Interviewed there, so from my short exposure:
Seemed very well rounded. Facilities were very nice (especially the gym). VA was right across the parking lot, so all your rotations are basically in the same place. Plenty of OR experience, plenty of trauma but not so much as to destroy other rotations (at least so they say).
May lack slightly in sports, and I only say that b/c they don't have any athletic teams they care for (although they may care for Loyola athletes, but not any big time sports), and they didn't act like the sports service was super busy. They do have 2-3 young sports guys though that would be fun to work with.
Very well rounded, broad program with exposure to everything. Residents for the most part seemed like a good group of guys/girls.
Chair was very engaging and is well known, PD was great "younger" guy, as were some of the other faculty.
I don't remember a ton of details as I'm firing off the top of my head, but I know it was in the top third of my rank list.
Chicago is a plus and minus, GREAT city to live in for 5 years, especially if your single, but even if married...BUT, cost of living is outrageous (unless you're from LA, NYC) and you can pretty much forget buying a house (at least not a house like you could buy some other places). That said, the residents all seemed to really enjoy the city, and if you don't mind cold weather it is probably alot of fun (seems like they had time to enjoy it too).
Only other drawback is Loyola is in Maywood, which isn't exactly a posh suburb. I don't think anybody had trouble with crime at work (like we do here at SLU occasionally
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), but it did put you in a bind as to where to live (downtown, and have the fun and amenities of "Chicago" living but pay out your a$$...or out west, and have a more suburban lifestyle, more affordable housing, but less "fun" of living in Chi-town, ie driving 5 hours in traffic if you happened to want to go downtown at the wrong time).
All in all I'd say it's a pretty strong program, you'd come out very well rounded, and if you're interested rotate there and check it out. I think I ranked it 6th out of 17 and would have been happy to end up there.
