraw from (OSU) but I just can't get myself to do it!

 

[04DukeBio]

Anyone going to NU love roller coasters? We should have a M1 (and M-whoever) trip out to Six Flags Great America sometime after we all get to Chicago. Nothing binds a group of people together like being thrown around at unnatural G's on giant metal contraptions.

 

[Nike]

I have one more school to withdraw from (OSU) but I just can't get myself to do it!

Auricae, I understand!! I was hanging onto two acceptances: OSU and Northwestern. With much difficulty, I just sent OSU my withdrawal letter 🙁 It was a lot more difficult than I thought, but I am very excited about NU and Chicago!

 

[Auricae]

Auricae, I understand!! I was hanging onto two acceptances: OSU and Northwestern. With much difficulty, I just sent OSU my withdrawal letter 🙁 It was a lot more difficult than I thought, but I am very excited about NU and Chicago!

Oh really? I didn't know that you faced the same predicament. Are you an Ohio resident? What was the deciding factor for you?

 

[DrRads101]

Anyone going to NU love roller coasters? We should have a M1 (and M-whoever) trip out to Six Flags Great America sometime after we all get to Chicago. Nothing binds a group of people together like being thrown around at unnatural G's on giant metal contraptions.

This is a great idea.

 

[Auricae]

Anyone going to NU love roller coasters? We should have a M1 (and M-whoever) trip out to Six Flags Great America sometime after we all get to Chicago. Nothing binds a group of people together like being thrown around at unnatural G's on giant metal contraptions.

You never really know someone until they have puked all over your shoes. That's what I call "quality" time.

 

[amini23]

Has anyone been called from Northwestern's waitlist yet? How long till they start calling people?

 

[DrWuStar]

i think in my interview, they told us that the 2 people who got in off the waitlist last year didn't get in until late summer. but my memory is fuzzy.