Chicago programs

interviewed at UIC- many different sites and easier to get into than most or all in chicago.
INtj

northwestern and rush interview almost all rotators. i rotated at both, really enjoyed them. northwestern is more clinical and is a large program with 9 residents a year. lots of good conferences led by attendings and residents. saturday conf rolled back to twice a month as of this year. Rush is more academic but still with great clinical training. fellows in sports/spine/joints are not a huge disruption of resident education like some may say but will keep you out of cases with some big names attendings from time to time. residents there are great and seem very happy.

Northwestern interviews MOSTLY rotators, but rotating there does not guarantee you an interview.

i heard they interviewed all but maybe one or two this year. since they dont interview many non-rotators a good rotation almost guarantees an interview.

You do improve your chance of interviewing there exponentially by rotating, but the number of rotators who did not get interviews was larger than "one or two". They have a ton of rotators every year, more than their interview spots, and like other top programs- Columbia, HSS, etc, they just can;t interview everyone.

That being said- if you are interested in Chicago- you can't go wrong rotating at a program there.

I got the impression that Chicago was the toughest city in the country to break into if you're not from there...at least that was my experience, I went 0/5 in terms of interviews there. By comparison, I got 3/12 for the west coast as an east coast applicant who did not rotate out west, and everyone talks about how hard it is to go west if you don't rotate there.

If you really want to be in Chicago, I think you have no choice but to rotate there. But, you don't have to go to Rush or Northwestern. I've heard very good things about Loyola, and both UC and UIC are supposed to be very solid. None of those places get the numbers of rotators that Rush and Northwestern do, and you have a much better chance of standing out from the crowd.

Sounds like sub_scap is eating sour grapes...

I know of no program that guarantees all rotators an interview. I know many other applicants, myself included, who were not granted interviews after outstanding rotations. It's just the nature of the beast.

If you are interested in Northwestern specifically, do a rotation. You can count the number of non-rotators that they interview on one hand. They pre-screen their rotators, with the expectation that they weed out the people who are aiming too high. The vast majority of rotators are granted interviews.

If you are only interested in Chicago, Rush is a great program that is very similar to Northwestern except more academic and Loyola is outstanding training without the big name. Pick wisely, because the city is weird and Loyola may not interview you if you chose to rotate at Rush, etc.

regarding all this talk of guaranteeing interviews:

if a program gets to know you over an entire month, and after that eval they decide that they do not want you in their program, why would you want an interview?

do you really think a 45 minute interview would change your chances of matching?

i know of only one anecdotal instance where a person rotated somewhere and was not offered an interview. he called the office and begged and pleaded -- got the interview and matched.

THAT IS THE EXCEPTION, NOT THE RULE.

put it this way: look at how much this whole process is going to cost you, as far as rotations and interviews go. It will cost in excess of $5000 for a lot of you, easily.

If a program is willing to save you the hassle and cost of traveling, i would look at that as a GOOD thing. Would you rather they waste your time and money???

Please, no more threads about programs that don't interview all rotators. Trust me, it is better than the 'courtesy' interview when you have no shot at matching.

I agree with the notion that the "courtesy interview" is indeed no favor at all. It costs time, money, and most importantly the fact that you may skip another interview in order to go to one where you are already low on their list

As far as matching in Chicago from an outside place I think it shows interest in truly wanting to come to chicago by doing an away rotation; if you are from the east/west coast and do all your rotations over there....programs know when you say" man i love chicago and want to come here so bad" but did your away rotation in Miami and Orlando to be in Florida...we all know the shotgun approach...if you want to go somewhere do a rotation in that city; there are 5 programs here and you may be able to do 1 or 2 rotations maximum so the other 3-4 will notice that you chose to rotate at the others (assuming they had openings for rotators) and not their program....but you can't change that and we know the limitations; if you are a great candidate the letters of rec will show , your resume will be great and you will still be noticed and on the interview your personality will be evaluated, you are never granted a courtesy interview b/c if you suck, you suck and simply your 4 week rotation is an interview!!!!!!!!!!....bottom line do a rotation chicago if you can, not a must as I didn't and matched here but then again maybe I slipped by..this year we matched 2 rotators, 2 from our school and 3 non-rotators...??

Would doing an AI in Detroit help a west coast applicant get interviews at the Chicago programs? I know this is all basically hearsay, but personal experiences can be somewhat helpful nevertheless...

only to the extent that it shows you have "some interest in the region", but probably not too big a difference overall

Choose your away rotation in a place that you want to go.....if you want to go to the midwest and it is in Detroit then rotate there; doing a midwest rotation will help I think whether it is in Detroit or Chicago but you will get asked why do want to come to Chicago or why did you rotate in Detroit? Nobody gets upset b/c you didn't rotate with them they just want to know why you chose what you chose.......if you tell Chicago that they are your #1 blah blah blah but rotate in detroit....that shows a little bullshit in your story; so just be honest in your interviews and explain why you want to go to the midwest why you rotated in Detroit, why you think a Chicago program would be a great fit for you etc.....overall a midwest rotation is helpful.